sanjaya uvaca
tam tatha krpayavistam asru-purnakuleksanam
visidantam idam vakyam uvaca madhusudanah
Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.
Summary
Context
As we have seen the last chapter, the Mahabharatha war is about to begin. Arjuna asked his divine charioteer Sri Krishna to take him to the middle of the battlefield so that he could see the forces. On seeing the opposing side consisting of his cousins, uncles, nephews, grand parents, teachers to name a few, Arjuna lost control over himself and became so emotionally disturbed that he did not want to wage the battle. At that point, Sri Krishna addressed Arjuna.
Historical understanding
We know that the Pandavas were cheated out of their rightful throne of Hastinapura by their cousins, the Kauravas and had been forced to exile for 13 years. As par the agreement, after 13 tears, the Pandavas had to get back their kingdom and when the Kauravas refused, war was declared. Arjuna, the greatest archer had spent the 13 years preparing for this impending war and had acquired the greatest arms from a variety of sources. In a "trial" battle, when the Kauravas attacked a kingdom that was sheltering the Pandavas, Arjuna had single handedly defeated the entire Kaurava army. Such a committed warrior, whose objective was to protect righteousness, had succumbed to emotions and reduced almost to a wimp who was shedding tears at the thought of fighting his near and dear ones. The Bhagwad Gita with the sermons of Sri Krishna starting in this chapter till the final chapter, contain such immense wisdom that can startle and shake up any disturbed person and at the same time logically take one to the understanding of how to manage tough situations. The Mahabharatha war is only a exaggerated context. Not many of us would likely face such situations. But the beauty of the Gita is that even from such a hopeless situation for Arjuna where he was reduced to a wimp, it raised him to the highest level and ready for battle.
Symbolism
We have seen earlier that Arjuna represents Self Control. The foes Arjuna is seeing are symbolized by the Kauravas as Desire(Duryodhana), Ego( Bhishma), Past habits(Drona) to name a few. When a seeker is on a spiritual journey, one of the key requirements is self control, the ability to regulate the mind not to get into binding selfish desires. But what happens when the battle begins? I am pre-diabetic and should avoid sugar. But when i see a real good sweet, in spite of knowing that it is harmful for me, can i resist the sweet? Even the thought of resisting the desire, creates discord in my mind and a sort of sadness at what i am missing by fighting the desire. Similarly, on the spiritual path, the seeker is asked to give up ego, which is the feeling of self identity or separateness from the Supreme. Again even the thought of fighting ego means, that I do not have an identity. If I do not have an identity, what about my spouse, kids, parents? If i am not myself and have to give it up, what becomes of me? This creates a sadness in the mind even to think of fighting the concept of the ego. Same is the case with fighting past habits. I am sure most readers would have experienced the turmoil while attempting to give up habits like drinking, smoking etc. So, for a seeker, the thought of fighting the desire, ego, past habits to name a few, can create a situation of distress and helplessness.
The roots of stress
While we may not face the type of problems that Arjuna faced in our day to day life,each of us exposed to a variety of problem situations. They can be any of the following as an example:
It may be worthwhile to recount a personal experience. Several years ago, I worked for an IT consulting firm and was in the process of getting necessary visa clearance to stay in this country permanently and since this has to be processed by my employer, I was beholden to the company and had to suffer many indignities. On one of the stressful days, a colleague used some language, which was not improper or incorrect , in retrospective. But that triggered a total emotional collapse for me and I started crying in front of my manager. I just could not do any of the three options listed above and was an emotional wreck. I guess many of the readers would have experienced similar issues. If stressful situations can cause so much problems, it is worthwhile to understand the fundamentals of stress.
The science of stress
Stress is the reaction to a demanding situation in the human physiology. Whenever we face a situation, our body tries to prepare us to face the situation
This will be in the form of a non specific, conventional, and psychometric response pattern by the brain This response pattern is known as “stress”.
