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In the dialogue of body and soul in the bhagavad gita: preface part - 1 If a deep study, contemplation, reflection, and analysis are made regarding the story of the Mahabharata, the event of the war in Kurukshetra, and the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in the form of the Gita on the battlefield, it becomes clearly evident that the entire narrative or sequence of events is nothing more than metaphor or symbolism. As far as my perspective is concerned, Maharishi Ved Vyasa made a universal attempt through these metaphors and symbols to solve the most complex and greatest questions of life, the world, and existence. It is not that I am opposing or criticizing the story of the Mahabharata or the teachings of the Gita in any way; rather, I wish to develop a clear and definitive viewpoint to truly understand the subject presented. According to my thoughts, the story or the war has been presented as a myth or metaphor. That metaphor or myth signifies an effort to string together all activities and the experiences embedded in them—from the nature and existence of the core element of creation to the creation, sustenance, and ultimate resolution of life and the world—into a single thread, and the entire life of each one of us, as an integral part of that story, is enacting the roles of all the characters of the story on the stage of the world.
As far as the question of the purpose or goal of the story is concerned, primarily the entire plot and characters revolve around our own lives and touch our inner existence just as deeply, making us experience the awareness of our true nature and existence at the most profound level. Who are we? What are we? Where have we come from? What is our fundamental nature or existence? We have not been able to know this yet. Often, out of ignorance, all of us have forgotten our true nature or existence, which is the foundational element of creation. Here, Krishna himself, as an individual, directly through Arjuna and indirectly through Dhritarashtra, is giving the message of Spirituality to the entire human race. Because not only today, but since time immemorial, we have been seeing that the entire human race is running in an undesired direction to achieve an unknown goal. What is it searching for? Whom is it searching for? It is unable to know this itself. A meaningless rush has prevailed. If someone is asked about the goal or purpose of their life, they become speechless. On one hand, the attraction of the material world draws them, while on the other hand, the darkness of its impermanence and transience pushes them into a dark well. The reality and truth between the two remains unknown to them. In this way, like the pendulum of a clock, one continuously swings this way and that. There is no trace of stability or certainty in their life. Thus, while searching for something unknown, life slips away without one even realizing it. This very search for the unknown takes the form of conflict in life. Caught in its tempests, experiencing fleeting pleasures and pains in the world at every moment, one fruitlessly meets death.
The story of the Mahabharata helps us emerge from these tempests. It takes us on a journey to become stable amidst changeability, to return from the periphery to the center, to move from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light, and from falsehood to truth, so that we can search for the existence of life and understand its real significance and meaningfulness. Often, we waste our entire lives merely collecting pebbles. Our ambitions—the desires for power, wealth, and perpetual honor—never end. Even after acquiring everything, a kind of dissatisfaction does not leave us. People do not just say it, but we directly observe that man came into this world empty-handed and will leave empty-handed. Yet, we are unable to accept impermanence in life.
The Mahabharata uncovers the secret of these facts and presents them before us, so that if we look after removing the veil of ignorance obscuring our mind, the reality of life will appear clearly to us. In this way, we will be able to free ourselves from the tempests and conflicts of life. Here, Arjuna also represents being a victim of this very mindset. That Arjuna is inside us. We have the same nature. The same search that Arjuna has. So why dont we become alert today itself? Why dont we search for ourselves and become acquainted with the original nature or existence of our soul? Since our attention always remains bound to the attractions of the world, we fail to see the infinite joy and beauty pervading the vastness of our inner self. We can reach that Supreme Element (God)—which has become an unknown search or goal in our life—only by knowing and understanding ourselves, because that alone is the ultimate reality of life, which is the final truth for all. We must understand that as a part of that Supreme Lord, we are on this earth. Therefore, we must become conscious of ourselves. We must become spiritually centered in ourselves. Only then will we be able to move away from the dualistic nature of immortality-impermanence, knowledge-ignorance, truth-falsehood, and darkness-light of life, and properly know the true form of the Lord or our own true nature. This is the only way to attain freedom from sorrows and worldly bondages. The true meaning of life is inherent in this.
Dhritarashtra: The person who tries to know this true form or existence of truth indirectly is Dhritarashtra. The blindness in him is symbolic of ignorance. The son of ignorance, i.e., the son in the form of ideology, Duryodhana, would also be an indicator of ignorance. Thus, within us, Dhritarashtra (the sightless) becomes a symbol of ignorance, and Duryodhana, as ambition born of ignorance in the form of ideology, does not die until his final moments. If we are afflicted by ignorance, our death will certainly occur at the very end along with those ambitions, because ambitions chase a human being until the last moments of life.
Yudhishthira among the Pandavas: Yudhishthira is the eldest brother among the Pandavas, who is also called Dharmaraj, meaning one who holds exclusive faith and devotion in truth, knowledge, and justice in his life, and while following his own duty (Svadharma), is engaged in the righteous war of life. He represents divine tendencies.
Dharmakshetra: If viewed realistically, the entire world is a direct expression of that Supreme Consciousness or God. He resides in our physical body (field/Kshetra), composed of the five elements, in the form of our soul. Because it always favors knowledge, light, and truth, it is called righteous (Dharma-yukta). Thus, we can also call it Dharmakshetra, represented by Dharmaraja Yudhishthira.
Kurukshetra: While the existence of the soul as Dharma exists in our body, on the other hand, Duryodhana—representing the ambitions of Dhritarashtra in the form of ignorance—becomes covered by the three-fold power of nature (ignorance). As a result of being gripped by attachments such as illusion, fascination, affection, greed, fear, and ego, it sides with falsehood, darkness, and ignorance, causing that very body—which was the sacred temple of the soul or the field of righteousness—to become a place of war. In addition, Gandhari (the intellect covered by ignorance), who could have been a good advisor or source of inspiration for her husband Dhritarashtra and a great guide for her son Duryodhana, never making any attempt to stop their evil tendencies born of ignorance is also equivalent to deliberately blindfolding her own eyes. In this way, human personality gets divided into three parts. As a result of this division, situations of war or conflict keep arising in life.
As stated above, the Mahabharata war is not a war of weapons, but expresses the meaning of conflict generated between two mutually opposing ideologies, or between knowledge and ignorance. In this war, man alone is enacting the role of every single character of the story. Inside and outside every individual, this war has been fought continuously for centuries. In every individual or human being, all the characters and places of the story—whether in the form of Kurukshetra, Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, Gandhari, Shakuni, Dronacharya, Bhishma, Krishna, Yudhishthira (Pandava), and Draupadi—are presenting their roles as spiritual elements. Thus, the story of the Mahabharata is mans own story; viewing it as attached to an event of a specific time period does not seem appropriate. It is the vast philosophy of the individual (Vyashti) and the collective (Samashti), which has an extremely deep and intimate interrelationship with our lives.
Krishna: Krishna signifies one who attracts (from the root karshan), meaning one who pulls or attracts everyone toward himself. In this way, our soul itself is the central point of attraction in our life. We may completely ruin ourselves, but we always protect our soul; this feeling of attraction represents the soul in our body. We see no other object in the world dearer than our soul. Because of this attraction, it is called the Krishna element, which is also the core element of creation. Symbolically, as an embodied person (individual), he assumes a personality to impart knowledge to both. Thus, the story or war of the Mahabharata is a universal perspective to view, understand, or know the deepest mysteries of life and the world, and its nature and existence, fully touching the internal and external existence of life. The story and its characters have been connected with the reality of life and the world.
