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

Stress & Its Impact

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:

• Natural Disasters 
• Work Pressure 
• Financial Challenges 
• Terrorism 
• Family problems 
• Health problems

When faced with these types of problems, what are our options? For physical problems, through the process of evolution, we have a fight or flight mechanism to avoid physical problems. But, what of problems created by stress or those created by the mind? We can probably think of the following options:

• 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  

But what is the reality? Are we able to practice these options ? If we retrospect and analyse our responses after a serious stress related problem, we realize the following:

• 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

When we face a problem, we get perplexed in front of the problem. As a result we cannot do what needs to be done at that time. This may result in any or all of the following:

• 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. 

Now, comes a question. Is stress always bad? Stress is a burst of energy that basically advises us on what to do Without stress we cannot survive Stress is bad only when :

• The level of stress is too high 
• If  the stress stays for continues period of time
• Unwanted Stress arousal  

The problem is not the stress , but the level of stress and the amount of time the individual stays in the stressed  state without relaxation. It is known even in corporate environments, that as stress increases, performance increases till a point and only when stress exceeds a level, performance drops and then it becomes a burnout. Depending on level of stress, the individual's activity level and his mental state varies. Typically the mental state and stress levels are correlated as shown below:

• 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 state that Arjuna was in was the last stage. The environment had created so much stress that he was burnt out, flabbergasted and totally negative and unable to think of the high ideals for which the war was being fought.

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.



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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