Stress has the following life cycle:
The cure for stress
What is the cure for stress? I am not at all talking of the numerous drugs in the market. Certainly Sri Krishna did not offer any drugs/medicines to Arjuna. What he offered was the highest level of knowledge to enable an individual to pull himself out of the depths to which he had fallen. Lord Krishna, the remover of all the bondages of the human mind, is giving the solution for the (‘ Arjuna’ state) distressed state of mind. This solution is known as ‘ Yoga’. The Yoga addresses the problem in its entirety and prepare an individual for life. This Yoga is applicable to people of all period, place and/or faiths. We are not talking of the physical act of twisting arms and legs as part of physical exercise. We are talking of a way to energize our mind to face up to stresses in life and come out successful. As we progress through this chapter we will be introduced to the various yogas and they will be covered in much more detail in the subsequent chapters.
Conclusion
We covered the state of Arjuna and identified the stressful state he was in and its consequences. We saw the different stages of stress and their impact on an individual. We left this verse on a positive note that through yoga, it is possible to master stress and lead a productive life.
-------------------------------------------
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
tam tatha krpayavistam asru-purnakuleksanam
visidantam idam vakyam uvaca madhusudanah
Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.
Summary
Context
As we have seen the last chapter, the Mahabharatha war is about to begin. Arjuna asked his divine charioteer Sri Krishna to take him to the middle of the battlefield so that he could see the forces. On seeing the opposing side consisting of his cousins, uncles, nephews, grand parents, teachers to name a few, Arjuna lost control over himself and became so emotionally disturbed that he did not want to wage the battle. At that point, Sri Krishna addressed Arjuna.
Historical understanding
We know that the Pandavas were cheated out of their rightful throne of Hastinapura by their cousins, the Kauravas and had been forced to exile for 13 years. As par the agreement, after 13 tears, the Pandavas had to get back their kingdom and when the Kauravas refused, war was declared. Arjuna, the greatest archer had spent the 13 years preparing for this impending war and had acquired the greatest arms from a variety of sources. In a "trial" battle, when the Kauravas attacked a kingdom that was sheltering the Pandavas, Arjuna had single handedly defeated the entire Kaurava army. Such a committed warrior, whose objective was to protect righteousness, had succumbed to emotions and reduced almost to a wimp who was shedding tears at the thought of fighting his near and dear ones. The Bhagwad Gita with the sermons of Sri Krishna starting in this chapter till the final chapter, contain such immense wisdom that can startle and shake up any disturbed person and at the same time logically take one to the understanding of how to manage tough situations. The Mahabharatha war is only a exaggerated context. Not many of us would likely face such situations. But the beauty of the Gita is that even from such a hopeless situation for Arjuna where he was reduced to a wimp, it raised him to the highest level and ready for battle.
Symbolism
We have seen earlier that Arjuna represents Self Control. The foes Arjuna is seeing are symbolized by the Kauravas as Desire(Duryodhana), Ego( Bhishma), Past habits(Drona) to name a few. When a seeker is on a spiritual journey, one of the key requirements is self control, the ability to regulate the mind not to get into binding selfish desires. But what happens when the battle begins? I am pre-diabetic and should avoid sugar. But when i see a real good sweet, in spite of knowing that it is harmful for me, can i resist the sweet? Even the thought of resisting the desire, creates discord in my mind and a sort of sadness at what i am missing by fighting the desire. Similarly, on the spiritual path, the seeker is asked to give up ego, which is the feeling of self identity or separateness from the Supreme. Again even the thought of fighting ego means, that I do not have an identity. If I do not have an identity, what about my spouse, kids, parents? If i am not myself and have to give it up, what becomes of me? This creates a sadness in the mind even to think of fighting the concept of the ego. Same is the case with fighting past habits. I am sure most readers would have experienced the turmoil while attempting to give up habits like drinking, smoking etc. So, for a seeker, the thought of fighting the desire, ego, past habits to name a few, can create a situation of distress and helplessness.
