Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals -14.1.5
Chapter :- 14. The Gospel of the Bhagavadgita - 1.5.
1. Introduction -5.
1.
When a person is truly friendly with us, he knows how to take our moods. That is wisdom of life. Krishna was not pleased; nor was he displeased. A doctor is neither pleased nor displeased with a patient. An emotion will not rise in the mind of a physician. Krishna was not distressed at the agonising condition of the mind of Arjuna. He did not weep, cry or beat his breast.
He spoke words of wisdom laden with the profundity of the experience of life which, incidentally, opened up the gates for a solution to all conflicts in life. Not merely Arjuna's conflict but your conflict, my conflict and anyone's conflict at any time found a solution therein. All problems, all conflicts, all disharmonies, in everyone's mind, in every pattern of society, and for all times, were dealt with effectively.
Thus it is that the Bhagavadgita became a scripture of universal significance. Though it arose on account of a historical context, it gradually bordered upon timeless questions and the eternal problems of mankind, of humanity as a whole.
2.
The Bhagavadgita teaches not the Hindu religion, but religion as such. It is not my religion, or your religion, but the religion of the human soul that is spoken in the words of the Bhagavadgita. It is an answer to the questions of mankind, not merely the themes of some religion, cult or creed. It is 'man' putting a question to God.
It is not any particular person or a particular faith or association or affiliation raising a problem, but 'man' signifying humanity, raising a problem before the Maker of all things. And to it, the answer came from all sides. The answer came from all the mouths of the Cosmic Person, not merely from one individual called Krishna. There was no Krishna then, when this answer came.
The query was not raised by Arjuna as a historical person. It was not Arjuna that kicked up the problem; it was the humanity present in Arjuna that raised the question. There is a character of humanity in every one of us, which is neither male nor female, neither eastern nor western. That human element puts the eternal question.
Hence, the answer has to be all-comprehensive. The human complexity raised the question; and who will answer the question? Not another man. One man's problem cannot be solved by another person, because another person is also a human being like this person. You cannot solve my problem, nor can I solve your problem, because both of us stand on the same pedestal of humanity.
And here was the problem of humanity as a whole, not of one individual; and who will answer this question? Not Krishna, because to utter the name Krishna in this context would be to raise the question of an individual. It was not the historical Krishna that spoke to Arjuna, but it was Narayana who spoke to Nara.
This is also known as Nara-Narayana-Samvada, not merely Krishna-Arjuna-Samvada. God spoke to man, not Krishna to Arjuna. The Universal spoke to the particular. The All-comprehensive began to speak words of wisdom to that which is localised in space and time. Humanity was face to face with the Absolute. With this background of understanding, we shall be able to realise the importance of this scripture.
To be continued ...
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