Krishna

The avatar who teaches the Bhagavad Gita — Arjuna’s charioteer, and God himself in human form.

Overview

Krishna is the speaker of the Gita. He is both a character in the Mahabharata narrative and, in the Vedantic reading, an avatara — God incarnate. Swami stresses this second identity for how one should approach the text: the Gita is not a professor’s philosophy or a saint’s advice but the teaching of God himself.

How Krishna ends up on Arjuna’s chariot. Before the war, both duryodhana and arjuna come to Krishna to ask his help. Duryodhana, haughty, sits near Krishna’s head; Arjuna, devoted, sits at his feet. Krishna opens his eyes and sees Arjuna first. Krishna offers a choice: himself (who will not fight, not use a weapon), or his army and the economic-military power of his kingdom. Arjuna asks for Krishna. Duryodhana is delighted to take the armies. The worldly calculation and the spiritual one reverse: Arjuna, who gets “just one man,” ends up with God on his side.

When Krishna begins to teach. Krishna stays silent through chapter 1 while Arjuna collapses. At the start of chapter 2 he speaks for the first time. His opening is not Vedanta — it is a common-sense rebuke (verses 2.2–2.3). Real teaching begins at 2.10, after Arjuna has surrendered and asked for help.

Related concepts and entities

• arjuna — his student and charioteer; Swami notes Shankara’s reading that a fit student ensures wide dissemination
• avatara — Krishna as incarnation of God
• bhagavad-gita — the text of his teaching
• mahabharata — the epic that contains it
• kurukshetra — the battlefield setting
• duryodhana — rejected peace emissary when Krishna came to warn him

In the Gita

• 02-02, 02-03 — Krishna’s first spoken words.
• 02-10 — prahasann iva, “as if smiling” — teaching begins.
• 02-11-12 — first Vedanta teaching: the self was never not.
• 02-13-15 — transmigration, titiksha, the dhira.
• 02-16 — the philosophical heart: sat, mithya, and the identity of self and Brahman.

Aliases in the text

Krishna is addressed by many names, each with a specific force:

• Madhusudana — slayer of the demon Madhu; Arjuna’s pointed address in 2.4
• Madhava — of the Madhu clan / husband of Lakshmi
• Govinda — cowherd; used in the silent declaration of 2.9
• Hrishikesha — lord of the senses; used at the moment teaching begins in 2.10

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [34:22]: Krishna as the Pandavas’ advisor — God himself on their side.
• Ep. 1 [34:52]: The chariot choice — Arjuna takes Krishna, Duryodhana takes the army.
• Ep. 1 [44:37]: Krishna stays silent through chapter 1; speaks for the first time at the opening of chapter 2.
• Ep. 1 [55:35]: Krishna does not give advice unless asked.
• Ep. 2 [~58:00]: Prahasann iva at verse 2.10 — “as if smiling” — the teacher’s recognition that the student is finally ready.