Bhagavad Gita: Arjuna Personally Struggles With the Outcome of War
One would think that there is nothing more human, nothing more physical and non-spiritual than war, where people are injured and killed. Yet, in the Bhagavad Gita, the commander Prince Arjuna rises from being immersed in the "wealth and pleasurable thngs" (chapter 5) of daily life to a much higher plane of consciousness as he learns lessons from Supreme Lord Krishna. At the beginning of Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is personally struggling with the terrible outcomes of war. He fears losing friends and loved ones and does not understand how he can fight his superiors. Krishna chides him for a war based on selfishness: "Alas! We are ready to commit a great sin by striving to slay our kinsmen because of greed for the pleasures of the kingdom" (1.45). Krishna is here to be a teacher and help his disciple, Arjuna, see another way. Arjuna responds to Krishna's comment by asking to be taught how to not suffer like a human. In many respects, the second chapter (verse 45) is an overview of the whole premise of the Bhagavad Gita: The distinction between the temporary material body and the eternal spiritual soul and characteristics of the self-realized person. "The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise a
At this point, the body and soul are separated and one reaches the Supreme and now must transcend the qualities of the three Qualities of Material Nature by stands and does not waiver, depends on the Lord and is thus indifferent to pain and pleasure, sees gold and a clod of dirt as the same, and accepts both praise and censure can go beyond these material modes. 15) The Lord then reviews what it will take Arjuna to reach the point of the highest plane. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self. The path of light or of spiritual practice of Kundalini yoga and Self-knowledge and the path of darkness or of materialism and ignorance. We should keep God at the center of our lives, meeting our obligations with a sense of detachment and as a way of sacrificial offering and accepting God as the creator and facilitator and all of humanity as just beings involved in the continual act of liberation and self-realization. Upon death, it is possible to actually see one's success at reaching this point. It is possible, for example to see God in the here and now, as long as one stops a fascination for the various objects of the world. In Chapter 15, Krishna reveals to Arjuna his transcendental nature and how this is applied to all that exists. I am verily that which is to be known by the study of all the Vedas. The state of a Yogi "finds happiness with the Self, who rejoices the Self within, and who is illuminated by the Self-knowledge; such a Yogi becomes one with Brahman and attains supreme nirvana" (5. In response to Krishna's teachings, the disciple Arjuna asks to see the Lord's form, but the Lord explains that only by the way of the divine can one see the truly divine and since "you are not able to see Me with your physical eye, therefore, I give you the divine eye to see My majestic power and glory" (11. This also includes sacrifice that leads to inner peace. ) The former leads to nirvana and the latter leads to rebirth. In the last chapter, Arjuna has learned all the steps it takes to reach the final plateau.
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