Awakening Arjun

 What happened to Arjun AFTER the Gita was narrated by Shri Krishna? 

The Bhagwad Gita is read by many individuals globally, generations after generations, century after century. For those who read it more than once or twice, it makes a deeper impact and more likely guides the remainder journey. If one was to get into the shoes of Sanjaya and imagine the next chapter how would that unfold?

The picture of Arjun in his chariot with Shri Krishna at the helm as his charioteer is well known to many of us. Even many of those who have never read the text of the Gita have likely seen this image of the duo in their chariot on the battlefield before the beginning of the battle.

But what about the image during the actual battle? Do we ever bring that to mind? Let us try and picturize that scene today.

The Arjun on the battlefield was emotionally disturbed, worried about the destruction he anticipated from carrying this forward, unsure whether he was doing the right thing, dejected enough to set his bow down and get ready to retreat, implying he would rather accept defeat from the enemy than hurt anyone. He was overcome with compassion for the enemy because in them he saw his own kith and kin. He wanted nothing out of it. Neither victory nor kingdom and sovereignty. Grief had made him forget who he was, his own strength and capabilities, and his duties. Grief also made him blind to several critical facts about the enemy beyond the point that they were related to him. 

So, his wise, all knowing friend and philosopher, Shri Krishna had to counsel him and pull him out of that low. Not just temporarily but for the long haul. Let us try to create a visual image of how a transformed Arjun might have navigated through what was expected to happen from that moment onwards. 

That battlefield is a symbolic representation of our lives on the outside. On one side are those who are our allies. Our supporters, who tend to align with our views of right and wrong. On the other are those who are opposed to us, opposed to our thinking and values. Those who want to defeat us, intimidate us, covet power and establish sovereignty. Sometimes even those who ideologically agree with us are seen joining forces with our opponents for various reasons. Political, personal or other loyalties may be some of the reasons. Some such may be our elders or teachers, in which case it may pose a psychological dilemma to confront them, diminish, overrule or overpower them. At times the battle may be expected to take more dangerous turns and under those circumstances, we may be held back from moving forward when we become aware that young lives or older people standing on our side could be put at risk. 

The philosopher’s role is to help us maintain clarity at all times and work for the greatest good and if required, choose lesser of two evils. When we say Krishna led to the enlightenment of Arjun what is meant is that with the knowledge that Arjun gained from Krishna, Arjun could see things beyond the physical and mental barriers. He could see things as they are instead of seeing them through the colored lens of his own conditioning. 

Let us look at some examples. 

Abhimanyu was Arjun’s son from Subhadra. Instead of his perspective getting clouded by fatherly affection he would be able to see him as any other brave young warrior which Abhimanyu was, rather than son of so and so. With that perspective there would be no special treatment given to Abhimanyu when compared with any other young warrior in their army.

Duryodhan was Arjun’s cousin. Instead of protecting him because he is a cousin, Arjun would now be able to see him for the viciousness, greed, power hungry, hateful man that he was, who sought refuge in deceit to deprive the cousins of their rights. But without animosity coming from Arjun’s heart. Duryodhan would still be respected for his prowess in heavy lifting and boxing and as a man. But no special consideration given because of the blood relation. He would be treated on the battlefield as an enemy. 

Bheeshma was a grand uncle who was highly revered and loved by Arjun. But on the battlefield he was a foe and had to be defeated. Softness of heart could not come in the way at the time of the confrontation. 

Thus clarity of one’s role in every act of life was the key. This clarity was essential for the action to be appropriate. All virtues discussed in the course of Krishna’s sermon in the Gita, such as dispassion, detachment, control of senses, control of desires and anger, these are aimed towards bringing clarity in the mind. They are the impurities that will cloud the vision.  Enlightenment entailed filtering out these unwanted traits.

Yet Arjun had to retain his humane side. It was important that he shouldn’t harden in the process of distancing himself from recognizing kin as belonging to himself. There was a fine line between the two. He had to retain good will, compassion and respect for all individuals, irrespective of whether they were friends or foes. Yet enact his warrior role when called for. Friend or foe differentiation was only when carrying out prescribed duties. At other times there was no foe. He had to keep sensitivity alive in the heart. Not just for humans but for the entire creation around him. 

It is very difficult to understand the inner fiber of a man of such sensitivity who has transcended his own physical and mental identity. He sees other beings also beyond their physical and mental limitations. But through his own sensitivity he remains aware of their difficulties, their realities. Their ignorance is also understandable for him. Therefore he is able to see things in their right context. He would never opt to cause physical or mental harm to anyone until all conservative remedial options are exhausted and until such harm becomes absolutely necessary to protect many other good people. 

