What is the driving force behind the life of Krishna? He drops all his friends and his beloved Radha when he realises that he has a larger purpose in life and leaves Vrindavan to fight Kansa. He leaves Mathura when he realises that he will not be able to set up a peaceful and prosperous empire here due to frequent attacks by Jarasandha. He is ready to give away his entire army at the drop of a hat. What is he trying to gain throughout his life? He is not bound by anything. He is not bound by relationships, money, wealth, or power. It's quite difficult for our ordinary minds to understand Krishna.
Krishna reveals a glimpse of his personality while he tries to explain the nature of reality to Arjuna at the battlefield of Kurukshetra. He tells Arjuna to concentrate on the task at hand and not to bother about the results. Why do we bother about the results? Why didn't Krishna ever bother about the results? That's what he tells Arjuna. It is all due to awareness. When our awareness is limited, we want to exercise our choices with respect to certain outcomes. We become desperate to get whatever tops our list of outcomes. Bhima wanted revenge for Draupadi. Duryodhana wanted the entire empire and the death of the Pandavas. Bhishma wanted to remain true to his oath. Karna wanted to pay the debt of his friend Duryodhana off. All of them had limited awareness, and within that limited awareness, they chose certain desired outcomes based on their exposure to life.
Krishna was aware of life beyond the past, present and future, and that's why he was fixated on any outcome. He will not exercise choices; rather, he will live life to play with the possibilities. He will make the best of efforts to stop the battle of Kurukshetra, and yet, when he participates in the battle, he will motivate Arjuna, who is ready to run away from the battlefield, to fight the battle. Had Krishna not given the message of the Geeta to Arjuna, the battle would have ended then and there. He decided to participate in the battle not as a fighter, but as a guide, so that he could teach Arjuna and the entire world the art of fighting a battle.
When Krishna is asking Arjuna to fight, is he asking Arjuna to make a better choice? No, He is not asking Arjuna to choose fighting over sitting in peace. He is not telling that fighting is better than not fighting. Rather, He is making Arjuna aware of the larger reality and telling Arjuna that nothing makes a difference in the larger frame. In a limited frame of time and space, we see the difference between good and bad being so explicit. However, in a larger frame of life, there is no such difference. Ravan was Jaya, the gatekeeper of Vishnu's abode in his past life. The killing of Ravana by Rama is the mukti of Jaya. Generally, in a normal state of awareness, our mind is fixated on what we are aware of. Earlier, the mind of Arjuna was fixated on revenge, and when he reached the battlefield, his mind got fixated on attachment with his elders, like Bhishma and teachers like Drona. He was not aware of the larger frame at either of these times. Having made him aware of the larger frame of life, Krishna asks him to perform the work which is the "Swadharma" of Arjuna. Arjuna has been a trained warrior. That's what Krishna did all through his life. With the awareness of reality, he could quickly understand his Swadharma in a given situation. The Swadharma of Krishna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra was to tell Pandavas the true meaning of life, while the swadharma of Arjuna was to fight the battle for the larger good.
Understanding of Swadharma is not possible unless we understand the larger frame of life. Without understanding Swadharma, it is not possible to live in the present moment. Unless we have awareness of the larger frame of life, our existence will be driven by fear or desire. We will make choices driven by fear or desire. Had Ravana been aware of being Jaya, why would he kidnap Sita? Why would he fight against Rama? The more tightly we hold on to the ego, or ignorance, the farther we are from reality. I am not sure how a frog of the well will come out of the well, especially if he is sitting comfortably inside the well. Not so that there is no ray of light inside the well, but it is not enough to motivate the frog to get attracted to see the open sky. The frogs are exercising choices inside the well to get the most comfortable life. Coming out of the well is not a choice. I don't know why only Arjuna could listen to Krishna and come out of the well, while there were so many more intelligent people like Dharmraj Yudhistira. Probably that's why there is only one fundamental choice. Whether to choose to stay comfortably inside the well or choose to come out of the well. The domain outside the well is the domain of the unknown, and that's why there will always be fear of the unknown. Yet people like Arjuna will choose Krishna over his army.
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