Mathura: If the word Mathura is analyzed, it will be known that its actual meaning points toward a specific action like churning or enacting. Its symbolic meaning can be viewed by connecting it to the churning or enacting of curd and buttermilk. The extraction of butter as a conclusion resulting from that churning sounds like the achievement of a definite goal or objective. Exactly in the same way, achieving a definite goal or objective through ideological churning becomes synonymous with Krishna eating or stealing butter. Just as two strings are used in the process of churning to extract butter, similarly, using the strings of knowledge-ignorance, truth-falsehood, and darkness-light for ideological churning to achieve a definite objective or goal in life as a conclusion is the real meaning of the word Mathura.
Janmashtami: It is written in the Bhagavata that Lord Krishna was born at midnight on Ashtami in a prison, when the moon was not full but in its half form. The said statement means Krishna signifies our entire personality, including the body, which is fundamentally composed of five nature elements—earth, water, fire, space, air—and three qualities, namely Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva (mind, intellect, and ego are influenced by the three-fold nature of Prakriti). In this way, our nature (body) is also formed of these main eight elements. This is the reality of Krishna Janmashtami. As for the question of the prison, it means that as soon as a human being is born, upon coming to this earth, they gradually get imprisoned in the worldly bondage of ignorance, which is a prison. Let us view that state of ignorance like the midnight of ignorance, where there is only darkness. The half-moon makes us aware of the incompleteness of life. But when an individual or human being emerges from the darkness of ignorance and takes birth, the doors of the bondage of ignorance (prison) begin to open automatically on their own. As light enters, darkness disappears on its own, and thus the individual, freed from worldly bondages, transforms their incompleteness into completeness. This is liberation from prison. In this way, our soul element itself is Krishna.
Gopala: In the Vedas, Go is stated to mean light, which is synonymous with energy, power, consciousness, sound, tone—that is, the inherent power in creation. That Krishna who is God in the form of sound/tone—meaning tone (a magnetic system) being a subject of attraction—tone leads to word, word to sound, and from sound creation itself originates. This sound, which manifests in the form of light, fire, and energy, is a symbol of Krishna, i.e., knowledge/light. It means that Krishna who, situated as a subtle atom in that unmanifest space, becomes extremely subtle and turns into Nada (sound) or tone. In that Nada (Brahma), i.e., in Krishna, through attraction power (magnetic system), energy, power, and knowledge are inherently contained; that is, the one who keeps all energy, power, knowledge, and light under his control, if not Gopala, what else would he be? Being in the form of that Nada or tone, we can also call him Murlidhar, because a flute (murli) has seven notes. Those seven notes themselves, being symbols of light, energy, and knowledge, express themselves as creation. The seven colors of the sun (light) or the seven white horses hitched to its chariot are also the seven notes of his flute. In the Mahabharata war, the sound of the Panchajanya conch also gives us an indication of his Nada, tone, or the sound of the flute. The sound of the Panchajanya conch signifies the creation of all five elements originating from sound itself. In this way, we have to know the mystery hidden in Krishna and his personality; only then will we be able to truly understand the story of the Mahabharata or the teachings of the Gita.
Gopis: Here, Gopis does not mean beautiful women or young maidens, but rather the senses and their objects, which, in the state of ignorance, wander externally with their objects. When those Gopis (the senses and their objects) transcend ignorance and achieve self-realization, their external attachment ends, and their sole subject remains the soul element (Krishna). In that state, all of them become attached with pure love and devotion to that soul-form Krishna. In this way, Krishna becomes the center of their life, and they all appear to create a Rasa (divine dance) as a circumference.
Vrindavan: Vrinda refers to a point (bindu), and Vana refers to an infinitely vast forest that has no boundary. In this way, this world is as infinite and vast in the form of an infinite sky, i.e., a point or absolute void, that no final boundary is visible. We cannot even imagine the end of that void, even if we wander for infinite births. Even then, we cannot reach its final limit.
Gokul: In Gokul, Gau means fire, light, or energy/consciousness, and Kula means cluster/repository. That is, a cluster of energy, light/fire forming at one place is called Gokul, and the rays emanating from that light cluster are the cows. In this way, that unmanifest Supreme Soul, manifesting as the representative of creation, manages everything as the Sun (cluster of light). In this way, the world is his direct manifestation anyway, but Krishna, becoming the Sun, represents the entire world. The rays of light of that Sun are the cows wandering in the universe, and the Sun/Krishna is the cowherd grazing those rays, i.e., cows. Just as a calfs body is nourished by a cows milk, similarly, all activities of the world are driven and attain their respective nourishment from Krishnas cows (light rays). In this way, the Sun is the manifest form of that unmanifest Supreme Soul, which becomes the direct God of our visible world.
Peacock Feather: Whichever symbols were used in the spiritual realm by our Vedic scriptures or sages had a specific meaning of their own. Various types of colors are seen in the peacock feather visible on Krishnas crown. Despite such diversity, better harmony or coordination is visible among those colors, so that the peacock feather naturally attracts us as a most beautiful work of art. The above statement implies that an individual or human being, to determine their goal of life, should integrate even the most diverse and mutually opposing aspects of life into it and establish a superior harmony, so that we can establish better harmony among our Purusharthas—that is, Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha, which appear separate and opposing to one another—and make our life as beautiful as the beauty of that peacock feather, because there is no end to possibilities. When Krishna can become God despite being a cowherd, why cant you? We just have to evaluate our intellectual capacity. Then you too can be Krishna. In this way, we have tried to understand the real meaning of how Krishna exists inside us.
Dronacharya: It is mentioned in the story of Mahabharata that the work of educating both the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the Gurukul was assigned to Guru Dronacharya. In reality, we will have to clarify the meaning of Dronacharya here. Just as Draupadi means one who has two states—manifest and unmanifest, i.e., that form of the Supreme Soul which is called both manifest and unmanifest, which pervades inside us as the soul—similarly, we have the meaning of Dronacharya. One who conducts oneself righteously (Dharma) while knowing well both the manifest and unmanifest forms and existence of the Supreme Soul is whom we shall call Dronacharya.
Bhishma: Bhishma is a symbol of firm resolve within us, which is the foundation of our faith. We too have received the boon of choice over death (Ichha Mrityu) if we know the immortality of the soul, where both birth and death are absent. Because after knowing immortality, the question of desire or non-desire ends altogether. From there, eternity begins, which can be attained through firm resolve as a result of ones intellectual capacity. This characteristic is also a quality of human beings in which potential is inherent. If, on the basis of that resolve, we attain complete knowledge, our death will occur in Dakshinayana, i.e., light, meaning knowledge, and death will be of the body alone, not of the soul. If, contrary to this, we are gripped by ignorance, our death will occur in Uttarayana, i.e., going into darkness/ignorance, which will be considered the death of both body and soul. Therefore, we must make a firm resolve to attain knowledge, so that the body dies, but not the soul. But despite being so full of knowledge, Bhishma supported the Kauravas because he was dependent on them. No matter how knowledgeable one is, if you side with falsehood, your destruction is certain. In the matter of knowledge, even a slight mistake or fault is unacceptable. The above explanation of Bhishma presents a choice for human beings—whether they want immortality or transience.
Arjuna: Since God is a supreme element, due to ignorance He appears to us in two forms. This is His natural (illusory) nature. Naturally and effortlessly, it creates an impression in us like matter-consciousness, light-darkness, day-night, fire-water, truth-falsehood, righteousness-unrighteousness, war-peace, favor-opposition, etc. Everything is continuously happening in the world in a dualistic flow. This very conflict keeps resonating inside and outside man (Arjuna and Dhritarashtra) on the plane of the mind as resolve-doubt. This is the struggle or war of human life, which is visible in his worldly life as well. Thus, this war is being fought continuously in the Kurukshetra of the human body. To be victorious in this conflict or struggle, we have to take our chariot and make it stand (situated) in the middle like Arjuna, and situated between our armies of resolve and doubt, only after observing and testing both sides do we have to choose and research the true goal of life. In this way, all the characters of the story of Mahabharata are playing their respective roles of leadership/representation as divine (knowledge) and demonic (ignorance) tendencies inside us.
