What’s unique about the Gita is its perspective on how we should deal these two levels of conflict.
But so what? Shouldn’t we just accept this state of affairs? So then, conflict at the material level, and at the mental level, is pervasive. He could not commit to fighting, and being unable to decide, he wanted to quit. The inability to reconcile this conflict in his mind led to his mental breakdown in the middle of the battlefield. It made him say, it is better to run away and become a monk, than to perform my duty. Should I kill my family? Or should I perform my duty?Įventually his ego – the primitive side of his mind – took control away from his rational mind. But, upon seeing his family on the enemy side, his rational mind became conflicted. When confronting the material conflict of battle, Arjuna’s rational mind was clear – he was a warrior, and he had entered the battlefield to fight a war against the enemy for a just cause. “But this one is on sale”.īack to Arjuna’s dilemma. We are always talking to ourselves in our head. Our primal urges constitute the ego, the part of our mind that oversimplifies and exaggerates situations, and responds to every situation with a “fight or flight” reaction, and shuts off the rational part of our mind that can think logically and clearly.Īnd even when our rational mind is active, we are unable to make the right decision because we cannot resolve conflicting arguments. Our minds are always in conflict, primarily between our rational side and our ego. How we conduct ourselves in material conflict is largely dependent on the state of our minds.
#SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 1 HOW TO#
To deal with conflict at the material level, we need to learn how to act, and what to say, in any situation. And we humans have disagreements with children, siblings, spouses, bosses, co-workers, states and countries. Packs of wolves fight for control of territory. Weeds take over carefully manicured flowers. At the material level, conflict is everywhere. We experience conflict at three levels – material, mental and spiritual. The sooner we recognize this universal truth about conflict and its impact, the sooner we can progress in our personal, professional, and ultimately, spiritual journeys. Conflict is everywhere, and we have to learn to handle it. That is why the Gita was taught to Arjuna in the middle of a gruesome battlefield, with swords clanging, trumpets roaring and soldiers screaming. The message of the first chapter of the Gita is this: The root cause of all sorrow and suffering in this world is our inability to deal with conflict.
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