Anyone can become and be an Arjuna.
Arjuna, a person seeking the truth
The Bhagavad Gita is the account of a conversation between Lord Krishna and the royal son, Arjuna. It takes place between the armies of Arjuna’s allies and his enemies, his half-brothers. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most well known and wide-read books in the world. Translated into countless languages and frequently commented upon by Indian, European and many other cultures, can we not therefore, assume that everything that can be, has already been said and documented regarding this wonderful text?
This short article is intended to shed light on an aspect of the Bhagavad Gita that may not always be clearly expressed in the multitude of commentaries, but which is nevertheless significant for every spiritual seeker: How does Arjuna’s despondency – ‘I do not want to fight’ (chapter 1) – transform into the courageous decision he expresses to Krishna at the end of the Bhagavad Gita (chapter 18)?
By thy divine power, O thou who fallest not, my delusion is destroyed, I am collected once more; I am free from doubt, firm, and will act according to thy bidding. [1]
The Bhagavad Gita is about more than the historical description (or myth?) of the struggle for power in an Indian kingdom between the Pandava brothers, to whom Arjuna belongs, and his relatives, his half-brothers, the Kurus. In the preface to the English translation of 1890, William G. Judge emphasises that Arjuna should not only be seen as a prince fighting for his inheritance but also as a prototype of every human being seeking enlightenment and liberation.
In addition, according to Judge, the Bhagavad Gita describes the evolution of a people in the sense that the lower instincts can and should be overcome in the struggle for a higher destiny. In the same way, this applies to the individual who decides to seek ‘the development of his better nature’. Arjuna thus becomes an example of the individual seeker and a representative of humanity, which is in a process of seeking and developing. The ‘battle’ described in the Bhagavad Gita refers:
not only to the great wrestling match that humanity as a whole is engaged in, but also to the struggle that becomes inevitable as soon as any individual member of the human family decides to hand over the reins of his life to his higher nature [2].
Against this background, the question arises about the significance of the Bhagavad Gita for today’s seekers of liberation. How does Arjuna’s inner struggle for the lost kingdom, the divine within him, play out today? Or, how do we move from discouragement and despondency to the courage to seek, find, and live the divine within us?
The search for the divine within us
The introduction of Arjuna as a ‘king’s son who has lost his kingdom’, is found in many myths of esoteric literature, as well as many fairy tales that point to another world and time. This is the case with Buddha, who, as a king’s son, leaves behind his palace, family, and status to seek liberation from suffering, illness, and death, living a life of homelessness and leading the way for others by example. We can see this same principle reflected in the stories of Parzival, Christian Rosenkreuz, and others.
The realisation of a fundamental loss, the questions and searches that arise from it, and the experience of being ‘exiled’ in an imperfect world, are the starting points of every search that arises from the heart.
In the Bhagavad Gita, this state is described as Arjuna’s exile into the foreign and inhospitable forests. Arjuna and his brothers seek allies who can help them in their struggle to regain their kingdom. They find helpers on the physical-material and spiritual levels.
The starting point for the journey is the restlessness of the heart. It urges us to search for the lost kingship within us. As the Bhagavad Gita explains, this search enables Arjuna to recognise Krishna as a helper of humanity and as an incarnation of the divine soul, and to meet him within himself and receive his teachings. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is described as separate from Arjuna. However, he can also be seen as the heart’s admonishing, calling and instructive voice. He can thus become our guide and master, speaking to us from our innermost being.
Arjuna turns to this inner guide, the voice of the heart, and asks for instruction. His trust in Krishna’s teachings is the key that opens the door of knowledge for Arjuna, where he first realises that his attachment to everything around him, to his friends, relatives and earthly desires, must be overcome. The insight into the impermanence of the world and the search for the divine are the starting point for the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna was initially disheartened and distraught:
Woe is to me! What a great crime are we prepared to commit! Alas! that from the desire for sovereignty and pleasure we stand here ready to slay our own kin! I would rather patiently suffer that the sons … with their weapons in their hands, should come upon me, and, unopposed, kill me unresisting in the field.[3]
In the second chapter, Krishna responds to Arjuna’s despair:
Thou grievest for those that may not be lamented … those who are wise in spiritual things, grieve neither for the dead nor for the living … IT is eternal, universal, permanent, immovable; IT is invisible, inconceivable, and unalterable; … some regard the indwelling spirit as a wonder, whilst some speak and others hear of it with astonishment … but no one realizes it.[4]
Suppose we transfer Arjuna’s despair to today’s human being, who is struggling for liberation from the bonds of this world. In that case, the upcoming fight is a struggle within such a person, and the ‘opponents’ or those to be killed symbolise his connections and attachments to this world. Taking up this fight requires courage: letting go of all habits and attachments to this world.