Here, Dhritarashtras blindness is a symbol of ignorance, lacking inner vision, i.e., the eyes of wisdom. Out of ignorance, he always remains in a state of indecision. The ignorant one is also ignorant and ambitious, which we can call Dhritarashtras ideology. As a result of these ideologies, Duryodhana, the son of the ignorant Dhritarashtra, having a worldly intellect, considers the expansion of physical comforts and means to be the great achievement of life, which can also be seen as territorial expansion. Wealth, woman, and land (Jar, Joru, Jameen) are the goals of his life. On the other hand, Dhritarashtras wife is not blind, but she too blindfolds her eyes, which also signifies ignorance. Since a wife is a better source of inspiration for her husband, if she too falls victim to blindness (ignorance), how can she give good thoughts to Dhritarashtra?
Karna, who is the son of the Sun and possesses qualities of charity in abundance, experiences a corrupted and polluted intellect upon coming into contact with Duryodhana (ignorance), which we can call a form of ignorance. In this way, there is one group representing ignorance (a symbol of the Kaurava army). On the other hand, in this very body, the individual/man (Arjuna), although not of demonic tendency, is gripped by conflict regarding the existence and nature of life. He has fallen into doubt, indecision, conflict, or dilemma regarding the choice between demonic (ignorance) and divine (knowledge) tendencies, i.e., between the world or spiritual pursuit. Which among physical and spiritual realities is superior? Is the world superior or spiritual pursuit? He wants to draw a clear dividing line between them. Fascinated by worldliness, he is becoming a victim of a dualistic mentality somewhere. He is unable to establish either a distinction or identity between truth and falsehood. Not being able to choose truth and reality is his conflict. All of us creatures are also afflicted by this very conflict. In this way, as Arjuna, we too are included in this war.
Since Dhritarashtra (ignorance) and his son Duryodhana (ideology) both have an original tendency or nature born of ignorance, Arjuna here is not ignorant, but rather afflicted by the dilemma of choosing between knowledge and ignorance. On one hand he supports knowledge, while on the other hand he does not want to leave the attachment to worldliness. In this way, the conflict arising in his mind toward the said duality is neither complete knowledge nor complete ignorance, but rather what we can call dry knowledge, hanging in the limbo between knowledge and ignorance. Strong possibilities of moving in the direction of knowledge are certainly present in him. This very dry knowledge, with its conflicts or dilemmas, asks numerous questions to its companion-guru Krishna (intellect), which becomes the sermon of the Gita. Where Krishna inside us, as the soul, is the charioteer (driver of the chariot) of Arjuna in the form of the body, who gives us proper advice and guidance in the great war of life, helping us by telling the difference between truth-falsehood and right-wrong. In this way, the Mahabharata epic written thousands of years ago is just as true and meaningful today as it was in its time, because eternal truth has been revealed in it. It is not just a story, but a spiritual truth or metaphor of an individual/life, in whose background there is not only deep contemplation of life and the world, but a unique blend of internal and external activities of life, the limits of thinking, and moral discipline. In this way, transcending the boundaries of space and time, the Mahabharata gives a spiritual message to the entire human race. There is no aspect of life and the world left out in the Mahabharata. All its characters can be experienced by us as we act in our own lives. Thus, Mahabharata is more important as a comprehensive philosophy than as a story or war. The story or war is merely a metaphor to explain that Supreme Element, with the help of which knowledge regarding the meaningfulness, futility, immortality, and transience of life, along with worldly aspects like nation, time, nature, action, devotion, meditation, etc., can be easily obtained. In the background of all the above elements, knowing the sole foundation or integrated existence or form is the core purpose of the story of Mahabharata. Beholding that cosmic form in ones insignificance is divine vision (knowledge). Knowing or attaining this, life rises above fleeting sorrows and pleasures and attains stability, which provides supreme peace without being perturbed. Stringing together the chain of all causes and results of creation and life into a single thread, the Mahabharata is one of the worlds greatest and oldest works. In reality, the entire story, events, and characters of the Mahabharata are present within ourselves. When we look deep into contemplation, we find that the entire panorama of the story revolves not only within us, but also around our lives, in which we appear to be acting in the role of some character or another.
In the story, some characters also have their own characteristics, which are found combined with a specific qualification or disqualification. Such people are found around us in our lives as well. These are the very people who fulfill their role in completing the story. That completeness is not present in those people; there is a specific quality of one kind, which, even if partially polluted, is not called completeness. For example, Vidura, Bhishma, Karna, Shakuni, Dronacharya, and Abhimanyu, whose personalities were close to completeness, but had not achieved completeness. We can define them as incomplete personalities. In this way, all these characters were taken as supporting characters to explain the story or that mysteriousness, because there must be some basis for an echo. These are characters that cannot be called more important than the main characters of the story. To create or tell the story, or to reach its core objective or goal, they were woven together or taken as a basis, which was merely a support. Whatever the medium, the objective or goal becomes more important. For example, if you are going to Delhi, whether you go on foot, by bus, train, or airplane is not important; what is important is Delhi, which is our goal.
What this means is that we will find people around us and in our lives who are honest and diplomatic like Vidura, firm in resolve and practicing celibacy like Bhishma, tricksters practicing deceit and fraud like Shakuni, charitable like Karna, and possessors of essential knowledge like Dronacharya. Our life and world are also made up of such people combined, but their characteristics, being on the side of ignorance or born of ignorance, are incomplete. Living among these very people, we too have to complete our life struggle and achieve the goal of our life. The similarity of the story and its characters is fully verified even with our present life.
The Hundred Sons of the Kauravas: The hundred sons of the Kauravas who were involved in the war, and one son was being killed every day—its meaning is that in the Vedas, scriptures, and Upanishads, the full lifespan of a human being is fixed as one hundred years, which is adjusted as 25 years each into Brahmacharya (studenthood), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (retired), and Sannyasa (renunciation). In this way, these 100 years of our age are the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, where the death of one son daily signifies the reduction of age by one year at a time in the great battle/war/conflict of life.
Nature of the War: During the Mahabharata war, the rules and decorum of war were fixed. The war started in the morning and ended before sunset, and every day before sunset, soldiers returned to their respective camps, and the strategy/array (vyuha) for the next days war was reconsidered. Our life is also passing through these very processes and decorums of war. We too have built camps in the form of our respective homes, families, villages, societies, groups, and countries. As soon as morning arrives, we step out of our camp (home) equipped with weapons of our tactics, tricks, cleverness, deceit, and shields of false principles, and throughout the day execute numerous criminal acts such as fraud, atrocity, injustice, violence, looting, theft, and rape. This too is a type of war or struggle, a form of violence. As soon as the day sets, we return to our home (camp) with victory or defeat, success or failure in the form of our false achievements, and then at night in our home (camp), we get engaged in reconsidering the strategy of conspiracies for the next day. Although we have ensured our decorums in the realm of life, our ambitions (ignorance) compel us to violate them, resulting in us having to face defeat. This is the same internal conflict that is also reflected in our practical life.
Thus, it is proven that the Mahabharata war is not an historical event, but a war going on equally inside and outside us. This conflict of light-darkness, knowledge-ignorance, and truth-falsehood has been going on in human life since time immemorial, and as long as this creation and human existence remain, it will continue. But the one who has to achieve victory in this war must become Arjuna, and taking guidance from Krishna seated in ones soul, must identify ones own form and existence.
The point is that the person who knows or understands the core or essential substance inherent in the said dualistic war is the one with divine vision. Darkness wants to attack light, ignorance wants to attack knowledge, and falsehood wants to attack truth to expand their respective kingdoms. But in reality, whose sole kingdom or expansion exists—that is what we have to know. Research conducted in this direction is the ultimate goal of life. In this alone lies the success, meaningfulness, peace, and joy of life.
