‘Arjuna-Vishada Yoga’ The first chapter of Gita is called ‘Arjuna-Vishada Yoga’. As the very name indicates this chapter deals with the grief of Arjuna, culminating in the manifestation of a deep sincere inquisitiveness to know the truth of life. Any discourse to the reveal truth of life is possible only if the student has this inquisitiveness. Inquisitiveness is not only the doorway to knowledge, but it also reveals existence of all necessary pre-requisites required in a seeker of truth. No one can force inquisitiveness to surface in anyone. This is a seedling which has to surface on its own. Yes, we can provide necessary data for it to surface, we can provide situations, and then wait for it to sprout. This alone is achieved by the various ‘situations’ of the world. However much we protect & insure ourselves from problems & difficulties, they still creep in and exposing our incapacities, ignorance etc shake us up down to the core. Problem of a poor man may be different from the problems of a rich man, but both of them have their own share. And mind you, there is no play of destiny in all this. A goal means something which needs to be attained, but is away from us. It implies that there is some distance between me & the goal. That which seperates me from my goal is the ‘obstacle’ which I have to remove to attain that goal. There can be no goal without an obstacle, and if this is inevitable then the moment we have a goal, then that very moment we suddenly come to a dimension wherein there is possibility of success or failure, where there is possibilty of rushing adrenalines or increasing blood pressures. A life without goals is no life, it is dull inert living, while a life with goals includes an inevitable package of stress & grief. Really speaking we do not have any choice whether we should have a goal or not. The choice lies only in how do we deal with the goal. We study, learn and prepare ourself in various ways to prepare for such a life. But however much we prepare ourself still many a times situations come & shatter our image of ourself and expose our incapacities & ignorance. They bring us down to earth, and see to it that we humbly continue to solve the riddle of life. Whenever any situation comes & shakes us up so thoroughly that we very humbly start analysing the why’s & what’s of life right from the beginning, then this is indeed a great turning point of life. This is what happened in the case of Arjuna. He faced a situation wherein he could not decide as to what is proper under the circumstances. Whether he should fight or not ? Whether it is dharma if one fights unto death with ones own teacher or a reverential relative ? Thus was revealed a profound ignorance, and it was followed by deep grief. Luckily the fellow had Lord Krishna as his charioteer, and thus began a beautiful dialogue between an illustrious embodiment of knowledge & a sincere seeker. This is what the first chapter of Gita is all about. It starts with the description of Armies on both the sides and ends with the despondency of Arjuna which finally made him to surrender at the feet of Lord and pray for knowledge.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 08:41:41 +0000
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