Arjuna's Crisis of Conscience

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता

Śrīmad Bhagavadgītā

॥ श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता ॥

॥ ॐ श्री परमात्मने नमः ॥

॥ अथ श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता ॥

अथ प्रथमोऽध्यायः ।   अर्जुनविषादयोगः



Commentary on 

Chapter One of Bhagavad-Gita

Arjuna's Crisis of Conscience

by Michael Dolan-B.V. Mahāyogī

       This first chapter of the  Bhagavad-gita is often overlooked as a superfluous prologue to the real heart of Kṛṣṇa's teachings. And yet we may find the real key to the meaning of the Gīta in Arjuna's crisis of conscience. In fact the chapter has been titled, arjunaviṣādayogaḥ,  अर्जुनविषादयोगः, in keeping with the formality of titling each chapter according to the Yoga system taught within. So what yoga system is examined here in the first chapter?

      Some thousand years after the battle of Kurukshetra was fought and settled and the Mahābharata composed by Vedavyāsa, the philosopher Plato began to establish the model of Western philosophical discourse on the basis of dialogues. Today, of course, this is commonplace, but most critics credit Plato for inventing the form. Actually, we may find the precedent for the dialogues of Plato in Bhagavad-gita and the dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.

     If a dialogue has no conflict, it is flat, bland, lifeless. Mere catechism lacks the character of true dialogue. At the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, there is a tremendous conflict. Armed men are about to assault each other in an all-out battle for dynasty, pitting gurus against their disciples, grandchildren against grandfathers. It is to be the bloodiest conflict of ancient history, eclipsing even the Trojan War. But while the Iliad contains no philosophical dialogue, the Mahabharat gives us the Bhagavad-gita at its very center. Just as the Trojan War hinges on whether Achilles will fight, the Battle of Kurukshetra hinges on Arjuna's willingness to fight. Without Arjuna, the Pandavas and Yudhisthira are lost as is their cause: dharma.

     Homer's Achilles is moved by vengeance for the death of his lover Patrocles. Vengeance has brought Arjuna to the brink of war, but before he dives into the slaughter, he pauses. He has a moment of doubt. This doubt is what fires the conversation between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Arjuna does not enter the matter as a true believer, but as a reluctant warrior.

    As Arjuna begins his conversation with Kṛṣṇa he looks upon the gathered armies and sees cousins, brothers, fathers and sons, even gurus ready to kill and die. He lays down his arms, overcome with compassion. But Arjuna is not a coward as sometimes he is depicted; he is the greatest warrior of the ancient world celebrated in thousands of lines of Sanskrit. He has already defeated Shiva in a hunting duel, contested with his father Indra the god of thunder himself in the burning of the Khandava forest. He has conquered an entire race of ghostly warriors, the Nivata-kavachas and sent them to hell. Arjuna is no shrinking violet.

   No coward would singlehandedly demand that his chariot be drawn up in the no-man's land between two opposing armies when arrows are beginning to fly.  And yet, after having been primed for this battle, having won the greatest weapons of war from the gods, instead of entering the fray swinging his sword and firing arrows from his famous Gandhiva bow, he has a moment of doubt. 

     Vishada can mean "despair, despondency." I think in today's parlance we would call it a "crisis of conscience." The Bhagavad-Gita takes us on a journey from despondency and suffering to enlightenment and bliss. But we begin with Arjuna's crisis of conscience.

     It may seem a conceit to call "Crisis of Conscience" a form of yoga. And yet if "yoga" is a system for bringing us in contact with the divine, that journey often begins with doubt. If we don't take time to question who we are or what we are doing, we may never confront ourselves with the truth about reality. Arjuna's crisis of consciense makes him doubt everything. He questions Krishna: Why must he be a warrior? What is the place of society, religion, duty, self-consciousness, God consciousness? What happens when duty and religion clash? Arjuna is no fool. He has participated in discussions with great sages and saints from the Kamyaka forest to the heavenly planets. He is well-acquainted with Vedic conclusions about duty and karma. And yet his crisis of conscience allows him and us to explore the deepest questions through his conversation with Kṛṣṇa.

yoga practitioner

   If Kṛṣṇa Himself takes us on a tour of every possible yoga and practice, Arjuna exercises every possible doubt, not from the rehearsed questions of a learned professor, but with the aching doubt of a seasoned warrior, reluctant for spilling further blood. The intensity of his crisis of conscience is matched at every step by the truths of Kṛṣṇa's message. 

  In the end, Arjuna's crisis of conscience is our own. If we approach the message of the Gīta in the same spirit as Arjuna, inquiring, but willing to accept truth, we may aspire to achieve the same enlightenment. "Crisis of Conscience" as yoga is useful, especially if we approach a realized master submissively and in a spirit of inquiry.  Arjuna's yogic crisis of conscience is sincere, and his dialogue with Kṛṣṇa and the truths contained therein conclude in the highest understanding of yoga: the yoga of divine love.