|| परमपूज्य, प्रातःस्मरणीय पं. श्री मुरलीधर जी मिश्र ||
I bow down to lotus feet of my first Guru, my revered father Pandit Shri Murli Dhar ji Mishr, my Vidya Guru, Kaul Shiromani Shri Shivanand Nath ji and the all compassionate Masters of Gurumandala.. I pray for their love, support and guidance..
Shivoaham!
प्रथमोSध्यायः… (Continued 1:36 – 1:39)
Lovely Souls,
I bow down to the Divine seated in your heart!
Arjuna further says “What joy we shall obtain, Janaradana in killing the sons of Dhritaraashtra? Only paapa (evil) would accrue to us by killing these malefactors (sinners). (1:37)”
In the first look it would seem as if Arjuna is talking like a sane person but see the hidden bitterness. The words he chooses for his cousins or brothers and uncle are ‘Sons of Dhritaraashtra’, In the same breath he is calling his uncle by his name and referring to his cousins as ‘Sons of Dhritaraastra’. And then onward he goes in the saintly mode. If you were a psychologist you would know this sentence is not making any sense. Arjuna’s expressions are oozing out from his contempt (at least his words in this shloka indicate it vaguely) for these mean people whom he has still not forgiven or else why would he use the word ‘malefactors’ for them. Arjuna is also (unknowingly) expressing his ‘warrior orientation’ by asking “What joy shall be obtain in killing them?”.
This shloka is reflection of confused state of mind of Arjuna. He is still weighing the pros and cons… Arjuna is asking.. what benefit or the joy in killing them on one hand and on the other he is calling them malefactor. Similarly he is still referring them ‘sons of Dhritaraastra’. This phrase ‘son of Dhritraashtra’ may be loaded with contempt towards the Kauravas but Arjuna has not been able to dissociate them from his family-relationship. He is still seeing them as the sons of Dhritaraastra. He could have called them ‘enemy’ but could not! Because he is still focused on the relationship with these people who are up against him in this battle.
“Therefore we must not kill the ‘sons of Dhritaraashtra’ and our kinsmen. How could we become happy by killing our family, Madhava?” (1:38) Here Arjuna’s contempt is getting clearer for Kauravas for they are still ‘sons of Dhritaraastra’ for him and others are seen as ‘our kinsmen’. But his blurred logic is mixing things and later he clubs them all in the word ‘our family’. His logic is blurred because on one hand he is calling Kauravas malefactors but not able to see the support by ‘our kinsmen’ to Kauravas; making them equally full of malice and injustice.
This question ‘How could we become happy by killing our family?’ is baseless. In the history of time we have seen many legendary mothers killing their own sons for being traitors or for ravaging the noble traditional values and ethics. There have been daughters who killed their rapist fathers, police officers getting in to encounter with their true brothers… the list goes on.. No one can tolerate injustice and exploitation beyond a limit even if it comes from a member of one’s own family. But Arjuna is baffled and unprepared emotionally for this moment and thus his foggy mind is not letting him see the reality.
Though Arjuna is still posing to be in his senses but he definitely needs support.. subconsciously he is yearning for it and calling his most loved brother, his charioteer Krishna in every sentence. This sentence ends with ‘Madhava.. the previous one with Janardana’.. and see the third one in a row…
“Even if they (karuvas), because their minds have been deluded by greed, can’t see the wickedness of destroying the family and crime in betraying their own friends, how could we fail to see that we should turn away from this evil, we who see the wickedness of destroying the family, Janardana?
Arjuna is now settling for a side.. he is finally making a ground to go for the option of avoiding the ‘karmic opportunity, the war’ and expanding his logic to support his position. What he is saying here that ‘We are the wiser of the lot and can see the harm and thus stay away from this war which will result in destruction of family.’ Krishna is standing there to restore the ‘order’, for the ‘triumph of the truth’ but Arjuna is still engaged in saving the lives of his family. While he would be making sense to himself but Krishna would be smiling as usual upon his words. Even you can see that Arjuna does not seem to draw his own attention upon the lakhs of other ordinary soldiers’ lives (who are on either side – owing to their destiny and divine plan) which are on stake due to this war. He is still not able to see this war as the ‘war for the truth and righteousness’.
Almost every modern Arjuna takes wrong decisions in everyday life just because he/she fall in the trap of saving someone in the ‘family’. It happens because one is not open to perceive higher goals, higher motives and higher wisdom. To practice Gita in life you need to sharpen your intellect so that you can see the ‘karmic opportunities’ in the light of your right wisdom. Whenever faced with a situation which requires you to take some decisions – become like Arjuna – keep seeking advice from ‘krishna’ who is always available right here in our ‘chariot-heart’ always ready to advise us and ever ready to take our commands to drive us where we want.. if we insist.
Listen to Him for He never fails to whisper right words unto us. Only putting His words in action we can realize the ‘Truth’.
Shivoham!
- Ach. Agyaatdarshan Anand Nath
To read other related posts on Gita, you may visit http://agyaatdarshan.wordpress.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment