Arjuna and Krishna
I am stuck on the Battlefield of Kuru, perilously parked between two warring clans of a royal family in northern India. Rest assured, it’s a poem; in case any of you are wondering what what I’m talking about, or fearing for my personal safety. This is not just any poem, however, but a Sacred work revered by millions of adherents to one of this planet’s most recognizable religions – Hinduism. The Bhagavad Gita is embedded within Book Six of the Mahabharata, a national and sacred epic of India. The Mahabharata is attributed to the sage Vyasa (540 to 300 B.C.E.). Bhagavad Gita is an important read for anyone interested in Hinduism or the study of world religions.
The Bhagavad Gita is an epic poem that places its reader alongside Arjuna and Krishna (God incarnate) in the midst of a battlefield on the verge of exploding in blood. Arjuna is a soldier preparing to fight a civil war against brothers, cousins, and kinsmen. Just as the two clans raise their weapons to strike one another, Arjuna requests that his charioteer (Krishna) roll down and park them exactly between the two warring sides so he can look over the men he will be fighting. When he see the men up close they no longer look like enemies to be killed in battle, but more like the brothers, cousins, and kinsmen they actually are. Arjuna then drops his own arrows and bow and sinks down into his chariot, and refuses to fight.
It is right there – between the two warring but frozen parties, whose weapons are raised dangerously high above their heads, poised to strike one another – that the reader takes the form of a quiet but very present participant in an incredibly deep spiritual conversation between Arjuna and Krishna. Time is frozen all around the three of us (Arjuna, Krishna, and “The Reader”) but the spiritual conversation carries on in the midst of the suspense. The reader does nothing but watch and listen …
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You have control over doing your respective duty only, but no control or claim over the results. The fruits of work should not be your motive, and you should never be inactive. (2.47)
Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna, with your mind attached to the Lord, abandoning worry and selfish attachment to the results, and remaining calm in both success and failure. The selfless service is a yogic practice that brings peace and equanimity of mind. (2.48)