Srila Gurudeva: At the beginning of the battle of Mahabharata between the two parties, Arjuna said to Krsna, “Take my chariot in the midst of both armies.” Krsna carried out this order and Arjuna saw that one side were all his brothers, so many relatives, their sons, and so many people. Then on the other side he saw his cousin brothers, his maternal uncles, and Bhisma, who was the grandfather of both parties. He also saw the Guru of both parties, Dronacarya, and also Krpacarya and the son of Dronacarya. All were there ready to fight and give their life.
Between both parties, more than twenty lakhs soldiers were there to fight. Arjuna thought that if both parties were killed, then all the ladies would be widows. The children would be orphans and everything would be upset. Thus religion would be destroyed and then the whole world would be destroyed. Arjuna thought, “I should not fight for this very little, insignificant wealth or kingdom or anything.” That is why he became so worried and sad and he gave up his bow and arrows and he was lamenting. He told Krsna, “I cannot fight against my relatives. I don’t want to kill them only for some insignificant wealth.” Thus he was confused about what to do. He said to Krsna, “O Krsna, You are my charioteer. You are holding the reins of my horses. Not only that, but I have given the reins of my mind and heart and everything to You. You should decide what should I do. I don’t want to kill my relatives. I would rather be a street beggar than quarrel with and kill my relatives only for some wealth.”
Krsna saw that Arjuna was lamenting like so and He began to laugh. He said, “How ignorant are you? You are so ignorant that you have given up your bow and arrow and everything like a coward. I have never seen a coward like you, but yet you are thinking that, ‘I am so intelligent.’ But actually you are not intelligent. I have a question for you. Even if you are not going to kill anyone, will they still die or not? Answer me.”
Arjuna began to scratch his head. He thought, “Oh, whether or not I am killing anyone, still, all of them will die. This is true, they will all die. Those who take birth, they must die.” Arjuna gave this reply to Krsna. So, my request is that you should also realize this thing. In this world, we cannot say that God is true or not. But, we can say that one thing is true. We know that death is true. We will have to die one day. Can you say that you will not die? That he will not die? That your son will not die? That your relatives will not die? Can anyone in this world say this? Never. So two things are true. Death is true and our birth is true.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on December 18th, 1998, Bali, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 24]