Question: Why exactly did Arjuna collapse at the start of the Bhagavad Gita? What made him so indecisive that he became paralyzed?

Answer:

Decision-making is hard when there is no good choice. That was Arjuna’s dilemma, because both fighting and not fighting were painful options.

Fighting meant attacking and killing his own relatives, including revered elders such as Bhishma and Drona. Not fighting meant abandoning his own family and supporters to continued persecution at Duryodhana’s hands.

Decision-making becomes harder still when every available choice is not just emotionally painful but also morally costly.

Arjuna’s dilemma was not merely emotional because he cared about people on both sides. It was also ethical. Killing those whom he would ordinarily have risked his life to protect was morally agonizing. Yet so was standing by while those whom he had a duty to protect were persecuted, humiliated, and tormented.

Decision-making becomes hardest when we face two bad choices that are painful not only emotionally but also morally, and we cannot determine which choice is bad and which is worse.

That was Arjuna’s predicament in Bhagavad-gita 2.6. Unable to determine which course of action was less wrong, he broke down. In the very next verse (2.7), he surrendered to Krishna for guidance.

To summarize, Arjuna collapsed because he faced the most difficult kind of decision-making dilemma:

Decision-making is hard when there is no good choice.

It is harder when every available choice carries a moral cost.

It is hardest when we cannot determine which choice is bad and which is worse.

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02.07 Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.