Vishada means grief. Everyone wishes that his life be freed from grief and filled so much with joy. But is this ever possible in the context of the natural laws governing life and the world? Confronted every day by our own mind and senses we are repeatedly assailed by grief. Yet it is strange that seldom does anyone enquire deeply into the very cause of this ceaseless plight and the way of finding any lasting redress or relief.
In such a background, Vishada Yoga of Bhagavad Gita (the first chapter) comes as a great eye-opener to the entire mankind. The suddenness with which the great heroic fighter happened to crumble in the battlefield before the actual commencement of the war, and the instant response it evoked in his illustrious charioteer, are sufficient enough to induce and empower one and all to take up grief as a strong compulsion to delve deeply into its very source and unearth a relief and remedy that will not merely be an answer to grief or misery but will also be a full solution to all problems of the mind, heart and intelligence. The event or instance to instill the basic enquiry may be the mind’s grief, but the horizon to be reached in the process is most subtle, comprehensive and spiritual. The uniqueness of Vishada Yoga and particularly the manner in which it was narrated by Sanjaya in the first chapter, makes the message relevant to one and all in any situation of life. The simple ‘vishada’ becomes ‘vishada-yoga’, when the plight is given the touch of enquiry and investigation as Arjuna did in the presence of Krishna in Kurukshetra.
It is very significant that what Arjuna did and achieved in the battlefield of Kurukshetra in the course of two hours or so, is something, which he did not and could not gain during the prolonged forest exile, in which he certainly underwent intense austerities. In fact, was not the whole of that period a full opportunity for him to engage himself in exclusive sadhana? The fate was further intensified when the forest exile was followed by the painstaking incognito life.
Nevertheless, what failed to transpire during the long years of such exclusive austerities and privation, suddenly came to pass when Arjuna was about to begin the war in Kurukshetra. What does this point to? Nothing else can cause the great magic, which Vishada can in human life! How vishada acts as a compelling factor, and how, when it does so, the trend must be pursued vigorously to achieve the best outcome, are the points Vishada-Yoga of Gita illustrates.
Sanjaya tells Dhritarashtra that on gazing at the army and its leaders in front, Arjuna suddenly feels bewildered and depressed. In Arjuna’s own words, the plight was colossally depressive: ‘Seeing the relatives arrayed before me, my body trembles, mouth goes dry: horripilation overtakes me; my Gandeeva slips from my hold; my mind whirls and intelligence is completely shaken. I do not find any purpose in fighting. The war is immensely sinful indeed. I do not want either victory or royal comforts. By killing these men, what good can be gained at all?”
Can there be a greater plight of grief in any one’s life? For those who lament on account of anything whatever in life, Arjuna’s words and feelings must be a great pointer. Arjuna’s words reveal a depth and magnificence, which can hardly be surpassed by anyone in the clutches of grief. Giving vent to all his feelings of disgust, disappointment and dismay, he gives forth a number of arguments explaining why he was feeling like abandoning the war and retreating from Kurukshetra, although such a course of action could not have contemplated till then.
But the contrast and wonder were yet to come. Listening to Arjuna’s words, Krishna came out with a powerful protest and caution. He denounced Arjuna’s grief, showing that it was completely misplaced, erroneous. In a valorous fighter, with his enriching kshatriya tradition, it was utterly disharmonious and destructive alike.
“Why should this plight overpower you at this critical juncture? Were you not in the forest for long twelve years pursuing solely the austere mission? If the resentment and repentance which your mind displays now were brought forth then, I would have held it meaningful. But how, when the war is about to begin, and even war cries have been raised, how dare you lament like this?
“There is nothing wrong in the situation; but the fault lies in your own personality. The events do not by themselves determine the character or behaviour of man. It is man himself, his own attitude and vision that should breathe life, meaning and purpose into events. In the act of seeing, the object seen is but inert; the seer, the subject, alone is sentient. Why blame the scene in front, Arjuna? Blame your own weakness and ignorance.