The roots of stress
While we may not face the type of problems that Arjuna faced in our day to day life,each of us exposed to a variety of problem situations. They can be any of the following as an example:
- Natural Disasters
- Work Pressure
- Financial Challenges
- Terrorism
- Family problems
- Health problems
- Face the problems as best as we can
- Retreat from the problems if that is the only option
- Accept the situation if there are no options
- We are not able to face the problems effectively
- We don’t retreat from the problems at appropriate time
- We don’t accept the situations and hard facts
- Emotional Overwhelming
- Stress
- Tears
- Depression
It may be worthwhile to recount a personal experience. Several years ago, I worked for an IT consulting firm and was in the process of getting necessary visa clearance to stay in this country permanently and since this has to be processed by my employer, I was beholden to the company and had to suffer many indignities. On one of the stressful days, a colleague used some language, which was not improper or incorrect , in retrospective. But that triggered a total emotional collapse for me and I started crying in front of my manager. I just could not do any of the three options listed above and was an emotional wreck. I guess many of the readers would have experienced similar issues. If stressful situations can cause so much problems, it is worthwhile to understand the fundamentals of stress.
The science of stress
Stress is the reaction to a demanding situation in the human physiology. Whenever we face a situation, our body tries to prepare us to face the situation
This will be in the form of a non specific, conventional, and psychometric response pattern by the brain This response pattern is known as “stress”.
Stress has the following life cycle:
- Stage 1: Stimuli from senses sent to the brain
- Stage 2: The brain deciphers the stimuli as a threat or non-threat
- Stage 3: If stressful situation, the body remains in aroused condition.
- Stage 4: The body returns to calmness or homoeostasis state once threat is gone.
- The level of stress is too high
- If the stress stays for continues period of time
- Unwanted Stress arousal
- Too little stress leads to inactivity or laziness or a laid back attitude. We have seen this attitude in several government offices especially in developing economies. With a guaranteed job, there is no motivation to perform. Hence there is a laid back attitude.
- Optimum stress which keeps performance at a high level and mental state at a energetic level. Have we not seen in our work with some managers who apply the right type of motivation to keep stress level high and perform well? I used to have a manager in one of my companies. She trusted me so much that any time she gave me an assignment, I used to feel that positive stress not to let down the trust she had in me and I could perform at my peak with a positive attitude.
- Too much stress(overload) - The tipping point for optimum stress is when the positivity in action goes down and stress is felt physically. It leads to exhaustion and various physical symptoms like headache, body ache, illness to name a few.
- Burnout - As the stress level increases, there is a complete burnout necessitating therapy in many cases. We have heard of young investment bankers getting burnt out in their 30's. At this stage, the mind is totally negative and may even lead to suicidal tendencies on one hand or may even cause physical harm to others.
The cure for stress
What is the cure for stress? I am not at all talking of the numerous drugs in the market. Certainly Sri Krishna did not offer any drugs/medicines to Arjuna. What he offered was the highest level of knowledge to enable an individual to pull himself out of the depths to which he had fallen. Lord Krishna, the remover of all the bondages of the human mind, is giving the solution for the (‘ Arjuna’ state) distressed state of mind. This solution is known as ‘ Yoga’. The Yoga addresses the problem in its entirety and prepare an individual for life. This Yoga is applicable to people of all period, place and/or faiths. We are not talking of the physical act of twisting arms and legs as part of physical exercise. We are talking of a way to energize our mind to face up to stresses in life and come out successful. As we progress through this chapter we will be introduced to the various yogas and they will be covered in much more detail in the subsequent chapters.
Conclusion
We covered the state of Arjuna and identified the stressful state he was in and its consequences. We saw the different stages of stress and their impact on an individual. We left this verse on a positive note that through yoga, it is possible to master stress and lead a productive life.
-------------------------------------------
3 of my books
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
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