Arjuna-Visada-Yoga
Arjuna-Visada-Yoga
…The Melanholia…
dhrtarastra uvaca
samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva
kim akurvata sanjaya
dharmaksetre kuruksetre
Dhrtarastra asks,
O Sanjaya - assembled in the land of righteousness,
on the battlefield of Kuruksetra, prepared to fight.
What did my sons
and the Pandavas do?
The existence and evolution of the world is sustained by venerated firmness in one’s responsibilities. With all beings winning their distracting psychological hurdles a series of progress begins in life. Progressive life promotes, sustains, and furthers the existence of the world towards an evolutional peak And when such callosal firmness in one’s venerated responsibilities and duties is combined with additional new changes matching with progressed levels of consciousness, then that is known as dharma.
Dharma is power, almost electrical power, which moves us towards the highest hilltop of evolution of consciousness where aliveness, peace, wisdom and joy are greater & greatest. It is due to the accumulation of unintentional, unknown, dharma fruit perhaps hereditary, that our wealth, health and wellness is secured and sustained in the present. Tamasic performance of dharma results in prosperity with evil mindedness, rajasic performance results in success and prosperity with utterly commercialized state of mind and satvic performance results in prosperity and success with higher consciousness.
As soon as we run out of dharma, days of our doom strikes us hard. Life sinks into ruin. Families disperse, heart breaks, disease props out and mind goes on dungconizing on and on and on… It is human life alone where we are free from the built-in program, where we can study, learn, and act freely to become rich and famous in the science & art of dharma by maturing ourselves in the excellency of performance of our venerated duties and responsibilities. Therefore, here asks the blind mind, yes, blind, because he cannot act and decide on his own; he needs the senses to act and intelligence to decide. And every person on earth is governed by his mind; that’s why the first character of Gita is a king who is blind. His name is Dhrtarastra. He asks Sanjaya, the intelligence, who pays him occasional visits.
“In the world of action, in the field of human life, assembled to fight, what did the supporters of my selfishness and friends of my dutifulness do?”
The Kauravas represent negative, pathological, anti-dharma, mediocre desires; Pandavas represent positive, optimistic, high-aiming dharmic desires. Both desires have their roots in the heart. And they are hereditary, still they can be changed, and, that is for what life is…
And thus the saga begins, and Sanjaya answers,
“Bubbling with immense energy both armies have stood facing each other. Mighty white conches have been blown deafening the ears of warriors.
War music is echoing, weapons jingling, and in the midst of this all, Oh King, Arjuna is asking-
“My Lord, place my chariot from where I can see all who want to fight with us…”
Partha pasyaitan
samavetan kurtin
“Arjuna, look see the assembled armies of the Kauravas”
The sweet voice of Lord echoed.
“Oh Lord, Oh my… What I was going to do. Killing all these men… oh no no no… After all they are my own brothers -cousins, teachers and grandfather, maternal uncle, friends, acquaintances, and so many. So many relatives… Fighting with them, killing them, oh even a knuckle on their head is unbearable, how can I kill them. If I kill them how will I live with that guilt? Cannot enjoy the empire and life’s pleasures smeared with the blood of my own kinsmen… No way-”, he perspired, tears came to his eyes, brain reeled, heart sank, eyes darkened… Said he,
“…No Krishna, no– I better retreat and I am, lo- I am going to the Himalayas. 1 will sit on Mt. Everest - I will meditate.”
What Arjuna is telling is absolutely right. Killing is no good, never good. Going to the Himalayas is the best thing of life. Decision of meditation is the ultimate symptom of your maturity. That means you’ve taken the wisest step in life.
But suppose right in the front of a police man or five star general of an army, who is standing equipped with all weapons on the line of his duty and there, right in front of his eyes, his own children are being murdered, killed and mutilated, his own sister, wife, or mother dragged away by the enemy, his own house robbed and this guy suddenly says, “No, no killing is too bad, If I save then I have to kill these people and there will be ample bloodshed, Oh, I cannot see thai, I can’t do it. Let me close my eyes, let me go to the Himalayas. I should better go and meditate and when they are done only then I can open my eyes.”
Or suppose President Bush announces he wants to invade Cuba and all the solidarity party members close their mouths, pack away their picket signs, shut up their shops and presses and go to the Sierras or Alps instead. Then what?
If an army officer or solidarity member says like this then is he a human being at all? Has he any humanness in him? Is he right? No, he is absolutely wrong.
The Kauravas had done such vicious things. King Duryodhana had tried to kill his own innocent cousins the Pandavas. He successfully poisoned Bhima, successfully set fire-in their home at night, conspired against them and thereby robbed their stale, wealth and wife, dragging their queen by her hair, trying to unclothe her in the royal assembly. Another time they kidnapped her. They stole the cows of the Pandavas’ friend King Virat whose palace they were staying in. And now these same people are standing with upraised weapons to kill Arjuna and his brothers and all other righteous ones, and Arjuna is talking like this!
It happens many times that we fail to connect things in their proper order. Because there is always a gap between karma and its connected result. That is why confusion comes in between right and wrong. And it is here that we need a wise man, a spiritual guide, a master minded scripture knowing holy man.
Krishna is the wisest man on earlh he does the job, He teaches, he makes Arjuna understand enough to stand firm again on the line of duty. But he does so in a very murmuring, meandering, serpentine way. And this makes Gita picturesque. So here we go.
Arjuna is very despondent, very sad and morose. Whatever is the language, however the words, this is the essence of the first chapter of Gita. Grasp it.
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