BHAGAVAD GITA HOME-STUDY-COURSE Synopsis and Background Leading to the Bhagavad Gita [5]
🌸Gita Dhyanam Chanting
I wonder if the movements of my heart, my unconscious choices, or even my choices made in distress, overlap with those of people who existed in the past. The roots of humanity.
Kabuki is the same. Whether it imitates historical events or is a work of fiction,there is something that transcends eras and forms, overlapping with our daily lives..
◆ The battle has been declared
Choose good, be sincere, be moral. One must choose such Dharma. However, even if one understands it in their head, humans possess a weakness that causes them to stray from the path. That is why the story of the 'Gita' exists to convey this. Siding with Duryodhana is Adharma. But there are people who choose Adharma out of fear or the disadvantages of not agreeing. The reality where one can no longer live according to Dharma.
In any era or society, those who can always choose Dharma are in the minority. Even though everyone essentially understands Dharma, they drift away from it.
However, just as the flow of water is determined to go from top to bottom, some kind of order exists in society. In other words, there is a Dharma that is not lost, and high-virtue people sided with the Pandavas.
◆ Settling the score (retaliation)
The Gita is about to begin.
Arjuna had been subjected to terrible treatment by Duryodhana since he was a child. Although he remembered it all, his mother had taught him, 'You must not take revenge.' However, due to a decisive event here, Arjuna makes a resolution. *By the way, to activate weapons, it was customary to summon gods with mantras (such as the god of water or the god of fire).
While spending 12 years in the forest, Arjuna met many people and prepared his weapons. Against Duryodhana, who had committed a series of acts against Dharma, Arjuna's revenge is a 'battle for Dharma.' Many wars involve both sides being in Adharma, but here, it was for the Pandavas to uphold Dharma.
War is inherently Adharma and should not happen. However, in this instance, Arjuna believed it was an opportunity to restore Dharma and that his preparation and training in weapons would prove beneficial.
Finally, the war begins.
◆ Arjuna's sorrow
The people Arjuna intends to kill in this war were originally people he wanted to be with. When he witnessed and realized this, Arjuna collapsed to his knees. Both on his side and in the enemy's army, there were his relatives and beloved people.Even if it is a battle to restore Dharma, is it truly Dharma?
On the other hand, Duryodhana and his brothers lived lives of Adharma, contrary to Dharma (even if they saw the same tragedy, their perception was different, so they could not communicate...)
However, trying to defeat Duryodhana and his group would involve ordinary citizens.War is the destruction of each individual citizen's Dharma.They were not originally soldiers, but just civilians meant to be 'shields.' Even though they were 'great citizens who supported this country.'Even if we win the war, it is not Dharma, Arjuna realizes.
This is the beginning of the Gita.
Will what I sought really be fulfilled by this? What was it that I was seeking in the first place? The moment to face that question.
Even today, conflicts and wars are occurring in various places.
War is something embodied as an 'external phenomenon,' butfirst, there is confusion within the human heart. Internal confusion and Adharma manifest as external confusion.