Commentary by Swami Ananda Saraswati
We have been discussing about a person who is emotionally challenged and at the same time, the person wants to achieve many things. In fact, that time a person wants to achieve, when there is something lacking in the person. If everything is perfect, then the person becomes lazy. You sometimes think “Why am I disoriented in my life? I don’t feel like doing anything in life?”. This is because you have everything at your disposal. If everything is at your reach, you will not put any effort whatsoever. Sometimes, the emotional imbalances in life helps a person to move out of the comfort zone and do something in life.
Here Arjuna is emotionally disturbed. At the same time, he wants to achieve his perfection. However, you can see there is some type of balance in his emotional disturbance. Even though he blabbers, there is a limitation in it. He does not cross his limits. Generally, when a person is emotionally disturbed, the emotion takes over. For example, when you become angry, at that time nothing is visible to you. Only the object or subject of anger is visible. Till the anger subsides, the anger completely takes over. That’s why you will not be able to do anything when you are angry. With respect to Arjuna, though there is emotional disturbance, he is aware of it. He has not crossed the limit yet.
How do you find out if you have crossed the limit of your emotional disturbance? If there is regret within you after the emotion subsides, that means you have crossed your limit of emotional disturbance. The stronger the regret, the farther you have crossed the limit. This is the simple method to understand emotions in life.
Arjuna comes to a conclusion, that it is better to be killed in a wrong way by the Kauravas, than him killing others. Here Arjuna feels useless. Many people try to commit suicide. When people are under the spell of any strong emotion, they commit suicide. They consider themselves as useless. Swami Chinmayanandji used to say “There is nothing or nobody called ‘useless’. Nobody is useless, its just that they are ‘used less’. When you have not used your full potential because of your laziness, habitual error or being within your comfort zone, you are being used less. That time you feel useless. When you don’t have strength to face your emotion you feel drained. Hence learn to face your emotion. When you see negativity around you, instead of succumbing to the negativity, increase your positivity so that you can take over the negativity. If not, negativity will take over you which will lead to destruction. Only trust and God’s grace can help you in this situation.
Sanjaya, the minister reports to his boss, King Dritharashtra. You have to communicate things to your boss in a manner which he wants to listen to. In order to make his boss feel happy, he portrays to his boss that Arjuna feels useless and wants to be killed without any retaliation. Sanjaya highlights about Arjuna, as Arjuna was the best archer at that moment in the war field. Though Karna was better than Arjuna, he was not able to be a part of the war. Arjuna had trust and acceptance on Lord Krishna despite his lamentation. He sits on the floor keeping his bow and arrow aside and listens attentively to Krishna. Thus ends the first Chapter.
Compiled by Krithika Sanjeevi