Arising From The Depth Of Pain

Shri Bhagavaan uvaacha

kutastvaa kashmalamidam vishame samupasthitam |
anaaryajusthamasvargyamakeertikaramarjuna  (2)
klaibyam maa sma gamah paartha naitattvayyupapadyate |
kshudram hridayadaurbalyam tyaktvotishtha parantapa

Bhagavan (Supreme Lord) said:

“From where has this weakness arisen, at this crisis time? It is not noble, nether it will take you to a better state, nor it  will earn you name or fame, ” [2,2]
“Don't yield to this effeminate behavior, it is not worthy of you. Cast off this petty weakness of heart and arise, O scorcher of foes!, ” [2,3]

Let us briefly summarize the situation. In the midst of the great Mahabharatha war, Arjuna the great warrior, has become totally emotional seeing that he has to fight his relatives. The great warrior who had defeated mightiest of enemies is now totally helpless and weeping and refusing to fight.

In the previous verse we had discussed about stress and the four stages of stress:

• Relaxed State  
• Normal Stress 
• Hyper stressed 
• Break down

It is obvious that Arjuna is in the last stage of stress. 

Well, we may say, we will not get into such situations as Arjuna's. So, why bother about all this? But are we being honest with ourselves? Most of us have at one point or other in life reached that ultimate stage of breakdown stress. If we see the increasing cases of suicide or drugs, it is obvious that more and more of us are slowly but surely descending on the self destructing path towards breakdown.

There are any number of reasons to get into this desperate stage:

1. Total loss of wealth when the stock market crashes
2. Loss of a high paying job
3. Death of a near and dear one
4. Massive loss of face/prestige

 The triggers for any person reaching this final stage of stress come primarily from 3 sources:

a. Nature: This could be natural events like floods, famines, drought etc. This is something not within a person's control and are "acts of God". But they can have a devastating impact on the emotional stability of an individual.

b. Environment: Stress trigger also could be caused by the environment in which an individual functions. It could be the family environment, office, stock market etc. A severe fight with the spouse can lead a person to emotional instability. A stock market collapse can create mental turmoil. Several people committed suicide after the stock market crash during the great Depression period in USA.

c. Internal : Stress trigger may arise from one's own thoughts. I may imagine the worst in every situation and get stressed. Have we not heard of people who are afraid of their own shadows, literally? At the extreme, this progresses into situations where people here voices that don’t exist, see people and situations that don’t exist.

What happens once a person reaches this level of stress? It causes the following:

• Desperation  
• Extreme Misery  
• illusion

A person in this situation will not be able to demonstrate the character of an upright man. Imagine being in the throes of a terrible emotional crisis and being asked to think rationally. It just is not possible. When one is in such a situation, can it add to good name or fame? When the mighty Arjuna refused to fight and was weeping, did it add to his fame? When I am on the brink of emotional failure and shout at my colleagues, does it add to my good reputation? Thsi emotional distress will not lead to a good future state. I can keep on blaming myself and the world for all the bad things which have led me to this emotional state. But will it make me better?

None of these characteristics will help us in:

•  Growing as an individual
•  Gaining peace and happiness
•  Being efficient in our activities
•  Supporting other members of the society
•  Resolving the cause of the pain or struggle

This is a not good state  to be in for a human being But how do we get out of this distress? Can I go the market and buy something? Well drinks and drugs may give short term relief. But once their effect is gone, the turmoil is doubled. What is the state we need to be in before we degrade ourselves more?

• Whatever is the situation, we should never get in to  Hyper Stress / Distress state
• We have to face the situation  with appropriate positive stress level and get back to relaxed state quickly
• We have to avoid, unwanted / unnecessary stress arousals

But all this is easier said than done. Krishna is asking Arjuna to arise and get over this weakness. But Krishna cannot make Arjuna arise. He can only impart enough knowledge to think and then Arjuna must use his own intellect to overcome his weakness.

What follows in the Gita are words of wisdom which if we can inculcate, will enable us in the first place not to reach that breakdown stage and even if we reach, will enable us to bootstrap ourselves  back to normalcy.


Conclusion : Lesson from Swami Vivekananda’s Life

“Once when I was in Varanasi, I was passing through a place where there was a large tank of water on one side and a high wall on the other. It was in the grounds where there were many monkeys. The monkeys of Varanasi are huge brutes and are sometimes surly. They now took it into their heads not to allow me to pass through their street, so they howled and shrieked and clutched at my feet as I passed. As they pressed closer, I began to run, but the faster I ran, the faster came the monkeys and they began to bite at me. It seemed impossible to escape, but just then I met a stranger who called out to me, "Face the brutes." I turned and faced the monkeys, and they fell back and finally fled. That is a lesson for all life — face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them. If we are ever to gain freedom, it must be by conquering nature, never by running away. Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before  you”


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As readers may be aware, 4 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com. I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. Glimpses Of Indian Spirituality