Krishnas Panchajanya Conch: Five refers to the five elements, and the conch signifies Nada (primordial sound), which is the most subtle form of tone. That very Nada keeps resounding in space; this Nada is the tune of Krishnas flute. That very Nada, becoming tone, transforms into sound, and the origin of the five elements—fire, air, water, earth, space, etc.—from sound itself is the Panchajanya conch, by whose sound (Nada) all three worlds resound. (This sounding of the conch is also a symbol of declaring war, i.e., a new creation). To state this elaborately, it can be said that Krishna refers to the root Krish, whose meaning is to pull or attract toward oneself as its primary quality. When creation is imprisoned in deep darkness (prison) in this void sky, according to the law of attraction, that Krishna—i.e., that unmanifest atom which is merely in the form of Nada—keeps sounding by pulsating throughout the universe as an charged energy (electrical system). This sound itself is Krishnas Panchajanya, the creator of the five (fire, air, water, earth, space). This sound itself is the seven notes of his flute; that is, from Nada come vibration, sound, air, fire, water, earth, etc., forming the manifest world, and in that manifest world, their conscious power (electrical system) pervades both internally and externally to create the universe. This very attraction power maintains balance among the Planets and satellites of creation. In this way, this entire world is reflecting Krishna alone; it is his expression, taking birth from the womb (jail) of darkness and descending in the form of the visible world. That unmanifest power/consciousness or Krishna, which in itself is sensitive energy, becomes the soul/Krishna of an individual or human being (feeling power), becoming a subject of knowledge or experience, and ultimately transforms into verbal sound. Using those words as a foundation, we experience the unmanifest God in the form of knowledge within our soul/Krishna element.
Duration of the War: According to the story of the Mahabharata, this war went on continuously for eighteen days. If viewed realistically, the Mahabharata war never happened as a physical event; rather, this war has been fought every single day, moment by moment, in our worldly life since time immemorial. In reality, behind the duration of eighteen days of this war, the true meaning is that in this battle or struggle of life, the war in the form of conflict has been fought continuously inside and outside us for ages and will continue to be fought in the future. But the meaning of the duration of the war being eighteen days is that the teaching given by Krishna to Arjuna in Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata has only eighteen chapters. In this way, in the battle of life, the dialogue taking place between Krishna and Arjuna regarding knowledge-ignorance, darkness-light, righteousness-unrighteousness, and truth-falsehood gets decisively proven with its complete existence and form upon reaching the eighteenth chapter from the first chapter, which we can also call the conclusion of teachings or knowledge, or the final offering (Purnahuti) of that war. After this, no war in the form of conflict or struggle remains in life. This is the final curtain call of the war or conflict. In this way, the true nature of the army and the duration of the war as symbols of the Kauravas (ignorance) and Pandavas (knowledge) become clear before us.
The Chariot of War: The life of a worldly person, carrying the numerous dualities generated in them and their mind, is seated on their chariot in the form of the body. Riding on this chariot of the body, struggling day and night in the battle or great war of life, they are engaged in war themselves, whose true nature according to the Mahabharata is as follows:
The human frame or body itself is the chariot of that war. The soul is the chariot rider (operator) of that body-chariot. The attraction-repulsion, running around, or restlessness generated in the senses are like the horses harnessed to that chariot, which one drives wherever desired using the whip of objects through the reins of the mind. Whatever the mind desires, the horses (objects) start running in those directions. (This is the Kaurava, i.e., symbol of ignorance). Knowledge and dispassion (Vairagya) are the two wheels of that chariot. If we listen to the mind (Duryodhana), the chariot starts running toward sensory vices, which ultimately becomes the cause of sorrow and troubles in life. If we take teachings of knowledge from the intellect in the form of knowledge and dispassion, i.e., Krishna (the charioteer), then that intellect, through its direction, leads us away from worldly objects onto the path of Dharma, and we will become overwhelmed with the experience of the mind beyond the body, intellect beyond the mind, soul beyond the intellect, and that unmanifest entity or supreme state beyond even the soul, which is our core existence or nature. In this way, taking refuge in the intellect in the form of Krishna, we can achieve victory in this battle of the world. This is the primary objective or goal of life, the true pursuit (Purushartha). This is true fulfillment. (This is the nature of knowledge of the Pandava army).
Nature of Arms and Weapons: Weapons like word-arrows or Brahmastra were used in the war, whereas rather than being physical weapons, they were merely the Shabda Brahma (words of knowledge) sentences of the Vedas, Scriptures, and Upanishads, which clarified the intent of determining the existence and nature of God or the Supreme Soul to reveal the ultimate truth. In this way, engaging in the struggle of life while determining and researching the goal of life is nothing less than a war. Here, our opposing tendencies or duality themselves are the two armies.
In this war, we have to struggle against the demonic tendencies (Kauravas) pervading inside us, and after victory, we become the masters of the infinitely vast kingdom of the Krishna element in the form of the soul, which is already present within us as the soul. That is what has to be attained. This is hitting the target, which is the supreme goal of life.
Archery (Dhanurvidya) :- In this way, the education of archery that Guru Dronacharya imparted to the Kauravas and Pandavas in his Gurukul also carries its own special spiritual meaning. Here, while we are viewing the Mahabharata war in the perspective of our life and the world, it becomes extremely important to know what the significance of archery is in this war.
Taking archery to mean a wooden bow and arrow or bow-and-arrow set would not be appropriate at all. Viewed realistically, archery signifies a goal, purpose, or a research-oriented perspective. Amidst the coming and going of pleasure and pain in this diverse or dualistic world, what should be the primary goal or purpose of life? This very question is a subject of research for us. Turning attention away from all directions and penetrating the target with a focused mind is the indicator of lifes meaningfulness, success, or victory. This is archery. This is what it means to be engaged in battle in the struggle of life.
Dr. Radhakrishnan wrote in his commentary on the Gita: that unmanifest entity/God/Lord is both transcendental, universal in form (Vishwarupa), and also possesses an individual form—that is, a real shape—which remains unaffected by its actions or experiences. Being everything, it is still detached and zero (shunya); its expression is also pervaded in zero, and what remains is also zero. If zero is subtracted from or added to zero, it will remain zero. In this way, being zero across all three dimensions of time, it is eternal; yet, within its dynamic zero, it sustains the activity of the universe, and also governs and rules it. Being the self-nature (Atma-svarupa) of all, it is uniformly pervaded as one inside everyone, and it is also present within the personality of an individual.
The meaning of the above statement is that God is such a completeness or the sole entity, apart from which nothing else has any existence at all. This implies that our existence and entire personality, along with all its activities, are happening within His existence alone. We are not even free to perform actions or make choices. Everything is happening according to pre-established rules by the inspiration of that Supreme Entity. He alone is the doer and enjoyer of pleasure, pain, and bliss. No separate existence of our own is proven. Even after knowing this much, whatever experience occurs, He alone holds authority over that experience. The struggle/war/duality going on between good and evil, truth and untruth, light and darkness is also a part of Him. Maya (illusion) or ignorance is also His form. He Himself is knowing Himself; He Himself has composed the Vedas as well.
