The Bhavadgita depicts life's struggle & battle. While the Mahabharata war was only for eighteen days, life's battle is till the end of one's life. Our body is symbolically a battle field. It is also called "Dharma Kshetra". There is a fight going on between Good and Evil in ourselves. "Sareera madyam Khalu Dharma sadhanam". The Body is given to perform acts of Dharma or Righteousness! The GITA out lines Eighteen Yogas. The word YOGA means the union of the Jeeva the individual Soul with the Absolute Soul or the Brahman. Religion is that which binds Man to GOD! Our birth place is God himself. We have to return to God. Wordsworth says, "Like trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home".
The first of the eighteen yogas is VISHADA YOGA -- the grief and despondency of Arjuna the Pandava warrior. It reveals the speciality and efficacy of sorrow or grief as an indicator of attainment of Divine Grace. Arjuna feels that his greed for kingdom is the root cause for war. In the same way man earns Divine Grace when he grieves for the sorrows of life. Compassion for all creatures and pity are the first steps for liberation or "mukti". It is sincere sorrow and repentance for all our acts of sin and introspection that shall entitle us for the Grace of God.
Why should Arjuna become despondent having come to the battle field to wage war and kill all the Kauravas? Where is the need for him to feel sorrow and dejection? Requesting Krishna to drive the chariot to the center of the two armies, he surveys the ranks of his enemies--his own kith and kin including his grand father Bhishma and the teachers Dronacharya and Krupacharya and many others. He is over come by pity and delusion. He shudders at the thought of Killing those brothers, relatives, and his own preceptors. His body shivers. He sweats profusely. His famous bow Gandiva slides from his shoulder along with the quiver of wonderful arrows. Says Arjuna "Sidanti mama gathrani mukhancha parisushyati vepathascha sareereme romaharshascha jayathe" (1-29). Arjuna does not want success or kingdom. He tells Krishna that he is not enamoured of kingdom. He does not want to eat a bloody meal after killing all and rule the empty land. Rather, he is ready to beg or die instead of annihilating the entire Kuru race! He should not and cannot aim an arrow at his beloved teachers and relatives. Krishna points out that the Kauravas are called "athathayis" -- people who have set fire to houses, poisoned others, grabbed lands, defaulted on loans, violated the chastity of women, attacked with murderous weapons. Kauravas have done almost all of these heinous crimes. They do not deserve any mercy.! But Arjuna says that non violence is the best policy. "Ahimsa paramo Dharmaha". It is the quality of great people to do good to those who do evil to them. He turns aside and lays down his arms, his Gandiva and the quiver with mighty arrows! In his pity and sorrow he is too weak to stand and falls at the feet of the Lord and prays for edification and knowledge on various issues and doubts!
What exactly is the result of this grief or VISHADA of Arjuna? What is its importance? His despondency is very beneficial. Arjuna was not a coward to run away from the battlefield. It is an acid test for his sincerity and steadfastness. It is the motivating force to surrender himself to the Lord totally! VISHADA or sorrow leads to Sanyasa yoga and is the bedrock of detachment. Arjuna's sorrow is typical of the sorrow of Humanity. Man in his ignorance thinks that he is the architect of his sorrows and successes. He is in ecstasy and euphoria when he wins and in distress when he fails. This pain and sorrow, when enlarged, not for personal wellbeing, is transformed into what we may call as "VISHADA YOGA" -- sorrow that brings us closer and closer to GOD! The grief of an individual should be for the mistakes he has done, for the bad road he has taken and not for narrow personal gains. In the Lives of the great Nayanmars and Azwars we find the same type of sorrow and suffering for general good. Another great aspect of these devotees has been their total surrender or "Saranagati" to the lotus feet of the Lord!
Arjuna's grief is slowly turning to the grand ideal of total Surrender or "Saranagati" to Lord Krishna. He is invaded by innumerable doubts. He is in a dilemma. Should he fight or not fight? Should he kill the Kauravas as well as his teachers and kith and kin?What is his Dharma? Is he greedy? Is violence sanctioned by Dharma sastras? How will he be judged in the future? These relevant doubts require elaborate clarification before he shoots his first arrow. Krishna allows him to be deluded and when Arjuna is incosolably sorrowful, gears himself up to ward off his silly doubts and establish what is right and wrong, and Dharma and Adharma. Thus VISHADA true and sincere, is a gateway for union with GOD!!!
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