Lesson 2 – Chapter I, verses 1-23 Arjuna Vishada Yoga

 Lesson 2 – Chapter I, verses 1-23

Arjuna Vishada Yoga

In my response to R, I have copied Nataraja Guru’s ideas

about verse 10, marking the point of departure where his

tremendous knowledge of philosophical history kicks into gear.

Check it out for a taste of his intensity, and rest assured, I “stole”

all his best stuff for my commentary, to spare you the trouble of

looking it up.

Bailey has made an eloquent case for the relevance of what

we have begun to our time. Highly recommended.

Thank you to those who asked after my health. I’ve had some

tough times lately and lots of MD visits, but I do feel some

improvement, and look forward to maintaining my participation in

this very promising journey with you. Christmas was intense,

noisy, and busy, but quality time with people in single digits (3 and

almost 5) was most satisfying. They both love to read with grandpa

and bang on his piano, when they aren’t running around screaming.

May your upcoming year be truly Happy!

Ali plans to study the Gita offline:

I decided to cut internet because it's too much distraction for me, I

want to dive deep in the death/rebirth process. Cutting the internet

is for me a way to be forced to face boredom, and to rewire my

brain for a more calm and stable life. Making the real life as

interesting as it should be. I'll probably focus way more in the

Bhagavad Gita like this than how I'm right now, spending too

much time lost in the internet.

Elias

The first thing that got my intention in this introduction is that

when opposites are unify there is a great understanding that

emerges to consciousness. I deal with this concept since I did my

first big psychedelic experience with 250ug of LSD. As it is

mentionned in the book "Thot's tablets", each opposite like hot and

cold, has two pole. These are just a different degree of the same

thing, opposites have to be seen as a circle and not as a line. My

opinion is that what we call "god" is in fact the force that balances

/ separate all opposites, and guarantee a form of order, or prevents

chaos . There is a really thin limits between opposites and they are

approaching form each other indefinitely, like fingers on the paint

at the ceiling of chapelle sixtine. In fact, since I took consciousness

of that process, I am able to pass from an opposite to another, to do

internal alchemy of my emotion, my internal state. I am far away

to control this fully and reliably but it's one of my point of work at

this time.

Then, a second interresting notion in this intro is the absolute.

Like it's written, there is no absolute truth or knowledge because

everything that comes to world is subjected to the stream of

creation, that is perpetually evoluating so the only absolute truth is

that everything is in movement, nothing last forever and that allow

to vital force to follow it's course. I found that it's a powerfull

knowledge to work on our resistance against embracing our true

nature. Modern society is full of distractions and entertainment so

we don't have moments of void anymore. And those moments

where you do nothing are actually rotating moments that help us to

guide our lifes, like "What are my projects of life ? What desires

are nocive for me ? What are the traps of my mind ?". I loved the

analogy with music score to describe the process of integrating

gita's teachings in our lives, the score without a musician to play

what it mean is not significant at all, so we have to be the

musician, or the mastermind of our lives, and try to harmonize

every instruments that we know (our senses) with teachings that

we learned. Personnally, I try to live my life as a poem

continuously writting itself, poetry is a very powerfull vector of

profound meanings and symbols. 

I can also had that the analogy of a battlefield is actually what we

deal everyday. We are stucked into obligations to the society

through our job and cordial relation to other, and we also have to

deal with existential difficulties, traumas, what we want to do

about our future, etc. So that makes totally sense.

Scott: It’s perfect that your recent experience taught you the

relevance of polarity in consciousness; possibly the greatest benefit

of psychedelic exploration. It’s hard to grasp without the intuitive

sense you’ve gotten, Elias. The Gita is totally based on that

principle, so it will serve you well all through.

It’s very nice you already understand a number of difficult

concepts. The Absolute can be hard to comprehend, since we are

so used to defining everything, and it has no definition. And few

students have mentioned my special idea of the scripture being like

a musical score for the seeker to sing or play on their instrument.

In a species where so many are telling us to shut up and do our

“duty,” it’s hard to express ourselves freely, yet that is Krishna’s

hope, and Vyasa’s main motivation in writing it down for us. Let

our hearts sing!

Bindu

Reading the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita has been deeply

reflective for me. The battlefield of the story feels very much like

the challenges we face in everyday life—especially in the

workplace and within our own minds. At times, I notice qualities

of Dhritarashtra in others: an unsettled and insecure mind,

constantly seeking control and comparison, yet unable to see what

is truly right or fair. Recognizing this in others reminds me to

watch my own mind with honesty and compassion.