Viewed realistically, the aforementioned form of God/Supreme Soul, beyond its unmanifest (atomic) state in the form of a mechanical activity or system, remains at the climax of experience as the nature of knowledge itself, which we call the witness or seer (Sakshi or Drishta). Since that form of His is non-material, despite the existence of matter, it is not pervaded in matter. Having no physical or tangible form, He is formless and imperishable. And when He will not be destroyed, it is certain that He will be called the eternal element. In this way, even while participating in creation, sustenance, and dissolution, He remains unattached to them. He is knowledge generated from matter, despite being matter. Therefore, not being matter, He is not matter despite being matter. But still, expressing Himself in the form of material nature (Prakriti), becoming the self-nature of all, and reaching the climax of knowledge situated within their soul, He again becomes the subject of experience for that individual/human as the seer or witness. Here too, being of the nature of knowledge, despite being the body, He is not the body; He remains solely as the soul. Entire existence in the form of body and soul belongs to Him alone. In this way, the Supreme Soul is both manifest and, as a result of the energy pervaded within the atom beyond the unmanifest atom, He Himself is also distinct knowledge or the form of the witness. In this way, both are one and the same. They are also different, and He is also distinct from both. Distinct from both means that the sensitivity (knowledge) which is beyond even that unmanifest atom is also beyond that unmanifest physical atom. In this way, having no physical form, a non-physical form or existence remains, which we simply call Janhavi, knowledge, seer, or witness. The experience of His form and existence as knowledge, seer, or witness is itself the attainment of that Supreme Soul. This is His unmanifest, formless, unconditioned (Nirvikalpa), and imperishable form.
However, the energy pervaded in that same unmanifest atom, again inspired or activated by that seer/witness, emits energy, consciousness, and fire, and begins to construct the visible world. Thus, that nature of knowledge, being pervaded externally and internally, becomes the subject of experience (knowledge). In this way, that Krishna/Supreme Soul, in the form of our soul, always remains with us as the companion, friend, and charioteer of the entire world. This is the qualified/manifest (Saguna-Sakaar) personality of that attribute-less, formless (Nirguna-Nirakaar) entity, which is expressing itself in our very form. We simply have to recognize this form and existence of our own.
Since He is of the nature of knowledge, even though He is free from birth and death, the expression of the world is His descent (Avatara), because He is present in all living beings in the form of power/consciousness. This indeed is His incarnation. The manifestation of that unmanifest and experiencing ones unmanifest form is avatar-ism (Avataravada). Because every expression is the descent of that conscious entity alone. He is not such an incarnation who has descended from the sky. His complete expression within us is His descent.
His descent takes place in the darkness of ignorance covering our soul. Because He Himself is of the nature of knowledge, the doors of the worldly bondage of ignorance (prison) in life open automatically on their own. This is the descent of our soul into the Supreme Soul. Situated in our soul as the nature of knowledge, He becomes the subject of experience for us as the seer or witness. In that experience, there is not the slightest trace of words, sensations, or imaginations. A silent spectator alone is its subject. He has no connection with any thought or any action-reaction. He is not a subject of knowledge, but merely its illuminator. This is the real form and existence of that Krishna/Supreme Soul, who is present right inside us as our soul. In this way, as an incarnate Krishna, He has no incarnation, nor is He an historical person; rather, He is an eternal spiritual truth.
In this way, we should try to search for Him in the existence or form of our soul. Rising above our petty state of ignorance, we have to emerge from untruth, ignorance, the narrowness of materialism, body-consciousness, illusion (Maya), attachment, ego, and all desires, ambitions, foolishness, delusion, and dualities of the world, and establish ourselves in our soul. Reaching there, we begin to feel or experience the awareness of being God within ourselves. For this, God is already present within us as the driver of intellect in the form of a charioteer (Krishna) and guru. Only by taking refuge in Him and surrendering with complete devotion and faith can we prove to be the deliverers of our own soul. The soul that was bound in the darkness of ignorance will be liberated. This liberation is indeed our original form and existence. How is it so? It is necessary to know this.
The Supreme Element is such an element that in whichever form you wish to prove it, it gets proven in that very form. Because whichever form we take as a basis, that basis is also the form and existence of that Supreme Soul; therefore, it is called self-evident (Svayamsiddha), because it is the sole basis of all objects, states, thoughts, and imaginations. If you wish, you can prove Him even through ignorance, darkness, or unrighteousness (Adharma). There is no aspect in which He is not pervaded or which He does not touch. That is why Lord Krishna told Arjuna many times in the Gita, I am attained by all those who perform devotion, adoration, worship, rituals, or sacrifices unto Me in whatever manner. That is, the form of God is so vast that nothing falls outside His perimeter. Even while being paradoxical, He is beyond it. Krishna has said in the Gita that ignorance (Maya) is also My form. If we proceed taking knowledge, we will reach ignorance. If we proceed taking ignorance, we will reach knowledge. If we proceed taking darkness, we will reach light, and taking light, we will reach darkness; taking truth, we will reach untruth, and taking untruth, we will reach truth. In this way, these two facts are fundamentally two sides of the same coin. We have to emerge from the dualistic nature of these two sides and become established on the experience of non-duality (Adwaita). As far as we discuss knowledge, in reality, it is not knowledge, but rather ignorance that is discussed there—the nature, form, and existence of ignorance are discussed. Knowledge is completely left behind, because knowledge cannot be proven. It is self-evident; it falls outside the perimeter of words or thoughts. Then how will you say that you are discussing knowledge? In reality, that is an explanation of ignorance, not knowledge. Upon proving ignorance, knowledge becomes self-evident, and knowledge itself is a kind of ignorance in its own right, because the attitude of being a witness or seer does not relate to any subject. When the subject itself ends, having nothing left to know is also a kind of ignorance. As an example, if we do not rotate a wheel, it appears stationary, and when we spin it forcefully to make it highly dynamic, even then it will appear stationary. In opposite conditions, the same state is being proven. Therefore, we have to emerge from the mindset of either stationarity or dynamism for that wheel, or consider dynamism and stationarity as one. For this, we require a very high-level perspective. What is the actual state between those two motions? That will be the form and existence of that wheel. Either you can say yes, or you can say no. You cannot say yes and no simultaneously. Now, whatever actual state you accept between or beyond yes and no, the motion or stationarity of that wheel will be determined right there. In this way, God is a paradoxical truth, who has to be seen and known by going even beyond opposition. This is the reason why no thought system, theory, or method has been able to prove Him. Because whoever goes to prove Him is already an integral part of Him beforehand. Then how will one prove oneself? It is not just impossible, but this can never happen.
Just in the same way, truth and untruth, knowledge and ignorance, or light and darkness are not separate, but two sides of the same coin. Because if knowledge or light came from somewhere, is the creator of darkness and ignorance someone else? Where light came from, darkness also came from the same place. Its generator or creator is no other God or Supreme Soul. In this way, the nature of the subject matter is not dualistic, but two poles of a single reality, since that reality is beyond both these poles. The duality or conflict between these mutually opposing concepts and unrelated ideologies is precisely the subject of knowing life, the world, and oneself. Upon knowing this, the entire manifest and unmanifest existence dissolves from the perspective of knowledge, leaving only a distinction-less entity (Nirvishesha Satta). Everything becomes non-dual in form.
Reaching there, you remain merely as the seer or witness form—where there are no words, nor any imagination, sensation, emotion, reaction, or even any thought remaining. An eternal silence becomes the form and existence of that Supreme Soul. In this way, that state of knowledge is born of experience. This is the fundamental existence and form of the Supreme Soul, which is deeply inter-pervaded in the depths of our soul, before which the entire world disappears. Only the soul and its experience join together to become one. This is the supreme status or form of God. Soul means experience, and experience means soul. The experience pervaded in the soul is, in a way, the transformation of materiality into non-materiality. That non-material experience-form entity is the formless nature of that God. Seeing ones spiritual entity in its vastness is becoming one with the Supreme Soul, which inside us, in the form of the soul, has become the subject of experience for our entire life and the world. Mere divine experience, which has no subject at all—merely seeing, knowing, and traveling up to the seer or witness becomes the supreme pilgrimage of our life. All other tasks belong to the mind, body, and inner instrument (Antahkarana), not to the soul. It is merely a witness to our life, a witness to our presence or absence, a seer of our mere being.
