In plain words
‘Yes, Swami! It is a peacock!’ said Arjuna. ‘Madman! It is not a peacock, it is Garutmān,’ said Kṛṣṇa. ‘Yes, it is Garutmān!’ said Arjuna. Then Kṛṣṇa: ‘What is this? Whatever I say, you agree to it. Do you feel no need to inquire whether it is true or not? You have become empty of the Jñāna of discrimination. How can you fight a war?’ He took him to task. Arjuna: ‘Kṛṣṇa! If it is not a peacock, You can turn it into a peacock. If it is not Garuḍa, You can turn it into Garuḍa. So I have no need to inquire whether it is a peacock or Garuḍa. I want Your word. Your word alone is the truth for me,’ he said. It was then that Kṛṣṇa said:
Fix your Manas on Me, be My devotee, worship Me, bow down to Me; to Me alone you shall come; I promise you truly, for you are dear to Me.
‘Now you are My devotee. Your faith in My word is great. So you can conquer everything’; and then He began to teach the Gītā.
God's Grace Is Gained Only When Time, Karma, Cause and Duty Come Together
What use is it to teach a man who has no faith, however much you teach him? At the time of this war Arjuna was 84 and Kṛṣṇa 86 years of age. Until then He had never once taught the Gītā. Only when time, karma, cause and duty come together does God's grace come along with them. In 84 years Kṛṣṇa had never spoken Vedānta with Arjuna. Then, all at once, as though it had welled up, He began Vedānta. ‘Arjuna! Who are all these? You think all of them are your kinsmen. No, no. They are not your kinsmen. You and they are not separate. You and I and they, all are one!’ He said. At that, a still greater madness took hold of Arjuna. ‘How can all be one? If all are one, the war is needless, is it not?’ he said. ‘Madman! There is one thing. I know; you do not know. You are in forgetting; I am in awareness. That is the tāraka mantra: