Re: Arjuna's dilemma
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~~
namasté
satay writes,
Why didn't arjuna ask, 'but lord, when I kill my great great granddad and my own guru what about the relation I had with them all these years? How will I cope with their absence, the relationship that will be absent between me and them? Yes, I understand that their core will live on in another body but that body will have no relation with me, this arjuna that is sitting in front of you, now. What about that?
Much can be said about this. Here is how I view it.
First we realize the essence of anything. When a thing ( being person , place or thing) cannot exist without a particular characteristic , that characteristic comes to be its very nature or svarūpa¹. Let's take an example.
Take a tree. We see all the branches, flowers, bark, all that makes a tree to us, yet what is its essence ? The sap. The colorless sap that expresses itself in every part of the tree. Now we take the human form... what is its essence? Some would say the mind, the intellect, etc. Yes, all this is the march to a more subtler level, a more refined essence, and we arrive at ātman some like to call Self. So , what kṛṣṇa-jī first wishes to bring out is what is Reality, what is the essence of all of arjun's relations, guru's and friends? It is this ātman, which cannot be stained, killed, or destroyed. Why then arjun would you grieve ?
Now , of all the qualities of these friends and family. The complete field of creation is the play-and-display Of the 3 guna-s. The relations we have are of this dynamic. And the quality of the 3 guna's: Things come and go. If we we know this, Why then arjun would you grieve ?
It is important to note that one's family and friends are not diminished because it is the play of the 3 guna-s. But like every thing, if it has a birth it must have a death, it comes and goes. That said, there is a deeper appreciation of humans, family, friends within the tattva or tattvāni ( categories). The culmination of all the tattva's ( 36 in kaśmir śaivism , 25 in śāṁkhya) ends up in pṛthivi (earth) tattva.
We are of this form - we are all the tattva's added up, and what we ~see~ is this solid/earth-pṛthivi tattva. This pṛthivi tattva it divine - it is the work of śakti . Bundles of energy one layer upon another. It is divine. Many talk of the material world and look at it with a jaundiced eye, yet it is divine when one's eyes and knowledge are clear.
So , one sees the essence of all things as the Supreme Self, ātman; and with the culturing of the person even all of the creation ( solid/earth-pṛthivi tattva) is viewed as divine. One characteristic is of the Supreme Self is unchanging, stainless, infinite; and that of creation in which this body resides is divine, yet its qualities is ever changing, transforming, comes and goes. together they make up Reality as the total fullness (pūrṇa).
So, for arjun's 'teaching' from kṛṣṇa-jī in the bhāgavad gītā and the lessons in the mahābhārata it is the totality of Reality, that of non-changing and ever-changing. Our family and friends reside within this realm.
praṇām
1. svarūpa , character , nature ; own condition , peculiarity
Last edited by yajvan; 19 January 2012 at 04:37 PM.
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
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