Take water for instance: if water is given heat beyond a certain temperature, it evaporates into steam, and if it is brought below a certain temperature, it turns into ice. In this way, there are three forms of one water (water, steam, and ice)—three states are visible in a single element, which display its highest and lowest efficiency or capability.
Just in the same way, the atoms pervaded in the universe, being extremely subtle, are unmanifest. But consciousness is uniformly pervaded in all of them. That consciousness-power also has its own highest and lowest efficiency or capability. When that consciousness is in its lowest form, it expresses itself as the world, creating a visible world. But when it is in its highest form, becoming extremely subtle, it transforms into mechanical energy like electricity, changing into a sensitive energy that affects and gets affected. This sensitive energy, despite being material or atomic, possesses a non-physical nature, whose form is collective (Samashtigata). That same mechanical sensitivity, in its lowest transformation, assumes the form of the world and becomes the soul of that universe or world, which is woven into our soul in the form of our sensitivity (knowledge) and experience. That too has no physical form, because that soul, as the seer or witness, is the descent of that higher sensitivity itself. These three forms of matter or atom function as the qualities of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva. This functionality of its plays a decisive role in the origin, sustenance, and destruction of this illusionary world. Overall, we can say that the world or universe, despite being in two forms, exists as an echo of one another. That is, the world or Supreme Soul is mere consciousness, and knowledge or knowing (sensitivity/experience) is the echo of that consciousness. These are two ends of a single entity, which become the physical world on one hand, and the subject of experience as knowledge on the other hand.
Since consciousness/power/energy/fire is atomic and material, knowledge or experience, despite emerging from matter, is not material. Knowledge or experience has no physical form. In this way, knowledge/experience itself is the root existence and form of this world or Supreme Soul, which we can explain through a universally accessible example. For instance, when a person passes away, there is an absence of soul—that is, consciousness—in them; when the said element no longer remains or is absent in them, it simply means, truly and purely, the absence of knowledge and experience. In its absence, they can neither know themselves nor undergo any kind of experience. I am not talking here about any subject, word, sensation, or imagination in the form of knowledge or experience. I am merely talking about the experience inter-pervaded in knowledge, which is solely the seer or witness pervaded in knowledge—the experience that has no subject, but is merely the attitude of a seer or witness, is the supreme secret of this world. We do not have to view the attitude of a seer or witness by attaching it to any subject. It manifests merely in silently observing or knowing, which has no boundary of its own. A journey up to this point is like a journey to God.
In this way, we have attempted to know the Divine Element from a subtle perspective, because it cannot be proven from any single side or opposition. It is beyond both. Its dualistic conflict has to be eliminated to grant it a non-dual form: Eko Aham Dwitiyo Nasti (I am One, there is no second). Then we move toward its spiritual form.
Since the Supreme Soul who created this world Himself manifests through His own illusion/ignorance (Maya/Avidya), and since the Supreme Soul is a sensitive power, He knows His own ignorance. Consequently, He is not bound by it, and He always remains free from it. He creates this world of the nature of illusion/ignorance from His own energy power alone; therefore, every living being in the world gets caught in the web of that illusion/ignorance. The false world, in the form of illusion/ignorance, appears real to them. They fail to see the power/consciousness or Krishna inherent within that cover of illusion/ignorance. Afflicted by illusion/ignorance, their senses get caught in the attraction of their objects, consequently becoming the cause of various types of troubles and sorrows in their life. That same Maya exists as our ignorance—that is, the three qualities of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva. Due to this Yoga Maya, we divide and separate both the world and God. We have to end that duality. Granting truth to that illusionary false form of God from the perspective of knowledge, we must make it an integral part of the Supreme Soul. Only then will we be able to know that non-dual, unmanifest soul. To the extent that God is real, His manifest world is not false, but real. Only the perspective has to be changed; concepts or prejudices have to be changed, because truth cannot have two centers. Two separate truths have to be coordinated into one Supreme Truth.
Similarly, we have to erase the duality between ourselves—that is, body and soul—and gain knowledge of their non-differentiated form, because soul and body are not two different things, but a proven unity of both. Both are intertwined in each other and bound in a single thread. In this way, there is no need for us to neglect, crush, or destroy nature or the visible world. Keeping its meaningfulness, utility, and importance intact in its place, we must accept it as a primary foundation or support for the search for our existence. Because when that Supreme Soul, as a dynamic consciousness within our own existence (soul) in the world covered by the veil of Maya, pervades inside us and transforms into a personality, then we are no longer atomic matter energy/power, but rising above, we are known as a specific individual. The dynamism of our soul becomes a part of the dynamism of the Supreme Soul. In this way, the transformation or descent of that original entity into humanization takes place. Seeing or knowing our divine nature within ourselves is the truth of life, which can be known only under the guidance of the driver of intellect as the charioteer (Krishna). Only then do we become aware of our divinity or universality. Although according to the above, it certainly makes us talk about making decisions, inspirations, or resolves ourselves, the actual situation of this manifest world is somewhat different. It certainly feels to us that we are the ones thinking, knowing, resolving, or deciding independently out of self-inspiration, but directly contrary to this, it is not so, because from creation to the end, you have no separate existence of your own. Even the body and soul are not you yourself; they too are an integral part or expression of that Supreme Soul. You did not create your body or soul separately. The creator is solely He; then how can the work of making decisions or resolves be yours? Your freedom to act is also restricted here.
In this way, whatever your existence (as body and soul) may be, it is the result of pre-determinism. Thus, your decisions, actions, destiny, pleasure, pain, life, death, etc., everything is already ensured beforehand according to the rules of nature. You are nothing separately; the sole existence of the Supreme Soul manifests itself in various forms and is moving according to its pre-determined plan. You cannot even be called its center. The entity of that single center alone is supreme; He Himself is the doer, He Himself is the enjoyer, and He is also beyond both.
Vedas, scriptures, and Upanishads merely introduce that Supreme Soul or that Supreme Entity or His divinity, which were composed not by us, but by Him through us. In this way, the thing to be known and the subject that knows are also Him. He Himself exists by Himself for Himself. Even if at most we separate ourselves from Him, He is such a puppeteer in whose string we are all bound, and He makes us dance according to His will. In this way, all dualities and false knowledge generated within us regarding life and the world automatically come to an end. Here, an attempt has been made to explain the real secret in another way.
In the story of Mahabharata, the episode of playing cards or dice (Chaupar) occurs. Whatever happens in that game, exactly where our life is situated between certainty and uncertainty, we cannot know. The cards of the game are in our hands, the dice of the game are also in our hands, but despite this, an unskilled player wins, and we are left wringing our hands. It is not that we do not know the rules of the game or the art of playing; still, we have to face defeat. This is called fatalism (Niyativada). In this way, our freedom in the form of decisions of the intellect or inspiration for action gets restricted by natures fatalism. The point is that God says, Leave something to Me. You might draw the inference from the above statement that if nothing is in our hands, then what is the need to pursue knowledge, devotion, or action? Viewed realistically, there is a need to act, and there is also an imperative to know. This imperative to know is itself liberation (Mukti); it is the supreme status. In this form, either God is making us His foundation, or we are making God our foundation. Since in both cases His existence is proven, knowing this much is the supreme accomplishment—it is the bare minimum. That paradox can be understood only through spiritual knowledge; meaning, His subject of knowledge can be known beyond a very mysterious paradox. In this game of life, we merely have to know and observe victory or defeat neutrally—that is, with the attitude of a seer or witness—and not get involved in it. Victory and defeat are our destiny, which has already been decided by that Supreme Soul. Nothing is in our hands; that is why Krishna is saying to Arjuna: Be established in Yoga (action and knowledge) and perform unattached action (Nishkama Karmayoga). At least, even if as God, we do get the recognition of our form and existence. Who are we? What are we? What are life and the world? And what is the harmony among all these? What is the role of our existence in that? This alone is the direct knowledge of Him or oneself. Because when we ourselves are His parts, what is the need for us to know Him? Knowledge in the form of the soul is Himself our constituent element. He Himself is expressing in our form—this is what has to be known. This is what has to be searched. This is the goal of life.
