Arjuna’s heart-wrenching dilemma  – At the Bhagavad-gita’s start, Arjuna faces a paralyzing dilemma (02.06). To better sense his agony, consider some parallels. 

Suppose something terrible happens to us: say, we lose a loved one. We might feel overwhelmed, but at least the event has already happened; all we can do is accept it and move on. 

Suppose we do something terrible: say, we are a medical caregiver who feels partly responsible for a patient’s death. That patient hadn’t told us their case history fully, and we gave them a treatment that led to a fatal complication due to their past ailments. Because our action contributed, even if unintentionally, to their death, we might feel especially overwhelmed. Nonetheless, here too the event has already happened; all we can do is learn from it, deal with the consequences and move on. 

Suppose we face two terrible options: say, choose between operating on two critically sick patients, knowing that whoever we neglect is sure to die and whoever we treat might also not survive. Given that we have to make a choice and that whichever choice we make, we are likely to face guilt internally and criticism externally, we might feel most overwhelmed. 

Multiply this dilemma thousands of times over and we approach Arjuna’s predicament. His decision whether to fight or not will determine the fates of not just his relatives or the soldiers on the battlefield, but also of all the civilians whose lives will be affected by the war and the subsequent change or non-change of power. Given the unimaginably heavy stakes associated with his choice, he feels utterly overwhelmed. 

One-sentence summary: 

It’s tough to deal with reversals that happen to us; it’s tougher to deal with reversals that happen because of us; it’s toughest to deal with reversals that may happen because of the choices we need to make. 

Think it over: 

  • Which kind of reversals are tough to deal with? Why?
  • Which kind of reversals are tougher to deal with? Why?
  • Which kind of reversals are toughest to deal with? Why?

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02.06: Nor do we know which is better – conquering them or being conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhritarashtra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.

Arjuna’s heart-wrenching dilemma

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