Wars had been there all along, ever since creation, ever since mankind set their feet on earth. Misdeeds were also not uncommon. When anyone’s misbehaviour does not respond to sound advice or reason, it calls for a powerful treatment of resistance and protest. The kshatriya’s chivalry and valour, the training in archery he gets from great teachers, are to fulfil this dire need of the hour.
“The fighter’s personal notes of love, sympathy or concern should not at any time intercept his royal dutiful dispensations. When gentleness does not pay, righteous indignation has to step in. Man’s mind had depth and loftiness enough to afford such display and dispensation.
“Leave your unmanliness, the weakness of your heart, Arjuna, and rise up with a determination to take your bow and proceed forward to combat the opponents.”
Was Arjuna baffled? Was he finding a new discomfiture in the hands of Krishna? Where lay the error of judgement?
Krishna’s timely words of admonition had their destined startling effect. Arjuna’s emotional resistance suddenly gave way to a more sober introspection. What all he spoke thereafter had a deeper ground. From mere grief it now rose to be a sustained enquiry, in which Arjuna was able to discover where lay his insufficiency and where to look for his redemption.
If in the initial sudden outburst Arjuna poured forth his emotional resistance and preferences, after listening to Krishna’s admonition, he begins to speak from a deeper level, arraying his reasons for refusing to fight.
“Krishna,’ he argues, “how can I fight these venerable men, who should be worshipped at first sight everywhere. Are these not the persons under whose care I grew and learnt the skills, to display which, I have come here to this battlefield? To aim arrows at them is unthinkable both to my mind and intelligence.
“A war is a ground on which the fighter has to kill or die. Rather than attempting to kill my Teachers, whose army is now opposing mine, I would better renounce my present life and be a mendicant begging alms from door to door.
“There is, Krishna, no possibility of fighting this war avoiding Bheeshma and Drona. They are standing right in front as commanders. So I am thoroughly confused, Krishna; I am victimized by karpanya, narrowness of the mind and heart. My nature is overpowered by constriction of vision. I seek refuge under you, as a disciple would in front of a Guru. I am no more a valorous and determined fighter. I am a seeker of supreme good.
“The lasting good, Krishna, is not the victory in this great war, and then the prosperous kingdom and its bounties as a result. Nor is it the attainment of heaven, should I fight and fall dead in the battlefield. On the other hand, it is the redress of all my grief and misery, which now burn my senses profusely. If you know the way to this end, tell me immediately.”
The manner in which Arjuna readily responded to the critical remarks made by Krishna, which carried an admonition as well as a pointed advice and the instant effect it produced in his thinking set a very good example. It clearly shows how vishada encountered by one no matter where and what for it has occurred, when properly dealt with, can lead him to immediate elevation suggesting timely thoughts of lasting welfare. Thus a very common instance of life becomes an invaluable pointer to supreme good and enlightenment.
The grief-stricken Arjuna pleading to abandon war and retreat from the battlefield suddenly turned a deep enquirer displaying such spiritual discrimination and attunement as can be expected only from a keen Vedantic seeker. To regard the pleasures and glories of the world as but ephemeral and hence untimely useless to win the real welfare of human life, to spurn likewise the promised post-death rewards like the heavens, is the rare merit of viveka, which only the spirited spiritual enquirer will be able to evince. From a mere passing sorrower, Arjuna sticks to his position as a dedicated seeker. The more striking part is how unambiguously he specified what according to him would have the ability to fulfil his dire need of the hour.
Denouncing the unrivalled kingdom and royal pleasures and powers, and equally so the supreme heavenly abodes, Arjuna yearns to know from Krishna what will surely lead him to Sreyas. Arjuna clearly explains what he means by Sreyas: It is that which has the potential to immediately take away all the grief from his mind- the grief that is burning his senses and body. Removal of grief itself means begetting joy. Is not spiritual wisdom and its attainment meant to crown man with endless joy and the supreme immortality that goes along with it?
(Part of the Series Essential-Concepts-In-Bhagavad-Gita)
