The Holy Bhagwad Gita: : The despondency of Arjuna

Note : Readers are advised to see my earlier posts on the Bhagwad gita.


Chapter I : Slokas 28, 29 and 30



Arjuna Uvacha

28: DRISHTVEMAM SWAJANAM KRISHNA YUYUTSUM SAMUPASTITAM

SEEDANTI MAMA GATRANI MUKHAM CHA PARISHUSHYATI

29: VEPATUSCHA SARIRE’ ME’ ROMAHARSHASCHA JAYATE

GANDEEVAM SRAMSATE HASTAAT TVAK CHAIVA PARIDAHYATE

30: na ca saknomy avasthatum bhramativa ca me manah
nimittani ca pasyami viparitani kesava





Arjuna said:


O Krishna, seeing these, my own kinsmen gathered, eager to fight, my limbs fail, my tongue is dried up, my body trembles, my skin is burning all over and my hair stands on end, and even my mind is whirling. My Gandiva is slipping from my hand. I cannot stand up. I foresee only evil, O killer of the Kesi demon.


Commentary :


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. He gives quite convincing reasons for refusing to fight which can easily appeal to a person of lesser intellect. He says that the family will be destroyed and the elders in Heaven would suffer as a result of the war. He further says that with the men dead in war, the women will be forced to mix with people of different blood and will give rise to impure offspring. He says he is better off not fighting this battle and letting the Kauravas rule the kingdom. He prefers begging on the street rather than shed blood of his own kin for the sake of a kingdom.

Let us try and analyze 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.

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 in a fit of emotion, refused to fight with Duryodhana whose army consisted of warriors like Drona and Bhishma, we in our fit of ignorance of reality refuse to fight desires whose army consists of warriors like ego and past habits and give up the path of spiritual progress.