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1. Arjuna was overcome with pity. His eyes were
filled with tears and sorrow. He was much depressed. To him
Krishna spoke thus.
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Arjuna's pity is the pity of an ego bred on relative human
values. His tears are the outpouring of limited human knowledge
and untested egoistic beliefs. His depression is the depression
of a mind propelled by its own prejudice and directed by its own
fears. Sorrow and depression are the natural expressions of the
mind that is suddenly overwhelmed with the sudden realization of
the utter futility of human endeavor.
Man leads a comfortable life as long as his values and
convictions are not challenged and his abilities are not put to
test. Man brings out the best in himself when he is brought into
direct confrontation with his own ignorance, weaknesses, fears
and incapacity. It is the only way he can be stirred out of his
sense of complacency so that he can test his wings and learn to
fly. Having come this far, Arjuna is today in that situation
where he has to deny a part of himself in order to resolve a very
serious moral conflict.
Moral and mental conflicts are inevitable part of human life.
They are the grim reminders of the inability of human knowledge
and intelligence to deal with the problems of life on human
terms. They expose the human being to the tyranny of his own
emotions and desires and make him understand the need for greater
vision and understanding that can truly establish inner peace and
harmony with in himself. As stated by one philosopher, the beauty
of life lies in the fact that its strength lies in its
weaknesses, its solutions in its problems. The limited knowledge
of the mind, the limited capacity of the senses and the inherent
tendency of the ego to indulge in self-perpetuating activities
all contribute in the end to the search for new answers and
meanings in the otherwise meaningless life. The self has to
accept to deny itself in order to make denial a permanent basis
for the emergence of a wider and higher self.
Conflict and confusion are therefore the substratum of human
life. In the oceanic depths of samsara the ego has to swim from
conflict to conflict and confusion to confusion till it finds the
ultimate source of all solutions. Arjuna is a great warrior, a
man of learning. But he too is not free from the confusion
created by his own ego. His egoistic beliefs and values are now
seriously challenged by the needs of war. Faced with the
predicament of waging a war against his own relations, he has to
now seriously review and relearn everything about his life and
conduct. He needs a new awareness which can absorb all his
existing conflicts without seriously damaging the continuity of
his life and activity. His consciousness needs the touch of
divine knowledge so that it can achieve peace and harmony. His
life is now fully ready for the light from above, from Lord
Krishna, his friend and philosopher, his inner soul.
Commentary by Jayaram V
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