I also reflect on Gandhari and her decision to blindfold herself in

devotion to her husband. For me, true love and devotion do not

mean silence in the face of wrongdoing. Awareness, speaking up,

and guiding one another when someone goes astray is the highest

form of care. Blind loyalty can unintentionally support injustice,

while courage and discernment honor both duty and love.

The character of Duryodhana resonates with another human

tendency—the endless desire for power, control, or recognition. In

the modern world, this often appears as money, influence, or

authority, and under the name of power, people sometimes justify

cruelty. Yet the Bhagavad Gitareminds us that all external power

is temporary. In the end, truth remains, and everything that is born

must face mortality. This reflection urges me to watch for

Duryodhana within myself, especially when ambition or

attachment begins to override conscience.

Arjuna’s words—“I do not wish for victory, O Krishna, nor

kingdom, nor pleasures; what is kingdom to us, what enjoyment, or

even life?”—resonate with moments when life feels heavy and

meaningless. I have faced similar thoughts myself. Yet even in

despair, the Absolute within guides us, bringing clarity and

purpose. Those who remain blind to this inner light risk resigning

themselves to failure, while awareness opens the way forward.

Reading this chapter has helped me see how the characters of the

Gita appear in real life. What comforts me is the understanding

that, like Arjuna, growth comes when we accept truth, rather than

waiting for others to change. Scott, I see you as a guiding presence

on this journey—like the horse in the chariot—helping to reveal

the Absolute within and offering insight amid life’s battles.

Wishing you all a wonderful and joyful Christmas, filled with

happiness, peace, good health, and prosperity.  

Love Bindu 

  P.S. That’s such a beautiful picture of you with Yati. Thank you

for sharing this lovely memory with us!  

Scott: Thank you for mentioning Gandhari’s blindfold, Bindu.

Most commentators miss the idea, and it hit me like a revelation

when it popped into my mind. There is nothing trivial in the Gita,

and it’s a perfect image of how we live our lives in deference to

others who are supposedly superior to us. In this version, all are

equal and highly valuable. We want to hear what each person sees.

I’m happy whenever someone—especially a

woman—identifies with Arjuna. His maleness is never the point,

but it has been taken for granted for thousands of years. It’s high

time to get over it! We are all facing immense challenges, and we

need to respond with expertise.

I got a big laugh out of your comparing me to the horse in the

story. Thank you for the high compliment, Bindu. I am very happy

to haul the meanings of this fantastic scripture-chariot out into the

light, and doubly happy when someone appreciates its value. We’ll

park it right in the midst of the chaos, between the two sides of the

conflict, and let our thoughts take flight.

Vivek

Challenges and doubts are opportunities

 We study the Gita to become better

 The Gita teaches us through the challenges and doubts of its

protagonists

 Our challenges and doubts too are events conspiring to give

us opportunities to be better

You control your actions, not those of others

 The seeds of today’s challenges are in yesterday’s

actions…ours and others’

 A narrow mindset of us and them obstructs duty and just

action. Dhritrashtra, Duryodhana, even Bhishma could have

acted to prevent the war but did not

 When others don’t know or do better, it is natural to feel

anger and despondency…but it is not useful

 We don’t control others’ actions. We don’t control events. All

we control are our own actions and reactions

 But we do control those. Exercise that control, so anger and

instinct don’t do it for us

Act on what we control, accept what we don’t

 In a challenge, the first task is to distinguish between what

we control and what we don’t

 The second is to act with intensity on what we do

control…and accept what we don’t

 Yoga is the ability to both act and accept…with the same

calm

We always have a choice

 It is harder to do the right thing today than it was

yesterday…but it is easier than doing it tomorrow

 No matter how hard it is, we always have a choice. Viktor

Frankl lived that principle in Auschwitz, our challenges pale

in comparison

Be morally right, but be ready to fight

 Moral transgressions weaken us. The Kauravas had the larger

army but the anxiety of weaker conviction

 Moral rightness strengthens us. But it’s not enough. We still

need to fight

The choice is not of whether to fight or run, but of how to fight

 Fight with intensity and dispassion

 The two seem opposed. Learning to resolve them is the key

to fight the battle of life with spiritual and worldly success

 The deepest material and relationship conflicts are resolved

when we unite the transcendent with the worldly…the

dharmakshetra with kurukshetra

Build conviction with an authentic personal philosophy

 External crises reflect in internal crises where we doubt our

deeply held social conditioning. Painful as this is, it is

necessary to let go of our ego defenses and surrender

 Doubts reflect an honest mind but they must be resolved to

drive clarity and action…even if it takes 700 verses to do so!