Glimpses Of Indian Spirituality

2. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

3. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

4. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

A Individual Overcome By Emotions

arjuna uvāca

dṛṣṭvemaḿ sva-janaḿ kṛṣṇa
yuyutsuḿ samupasthitam
sīdanti mama gātrāṇi
mukhaḿ ca pariśuṣyati


Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.

vepathuś ca śarīre me
roma-harṣaś ca jāyate
gāṇḍīvaḿ sraḿsate hastāt
tvak caiva paridahyate

My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.

na ca śaknomy avasthātuḿ
bhramatīva ca me manaḥ
nimittāni ca paśyāmi
viparītāni keśava

I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling. I see only causes of misfortune, O Krishna, killer of the Keshi demon.


na ca śreyo ‘nupaśyāmi
hatvā sva-janam āhave
na kāńkṣe vijayaḿ kṛṣṇa
na ca rājyaḿ sukhāni ca


I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krishna, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.



Commentary :

These verses brilliantly illustrates the helplessness of our self-control and the corresponding impact on our body and mind. When we face a tough situation, we find it difficult to exercise our own self-control because of our love, affection, fear and addiction to negative thoughts and emotions.

The scene is the Kurukshetra war where the opposing armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas have gathered for a battle royal.

From an event perspective, just before the battle begins, Arjuna requests Sri Krishna to take the chariot between the 2 armies so that he can get an idea as to who are in the opposing armies. The all knowing Krishna takes the chariot right in front of the revered Bhishma, Drona etc. Bhishma is Arjuna's great grandfather and Drona is his revered teacher, both unfortunately being opposed to Arjuna now due to their prior obligations to Duryodhana.

Arjuna looks at the revered elders in front of him and his numerous cousins with whom he has played as a kid, now standing before him in battle. A wave of emotion overpowers Arjuna and he goes on a long lecture as to why it is not right for him to fight the battle.

Let us try and analyse the situation from different angles. First from the situational angle, here is the greatest warrior Arjuna who has done hundreds of battles and has been preparing for the greatest battle for the past 13 years, and he has broken down totally on seeing the people he is going to fight. Arjuna knew that he would have to fight his guru and his elders. It was not a surprise for him. but seeing them actually on the battlefield and the thought that his arrows could kill them totally threw him into a disarray. He totally forgot the purpose of the war and his duty and was overcome by emotion. His duty was to dislodge the Kauravas from the empire of Kurukshetra. It was not for the desire of kingdom that Lord Krishna wanted him to fight the war. Rather it was always known that the war was a righteous war to establish Dharma or proper conduct in society. The Kauravas were bad rulers climaxing in the utter horror of the crown prince attempting to disrobe a princess in the palace in the presence of elders. How much could society have degraded that it stood still watching such a scene and did nothing about it. It was Arjuna's duty as a warrior to fight evil tendencies and help establish a moral code of conduct. However as soon as he saw the people, he forgot that objective and the only thing that was in his mind was his keen selfish desire to preserve his kith and kin. From that perspective it was a massive fall for Arjuna from the lofty ideals of war to uphold righteousness to a selfish desire to protect his kin from certain death in the war.

Let us now look at it from a psychological perspective. Here was Arjuna, a towering warrior with a rich intellect overpowered by emotions. In this emotional state, Arjuna was finding enough reasons for not fighting, all within the control of emotions and not by the reasoning of the intellect. Most often than not, does it not happen to us that when we face a crisis situation, we are totally guided by the emotion rather than the intellect? Emotions, by themselves are not bad at all. They provide us a means to express and enjoy the rich tapestry of life. But emotions primarily consist of like(Raga) or dislike(dvesha) of something. Getting what we like makes us happy and losing what we do not like makes us happy and vice-versa. So, if any major act of ours is driven by emotion, in effect it is driven by our individual likes and dislikes and not by reasoning born of intellect. Such an act based on emotions is likely to lead to bad results. Just as Arjuna driven by emotion, deciding not to fight, would have meant a sure victory for the evilness of the Kauravas, our own actions driven by spurts of emotion can lead to actions with disastrous results. Seeing the fact that the destructive emotions are part and parcel of our own personality, our self-control find it difficult to act against them. Self control concludes that life without these thoughts and emotions is meaningless.

When we face a stressful situation, the perception will be sent to our thinking and emotional brain at the very same time through the thalamus. If the emotional brain finds a threat in the situation perceived, it hijacks our thinking brain ,may go to a fight, flight or freeze situation. The emotional response "can take over” the rest of the brain in a millisecond if threatened.

