No metaphysical treatise has a setting as intriguing as India’s ancient philosophical classic, the Bhagavad-Gita. Fratricidal friction within the ruling Kuru dynasty has erupted into a massive conflagration on the sprawling plains of Kurukshetra. As thousands of soldiers, chariots, horses and elephants stand poised for war, one of the principal warriors, Arjuna, suffers an emotional breakdown, being overwhelmed by the prospect of killing his own relatives. In the face of extreme adversity he loses sight of his duty and turns for guidance to his friend, Krishna, who is the Supreme Godhead playing the role of a
human being. Then in the midst of the belligerent armies, Krishna enlightens his friend Arjuna about his temporal and
eternal identity and duty.
Harmony is central to the message of the Gita, which asserts that all suffering has its roots in
disharmony (15.7). Suffering is however not considered to be bad because it acts as the impetus for returning to harmony just as fever is the spur to take medicine. The highest happiness, the Gita continues, can be achieved only when the
self is in harmony with the Superself (6.19-23). The Gita posits that the self is not the gross body or the subtle mind, but the non-material soul, which gives apparent
life to the inanimate body (7.4-5). The constitutional nature of the soul is to be in a sweet harmony of love with the Supersoul, God. The Gita therefore culminates (18.66) in an unequivocal call for that harmony; Arjuna is told to subordinate his temporal obligation to his brethren to his eternal function as a harmonious part of the Supreme Whole. As the antagonist Kauravas, by their nefarious activities, were disrupting the law and order that facilitates divine harmony within human society, slaying them was essential for the material wellbeing and spiritual emancipation of everyone involved.
In addition to being a historical fact, the setting of the Gita signifies a deeper conflict within our
own consciousness. Within every human psyche is a
lower self –
represented by the Kauravas and a higher self – represented by the Pandavas. The Kurukshetra war thus represents the strife between virtue and vice within our own hearts. Arjuna’s breakdown signifies our own bewilderment about right and wrong in the face of intractable perplexity and Krishna’s instruction illuminates for us the path of the highest morality based on selfless devotion to God. Arjuna’s eventual victory after enlightenment represents the potency of the divine wisdom of Gita to empower us to ultimately triumph over our lower nature and achieve inner fulfillment in this life and eternal joyful life thereafter.
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