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By Jayaram V
When Arjuna stood in the middle of the battle field, between the two
great armies, and saw his own cousins and relations standing against
him, on the other side, ready to wage a destructive war, he was suddenly
overwhelmed with a sense of deep depression and despair.
The thought of much violence and bloodshed ensuing out of the war and
the possibility of the destruction of his family in the war filled him
with fear and anguish. His knowledge and experience could not give him
the much needed assurance to perform his duties as a warrior.
At that particular moment in his life, he felt that the gains of
winning the war were far less appealing, both morally and socially, than
the possibility of a vast devastation and destruction of human life.
He became convinced that he was set upon a destructive course of
action and that he was on the threshold of committing a great sin by
becoming the source of destruction of his own family and friends.
With the destruction of family, he reasoned, the women of his family
would lose their virtue and this in turn would lead to the inter mixture
of castes. In such circumstances, he wondered, how could he wage a war
and later on live with blood stained hands and the ill reputation of
being a slayer of his own family?
Would it not be better for him to live on alms like a beggar than
slaying so many members and elders of his own family towards whom he had
shown so much respect in the past?
These were the moral and intellectual issues that raged in his mind
as he stood upon the battle field facing his enemies. Unable to resolve
the conflict, in confusion and consternation, he decided to face death,
unarmed, than kill his own relations and live in sin.
One cannot blame Arjuna for his weaknesses as a human being. Like
most of the ordinary mortals, though perhaps spiritually more advanced
than many, he poured out the confusion of his mind and his faltering
knowledge.
The same motives, desires and limitations, which play in our minds,
as we deal with our day to day tasks, also played in his mind, as he
stood confused in the battle field, with his beliefs shaken,
intelligence failing and judgment faltering. In the face of a grave
crisis, he spoke the same language which we all would speak in similar
circumstances.
A great warrior, bred on the beliefs and values of his times, Arjuna
was intensely religious, morally righteous, socially responsible,
ambitious, earthly and humane. As he laid aside his bow and arrows and
sank down in the back seat of his chariot, down and dejected, there was
no dichotomy in his thoughts or in his actions.
There was neither cynicism nor insincerity, nor any form of duplicity
in his approach. The thought of bloodshed and violence truly touched him
and shook him. Sincere was his conclusion that avoiding the war was
better than causing the bloodshed. As a human being, his sorrow was
genuine and so was his concern.
His arguments were perfectly logical and intellectually sound. His
fears were also normal and understandable. Whether it was his orthodox
views or his genuine concern for the welfare of his family members, even
after all the troubles he got from some of them, and his fear about the
virtue of his family women, that they would degenerate into vice and
cause destruction of family, were in tune with the social and moral
values of his times and we should not judge him from our standards.
One cannot be too critical of him for his lopsided logic, his
inclination to rationalize his fears and his pretentious and
questionable approach to the ethics of war. He was but expressing the
knowledge of his times and his conditioned mind.
Worldly knowledge does not illuminate the suffering mind. It does not
provide correct solutions to the problems of our existence, because it
does not have the force of true illumination.
This knowledge, which we all hold dearly, is an ignorant force,
without clarity of vision and without adequate strength to sustain us
through trails and tribulations. It is an imperfect instrument which
cannot present to its possessor a holistic vision of the world in which
he lives. Holding him with in the confines of his sensory world and
perpetuating the old habits and movements of his mind, it binds him
strongly to his ordinary mortal existence and to the pettiness that
comes with it.
An instrument of nature, it ensnares man deeply in the pit of his own
desires, accentuating his problems instead of alleviating them, leading
him not towards light and salvation but into the world of egoism,
ignorance and illusion. Its source, therefore is not light but illusion.
Its purpose not providing freedom but holding us in bondage. And its
hidden agenda is not to seek truth but imitate the patterns of nature.
Created, nourished and enriched by the senses, it holds in its view a
very narrow vision of life, upholding the values that do not seek to
mitigate our suffering but increase it, not to show us the way but to
lead us astray, not to encourage divine centered awareness but
perpetuate self-centered activity.
True freedom comes only when we are willing to break out of the
confines of conditioned mind and its knowledge of limited light.