Coming back then to picturize Arjun in real time fighting the battle: 

at one point he may come face to face with his teacher Dronacharya or next moment have a face off with his own brother Karna or any one of his hundred cousins ( sons of his uncle Dhritrashtra). Unless they were standing for a noble cause Arjun would have no choice but to fight them. And in that fight blows would keep coming and going in both directions. Which means Arjun would be consciously receiving attacks on himself at every moment just as he would be fighting the opponent outside. He would have to wear the armor of courage at all times to allow the assaults to come his way. He would have to face friend or foe looking into their eyes. 

Hato va prapsyasi swargam 

Jeetva bhokshyase maheem 

If you die fighting a righteous war, you will ascend to heaven. 

If you defeat your enemies you will rule the earth.

Notwithstanding the consequences you must do what you are called upon to do. 

You must face life and know that life is a battle at every step. There are no real friends or foes in life. You need to be fully alive and present to know what is the right action at any given moment without taking sides out of infatuation or hatred. Judgement should not be clouded by personal preferences. Only then you can do the right thing. 

Krishna is nothing but our very own core of unbiased consciousness. It is beyond our physical and mental persona. To remain in constant awareness of that center is true meditative practice and only through such practice can one have clarity at every moment. Continued practice of such rootedness will induce gradual transformation in the mental persona. It is equivalent to keeping company of an unbiased pure hearted person. You reflect the company you keep. The reactivity of the persona you carried thus far will gradually see a shift. Reactions will begin to see punctuations with a pause. Frequency of the pauses will progressively increase. It may be perceived outwardly as a slowing down but it isn’t. It is actually turning on awareness to full speed and holding responses to situations where they are absolute essentials. 

Arjun is a symbolic representation of each of us. His transformation from identifying as a physical entity to pure consciousness is our spiritual journey. The battlefield is also symbolic. It is not always about bloodshed. It is about trials and tribulations. About facing off people with different beliefs, views, values, ideas, opinions and behaviors. Some of who may be willing to accept yours, others may show intolerance. It is your level of maturity that will determine how you deal with those who confront you with animosity. The more centered in consciousness you become, the less insecure you will be. That in turn will make you more tolerant of criticism, insults and disrespect. When a wise man turns a blind eye to insults or disrespect it is not to be confused with a weak person turning a blind eye to such disparaging behavior. There is no fear in the mind of a man steadied in consciousness. Because he knows he has no death or decay. He knows he can’t expand with praise nor shrink with criticism. A weak mind avoids confrontation out of fear. A weak man also sustains trauma because of his vulnerability. Do not mistake a sensitive but enlightened Arjun to be vulnerable like others. He is gone beyond that. The deeper he is into the thick of his conscious center, the farther he is from the rising thoughts, feelings and urges of his mind. The more patience he will show towards a person who may annoy average people. The fewer times he will respond to such a person’s aggravations. And when he does, he will not experience internal upheaval because he is fully aware of what needs to be done. He is aware that what is done is not done with his self interest in mind. He has nothing to gain or lose by giving or not giving that response. It is unequivocally and simply the right thing to do.

Now imagine the warrior Arjun thus centered in his conscious self fighting the actual battle in Kurukshetra. He will go without blinking an eye when he has to kill an opponent, whoever it may be. Because right and wrong are very clear in his mind. There is zero self interest in doing what he has to do. No guilt,shame, fear, or remorse. Just complete personal surrender to his duty. 

This is the import of the message of Gita. At the beginning one must identify with Arjun, and at the end, one must realize who and what Krishna really is and that the enlightened version of Arjun is Krishna himself. The duality exists only until impurities arising from ignorance are removed. There is no return of darkness once light is seen. 

Presence of mind and the body is evidence of darkness. In full light, mind and body are non existent. Their recognition as real entities wanes away. When you are aware of your mind and your body do not be fooled into believing you are awake. You have barely started waking from a deeper state. Meditative practice ( sadhana/ study) must continue until mind and body dissolve completely, until they cease to be realities. Until you believe or see yourself and everything around you as “ real” or have the slightest doubt about its unreal nature you are still within the clutches of darkness. Like being in a dream and believing whatever you see at the time to be true. If you watched the movie Sixth Sense, the little boy in that is a representation of the awakened one, Bruce Willis is the Arjun before the awakening. When the dreamer in the midst of the dream becomes totally aware that everything that appears is just a dream, that’s when Arjun is no more a separate entity from Krishna. The journey to that point has transformed him in ways that only a person who makes that journey would know. Others will only try to imagine with an educated but inadequate guess.