This challenge with the emotions overpowering the intellect and making self control powerless will manifest in different ways in our body and mind :

• Body Shivering
• Dry mouth
• Burning sensation in skin
• Cannot stand properly
• Mind spinning
• Hair stands up

Psychologically, when we are taken over by emotions in a stressful situation, the following typically happen:

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.
• Loss of interest in daily activities. No interest in former hobbies, pastimes or social activities. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure
•  Appetite or weight changes. Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month
• Sleep changes. Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).
• Anger or irritability. Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerve
• Loss of energy. Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete
• Self-loathing. Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes
• Reckless behaviour. You engage in escapist behaviour such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports
• Concentration problems. Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things
• Unexplained aches and pains. An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

Now let us look at this from a spiritual perspective. As a spiritual seeker, we are told that we have to give up desires, ego, past habits etc. Just as Arjuna felt that it is not worth fighting for a kingdom and winning it by defeating Duryodhana, we convince ourselves that it is not worth living if we give up all desires(Duryodhana).

Have we not heard enough arguments that without desire there is no progress and we should all aim higher and higher for physical/mental/intellectual desires? Having been conditioned by society that desires are essential, when we as spiritual students are told that we have to fight desires, we feel the spiritual path which is advocating giving up desires is not worth it. Arjuna could not face up to the fact that his arrows could kill Bhishma. Similarly we cannot face up to the fact that our arrow of intellect got through spiritual progress can kill our ego.



In summary, just as Arjuna, with clouded intellect, gave emotional reasons not to fight refused to fight with Duryodhana whose army consisted of warriors like Drona and Bhishma, we in our fit of ignorance of reality, give apparently convincing reasons not to fight desires whose army consists of warriors like ego and past habits and give up the path of spiritual progress.


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3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

 

Emotion Overcomes Self Control

sañjaya uvāca evam ukto hṛṣīkeśo guḍākeśena bhārata
senayor ubhayor madhye sthāpayitvā rathottamam

bhisma-drona-pramukhatah sarvesam ca mahi-ksitam
uvaca partha pasyaitan samavetan kurun iti

atrāpaśyat sthitān pārthaḥ pitṝn atha pitāmahān
ācāryān mātulān bhrātṝn putrān pautrān sakhīḿs tathā

śvaśurān suhṛdaś caiva senayor ubhayor api
taansameekshya sa kaunteyaha sarvaanbandhunavasthitaan



Sanjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, having thus been addressed by Arjuna, Lord Krishna drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties.

In the presence of Bhishma, Drona and all the other chieftains of the world, the Lord said, Just behold, Partha, all the Kurus assembled here.

There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his fathers-in-law and well-wishers.

When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus.

Commentary

To set the context, Arjuna, the archer has requested his charioteer,  Krishna to take the chariot between the two armies so that he could see the warriors assembled on the opposing side. Krishna then takes the chariot as requested and points out to Arjuna the various warriors including his great great grandfather, Bhishma, his teacher Drona, his cousin Duryodhana and various other relatives.

We have seen earlier that Arjuna represents self control and Krishna represents the supreme intellect in us. We have also seen that self control needs to be aware of the negative forces it has to battle in its journey. The intellect in us points out to us the negative forces. It shows us the main negative force which is Ego(represented as Bhishma), our past habits which drive our behaviour(represented as Drona), our material desire(represented as Duryodhana) to name a few.

Just as Arjuna on seeing his near and dear ones he would have to battle, felt remorseful, in exactly the same way, our self control behaves when it sees the negative forces in the mind. One may wonder why negative forces should cloud the self control. Let;s try to look at some of the negative forces we have to battle in our journey of self evolution. I mentioned ego as one of the negative forces. Have we all not been trained since almost birth that we have to have a identity different from others? Have we not been almost always taught that we should always try to become better than others? again none of these are bad in the materialistic world and are essential too. However for a spiritual journey, the feeling of separateness or the feeling of difference from the supreme which is the ego's creation, is what we are trying to eliminate. The ego has become us. I identify myself as a particular religion, group, caste whatever and when self control says, here is your enemy, we are struck with horror. If I fight ego and give it up, what becomes of me? Don’t I become a non-entity?

Intellect points and shows desire as one of my negative forces. Again it is a shock for me. It is a desire for a better life that has brought me here. It is a desire for the next BMW that makes me work hard. It is a desire to get that fat bonus that propels me. What would I be without desire? Without desire I am non-existent.

Some of the negative forces may have developed through conditions of environment. A child does not come into the world as a drunkard. But suppose it is in the company of parents/elders who always drink, then it sees nothing wrong at all in that and drinking is accepted as a part of life. Some of these negative traits may be acquired as we grow in life.  I may have casually started smoking for fun and without realizing it has engulfed me and become part of me. These are all habits which reinforce desires and are bound closely to my personality. When the intellect points out to habit as a negative force, I am stunned and if told to give up habits, I feel distressed since they have become part of me.

Conclusion

Negative forces to be controlled are  part and parcel of our psyche and it’s very hard for us to control or annihilate them as they are deep rooted and very dear to us. As discussed, some of these impressions might have been developed by the influence of the family. Some of them might have been from the society and culture we are born. Some of them might have been developed by our own misinterpretations. The negative thoughts / emotions / habits present themselves as near and dear to us. 

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3 of my books

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality