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Invocation and Chapter One

THE BHAGAVAD GITA

Invocation

Swami Shivananda:

"O Krishna, thou art my sweet companion now. Thou hast a soft corner for me in thy heart. Let me be frank with thee, O Krishna, because thou are the indweller of my heart and the witness of my mind. I cannot hide anything from thee, because thou directly witness all the thoughts that emanate from my mind. Thou art my friend now. O Lord of my breath, accept my humble prayer. Teach me the Gita."

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER ONE

ARJUNA'S PAIN

"On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna's chariot comes to the front. In the deafening noise set up by the several conches and the war drums and trumpets Arjuna, taking up his bow, says: 'Krishna, set my chariot right in the midst of the two contending armies. I want to see all the heroes who are so eager for battle. I want to see with whom I have to fight in this war. I want to see all the many heroes who are so eager to please Duryodhana.'

The chariot rumbles a few yards ahead and Krishna places it just where Arjuna wants it. Krishna exclaims: 'Look, Arjuna! Look at this great army assembled here to die at your hands.' Arjuna casts his eyes on the great spectacle. He sees the heroes ready for battle, and he sees there all those who are near and dear to him. They are his grandfathers, teachers, cousins, uncles, nephews, dear friends, and comrades. He looks again and again at them and all of a sudden he is overcome with pity for all of them.

His voice shakes with grief and he says: 'Krishna, I feel an awful weakness stealing over me. My mouth has gone dry all of a sudden and I am trembling all over. Krishna, my head is reeling and I feel faint. My limbs refuse to bear me up. My form burns as if with fever and my bow is slipping from my grasp. I look at all these who are my kinsmen and I feel that I cannot fight with them. Look on all these omens, Krishna. They do not bode any good to anyone. I do not think there is any good in killing my kinsmen. I do not want to win this war. I do not want any kingdoms nor do I want the pleasures of this world. I do not see any use for them. These great heroes all mean so much to me and they are there, ready to fight. I will never kill them. For the passing pleasure of ruling this world why should I kill the sons of Dhritarashtra? They have been greedy, evil, avaricious, and covetous. I grant all that. But the fact remains that they are my cousins and it is a sin to kill one's own kinsmen. I would rather turn away from the war. It will even be better if I am killed by Duryodhana. I do not want to fight.'

Arjuna collapses in the seat of his chariot. He throws away his bow and arrows and his heart is filled with pain." [From The Mahabharata, translated and condensed by Kamala Subramaniam.]

Ram Dass:

"Arjuna is confronting a situation in which his rational mind is not helping him, a situation in which surrender is the only way through. There are states of consciousness that are always available to us if we have not veiled ourselves from them through our attachments.”

Eckhard Tolle:

“There are situations where all answers and explanations fail. Life does not make sense anymore. Or someone in distress comes to you for help, and you don’t know what to do or say.

When you fully accept that you don’t know, you give up struggling to find answers with the limited thinking mind, and that is when a greater intelligence can operate through you. And even thought can then benefit from that, since the greater intelligence can flow into it and inspire it.

Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to figure things out and becoming comfortable with not knowing.”

[For when we admit that we don’t know the answer to a question, and can feel comfortable in that state of limbo, we become open to the higher power to shed its light within us and help us to find the way out of our tentativeness.]

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