When the battle of Kurukshetra became inevitable, both Kauravas and Pandavas started talking to their allies. Since Krishna was a relative of both Kauravas and Pandavas, both Duryodhana and Arjuna approached him for help. Arjuna had the first choice and he had an option to choose between Krishna and his army. Krishna made it clear that he would not fight the battle himself. Arjuna chose Krishna.
We too have a similar battle going inside us all the time. But rather than choosing Krishna, we generally choose his army. What is Krishna and what is his army? Krishna is the consciousness and his army is the entire creation, the world of objects and desires. This world is quite colorful and attractive. It is full of so many different types of foods to eat and liquids to drink. The world is full of restaurants serving food of different tastes. Even at home, we may cook food of different types and tastes. This world is full of commodities that provide comforts to our bodies like beds, chairs, tables, fans, and air-conditioners. We have different objects for entertainment such as cinema halls, auditoriums, music, concerts, shows, sports, tourist spots, entertainment parks, and so on. All these things give us pleasure to our bodies and that is the reason, we feel attracted to them.
In addition to the above, there are many things that give pleasure to our psychological self, the "I". We get pleasure out of social validation and power. This world offers so many things that offer us social validation and make us feel powerful. Money is one such thing. The riches are appreciated by the society and they also gather power by developing proximity with the people in powerful positions. Positions also offer such powers directly. In every organization, there are many powerful positions that are very impactful and people make efforts to get to these positions. Some people try the easy way out (though a very costly one in terms of impact on mental peace) by conforming to social rules and norms. They would make all the effort to appear to be standing with their relatives and friends in the moments of celebration and grief.
This is the army of Krishna. We may choose any of these and that is like choosing the army of Krishna. But what is it like choosing Krishna? That's the awareness of the temporariness of all these objects of desire, whether material or psychological. When one chooses Krishna, he chooses that awareness. With that awareness comes wisdom about the temporariness of all these objects. That wisdom brings love and compassion. The boundary line between pain and pleasure disappears. One develops equanimity. Krishna is not there with Arjuna to win the battle for him but rather helps Arjuna get over all the fixations. Getting over the fixations is not possible until and unless Arjuna sees the Vishvarupa of Krishna. Once Arjuna sees the reality of consciousness, he gets the wisdom that all the objects in this universe take birth from that consciousness and merge back into the same. That results in a natural dropping of all the fixations with the objects, ideas, and beliefs.
The more we become free from these fixations the more energy we get to act in this world. Whatever work we do, we give a hundred percent attention to that work and that is why we are so efficient while performing the work. That is what Arjuna did. Once he got over the fixation with the social norms and relationships by birth, his attention was completely free to fight the battle and that is why was such an efficient warrior. There is another natural question at this stage.
What will be the motivation to fight the battle? What will be the motivation to live life? The answer has been given by Krishna in Geeta. It will be Swadharma. We will act in this society as per our natural constitution. Somebody has a natural curiosity to know about nature and he may try to find out the secrets of nature and may become a scientist. Somebody may have a natural inclination to know about the brain of human beings and many people may become neurologists or psychologists. Similarly, some may have a natural interest in playing sports and they may become sportsmen. Some may be more inclined to fly jets and airplanes and may become pilots. Some may have a natural interest in building different objects and they may become entrepreneurs and set up industries.
It is the dharma or the natural interest of a person that should decide what he should do in his life. This decision should not be based on our desire to have money, power, comfort, or pleasure. That is what Geeta tells us. Krishna never made any life choice to get money, power, pleasure, or social validation. He just did what his Swadharma was. I feel that the biggest confusion that has been passed on from generation to generation is the means-end conflict. Money and power are just means to live life as per our Swadharma. It is living life as per our Swadharma that makes life fulfilling. We mistake the end to be means and means to be the end. We start using our knowledge and skills to get money and power rather than using the money and positions to act as per our nature. If we act as per our Swadharma with integrity and without pretensions, money and power automatically follow and even if it does not follow, that does not matter because life becomes so fulfilled that our needs for money and power reduce significantly.
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