Dear Yajvan,
Within the very 1st chapter, arjun asks kṛṣṇa-jī to place his charrot in between ( madhya is used in the śloka ) the two armies. It is here that their conversation takes place. Why in-between (viṣuvat ) ? Surely they could have gone to another place to have this discussion. Is there some significance beyond the obvious i.e. of being able to view the armies in fully array ?
Our Pov
Our inner strength of purpose, dedication, consistent adherence to basic principles, and identity with the Absolute One are put to the acid test when we are called upon to play our role in a life and death contest. By choosing such a diametrical situation, Vyasa, the mastermind seer, unequivocally establishes the practical intention of the subject matter of the Gita in the first chapter itself.
In the philosophical parlance the symbolism of war and battle represent the great struggle in the psyche between the human and animal factors, the lower and the higher selves, individual and the mass-man, and the revolutionary contention of the negative and positive forces to create the new.
In Arjuna we see the same, the enigmatic case of the dynamics of social mechanisms urging him to carry out the duty of a warrior, and, at the same time, a philosophic disposition that was essentially compassionate and altruistic, compelling him to give up war.
In terms of the Indian schools of psychology, Arjuna is said to be caught up in between the paradox of Sanklapa and Vikalpa.
In the present chapter Arjuna makes a number of observations, which all imply questions, to which Krishna, the Guru, employs a methodology by which he can systematically correct Arjuna step by step. Krishna does not ignore any of his questions but answers all in a well defined manner form the 11th verse of the second chapter.
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Let me ask the next question. Who is the bhāgavad gītā intended for ? If one says for everyone, I say perhaps so. But let me then ask it another way: Who will benefit the most from this śāstra ?
IF we are already a knower of the Absolute, like Suka, Janaka etc, and we are always in a state of merger with the Supreme, there is no need for us to learn the Gita.
IF our mind is full of external pursuits and are always tormented by unquenchable passions and have no love for truth, again, we wouldnt be bothered to study the Gita.
IF, however, we do not come under either of these categories, we must be thirsting for truth. If we love truth and want to seek it, there is nothing like the Gita to guide us.
More precisely, if we are convinced that there is something beyond the world of senses, and if we have a thirst for such a joy that is not limited to the perishable, the Gita can surely help us to find it in our own self.
Love
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