# Symbolism in the Bhagavad Gita: Battlefield & Chariot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CfAY8tGEmQ

[00:22] welcome I'd like to share with you some observations about the bhagavat Gita
[00:28] I hope these insights will help you use the profound teachings of the Gita more effectively in your own process of spiritual growth
[00:36] in this presentation we'll discuss some of the symbolism found in the Gita
[00:41] specifically we'll discuss the symbolism associated with kurukshetra the battlefield where the Bhagavad Gita was taught for the first time
[00:50] and we'll also discuss symbolism associated with The Chariot occupied by Shri Krishna and ARA on that
[01:02] Battlefield long ago what is widely regarded as the greatest battle in human history took place over the course of 18 days on the fertile Plains of North India in a place known as kurukshetra.
[01:14] The land of the kurus.
[01:18] The ancient Hindu epic the Mahabharata in its enormous span of 84,000 Sanskrit verses describes that battle.
[01:29] It gives a detailed account of the convoluted events that led up to the war.
[01:36] It graphically depicts each bloody day of combat and it examines the war's terrible aftermath.
[01:44] In the middle of the Mahabharata's 2,000 or so chapters there's an 18 chapter section which forms of Bhagavad Gita.
[01:53] Its 700 verses express some of the most Sublime spiritual teachings known to men on the battlefield of kuruk chetra.
[02:05] A horrendous confrontation took place between two branches of the Kuru family.
[02:11] The Pandavas, who were led by the five sons of Pandu, and the Kauravas, who were led by Duryodhana, the evil-minded son of the blind king Dhritarashtra.
[02:22] On the very first day of battle, shortly before fighting commenced, a conversation between Lord Krishna and the Pandava warrior Arjuna took place in the midst of that vast battlefield.
[02:35] It is that very conversation which is recorded in the verses of the Bhagavad Gita.
[02:42] Kurukshetra is not only the historical location of the war, but that battlefield also has two important symbolic meanings which are woven into the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
[02:55] First of all, the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas symbolically represents the battle.
[03:05] between Dharma and adharma righteousness and unrighteousness that is the prototypical struggle between right and wrong between good and evil.
[03:16] this struggle has continued throughout human history from the time tribes were fighting with each other with crude weapons up to modern times when nation states are armed with thermonuclear weapons.
[03:30] the war fought on the fields of kurukshetra was a Dharma yudha a battle to defeat the forces of adharma a battle to restore righteousness to the kingdom.
[03:46] the bhagavat Gita describes this battle between Dharma and adharma in its opening lines.
[03:58] the Warriors Yuta were assembled.
[04:07] s where kuruk on kurukshetra which was a Dharma chetra a field of Dharma a battlefield.
[04:18] on which a colossal struggle between Dharma and adharma took place the pivas were led by yudish who was known as Dharma Putra which means son of Dharma.
[04:33] his father was none other than the god of Dharma who blessed his mother kunti with a child udisha was revered throughout the kingdom for his vast wisdom his steadfast honesty and his unwavering commitment to righteousness.
[04:52] dur Yoda on the other hand had a personality and disposition that was nearly the polar opposite of yudas.
[05:01] in a famous verse from the Mahabharata dur yod says
[05:10] I know it is Dharma but I can't make myself follow it.
[05:19] I know it is but I can't restrain myself from doing it.
[05:24] Durot readily admits that even even though he knows what is right and wrong he is unable to act in accordance with what he knows.
[05:34] His knowledge and behavior are at odds with each other and this points to the second symbolic meaning of the battlefield.
[05:44] In addition to portraying the battle between Dharma and adharma it also portrays an internal battle a battle that is waged in our minds and hearts a battle between our intellects and emotions between head and heart.
[06:01] Let me explain.
[06:06] Dur yod understood the difference between Dharma and
[06:11] Adharma and to understand something requires use of one's intellect.
[06:16] Intellect is the seat of understanding and the instrument of discernment.
[06:22] Duod could discern Dharma properly, but he was driven to actions contrary to his discernment.
[06:29] What drove him? His powerful emotions.
[06:33] Emotions like anger, frustration, hate, and envy.
[06:37] Due to such emotions, Dur Yoda acted in ways contrary to his intellectual discernment about Dharma.
[06:48] In this way, his intellect and emotions were in conflict with each other.
[06:55] Of course, not only Duod is subject to this conflict between head and heart; everyone is susceptible.
[07:03] This conflict can be seen whenever we utter the words 'just this once', like when your favorite sweet is
[07:12] served and you choose to temporarily disregard your strict diet with these three little words just this once.
[07:22] we acknowledge the fact that whatever we're about to do is wrong and then we give ourselves permission to do it anyway with the lame excuse that we won't do it again.
[07:32] intellectually we know better.
[07:37] emotionally we just give in when we say just this once.
[07:41] doesn't our attitude begin to resemble that of duryodhana.
[07:47] to better understand this inner battle or conflict between intellect and emotion it'll help if we shift our attention to the symbolism associated with the chariot occupied by Krishna and Arjun.
