Radha Sankalpa - Body and Chariot

Before adding more about the subject, let me add something about the war itself. The war as already stated is a war in our minds not on the battlefield. But for a minute let us think about Mahabharata war as something on battlefield itself and analyze who is fighting whom. Is it not brothers fighting brothers? Even if we say Kauravas and Pandavas many not be born of same parents but is not there a person fighting for Kauravas who is the eldest brother of Pandavas. I had touched upon this in my blog on Apr 16.

At the end of the war when Kunti asks Pandavas to do post-death rituals for Karna and that Karna was their elder brother, they are shocked and even go up to level of cursing Kunti. There they say had you told us before this war would not have happened.

Now let us see the bigger picture. Though today we see brothers and sisters fighting each other, a true realization that the person being affected also came from my mother’s womb would definitely stop us from fighting. It is the Dritharashtra in us that makes us fight with our brothers and sisters – the maya that forces us not to see the truth behind the veil. Now let us think about our neighbor or anyone for that matter – are we all not sons and daughters of that great God. If we can overpower our feeling of selfishness cannot we consider them as our brothers and sisters? And once we do that will not the war within us cease to exist. As all wars and conflicts are first formed in mind before they actually happen. That we had seen in case when Draupadi insulted Duryodhana (blog of Apr 16). The bad feeling that Duryodhana developed there culminated in the Kurukshetra war.

Now back to warfront. After coming back to their chariots, Arjuna asks Krishna his charioteer to take the chariot and park it in middle of the two armies.

He says let me see for once all those who have come desiring a war and Krishna obliges. And then standing there Arjuna sees people of age of his great grandfather, grandfather, father, son, grandson and great grandson. It may be remembered that at fag end of the “Ajnathavasa” Arjuna himself had fought with and defeated all these Maharadhis, all alone, that too not revealing himself.

More than what he physically sees, this more of introspection. He feels he is fighting his own people; the impact of this is going to be on even two generations to come. This is a great enlightenment, a very noble thought.

The war that Krishna asks Arjuna to fight is never the physical war with Kauravas but is his war within. Krishna has never asked Arjuna to fight with Kauravas. A political blood shedding war is never preached and can never be preached by Him. It is our misunderstanding that makes us think so.

This could mean before we actually pick up any fight, it is also good to think for once whom are we fighting against – are they not our own people. No, we are not speaking of any kind of attachment here; but a quick thinking as to what and who benefits out of a war. Now, after speaking of Kurkshetra war as a symbolic war of the good and evil within us, it also may be asking us to take stock of all the evils that we have accumulated over a period of time, to know what we are going to fight against. And then there are all chances that we may feel there is no point in living on this earth after sacrificing all those evils (which we consider are essential to our living) and that going to beg is much better than that, exactly as Arjuna felt and communicated to Krishna in following verses

arjuna uvacha

nihathya dhartharaashtran nah

ka preeti syaajanardhana

papamevaashreadasman

hathvai thanathaayina

(hey Janardhana, what happiness do we get by killing sons of dritharashtra? Even by killing this dushta we would be doing nothing but sin)

Arjuna keeps his bow and arrow down telling he cannot fight them. Before we continue there is one more big point to be discussed here which is the Radha Kalpana.

It can be noted that Arjuna himself did not walk down to the centre of the area where two armies were standing but being owner of the chariot asked Krishna his charioteer to take the chariot to the centre. It is said in Kadopanishad that human body is like a chariot and the same has been brilliantly illustrated by Ved Vyasa. The Upanishad says:

Aathman radhin vidhvi, shareeram rathamevacha

budhvim tu sarathim vidhvi, manaha prigahameva cha

indriyani hayaanyahu vishayamstheshu ghorochan

Aatmendriya manoyuvantham bhothethyahurmaneeshin

Which means: - the body is a chariot whose owner is the Atman, the horses are the Indriyas or senses, the reins represent the mind and the charioteer is our brain - a comparison beyond comparisons. Now let us analyze the same. It is the charioteer who guides the horses using the reins to take the owner to the destination that he needs to go to. Similarly in this world it depends on how well we control our senses. The four horses above also indicate the senses we have - eyes, ears, nose and skin (tongue is counted with skin). These senses always create a thrive in us to behave in certain ways. But then on what does our behaviour depend? How we use our mind or heart to react to that situation. If we leave things to our mind only (when we say mind only it means we react without thinking without using our brains) we are sure to be carried away in most of the cases. It would be like a chariot (body) without charioteer (brains) moving without any direction and control. But then if we control this reins (mind) with our charioteer (brains) then we are sure to take the horses (senses) to the place that the owner (atma) wants to move. So Atman can be taken to its destination only when the brain controls our senses using our mind. This is the Radha Sankalpa.

More of Gita in next