 We need help. That can come only when we recognize our

limits to seek with humility and pointed questions, as Arjun

does with Krishna

 Clarity requires work to build an authentic and enduring

personal philosophy. This can only be based on unitive

principles, not limited identities, partisan interests, narrow

desires

 The resulting conviction in both ends and means drives

intense action, as well as the strength to accept. It also

prevents future crises

Aim to sleep peacefully

 We create our heaven and hell not in some afterlife but here

and now in our own mind, by how well we act on the

principles above

 When we do this well, we earn the right to sleep the sleep of

the peaceful. Never underestimate the power of that

My goal is to make the learnings of the Gita real and relevant in

my actions and relationship

Scott: Very nice summation, Vivek. We will see as we go through

the chapters, that the fighting moves in stages from the physical

combat into the psychological arena. We are in combat with

internalized diversions and side tracks of all sorts. So the focus is

on our personal development.

We don’t have enough time to wait for the human species to

grow wise before we dare to learn of our psychic freedom. We

have to rescue it in the midst of endless impediments. Your stated

goal is exactly what we intend: to bring the teachings alive in your

actions and relationships.

R

 Numerous occasions in the past couple of months to observe

the various aspects of my own limitations. Did this awareness

make me more open to receive others' opinions?! I'm not very

sure.  In the past, it was always easy for me to regard others'

opinions merely as subpar and this seemed to be my natural

state and perhaps I had walled myself in unknowingly.  I've

slowly learnt to be more receptive to different perspectives

but it is a work in progress. Striving to know the impact of

my words and deeds on others, is helping me.

 I found it hard to reconcile that Duryodhana already is aware

of his own limitations with his  insufficient/adequate

comparison of armies. (verse 10)

  I realize the primary purpose of this contemplative exercise

is not passive but an active engagement in our day-to-day

interactions and in real-life situations. Stepping into the

middle-field of sorts.

Scott: Good observations, R. If we consider everything we

perceive as somehow at least partially shaped by our own

interpretations, we can use what seems like subpar input to

perform a self-checkup. Almost always, we’ll find touches of

prejudice that we can peek behind, and/or potentially eliminate.

A number of times, I have heard criticism from people that

seemed to come out of thin air—it seemed they didn’t even know

what they were saying—yet there was a message in it for me, and I

took it to heart. Not always bad. I’m negatively prejudiced against

myself, and those comments revealed that to be as egotistical as

positive prejudice would be. I’ve worked to “get over it,” and I

imagine I’ve improved. That’s the kind of middle field we’re

entering, to see what we can see.

A great many commentators have altered verse 10 to say

what you expect, R. Guru Nitya and I used Radhakrishnan’s

erudite translation and commentary for checking our work, and

even he altered “insufficient” (which he acknowledges) to

“unlimited,” thereby changing the meaning to its opposite. I follow

Nataraja Guru’s detailed reasoning (the diacritics are wrong from

the copying—can’t be helped):

This army of ours which is under the care of Bhãshma is

insufficient but that army of theirs which is under the care of

Bhãma is adequate.

Duryodhana himself has an inkling of the poverty of this type of

spirituality here represented in the Kaurava side, when he feels

diffident about the army led by Bhãshma. This is the first supreme

example of the special style found so often in the Gita. In the first

place there is a symmetry to be seen in the construction of the

verse. Bhãma (the Strong) and Bhãshma (the Terrible) are

evidently brought in to be treated as counterparts of a situation in

the world of actuality from which the subtler dialectics of the later

theoretical arguments are to have their natural springboard.

aparyàptam: has been differently construed by Srãdhara and

ânandagiri; by Srãdhara as meaning “insufficient” and by

ânandagiri as “unlimited.” Perhaps an equilibrium of qualitative

and quantitative elements is purposely intended by the author here.

The usual or first meaning, “insufficient” or “unequal to the task”

suits the sense here definitely, especially if we note that as a

relativist, as Duryodhana is intended to be here, his diffidence is

understandable in the same way as the nimittàni-cha-pashyàmi (I

see omens) of Arjuna is understandable (in verse 31). Diffidence or

strange omens have to be set off one against the other in the

revaluation of relativism in absolutist terms which is going to take

place as the chapters proceed. Both are forms of doubt— one here

and now, and the other with an element of the hereafter added on.