Krishna advises: ‘Be indifferent to pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, and thus enter the fight. Renounce all desire for advantage and all fear of failure. Strive for equanimity in your actions. Remain in devotion to me.’ With these and further explanations about the path that leads to the knowledge of the truth, i.e. by listening to the voice of the heart, Arjuna, like any other seeker, begins the journey back to the ‘original kingdom, which is not of this world’, as the New Testament describes the goal of the path. This ‘hearing’ of the inner voice requires consistently letting go of all (earthly) desires, cravings and attachments to this world. A transfer of power is associated with hearing and listening inwardly. It gives the courage to realise the transmitted impulses. Do we experience this courage within us?
The path of knowledge
In the following chapters (chapters 2-14[5]) of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains the most important steps and knowledge about the path to liberation. All the scriptures describe the stages of increasing (self-) knowledge. On this path, the seeker draws closer and closer to Krishna and recognises him as the ‘Supreme Spirit’ dwelling within him. By reconnecting with this Supreme Spirit, with the ‘IT’ which cannot be explained or described, and which transcends all understanding making time and space vanish, Arjuna overcomes his despondency, dejection and doubts.
In the 15th chapter, Krishna (the IT) speaks to Arjuna about the realisation of the Supreme Spirit:
I dwell in the hearts of all men … because I am above the destructible and even above the indestructible, therefore I am called the Supreme Spirit both in the world and in the Vedas. He who is not deluded recognizes me as the Supreme Spirit, knows all things and worships me in every form and in every state. Thus, have I explained to you … this sacred science … he who understands it … becomes a wise man and the accomplisher of all that must come to pass. [6]
What does this mean for people today?
We live in a world of struggle, threatened by environmental disasters, wars and new diseases. Society is divided; the Corona crisis has torn many families and friendships apart. Old dogmas, habits, and beliefs no longer apply. Where does all this lead? What awaits us in the future? Could we not despair and become disheartened like Arjuna? Are we, like him, open enough not to have completely lost the memory of our innermost being, which is not of this world, so that we can still fight for our inner kingdom? Where does your despondency come from, says Krishna to Arjuna; it is degrading. Leave … this contemptible weakness of heart and arise[7].
Do we recognise our bondage to this world, our fears, worries, desires and wishes as our enemies, the enemies of our true selves? If so, then, we can prepare ourselves for the path that leads to liberation! As the Bible strongly reminds us, we are all children of God and called to freedom. Krishna, Christ and all the great ones in Spirit show us the way, and in the greatest need, we can hear their voice within us, the ‘voice of silence’:
… IT is now! IT is indivisible, incorruptible … eternal, universal, invisible. IT is without birth and knows no death. Let pleasure and pain, … victory or defeat be all the same … Make yourself indifferent to success or failure, … for those who disregard rewards for their deeds are not reborn on earth and enter that eternal happy state which is free from all difficulties.[8]
The search for the ‘voice of silence’ within us, brings us to knowledge, and enables us to walk the path. If we listen to it, we receive from it the courage to follow the teachings we receive, just as Arjuna does at the end of the Bhagavad Gita.
[1]The Bhagavad Gita (BG), The Book of Devotion, Bhagavad-Gita” and WQ Judge “Essays on the Gita; (English translation by Theosophical Society, undated), Chapter XVIII, p. 92
[2] BG: Introductory Words by W.G. Judge 1890, p. VII
[3] BG, Chapter 1: The Despondency of Arjuna, p.5
[4]BG, Chapter 2: Devotion Based on Speculative Teachings, p. 9/10
[5] A description of the different chapters would go beyond the format and purpose of this article. Please refer to the various detailed discussions of the Bhagavad Gita, e.g. Bhagavad Gita Buch Empfehlung Übersetzung und Kommentar
[6] BG, Chapter 15: Devotion through the knowledge of the Supreme Spirit, p. 75/76
[7] BG, Chapter 2: Devotion based on the speculative teachings, p.7
[8] BG, Chapter 2: Devotion based on the speculative teachings, p.9