Suffering helps us in this process. As long as we are not willing to go
beyond sense gratification and sensory perceptions and are not willing
to detach our minds from routine thought processes and habitual
vibrations, we remain slaves to our minds and memory.
Without the intervention of suffering and the awareness of suffering,
our ordinary consciousness cannot establish a divine centered life that
prepares us adequately to seek solutions to the problems of life.
Without suffering, we cannot bring fundamental changes in our ways of
thinking and behavior towards ourselves and others. We cannot
prepare ourselves to fight spiritual battles and gain passage into an
ever lasting immortal world.
The willingness to set aside our imperfect knowledge and seek correct
knowledge and wisdom for a more meaningful existence comes to us only
through the process of intense suffering and persistent sorrow.
The Patient Lord does not grant us His Divine Boons till we drink
enough from the cup of His sorrow, open our eyes, and admit our mistakes
and ignorance, and pray for our final and complete release from the
wretched conditions of mortal life.
Sorrow is thus a divine gift that comes from above. Its purpose is to
cleanse and purify us physically, mentally and spiritually in order to
make us fit for holding with in ourselves divine light and love. Sorrow
is but the twisted and inverted form of Divine Grace that hides in its
coils rare gems of knowledge and eye opening truths.
It is a seemingly negative but a truly positive and progressive
force, the precursor of enlightenment in whose womb the soul prepares
itself for its onward journey. By throwing light directly on the
transience and meaninglessness of our existence and by brining us into
direct confrontation with our own limitations and failures, it rather
crudely and painfully nudges us towards the loving hands of God. It
encourages us to believe in Him, depend upon Him, surrender to Him and
seek His help.
Suffering is thus the true and faithful messenger of truth. As an
instrument of light, it dazzles us, in rather unpleasant and frightening
ways, to wake us up from our pleasant dreams and illusions.
Our true teacher, it teaches us how to live correctly and
spiritually, so that we can attain true freedom. It is in the rain of
suffering and sorrow that we find a rare opportunity to cleanse
ourselves of all impurities that we accumulate in the course of our
normal living and in the performance of our desire oriented actions.
Unless one is burnt in the fire of sorrow and suffering , spiritual
life is but a remote possibility, a distant dream, a mere intellectual
debate or delight. The light cannot shine in the hearts of those who
have not shed copious tears.
Sincere prayers cannot come from the lips that have not quivered and
cried for divine help. The world of God opens not to him whose heart is
not drenched by the tears of his own suffering and cries of his own
pain.
Along the paths and grooves carved by the hands of sorrow travels the
mortal man, by trails and tribulations, into an immortal world that is
at once a total negation of all that he has experienced and understood
before. In no other way can the mind of man be shaken out of the stupor
and the perversion into which it descends.
Arjuna suffered and in the process became wise. He sought divine help
and God taught him the Gita, the secret of all secrets, His immortal
Celestial Song by knowing which one can attain freedom from suffering in
this world and salvation hereafter.
So however distasteful it may be, sorrow is not to be despised but
invited with respect and gratitude, for it descends from above with a
definite purpose, hiding in its bosom the strength of pure light, the
seed of an awakening , a line of spiritual instruction from the
Universal Teacher.
Sorrow is the poison that arises as we start churning the mortal life
to understand its mystery and transience. And unless we learn how to
deal with this sorrow we cannot achieve immortality.
Even the great gods and the mighty demons had to deal with this
poison as they started churning the ocean of life in search of "amrit
" the sweet nectar that would render life immortal. Lord Shiva
dealt with the poison wisely by taking it and keeping it in his throat,
without allowing it either to go up into his mind or to go down into his
heart.
In both the places it would have caused great turmoil mentally and
emotionally and destroyed the very balance of creation and existence of
all beings. But in his throat it remained ineffective and harmless and
helped the gods and the demons to proceed further in their search for
truth and immortality.
In case of Arjuna, it went both into his heart and mind and there by
disturbed him mentally and emotionally beyond his control. For Arjuna
was a mortal and was preparing himself unconsciously for this great hour
of spiritual awakening. He was unaware that his anguish would lead him
eventually to witness the birth of a philosophy that would provide
solace not only to him but for generations of men and women to come,
that he was at the threshold of the birth of a spiritual river that
would flow eternally into the future, quenching the thirst of many a
seeker of salvation on its way.
Suggested Further Reading
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