This is the biggest take away of Chapter 1.
Even the best of the best will undergo mental confusions, breakdowns at critical junctures in their life.
Arjuna asks Krishna to drive him to the center of the battlefield and argues with Krishna that he does not want to fight this war. The arguments he puts up here 'apparently' looks very convincing.
- Argument 1) I can only see misfortunes as a result of this war
- Argument 2) I cannot see how any good can result from killing my own cousins and relations.
- Argument 3) I do not desire any subsequent victory, kingdom or happiness by killing my own relatives.
- Argument 4) Teachers, Fathers, Sons, Grand Fathers, Maternal uncles, In laws, Grandsons and others are placed in opposite sides of the war. I need to kill them or get killed. What pleasure will we (Pandavas) derive by killing Kauravas?
- Argument 5) Killing is sinful and wrong. Kauravas may not realize this, but we are educated enough to realize this.
- Argument 6) If dynasty is destroyed, the family tradition is lost for the next generations.
- Argument 7) The next generations will be unwanted progeny due to wrong deeds of the war on the women in the society.
- Argument 8) Ancestors of these unwanted future generations will also suffer as no one will do the requisite ancestral yagnas or worships (Pindodaka kriya). Hence unwanted people and their ancestors (including Pandavas) will go to hell.
- Argument 9) Driven by desire of royal happiness, we are committing sin.
- Argument 10) I think it's better Kauravas kill me unarmed in this battlefield.
Saying thus, he discards his bow and arrow, overcome with mental confusions. Clearly, a great warrior Arjuna is experiencing a mental breakdown at a crucial juncture as the war is about to start. He 'does not want' to fight the war and wants to run away. Arjuna uses several arguments even in subsequent chapters which again looks very convincing but that’s the beauty of Bhagavad Gita. Krishna 'corrects' him each time on what is the right thing to do. This is done in several ways – by educating Arjuna on the bigger picture of life, the ultimate goal of life, how a right thing needs to be pursued even if it's not easy or not convenient.
This knowledge is not meant to be used only for one use case i.e. Arjuna fighting the war. Rather, the eternal knowledge of life is brought out through this use case. If the greatest of the great can experience this breakdown, all human beings at some point in their life or at regular intervals will experience a mental breakdown. The person will be unable to distinguish between rights and wrongs and how he should be performing his duties in the right way. Further, notice that during these confusing times, mind just seems to run away with arguments that seems valid. But, on close introspection later with an open mind, the realization dawns that they are all pseudo arguments to convince ourselves to run away from our duties. These psuedo arguments of our mind will not stand the test of truth and time.
Sample shloka
धृतराष्ट्र उवाच |
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||1||
dhṛitarāśhtra uvācha
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśhchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?
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