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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 and 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 etc, and then
wait for it to sprout. This alone is achieved by the various ‘situations’
of life. However much we protect ourselves from problems &
difficulties, they still creep in to expose our incapacities and ignorance.
Many a times they shake us up down to the core. Problems of a poor man may
be different from the problems of a rich man, but both of them have their
own share, and all go through the same dynamics. The mind of both have a
sense of insufficiency, there is the common seeking, the desire to free
oneself from all limitations, the upheavals & vacillations of mind
while facing an uncordial situation, the attachment to cordial ones, the
aspiration to find the way out of a problem, the pain, the anger, love etc,
are common to everyone. And mind you, as far as the state of mind and our
responses to different situations are concerned, there is no play of
destiny involved, this is just the realm of pure
knowledge. In fact a wise person with a positive state of mind has the
capacity to nullify all pains of any testing situation. The beginning of an
awakened mind is the existence of a sincere inquisitiveness, and this is a
great blessing of a testing situation that it helps this ‘inquisitiveness’
to arise and grow.
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, and that alone is called an obstacle, which we have to remove to
attain that goal. Thus 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 the situation 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 of
having a goal or not. The choice lies only in how do we deal with the goal,
and in the process how best we keep our poise & equanimity.
We study, learn and prepare ourself in various ways to
prepare for such a life. But however much we prepare ourselves, 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 analyzing
the why’s & what’s of life right from the beginning, then this is
indeed a great turning point of life. However, most of the time we take our
knowledge & wisdom for granted, and we become complacent. Such people
rarely realize that our existing understanding & perceptions too may be
erroneous, and need re-evaluation. We may live a life very conscientiously,
but the situations in life themselves reveal to us that this is not
synonymous with real wisdom. Our wisdom stands exposed, it does not help us
to find an answer to the unique situation which has come. Real wisdom means
the capacity to be contented in ourself by ourself, living a loving &
dynamic life of give rather than take, being a master of all situations,
have the capacity to retain our cool, and live a life which reflects the
truth of our Self, which is divine & infinite. When this wisdom is not
there, when we think that what we know is all what needs to be known, then
by this very baseless yet arrogant notion the 'situations' get the
capacity to shake us up, and that too pretty badly.
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
circumstance. Whether he should fight or not? He along with other Pandavas
always lived for righteousness, and thought they knew all about what is
right. However, one situation came and shook him up very badly, revealing
the fact that he still needed to know more about that which is right, or
dharma. He felt completely helpless about his incapacity to discern what is
right in that situation. His existing definition and wisdom was of no help.
He could not decide whether it is dharma if one has can fight unto death
his own teacher or a reverential relative? Thus revealed a profound ignorance, and it was followed by profound helplessness
and grief. This brought about an intense inquisitiveness in him. The grief
showered its blessing and here was a humble Arjuna, poised to know &
learn more. Luckily he 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 both the Armies, and ends with the grief
and despondency of Arjuna which finally made him to surrender at the feet
of Lord and pray for knowledge. The knowledge which Lord Krishna gave
thereafter, not only helped him find an answer to his specific problem, but
gave out the secret to efface our indecisiveness to discern that which is
really right in any situation. This wisdom which helps any person to
discern that which is right in any given situation alone is the
subject-matter of Bhagwad Gita.
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