Arjuna being a pårva-pakshin (anterior critic) of the contemplative

context, his doubt is superior to that of Duryodhana, because it

includes iha and para, the “here” and the “hereafter,” while

Duryodhana's doubt is confined to the “here” only.

“That army of ours” and “this army of theirs” are again put in

a delicate dialectical relationship. “That – ours” and “this – theirs”

– to the extent that reciprocity is suggested, to that extent

Duryodhana is to be credited a good man. The interchange of

“that” for “this” again introduces the special style of the Gita upon

which we lay emphasis because it is in keeping with the full subtle

interplay of dialectical values for which this is only a preparation.

This is by no means a matter of grammatical quibbling. Note that

except for small prefixes or words like a and tu and idam there is

no difference at all between the two limbs of this verse, and this

perfect symmetry can be no accident and must have been

consciously, intentionally brought in by the author for the reasons

we have stated.

Gopica

Greetings! Thank you for this study.

verses 1-23 of the Bhagavad Gita helped me recognize my

tendency to sometimes unconsciously "go along to get along,"

unaware of the consequences.

Recently, I accepted a leadership role that demands careful

observation and reporting which was quite different from my usual

working style. This has brought clarity to the questions and

discomforts I've been experiencing.

Participating in the study group has enabled me to break through

my self-imposed limitations. As I continue reading these verses,

more insights emerge, revealing a profound synchronicity: the

timing of this new role and my studies has created the perfect

opportunity for awareness and experiential learning.

Thank you! 

Warm Regards,

Gopica

Scott: In social life, Gopica, we often have to compromise to mesh

with others, sometimes a little and more often a lot. Spiritual life is

another matter entirely. Rather than regret your necessary

compromises, look for the part of you that does not depend on

social approval—where you can be fully supportive of yourself

alone. That’s the part we’re going to expand as we proceed.

It’s good to hear that this study is in harmony with your

ongoing development. Much more is on the horizon!

Saila

Dear Scott, thank you for this lesson - the right to be "utterly and

spectacularly ourselves", is a wonderful invitation in this first

chapter: Arjuna-Visada-Yoga (The yoga of Arjuna's Dilemma). 

Like a lotus flower growing from the muddy waters, we swim in

paradox, and paradoxically " the best way for a group to be smart

is for each person in it to think and act as independent as possible",

these words speak like a holy grail, in that up to now it was a

believe that unity is where each individual compromised, and here

the invitation is for each of us to be free to think independently,

and independence can bring unity - the mother of paradox.  

It was fun dive into Chapter one, thank you. Hope you are feeling

better and enjoyed the Christmas celebrations, and the same to

everyone in this class.

Love, Saila xx

Scott: You’ve hit the keynote, Saila, and the Gita will help us all

make especially worthy contributions in all our interactions.

Nataraja Guru was the first to really grasp the importance of this

chapter, and Sankara even skipped it entirely. Without a shock to

our present comfort of mind, we won’t be able to bring our full

attention to what follows. It should be fun from start to finish.

Nandita

Chapter 1 of the Gita can be compared to life with the

battlefield being where we wage the wars of our daily life.

The two sides are like the good and the evil choices that we

make but the challenge being that good and evil are like two

sides of a coin and the ultimate realisation is in being able to

rise above the two and make a rational decision based on

one’s role in life. Making that assessment in no man’s land

gives us a neutral or unbiased understanding of the

situation. This would be the essence of being a yogi. We

should refrain from running away from making difficult

decisions. This would ultimately transform us and give us

liberation, via a higher form of reasoning via dialectics. 

Whilst growing up, we have been confined to moral codes

and conduct, traditions, and behave according to social

norms. Society, law and religion have enforced confined

lines of thinking and stifled our individuality and creativity.

We should stop clinging to the past and be flexible and

adaptive to our needs. 

The relationship of a guru and shishya is a sacred one which

allows for mutual learning through reciprocal questioning. An

element of introspection would establish that we have our

own limitations and that insight will enable us to take the first

step to grow spiritually. Although the battlefield has only

males, it would be applicable to both men and women.  This

chapter elicits our vulnerability, need for a mentor, a spiritual

and philosophical thirst waiting to be quenched, making

difficult decisions, the importance of not giving up, taking

responsibility and overcoming attachments. 

