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Summary and Conclusion For Verses 1 to 9
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The first nine verses of the second chapter of
the Gita amply illustrate the plight of the ego caught in the
confusion of worldly morals and conflicting values, standing at
the gates of heaven imploring the divine to interfere and perform
His act of benign rescue. Arjuna stands symbolically for the
human ego and his problems in fighting a moral and physical war
are essentially the problems of ego deeply involved in the act of
survival on earth. His grief is the grief of the human ego caught
in the snares of worldly life and pining for a permanent escape.
Arjuna is an earthly being bound to his traditions and beliefs,
just like the ego caught in its own illusions. The words of
Arjuna therefore echo our own individual suffering and confusion
and his conflict is the conflict we all face while dealing with
our own immediate relationships in life.
We are not very wise in our actions. Not can
we claim any authority for our limited knowledge, which is more
qualified to be described as ignorance than knowledge. We all are
susceptible to cognitive bias and perceptual errors. Our beliefs
and conclusions are based more on our prejudice, faults of
observation, depreciating tendency of our memories and logical
errors than truth and purity of experience and perception. There
are bound to be errors and mistakes in our awareness, which we
are unfortunately mostly unaware of and therefore unwilling to
accept and rectify. This makes change in our approach and
behavior a difficult if not an almost impossible task.
The ego is responsible for all human activity
in worldly matters. It is a blind force, ignorant, adamant and
purely selfish, an instrument of Nature to serve its designs. By
nature it is wedded to the roots of earthly life and this
prevents the ordinary human being from seeing the possibilities
of establishing a much deeper spiritual life and consciousness
far beyond the capacity of ordinary mind and senses. By its
incessant activity and attachment to the worldly matters through
the senses, the ego in man excludes him from gaining a wider
spiritual vision that can cure many ills of his current existence
and help him establish in himself peace and harmony.
But creative process cannot allow the ego to
continue its ignorant movements for long. Some day the life the
ordinary human being has selected as extraordinary and
exceptional has to come to its logical end with all the negative
consequences coming to the surface and raising their heads as if
to consume life itself. Perplexed by the conflicting situations,
overwhelmed by its own profound ignorance and stupidity,
hopelessly held by the invisible forces of the universe, and
unable to find solutions to it existential problems, the ego has
to ultimately admit its defeat and failure. This is where the
inevitable begins, the purification and transformation of the
individual ego, the beginning of a new journey.
The ego finally yields to the process of
self-purification. It starts doubting the principles and values
on which its life is rested. It raises series of questions about
its very existence and searches for convincing answers that can
help it to rebuild its life based on harmony, peace and
principles of infinity. If it is a blessed soul, which has earned
its merit by virtue of its actions, it comes under the influence
of divine and yields itself to positive and spiritual change. It
rests in silence, like the ego of Arjuna and waits for the divine
to come to its rescue. The unfortunate ones are dragged again
into the incessant noise and activity of the worldly life to
continue their miserable existence into some unknown future.
Commentary by Jayaram V
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