As far as the question of knowing, searching, or understanding God is concerned, all those efforts, theories, rules, and ideologies made for it are created within Him or by Him. We cannot eliminate the fatalism of nature. Whatever the form of our life may be, everything is bound in His fatalism. Our decisions or actions are also not separate from His existence. If we are thinking that we are making decisions with our superior intellect, then this is our delusion. Nothing is in our control. If there were such a thing, everything would happen according to our wishing. We would have even conquered death. But in reality, there is no such thing; it is this very mysteriousness that has to be known. Just understand your fatalism, and consider that you have known God. If such capability, skill, or omniscience is visible in any man or person, then this chosen person is also selected by the fatalism of God alone. In this way, an ordinary person becomes an incarnation of God Himself.
Our existence is one and the same spiritually, physically, and divinely (Adhidaivik, Adhibhautik, Adhyatmik). Its sole principle is pre-determined at a very subtle level deep within us. In this way, no freedom of our own remains.
Our great men also wanted to say the same thing, but could not say it. They tried to clarify this fact in the Vedas, scriptures, and Upanishads, but could not do so because the one clarifying and the subject matter were both the same thing, which was very difficult to explain in words. Whenever they tried to explain, the words kept becoming paradoxical with one another. Paradoxes kept arising in words and their meanings. The more they clarified it, the more unclear and paradoxical meaning it provided. They tried to explain that Supreme Element through various examples, thoughts, theories, and methods. But being outside the perimeter of all of them, it could not become a subject of words; as a result, the real assessment or mystery of the Divine Element remains as it is today. Because God can be known not in His paradox, but only in His totality. To understand Him, one has to reach Him by negating all facts brought into experiment or use; only then is harmony (unity) established among God, world, universe, and life. The real intention of saying this is that God, world, universe, and life are all eternal, as they are, pre-determined, and unchangeable. No work like creation, sustenance, or destruction is happening. This indeed is His form, existence, and nature, in which you yourself are included, and God is equally included in you. Seeing each with an individualistic or separatist perspective—this delusion creates a real form or concept within us, which is the natural property of that Maya. Knowledge and ignorance are also His expression; therefore, we should rise above all types of dualities of the world and look, and we will see the divine form of God right within ourselves. In this way, the author or speaker of this book is also representing God and delivering His message to you, since he has no separate existence of his own.
Like Arjuna, we too have to represent our own life. Through Yoga (Knowledge + Action), we must know the power of our soul—that is, the knowledge pervaded within the soul and its experiential power, form, or existence. We have to center ourselves in our own soul. In this manner, we must reach the pinnacle of the unmanifest experience of the Supreme Divinity situated within us. We have to make the unmanifest form (personality) of God our own personality. We must assimilate His experience into the experience of our own soul. Emerging from the uncertainty of this transient world, we have to achieve the spiritual touch of eternal and permanent imperishability. We must rise above our animality and become Pashupati (Lord of all creatures). For I am already present within you as your soul in the form of knowledge and light. You merely have to remove the veil of ignorance. Then I shall reveal Myself naturally. In this way, your soul, liberated from the worldly bonds of ignorance, will be able to attain Me, the infinite and eternal Supreme Soul. This victory will hand over to you the reign of the vast empire that is this world. Then nothing will remain left to be attained in the world. Living deep within you, I am extremely near to you. As your soul, I alone am Krishna, companion, friend, charioteer—I am everything.
Therefore, performing your swadharma (righteous duty/endeavor), worship through knowledge, action, and devotion, and emerge victorious in this battlefield of the world. I will be visible in your every reverence and faith. But I will not be visible to you through these ordinary eyes. Hence, I grant you divine vision (knowledge) to see My real form and existence. You are already seeing My qualified/manifest (saguna-sakaar) form. Now behold My attribute-less, formless (nirguna-nirakaar) form as well. In reality, the story of the Mahabharata is an integral part of our own life. What is truth in life? What is untruth? It is an internal conflict of choosing or selecting, in which the inclusion of the entire human race gives the story a vast perspective; hence, the use of the word Maha (Great), which is beyond the boundaries of space and time. In the story (Mahabharata), the life character of a single individual has been taken as an example. The entire expansion of the story and its characters have been enacted keeping Arjuna as the sole focal point. In the story, Arjuna has been viewed from different perspectives ranging from life and the world to the spiritual realm, wherein in place of Arjuna, you and I are also the center point of that story. Just as Arjuna is standing in the battlefield between two armies, Arjuna here represents the conflict between knowledge and ignorance. He is afflicted with dilemma. On the other hand, Dhritarashtra, being blind, is afflicted with ignorance. Here, the ideology and notions generated from Dhritarashtras ignorance, or the perspective of viewing life based on ignorance, is Duryodhana. Gandhari too is a symbol of ignorance. (Arjuna and Dhritarashtra—one is an ignorance-born dilemma, while the other, Dhritarashtra, is the symbol of absolute ignorance.)
Arjuna himself, in the form of Duryodhana, being afflicted with body-consciousness, abandons his swadharma and does not want to let go of illusion and attachment. Within him, being trapped in the net of attachment regarding birth and death, parents, brothers and sisters, uncles, grandfathers, preceptors, etc., related to the body, the fear of losing physical assets and luxurious enjoyments signifies his conflict, ignorance, or demonic tendency. This demonic tendency (based on ignorance) wants to expand itself further. Therefore, it does not want to give anything equal to even the tip of a needle to anyone (Kurukshetra). On the other hand, there is also swadharma—that is, fulfilling human endeavors (purushartha) through Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation). How to harmonize these four in life so that instead of remaining separate, all four become one? This tendency of Arjuna represents the divine tendency or the realm of righteousness (Dharma-kshetra).
However, the sense of body-consciousness that Arjuna is experiencing in his soul is putting him in a state of conflict. He is unable to comprehend what among knowledge-ignorance, truth-untruth, body-soul, is the truth. He is unable to choose. Which of the two is worthy of emulation? Do both have separate existences, or are both one, or is the harmony of both the actual reality? This very conflict, despite being internal, is seen reflecting in external and worldly life. Thus, standing on the threshold of conflict, he is unable to decide, which can neither be called complete knowledge nor complete ignorance. Rather, he is situated at the dry stage of knowledge.
Otherwise, the entire world is the expression of the Supreme Soul. But since the grandest expression of the Supreme Soul occurs in the human body or human being, it is called the field of righteousness (Dharma-kshetra). In the human body alone, the soul is present in its completeness, which has also been called Samanta-Panchak. Samanta-Panchak implies that Supreme Soul who is equally pervaded as the soul across the five elements of the human body (ether, air, fire, water, earth). In this manner, the human body (field) becomes a living example of knowledge and ignorance, truth and untruth, where in the form of ignorance, there is demonic tendency, while in the form of knowledge, there is divine tendency as well. If this is the field of Dharma in the form of knowledge, then it is also Kurukshetra in the form of ignorance. And the choice of reality between those two transforms into a war or struggle in the form of conflict. Arjunas ignorance in the form of body-consciousness and attachment does not want to leave the mindset of worldliness. Similarly, his knowledge in the form of swadharma advises him to spiritually renounce the world, knowing it to be meaningless. Surrounded by these two mindsets of conflict, Arjuna is unable to understand anything. Here, the army of ignorance, with its cunning moves, does not want to leave its worldly empire and wants to expand. On the other hand, Arjunas knowledge in the form of swadharma (the fourfold human endeavor) is bent on declaring that worldliness as false and substance-less. Being unable to understand anything, know anything, or decide anything is the subject of Arjunas despondency (Vishada). Putting down the Gandiva bow from his hands is equivalent to turning his face away from the struggle of life. Can truth be understood or digested so easily? To know or understand it, does one have to pass through a dense darkness? Only after renouncing all illusion and attachment does its attainment become easy and simple. Only then does the light of knowledge shine forth and grant completeness to life.