We can also draw a parallel to the wars of today with leaders

that are blind and allies donning a blindfold. Divisive politics

and alliances based on religion, language, culture, beliefs

and geographical differences result in various factions.

Victories in modern warfare are a defeat to humanity.

Scott: Nandita, I think this class has had more varied and insightful

responses regarding the Gita’s opening premise than any other. It’s

fascinating how many ways there are to express it. You have done

it very well, and in your own unique voice. That should make for

easy assimilation of the complexities as we proceed.

In today’s political arena, the minute you express doubt, no

matter how reasonable, you are excreted from the movement. It’s

an incredibly unhealthy state of affairs, where insanity trumps

reason. At least we can exemplify sanity in our own bearing, and

perhaps the universe will offer ways for us to share its light.

Whether or not it does, a peaceful, balanced state of mind is much

more enjoyable and interesting than the alternative. The Gita’s first

definition of yoga is reason in action, in chapter two. You have

anticipated it nicely, Nandita.

Nita

[Nita wrote on chapter 3, hopefully we’ll get it sorted out]

Right now, it makes sense to me that the

word “Karma” means “action.”  “Yes?  Am I correct in that?   And

I think we are exploring the importance of “harmonizing” Karma

and action.   You remind us that conflicts between reason and

action can be “harmonized”—that activity is crucial, and conflicts

will emerge from activity: we can learn to treat conflicts

as “opportunities.”  So here I am, practicing Yoga and moving

toward a fragile, but balanced, harmony.

 

A relevant personal anecdote:  three of four days ago, I made an

unsuccessful search for my original copy of the Gita. . . All marked

and underlined.  But I did not find it. (It has to be in a big box with

my first writings and meanderings as I read the Gita for the first

time.)

 

I’m going to write now about how a common personal incident

may have brought  me a little bit closer to understanding what it

means to “harmonize Karma and Action.”   As I was reviewing the

Lesson this morning, I discovered notes I wrote in my first efforts

with this great poem. (It does feel like a poem to me. Even in

translation.) 

 

So here, I hope, is a “real life” example of finding harmony

(Balance) between Reason and Action.  Last evening my daughter

and my two young-adult grandchildren came over to my apartment

in Pacific Grove, and they brought dinner—which they prepared

for us in my little kitchen.  We all had little jobs and, together,

 prepared dishes that contributed to the feast.  My job was to clean

and trim the green beans and the Brussels sprouts—and then go sit

down and become a “guest of honor”.  There were gifts all around.

 And then the roast beef and all the veggies were ready to be

served up, And the wine was poured.  And someone made the

family joke: “We Need-A blessing.”  Get it?  (Nita )  It was a

great, happy, quietly rowdy evening.  We even read (around the

group) “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.”  And we read pretty darn

well.   Lovely.   So I got up this morning calm, feeling loved,

feeling empowered by what I carried from last night’s happiness.

 Feeling ready to begin writing about the Gita.   

 

I reviewed your most recent letter, and my old notes, and suddenly

I came upon your assertion (3 years ago) that “Karma means

Action.”  You tell us that Reason and Action can be

harmonized—so that each benefits the other.”   I sat right down

with the notes I made on Chapter 3 a few days ago.  I seemed to be

reading with new insight.  Reason and Action seemed to be

working well for me.  I remembered that you said (years ago) that

Arjuna “asks incisive, respectful questions, and then he listens.”

 Today, the teacher in me said, “Arjuna is an ideal student!”   

 

Okay.  I had a good, happy morning, and then I stopped for a bit of

re-heated Christmas dinner.  And when I came back to my

computer, IT seemed to have lost everything.  Actually, I had lost

everything I’d written. My heart rate increased, my breathing rate

increased, and then I heard my self say to my self, “Balance

Reason and Action.”  I stood very still for a moment and then I sat

again at my computer. I opened a blank page and began the letter I

am about to send to you—I’m going to send it with the request that

you send me the letter you wrote this class with this weeks

suggestions: Chapter 3.     Happy New Year!    

 

Scott: Yes, Nita, karma is action. The harmony is between reason

and action. In chapter II, verse 50, the first definition of yoga is

reason in action. I’m sorry for the confusion. I’ve sent you the first

three lessons but they only go as far as chapter I. The loving family

gathering you describe is a perfect symbol of yoga: a state of

dynamic equipoise. May you have many more!

In our class we have both a Nita and a Nandita. How about

that?

