Krishna is one person who chooses to fight battles constantly. He fought battles with Kansa, Jarasandha, and the battle of Kurukshetra, the battle of minds. He always had an option to live in peace and avoid the battles, but he chose otherwise. He could have lived in Brij ignoring what was happening in Mathura and definitely, he could have decided not to participate in the battle of Kurukshetra. But in that case, Krishna would not have been Krishna.
Whether we like it or not, we too always make similar choices. Getting up in the morning is a choice between two voices within us, one saying that let's take some more rest and the other one asking us to get up to exercise, read books, or take a walk. Every morning, we make a choice to have a healthy or unhealthy breakfast and there is a battle between taste and health. In the office, there is a daily choice between an easy path of doing whatever is directed from the top or taking initiative and extra work and responsibilities. Similarly, while interacting with society, there is a choice between the easy option of just following what society says or examining, putting across our views, and challenging wherever we have a different take view.
"Living with awareness" is like walking on the razor's edge. Generally, we follow the crowd. Whatever is the choice of the masses, we follow the same. Masses will always make easy choices since our brain is genetically engineered to make easy choices. It wants to minimize the consumption of energy. That's its survival instinct. That is why every time we make choices, we have the most fundamental bias to make easy economize and whatever society does en-mass is the most easy and trusted option. That's why we choose career options that are widely accepted by society, we finalize the marriage proposals based on the widely accepted parameters of caste and community, and we choose the career options that have the widest social approval. We not only make these choices for ourselves but also for our kids. Even in the moments of crisis, such as a medical emergency, we choose the hospitals and line of treatment that is widely accepted.
However, these easy options do not keep us content for long, and if we are a little aware, we realize that the comforts and pleasures we get out of these choices do not last long and we become restless very soon to get another dose of these pleasures. That "little awareness" motivates us to examine the real nature of life. The moment we start examining, we come out of the river, we have been struggling in. That "little space" allows us to see that "easy" is "difficult". Easy choices make our lives difficult. That's like making a home with sub-standard material and then living under tension each day because something or the other in the home needs repair. This "little awareness" gives us the courage to notice the trap and "little more awareness" and examination give us the courage to skip routine repair, and then comes a stage when we get convinced that it needs to fall off and be rebuilt.
With awareness, the "Easy" choices turn into "Difficult" and the "Difficult" ones turn into "Easy". It becomes increasingly difficult to become a part of mindlessness. We can't waste time in mindless social gatherings and gossiping. It becomes difficult to waste time in the routine and to take the mindless commands from elders in the family and the people sitting in positions of authority. It looks easier to fight and raise our voices wherever we feel that things are not making sense. It looks easy to make choices of not following the default options offered by society because the "huge hidden cost" is now realized with awareness. "Loneliness" slowly starts revealing its value. "Freedom" is most dear now and we have started becoming ready to pay any cost for that "freedom". Society feels that we are "stupid" by rejecting the easy options that they have chosen and making the lives of everyone around us difficult. However, his fellow prisoners would never understand why Andy made so many efforts in the movie "Swashank Redemption" to get free of prison.
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