The World Is The Field of Battle
Divine Life
Society Publication: The Doctrine of the
Bhagavad Gita – To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami Krishnananda
The chapters of the Bhagavad
Gita may be said to indicate the progressive march of the spiritual seeker by
graduated steps towards the achievement of the goal. What one sees in the
beginning while looking at things with open eyes is a field of turmoil – a
historical conflict and a difference between one thing and everything else.
We see the world in this
manner. Everyone distrusts everyone else, everyone wishes to use and utilize
everyone else, and everyone is suspect about everything outside. Everyone has
to guard oneself from every other person, though it is true that one cannot
completely ignore the presence of this multitude of the variety of persons and
things in the world. This is the picture of the field of battle.
Every moment of time we are
facing such a situation. It is an inward battle, manifesting itself as an
outward conflict; an irreconcilability within reveals itself as a physical
irreconcilability and a practical difficulty. This is what is happening to us
every day from morning to night, from moment to moment. We have to be cautious
and look around in all directions, noticing what is happening, how we can
adjust and adapt ourselves to the movement of conditions around, which are not
uniform always, but vary from day to day and sometimes several times even in a
single day. We have to face this world of irreconcilability. Why should we face
it? Because we are in it. We have entered the field and while we are in the
field, we cannot absolve ourselves from the necessity to handle the situation
in a requisite manner.
This is what they call the
need to perform one's duty. Duty is what we are expected to do under a given
condition. Desha, kala, paristhiti (place, time and
condition) decide the nature of what we are expected to do. We have to use our
common sense, our feeling, and our understanding. The word buddhi,
reason, is emphasised always.
We find that this world is
often too much for us. The large army of people, the entire humanity, seems to
be facing us, staring at us, and telling us that we should be cautious: Beware!
Sometimes we look much smaller than the world, which is larger, like the
Kaurava army which is larger than the Pandava group. The world which is
objective in its nature occupies a larger area in space and time than our
individuality, our personality. We seem to be singly facing the world, which is
like a vast ocean in front of us.
While it is emphasized that we
have to face the world, we will also feel that it is not an easy affair. How
will one person that I am be able to confront the sea of humanity, this vast
world of space and time? Yet we are told again and again to get up and do what
is necessary, which requires not only a personal understanding within, but also
guidance of a specific nature.
There are people in the world
who feel that they can conquer the whole of nature, face humanity, rule the
world, become kings and emperors, dictators. Such feelings some may have, but
these are only types of initial enthusiasm.
The world has not come under
the control of any dictator finally. It has thrown them all out by producing
historical circumstances, political conditions, and social catastrophes. In
this situation, where one is not sure of whether it is possible to do anything
at all in this world, one can throw down one's arms: "I shall not take up
my weapon of effort in any way when now I realize that I am not up to the mark
in my relationship with this power of humanity, the world of nature. This is
not for me." So goes the defeatist attitude, which overpowers a person
after a while, though there was initially a feeling that one could do many
things.
Spiritual seekers, who have in
the beginning felt a spurt of aspiration, begin to feel now that they can
renounce the world and work vigorously for attaining God in this birth itself.
This is what Arjuna felt: "Let the Kauravas know who I am."
We can see in the discourses
given by Arjuna on the Pandavas' side, described to us in the Udyoga Parva
of the Mahabharata, prior to the commencement of the war: "What do
they think they are? They do not know the power of my Gandiva. Let me twang my
bow and see that their hearts quail." All this was told in the preparatory
discussions in an audience, but, when, actually, the confrontation was on hand
with the magnitude of the forces in front, the assumed confidence and valour
flew like mist before the sun and a totally different mood overpowered the very
same person who said he will twang the bow and break the hearts of the enemies.
The field of confrontation
judges us. We will know ourselves only when we are faced by the opposite party.
When nobody is opposing us, we cannot know what we are. Even the power of God
Himself cannot be seen unless we oppose God. There are people who opposed
Vishnu, Narayana. Then only He manifested Himself as a ferocious man-lion,
Narasimha, or as a Rama or Krishna.
When we are confronting the
world, it shows its strength, and we also will show our strength only when we
are confronted. When we are losing everything, we will put forth all our energy
to save ourselves.
Excerpts from:
The World Is The Field of Battle: The Doctrine of the
Bhagavad Gita – To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami KrishnanandaArchives - Blog
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