Arjuna Vishaada Yoga
Chapter 1, Verses 21-23
arjuna uvāca
senayor-ubhayor madhye
ratham sthāpaya me'cyuta
yāvad etān nirikṣe'ham
yoddhu-kāmān avasthitān
kair-mayā saha yoddhavyam
asmin rana-samudyame
yotsyamānān avekṣeham
ya ete'tra samāgatāḥ
dhārtarästrasya durbuddher
yuddhe priya cikīrṣavaḥ
Arjuna said: O Achyuta (the faultless, the immovable), station my chariot between these two armies, so that I may view these myriads standing, longing for battle. I wish to see who I am to fight, and look upon those who have come here to champion the cause of the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra.
Interesting! Here Arjuna was addressing Lord Krishna as Achyuta. Achyuta means the one who is never vanquished, 'the faultless, the immovable' It means one who never suffers a fall, who remains ever-established in the Self, who is never dissassociated from His power and Glory. Addressing Lord Krishna here as 'Achyuta', Arjuna revealed his knowledge of the Glory and Reality of Lord Krishna and called Him, "Lord, my God!" He knew that his own charioteer was none other than the Lord Narayana Himself.
Arjuna asked Krishna to "Station my chariot between these two armies." Of course, Arjuna knew who he was going to fight. But he asked Krishna to "Please bring the chariot and place it between the two armies, so that I can see the people face to face, so that I can look deeply into their eyes and see who these people are."
This is often the situation in life. Testing times may arise in the form of troubles. Often one doesn't want to see and tries to bypass it, tries to go sideways. But life is like this. Life is a great lesson. If you don't face your problem, if you don't face your negative quality and look at it in the eyes, you'll never become strong. If you always try to go sideways, you will not learn anything.
Arjuna said, "Place me between them. Let me see - face to face, eye to eye- what are these qualities, what is this pain. Let me go above it, rise over, master it! "I wish to see who I am to fight": here it was not about fighting, it was about transcending. "What will I transcend? Which quality?" This was self-analysis. This was the point where Arjuna was analysing. Arjuna here represents self. observance. Observe all your qualities your good qualities and your not good qualities and then, you, yourself, can know how to overcome them, how to transcend and transform them. In this request to come personally on the battlefield himself and come to grips with seeing these people in front of him, Arjuna was not scared. This showed his strength.
Note that one part of the war had already started. But there is another important point: Arjuna had not yet shot his arrow; for him personally, the war had not started. On the Kauravas' side, it had started, but Arjuna had not shot his arrow. The bow was in his hand but he had not yet put the arrow in his bow and shot it. He wanted to self-analyse, to analyse the situation first. He was not like a mad person, who would just say, "Yaahh! Let's run!" In the Middle Ages, people ran like crazy onto the battlefield because somebody had said, "You have to fight!" No! Here there was a certain strategy. You see, 5000 years ago, they had this strategy! They already had this respect at that time.
Arjuna continued, "And look upon those who have come here to champion the cause of the evil-minded." Other translations use the words 'the criminal one: This translation is so beautiful! This translation is really nice: it says, 'the evil-minded one'. The evil-minded king, Duryodhan, represents the mind that is blinded by pride and ego. All that emerges from a mind that is evil, can only be evil. Everything that comes from a mind that is negative, will be imprinted with this negativity. Duryodhan's evil-mindedness attracted all the evilness around him. The mind is a big magnet that attracts. If the mind is negative, it will attract negative. If it is positive, it will attract positive qualities. And if it is focused on God, it will attract God.
That's what they say, no? "Control the mind!" When you go on the spiritual path, you receive a mantra to chant. For what? For the mind to concentrate on the Lord, to concentrate on God, so that the mind can be diverted from the normal daily routine and transform itself into a different state. Here, Arjuna was observing. Every day, in daily life, you also have to observe; observe your good quality and your not-so- good quality. When you learn to observe, you will also learn to overcome, transform, and transcend these qualities. So Arjuna said, "Let me observe those assembled here. Let me observe and inquire, who are these fighters? Who are these great heroes?"
Bhagavad Gita