Bailey

      No Kings! Shouted demonstrators all around these United

States, and beyond, these past months. The Gita begins with a

blind king of ancient India, identified by our commentator Scott as

an “overwhelmingly powerful oppressor”, asks for word of how

the battle is shaping up.  I begin writing on the Sunday of Christ

the King (Nov 23), with the words of Reverend Matt’s sermon

alluding to the recent demonstrations denouncing the American

president accused (justly in my view) of seeking to usurp the

powers of a bad, oppressive king, ringing in my ears.  I have just

finished watching, these past evenings, Ken Burns’ excellent series

on the American Revolution, the original challenge in global

modern history to abusive monarchic authoritarianism.  

     Epics begin in medias res, not with a search for causes near or

far as historians’ training tells them to do, but in the heat of the

moment.  Here, is it significant that the action opens with

Dhritarashtra, the blind king of the “bad-guy” side

(Kuravas)asking his aide, Sanjaya, for an overall picture of the

state of play as the two armies prepare to clash.  Sanjaya replies by

quoting the commentary of Dhritarashtra’s son Prince

Duryodana.  What we get through verse 10 is a typically epic

naming of mighty warriors on both sides, with the surprising

conclusion there that the Kuru army is “insufficient” while the

Pandas are “adequate”.  Surprising because the former is supposed

to be the stronger, the aggressor bent on gaining domination, but

judged insufficient here because driven by relativist motives and

values (as Scott points out) whereas the Pandavas, weaker in terms

of purely military capacity and resources, are fighting for absolutist

values.

     Since my last time making this journey I have been doing a lot

of reading, fiction and non-fiction, about World War II and the

years that led up to it, notably the rise of Nazi Germany in the

1930s.  When I wrote my comments on these verses last time I

discussed, I remember, the HBO film series I’d been

watching, Band of Brothers, which dramatizes the (historically

true) story of Easy Company from its initial formation and training

in Georgia through its fighting in Normandy, the Battle of the

Bulge, the invasion of Germany and the liberation of a

concentration camp.  This is certainly an heroic story of good guys

fighting courageously for the good cause, with the good defeating

the bad, and I do not mean to suggest or imply here that I do not

applaud and admire the WWII story thus framed.  This

was the Great War, the Good War of my parents’ generation.  My

father served as an intelligence officer in the Pacific, took part in

the Occupation of Japan, and came to feel so positively about

Japan and the Japanese that in the 1950s he took a civilian job for

the Army and returned to the Land of the Rising Sun, bringing his

family with him. As a child I visited Hiroshima and Kyoto,

climbed Mt. Fuji, learned my way around Tokyo on the subway.

With Japan a friendly ally and safely democratic by 1958 the

Occupation ended, the economic surge to widespread prosperity

was underway.   I began my own teaching career in 1976 teaching

American soldiers in Germany for the University of

Maryland.  Democracy, friendly ally, growing prosperity there too.

The “Good War”, WWII?  On the whole I would still say, yes, it

was.  But.  The Korean War of the early 1950s?  Doesn’t the

difference today between North and South Korea speak for

itself?  The Vietnam War?  No, no, no!  I was lucky to escape

going to that one. 55,000 of my contemporary Americans were not

so lucky, and how many? A million Vietnamese—most of them

civilians.  Looking back from here, the story of  0ur global world

since 1945 is one of war here, war there – in some regions (the

Middle East) practically all the time, in others more sporadically,

with the nuclear threat (a direct heritage of WWII) a looming

existential threat, and the one region where international balance of

power and diplomacy seemed during most of my lifetime to have

made the threat of war a thing of the past (Europe), we now have

an aggressive Russia attacking Ukraine.  What???  

      OK, back in once-upon-a-time India the conches blow (verses

18-19).  Arjuna takes up his bow (v 20), orders his charioteer

Krishna to stop the chariot right between the two armies.  Arjuna,

the tried-and-true, confident, Certified Hero of Heroic Age

Times.  What does he behold? what are we, through his eyes,

invited to see?

Scott: What a fabulous opening conch blast, Bailey! Away we go.

Isn’t it astonishing how our species is unable to resist making

war? And now it only a takes a few people and AI to blow up the

whole world? It turns out our confidence in the blessings of human

evolution was premature….

I think you’ll be interested in Nataraja Guru’s take on verse

10, which I’ve added under R’s response. Are you reading Nataraja

Guru’s commentary? I can’t remember. Anyway, that’s a good

one. Once you know about the dialectic thread, it’s impossible to

read the Gita without seeing it everywhere.