INTRODUCTION🔗

Arjuna was ready to give up. He was all set to run away from the battlefield and escape from the reality of his duty. He had convinced himself through his own illusory arguments that what he had embarked upon was pure evil and therefore he wanted no part of it. He said, ‘I am ready to lay down my arms. Let Duryodhana and his men kill me.’ Arjuna’s desperation arose from his dilemma, which was becoming more extreme by the minute.

Arjuna was an intelligent man accustomed to the light of clarity but was now in darkness. He was torn between his duty as a ksatriya prince and the scriptural codes of morality. Arjuna’s distress was complete. He sat down, unable to bear the weight of his emotions. He put down his bow and arrows, which signified that he was out of the battle.

Arjuna's delusion was complete. He was as far away from reality and intelligent action as he could possibly get. The greatest warrior of his time, the greatest of men, was in the depths of despair due to his inner turmoil. The conflict between his upbringing and value systems, his samskaras and what he was about to do by waging war against his kinsmen had reduced him to a pitiable wreck who now abandoned his weapons and collapsed inside his chariot. At this point,

Arjuna was no example of a true ksatriya. Arjuna was now a true example of mankind. He was being human. He was experiencing the deep conflict between the unconscious patterns that were driving him and the reality of what he ought to do. The darkness that surrounded Arjuna at this stage was māyā, the illusion that prevents all human beings from perceiving the truth of Reality that pervades all our experiences.

Ya ma iti maya, that which is not real but appears as absolute is maya. Maya is not unreal in the sense that it does not exist. Maya truly exists as reality. It veils, it covers Reality, the ultimate Truth. Had Arjuna been Krsna, had Arjuna been enlightened, he would not have been tormented by the play of his maya.

Had Arjuna been a Duryodhana or even a Bhima whose individual consciousness was not awakened, he would have accepted the maya without question and again not been tormented by it. But, Arjuna is intelligent. He is partially awakened, a seeker. He is in the presence of the greatest of all masters. He is struggling to rid himself of his maya and seeks clarity.

It is Arjuna's ego that created the maya in him. His own along with his conviction that he should preserve his lineage - all these factors created the illusion in him that he was something other than who he was. These created the doubt in him that he should do something other than what he was there to do.

All of us come into this world with no identity. As we grow we collect labels describing ourselves. We become so associated with the labels and their accessories that we forget who we really are. Our life is then about seeking fulfillment in the wrong places. We search for happiness in the external world because that is where we have been taught to look for fulfillment. We have not learned how to look within and experience it. Eternal happiness that constantly flows as bliss is always within you and not in material possessions, relationships or selfish philanthropy. It is a state of no-mind that you experience within yourself.

1. What is the meaning of being a ksatriya as described in this chapter?

2. What do you understand by maya?

3. Why is Arjuna feeling desperate to leave the battlefield?

THE DAY

BLIND FOLD DRAWING

MATERIALS NEEDED:

PROCEDURE:

Give each child the materials needed. Encourage the children to draw any picture blind folded. Children then can see the picture which they have drawn and talk about it.

Inference:

Connect to the concept that guilt makes us blind so that we cannot see the real picture Explain to the children when we are in guilt we will not make correct decisions, we cannot see the real picture.

Procedure:

Discuss in which colour the children do their day to day activity. 1.Black- Unknown 2.Brown - Fear 3.Green-Greed

7. White -Beyond

Procedure:

Ask the children to contemplate and talk about the colour in which they conduct their day to day activity.

For Example:

When they brush their teeth in which colour are they established? Whether they are working unknowingly or they are brushing out of ANGER, (or) acting out of GREED or getting something as a gift (or) working out of fear of infection, or is it out of happiness or with the thought that is the purpose of life or beyond that. Encourage each child to analyze in which colour they perform their different activities.

Inference: Explain to the children when you do things out of Anger, without liking it, it only leads to suffering. As we grow bigger it will become a pattern. The brain grows in patterns. Every activity which we perform must be in Yellow colour - happy, creative, and intuitive! We need to be creative in each activity. When we are in Yellow colour, we will be in a happy, creative, open and intuitive spectrum.

CONCLUSION:

That is the process Arjuna was going through. He had lost his awareness of inner bliss because of his samskaras and was in the deep throes of despair. The process of relearning, the process of transformation at the hands of the master was about to begin. If we become aware of that process that the master takes His disciple through, if we follow that process carefully over the eighteen chapters, we too can become aware. Sankara says beautifully: If you imbibe even a little of Bhagavad Gita, if you drink even a drop of Ganga water, if you think even once about that great master Krsna, you will never have to face death.

Ebook ISBN : 979-8-88572-754-9 © 2020 Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam. All Rights Reserved