Bhagavad Gita Verse 28, Chapter 11

yathaa nadeenaam bahavombuvegaahaa samudramevaabhimukhaa dravanti |
tathaa tavaamee naralokaveeraa vishanti vaktraanyabhivijvalanti || 28 ||
 
Like torrents of several rivers rush towards the ocean, so do those brave men of this earth run to your blazing mouths.
 
yathaa : like
nadeenaam : rivers
bahavaha : several
ambuvegaahaa : torrents
samudram : ocean
eva : only
abhimukhaa : towards
dravanti : rush
tathaa : so do
tava : to you
amee : those
naralokaveeraa : brave men of the earth
vishanti : run
vaktraani : mouths
abhivijvalanti : blazing
 
Putumayo, Caqueta, Vaupes, Guainea, Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, Tigre, Nanay, Napo, and Huallaga. These are names of just a handful of 1100 rivers that feed the Amazon, the largest river in the world by volume. It covers almost 7 million square kilometres of land in South America, and empties 300,000 cubic metres per second into the Atlantic Ocean. The most distant source of the Andes is a glacier on the western edge of South America, near the Pacific Ocean, on the other side of the continent.
 
Arjuna, on seeing the hordes of warriors rushing into Ishvara’s mouths, compares them to the water in a river rushing with great speed into the ocean. It reminds him of Shri Krishna’s description of the water cycle as a sacrifice when he was explaining karma yoga. A drop of water which originated from the ocean evaporates into the sky, falls down as rain into a water body, and eventually finds its way into a flowing river that goes right back into its source, the ocean. At one point it thinks that it is rain, or it is a pond, a lake, a stream and so on, forgetting its true nature as water.
 
Similarly, we tend to think of ourselves as children, students, engineers, executives, rich people, poor people at different points in our lives, and forgetting that our journey is just a cycle that begins from Ishvara, the source, and ends back into that same source. So even though Arjuna was scared of Ishvara’s monstrous form, he understood that there was nothing to be scared about destruction. It was a bona fide part of Ishvara’s creative process.
 
Arjuna illustrates another aspect of this scene in the next shloka.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 10, Chapter 4

veetaraagabhayakrodhaa manmayaa maamupaashritaaha |
bahavo jnyaanatapasaa pootaa madbhaavamaagataaha || 10 ||
 
Free from attachment, fear and anger, absorbed in me and taking refuge in me; many have been purified through the austerity of knowledge, and have attained my essence.
 
veeta : free from
raaga : attachment
bhaya : fear
krodhah : anger
man-mayaaha :  absorbed in me
maam-upaashritaaha : taking refuge in me
bahavaha : many have
jnyaana-tapasaa : through the austerity of knowledge
pootaaha : purified
mad-bhaavam : my essence
aagataaha : have attained
 
Shri Krishna concluded the topic of Ishvaraa and his avataara in the previous shloka. Having heard this, a question may arise as to how many individuals were successful in realizing the eternal essence by following the path laid out by Shri Krishna. He gives an encouraging answer to that question. He says that many people have attained the eternal essence following this path. They have become "manmayaahaa" or one with him.
 
Many of us may have followed the teaching so far, and may have also understood the notion of karmayoga. Assuming that we follow it diligently, we would like to know what comes next in the spiritual journey. We can proceed further, but we cannot force it, just like one cannot go from high school to college without passing exams.
 
So in this shloka, Shri Krishna gives the roadmap to attaining the eternal essence. First, he advises us to follow the path of karmayoga so that our system is cleared of vaasanaas. It is the preparatory stage in the spiritual path, as we have seen earlier. As we become proficient in karmayoga, we slowly become free of attachment, fear and anger.
 
Next, as our vaasanaas become weaker, the force of our thought becomes more controlled. Our mind becomes purer, and consequently, becomes still. This enables us to better comprehend, contemplate upon and internalize the statements such as "I am the eternal essence". Traditionally, these stages are shravana (hearing the scriptures), manana (contemplating) and nidhidhyaasana (internalization).
 
This constant and continued attempt to achieve identification with the eternal essence through the three stages of shravana, manana and nidhidhyaasana is called "jnyaana tapas" or the austerity of knowledge. We should note that this knowledge is not the kind of academic knowledge that we are used to. It is the absence of ignorance caused by vasanaas, or in other words, absence of selfish thinking.
 
Finally, having been purified by the austerity of knowledge, we begin to attain an affectionate attitude towards Ishvaraa. This attitude of devotion makes us take ultimate refuge in Ishvaraa, indicated here by the word "maanupaashritaaha".
 
Footnotes
1. This shloka summarizes the three traditional paths of spirituality: karmayoga, bhaktiyoga (devotion) and jnyaanayoga (knowledge)

Bhagavad Gita Verse 9, Chapter 1

anye cha bahavaha shoora madarthe tyaktkajeevitaaha |
naanaashastrapraharanaaha sarve yuddhavishaaradaaha || 9 ||
 
In addition to our commanders, we also have several other brave warriors who have vowed to give up their life for me. These warriors are well versed in deploying weapons, and are proficient in the art of battle.
 
anye: besides these
bahavaha: several
shooraha: brave warriors
madarthe: for me
tyaktajeevitaaha: giving up their desire to live
cha: and
naanaashastraprahaaranaaha: versed in the deployment of many weapons
sarve: all of them
yuddhavishaaradaaha: proficient in the art of war
 
Duryodhana naively tried to impress Drona by glorifying his army, as well as his weapons. Astra denotes weapons that are thrown, and shastra denotes weapons that are hand-held. His ego resurfaced again, which is evidenced by his self-aggrandizing statements like "they will give up their life for me". He probably was trying to convince (or delude) himself that his army is poised to win the battle.
 
The tendency of the ego to consider something "mine" is called mamataa in Sanskrit. Mamataa literally means "mine-making" or "mine-ness". This is yet another means for the ego to strengthen itself through possessions.
 
Here's an interesting exercise. Take something that you know for sure is "yours". Now deeply examine it. Is it really yours? For example, say you own a house. On what basis do you consider it yours? Most probably, it's a legal document that the government issues to you. Well, what happens if that government no longer exists? Or, more likely, what happens if the government grabs that land from you because it possesses some precious natural resources? Is the relationship between you and the house "real"?