This despondency of Arjuna is his conflict, standing (situated) between two armies, residing between both armies—that is, knowledge and ignorance—to observe, inspect, test, and analyze both, so that one can be face-to-face with the truth, meaningfulness, and reality of life through the aforementioned knowledge. This very conflict or ignorance of his is the hundred sons of the Kaurava Dhritarashtra (ignorance). We fight this war ourselves. But he who, in this conflictual situation, fulfills his swadharma and receives supreme spiritual knowledge from the charioteer in the form of Krishna (intellect), rising above the conflict—that Arjuna alone becomes worthy of victory. He who, in the field of the body (Kurukshetra), eliminates his ignorance with the charioteer in the form of intellect (Krishna), becomes one of steady intellect (free from dilemma / beyond conflict), and experiences the grandness of creation and the original form and existence of God in the depths of his own soul, wins ultimate glory in the battle of life.
In this way, the historical authenticity of the Mahabharata war is not proven; this war continues unceasingly even today in me, in you, and in everyone. It is merely an attempt to connect practical and spiritual elements with life in the story, and making them the foundation, it is merely an attempt to know the reality and true state of life and the world, one form of which is seen reflected in our practical life as well. Understanding its holistic form within or beyond this story is extremely difficult. Whatever is happening in the story is not different from our life. That is, we too are characters in the story of the Mahabharata. It is only mandatory for us to understand the underlying meanings embedded in the story. We must not merely accept it, but knowing its reality is also imperative.
Objective of the Story: Generally, a human being primarily has to face adhidaiyvik (divine/cosmic), adhibhautik (physical/material), and adhyatmik (spiritual) sufferings in life, which we view from separate perspectives. We are unable to establish harmony among them and adjust them to a single focal point. Because of this, numerous questions arise before us, which carry internal conflict or contradiction within themselves, and finding their answers to achieve a solution becomes very difficult. In the harmony of these three lies the realization of the unity of life and the universe, but like Arjuna, we keep asking questions endlessly. We fail to know the secrets hidden within the solution, and as a result, every aspect of life and the universe appears to us like a riddle. While trying to solve it, we depart from this world without taking advantage of this golden opportunity. Questions arise occasionally in the mind of an ordinary seeker. That is precisely where the story of Mahabharata begins.
What is this life? What is the universe? Who is its creator? Where is He? In what form is He? How did He create such a vast world? How are such diversity, peculiarity, regularity, and orderliness working in it? Is the creator in the form of an individual, or in some other form? Did the world arise on its own, or did someone create it? Who is its controller? If He has any shape or color, why is He not visible before us? After all, when and how did the visible world come into existence? What is its beginning, middle, and end? How far does it extend? Why does every single object appear different? Why did He create this world after all? What is His purpose? Is there any relationship between life and the world (creation) or not? If there is, what kind is it and in what form? Are we His parts or separate from Him? Who are we? Where did we come from, and where will we go? What is my body? What is life? Are childhood, youth, old age, and death all that life is, or is there something more? Why do illusion, affection, greed, attachment, and fear arise? Why do pleasure, pain, fate, hope, despair, and ego arise within us? What are birth, rebirth, and death? Why do moments of pleasure and pain keep coming continuously in the world? Is there any meaningful remedy to avoid these sufferings or not? Why does every object of this visible world get destroyed? What is mans own position in this tragic and complex world? What is his original nature or existence? What is life? What is death? What is the fundamental objective of life? How can it be attained? What is its best means? Can death be avoided? Is immortality a real thing or not? How can the meaningfulness of life be attained? Does mans existence remain after death or not? If it remains, in what form, and if it does not remain, in what form? Does rebirth happen or not, or is this birth the final one? The answers to many such questions have been cited through the story of the Mahabharata.
If we look back at the past history of the human race, we will find that from its initial stage for thousands of years, it kept wandering undeveloped or unorganized like animals. As time passed, the consciousness inherently existing within it kept progressing in its evolutionary course according to its natural instinct.
Due to the natural instinct of the consciousness pervaded in him, his curiosity kept connecting to an unbroken chain of cause, effect, and consequences. During this period, his life went through many phases of ups and downs and experiences. Where consciousness was reflecting in the form of his material development, parallel to it, the development of spiritual consciousness was also fundamental. Since knowledge of experiential consciousness was extremely difficult, as a result, most creatures or humans spent their lives considering the material and worldly realm as the sole truth. But they saw that the physical form of life was becoming the cause of suffering in practical and mental life. As a reaction to this, numerous spiritual questions presented themselves before him, the solutions to which he wanted to know. Here, that person based in ignorance was the first character or narrator of our Mahabharata story. His ambitions born of ignorance, body-ego, and worldly attachment were his primary subjects, which Maharishi Ved Vyas has tried to weave into the fabric of the story to explain the nature of life and the world.
Thus, here, Dhritarashtra in the form of ignorance himself wants to know the nature of his own ignorance. Sanjay, who is endowed with divine vision, is present before him to remove his ignorance by giving a eye-witness account of the origin, sustenance, dissolution of life and the world, and the sufferings and conflicts arising out of the nature of human ignorance. By narrating the teachings given to Arjuna by Krishna (intellect) in the Mahabharata war, he explains that ambitions born of ignorance in life become synonymous with our sorrows and crises; thus, how should we perform our swadharma? This is implied. Arjuna is merely an instrument in that story.
In Indian Spirituality, attaining four human endeavors (Purusharthas) has been described as the goal of life for a human being. Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation) have been defined as his swadharma. But due to the inability to establish proper harmony among them, man always wastes his entire life in a state of conflict like Arjuna. His ambitions always lead him toward the world born of ignorance. As a result, he is unable to make decisions between right and wrong, truth and untruth in life. He always spends his life in a conflictual state. Despite all four being mutually opposing, establishing harmony among them is the primary goal of life. As far as Purushartha is concerned, Dharma comes first. Dharma tells us what the fundamental nature or original character of life is; one should spend life in accordance with it. The nature of water is cool and it flows downward. The nature of fire is radiant. In this way, knowing what the fundamental nature of our life is and adopting it in life is adopting Dharma in life. Practicing the Dharma stated in the Vedas is the greatest Dharma of man. Becoming fixed or established in it alone is Dharma. Dharma has two forms: one is Pravritti Dharma (path of active engagement) and the other is Nivritti Dharma (path of renunciation/disengagement). Pravritti Dharma relates to the worldly realm, in which good actions yield good results and bad actions yield bad results. Nivritti Dharma includes the measures taken for liberation by mentally renouncing Pravritti Dharma and performing actions unattached, where one is good and the other is bad. In this way, when a person in the world uses means to acquire wealth (Artha) with a pure mind, then at the appropriate time, Artha, Kama, and Moksha become combined. In this, Dharma is the cause of Artha, and Kama is the fruit of Artha. The root cause of these three is resolve (Sankalpa), and resolves are of the nature of objects intended for the senses; this is the root of Dharma, Artha, and Kama. Renouncing these Dharma, Artha, and Kama is called Moksha.
That is to say, Purushartha means that while living in the world, properly consuming Artha and Kama in worldly life with a pure mind in pursuit of Dharma with an unattached attitude, disengaging from all three (Dharma, Artha, Kama) is Purushartha. That is, if actions in Dharma, Artha, and Kama are performed without the desire for fruits, it culminates in Moksha alone.
To continue this journey of knowledge, must read Introduction Part-2 ...