tamuvaacha hrisheekeshaha prahasanniva bhaarata |
senayorubhayormadhye visheedantamidam vachaha
Translation:
Lord of Sense Organs (Hrishikeesha), as though smiling, spoke these words to the despondent Arjuna, in the middle of the two armies.
Summary
As we have seen, the war is about to begin and the ace archer from the Pandava army, Arjuna has an emotional panic attack seeing that he has to kill his cousins, friends and other relatives of the opposing Kaurava army. He puts down his bow and refuses to fight. He gives seemingly powerful arguments to bolster his case for not fighting. In the psychological context, we have seen that this is the typical state of a hyper stressed individual. He has lost the capability to think and act rationally, which many of us face in extreme situations. In regular situations when we are emotionally in control, our intellect guides the mind and we are able to handle situations. But when hyper stressed, the intellect is totally overwhelmed by the mind and its guidance is not available any more. Lucky is that person who realizes his intellect is not working and surrenders to another source to act as a proxy intellect.
Most of us face tough situations in life and solve our issues. But sometimes overwhelmed by the situation, we may take a wrong decision which will come to haunt us for life. How often have we not read of situations where absolutely normal people ended up killing their spouses or other loved ones in a fit of anger; Did something totally atrocious to themselves including committing suicide unable to face situations. But in that absolutely bad moment, when we are about to snap, with whatever little intellect left, if we surrender to a mentor or friend to seek advise, probably the world will not see the type of situations I mentioned above. The challenge is to make sure the right type of mentor is available at the right time.
If I am in the midst of preparing for a tough exam and am feeling overwhelmed, I would not go to another fellow student who is much better prepared and may cause me more complexes and insecurities. If I am in the midst of a ethical crisis at work, I would not seek out someone who has no qualms about doing unethical things. At a larger level, we have seen the type of advisers our past president turned to prior to the Iraq invasion and the type of disaster that followed.
We need a mentor who is himself strong emotionally. We need a mentor who has experienced such situations himself or has been closely associated with someone who has gone through such situations. When my father expired, with me, were younger people who still had their parents. So, from an emotional support perspective, at that moment they were useless. Later when my mother expired several years later, I luckily could turn for emotional support to a friend who was a social worker and had supported several people in their moment of grief. Hence my recovery was much faster when my mother expired than when my father expired.
We do not need a mentor who just rushes in with a response. We need a mentor to be not only stable, but who has the capability to listen patiently to our rants. We have seen in the conversations between Arjun and Krishna that Krishna is silently listening to Arjuna's rants and not trying to stop him. A wise mentor realizes that it is better for the disturbed individual to exhaust all his negative thoughts by talking them out than keep them hidden to erupt later like a volcano. We need the mentor to be down to earth and humble. At a time of emotional distress, we do not want our mentor to have a holier than thou attitude or be arrogant or feel superior compared to our situation. We need someone with empathy to our situation. At the same time, we do not need a mentor who will only tell us what we want to hear. If there is a wrong thinking leading to our emotional stress situation, we need the mentor to be able to skilfully point out our negative issues, but at the same time take care to not put us down for the negativity.
In Arjuna's situation, he has the great teacher Krishna to guide him. Through the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna - the master of Yoga, helps us to gain and apply the necessary knowledge and Life skills for leading a peaceful, happy and efficient life. He is known as the ‘Lord of Yoga’, Yogeswara’. He is a master of all situations and faced all the situations of life with a smile. His life is a perfect demonstration of Yogic way of Life. He is known as Jagat Guru, Teacher for the entire universe. As the Gita unfolds, we will see the brilliance of Krishna as he nurses the emotionally distressed Arjuna.
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
senayorubhayormadhye visheedantamidam vachaha
Translation:
Lord of Sense Organs (Hrishikeesha), as though smiling, spoke these words to the despondent Arjuna, in the middle of the two armies.
Summary
As we have seen, the war is about to begin and the ace archer from the Pandava army, Arjuna has an emotional panic attack seeing that he has to kill his cousins, friends and other relatives of the opposing Kaurava army. He puts down his bow and refuses to fight. He gives seemingly powerful arguments to bolster his case for not fighting. In the psychological context, we have seen that this is the typical state of a hyper stressed individual. He has lost the capability to think and act rationally, which many of us face in extreme situations. In regular situations when we are emotionally in control, our intellect guides the mind and we are able to handle situations. But when hyper stressed, the intellect is totally overwhelmed by the mind and its guidance is not available any more. Lucky is that person who realizes his intellect is not working and surrenders to another source to act as a proxy intellect.
Most of us face tough situations in life and solve our issues. But sometimes overwhelmed by the situation, we may take a wrong decision which will come to haunt us for life. How often have we not read of situations where absolutely normal people ended up killing their spouses or other loved ones in a fit of anger; Did something totally atrocious to themselves including committing suicide unable to face situations. But in that absolutely bad moment, when we are about to snap, with whatever little intellect left, if we surrender to a mentor or friend to seek advise, probably the world will not see the type of situations I mentioned above. The challenge is to make sure the right type of mentor is available at the right time.
If I am in the midst of preparing for a tough exam and am feeling overwhelmed, I would not go to another fellow student who is much better prepared and may cause me more complexes and insecurities. If I am in the midst of a ethical crisis at work, I would not seek out someone who has no qualms about doing unethical things. At a larger level, we have seen the type of advisers our past president turned to prior to the Iraq invasion and the type of disaster that followed.
We need a mentor who is himself strong emotionally. We need a mentor who has experienced such situations himself or has been closely associated with someone who has gone through such situations. When my father expired, with me, were younger people who still had their parents. So, from an emotional support perspective, at that moment they were useless. Later when my mother expired several years later, I luckily could turn for emotional support to a friend who was a social worker and had supported several people in their moment of grief. Hence my recovery was much faster when my mother expired than when my father expired.
We do not need a mentor who just rushes in with a response. We need a mentor to be not only stable, but who has the capability to listen patiently to our rants. We have seen in the conversations between Arjun and Krishna that Krishna is silently listening to Arjuna's rants and not trying to stop him. A wise mentor realizes that it is better for the disturbed individual to exhaust all his negative thoughts by talking them out than keep them hidden to erupt later like a volcano. We need the mentor to be down to earth and humble. At a time of emotional distress, we do not want our mentor to have a holier than thou attitude or be arrogant or feel superior compared to our situation. We need someone with empathy to our situation. At the same time, we do not need a mentor who will only tell us what we want to hear. If there is a wrong thinking leading to our emotional stress situation, we need the mentor to be able to skilfully point out our negative issues, but at the same time take care to not put us down for the negativity.
In Arjuna's situation, he has the great teacher Krishna to guide him. Through the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna - the master of Yoga, helps us to gain and apply the necessary knowledge and Life skills for leading a peaceful, happy and efficient life. He is known as the ‘Lord of Yoga’, Yogeswara’. He is a master of all situations and faced all the situations of life with a smile. His life is a perfect demonstration of Yogic way of Life. He is known as Jagat Guru, Teacher for the entire universe. As the Gita unfolds, we will see the brilliance of Krishna as he nurses the emotionally distressed Arjuna.
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
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