[08:02] The chariot metaphor or rata drant has its origin in the famous Kata upanishad and is found in
[08:13] other scriptures including the bhagavat Gita.
[08:15] we'll use an adapted version here.
[08:19] in this metaphor The Chariot represents your physical body.
[08:23] the chariot's wheels represent your arms and legs.
[08:26] the power F horses that draw The Chariot down the road represent your powerful emotions.
[08:32] like desire that draw you towards the people things and activities that you love.
[08:38] the road represents your path through life.
[08:41] Forks in the road represent the decisions you make.
[08:45] the charioteer who guides The Chariot represents your intellect.
[08:52] which chooses the paths you take in life.
[08:56] and finally the owner of the Chariot the ratas Swami simply sits in the back of the Chariot enjoying the ride.
[09:01] he represents Atma your true self.
[09:15] which will discuss at length in other presentations
[09:18] now suppose The Chariot is traveling down a road and the Thirsty horses see a pond of water on the side of the road
[09:27] the horses will will begin to pull the Chariot off the road and towards the pond but they're oblivious to a deep ravine that lies between the road and a pond
[09:38] a terrible catastrophe is certain unless the charioteer remains Vigilant and pulls back on the rains to keep the horses on the road
[09:51] this demonstrates what happens when our emotions start pulling us towards something that could be harmful like when a married person is attracted to someone other than their spouse
[10:05] our intellects must re of sin so to speak and hold us back when our emotions pull us towards a Dharma
[10:13] a crucial role of our intellects
[10:17] is to keep us on the path of Dharma and to prevent us from being dragged by our emotions down a path of adharma.
[10:26] but it doesn't always work work out that way.
[10:29] suppose the charioteer is inattentive or suppose he's not very skillful or suppose the horses pull with so much force that he's unable to control them then disaster will certainly ensue.
[10:51] in the same way if we are inattentive or careless or distracted we're likely to make mistakes.
[10:59] if we lack the skill to properly discern Dharma and adharma will'll make mistakes and if we're too weak to prevent our emotions from dragging us down the path of AD Dharma then we'll make even more mistakes and as you know our mistakes
[11:17] can have terrible consequences.
[11:20] our emotions can land Us in hot water so to speak.
[11:24] on the other hand emotions are not our enemies.
[11:28] emotions make us human caring tender and loving.
[11:34] without emotions we'd be like machines or robots.
[11:39] emotions are natural and they're not the problem anyway as we'll see shortly.
[11:46] when the horses begin to pull the Chariot off the road and towards the pond and deep ravine.
[11:53] they're not bad horses they're normal thirsty horses.
[11:56] in the same way when we feel attracted to something adharmic something sinful or harmful.
[12:07] we're not bad people we're normal people with normal desires.
[12:11] there's no problem for the charioteer as long as he diligently performs his job and there's
[12:21] no problem for us either as long as our intellects remain attentive judicious and strong and they consistently guide us down the path of Dharma.
[12:34] regarding emotions we have to consider the fact that like the charioteers horses must be cared for our emotions must also be cared for.
[12:47] part of the charioteer job is to care for his horses.
[12:50] a skillful charioteer can tell when his horses are thirsty and he'll lead them safely to water.
[12:59] a skillful charioteer knows when his horses are tired and need rest.
[13:03] this implies that our intellects must be constantly engaged in caring for our own emotional welfare.
[13:15] the responsibility for your emotional well-being doesn't lie with your spouse or your parents your children or anyone.
[13:23] Else you are responsible, you're also responsible for the health and well-being of your body.
[13:31] This responsibility doesn't belong to your doctor.
[13:34] With this in mind, our intellects must choose our deeds wisely for the sake of maintaining our emotional and physical health.
[13:45] The need to care for ourselves may seem obvious, but there are times in life when we actually choose to do things harmful to our emotional and physical health.
[13:57] For example, when you drive yourself so hard that you fail to get enough sleep, or when you eat too much junk food for the sake of emotional comfort.
[14:16] These unhealthy behaviors reveal the failure of our intellects to be properly engaged in caring for ourselves.
[14:22] Consider a foolish charioteer.
[14:26] who lacks the necessary skills for the job
[14:29] when his horses start to pull his Chariot off the road he might use a sturdy whip to lash his horses again and again constantly driving them on and never letting them stop to rest or drink water
[14:46] what will happen eventually the horses will get dispirited sick or injured they could even die
[14:57] that describes how we sometimes misuse our intellects in ways that ignore our own emotional and physical well-being
[15:10] the fact that sleep deprivation and obesity have reached epidemic proportions in modern times demonstrates this problem quite clearly
[15:19] we also sometimes do things that cause emotional harm to ourselves to see how this happens imagine yourself at a
[15:28] Part part seeing a close friend somehow stumble and fall against a buffet table.
[15:35] She falls to the floor and a bowl of punch spills on her.
[15:41] She lies on the floor soaked with punch and everyone stares at her with a look of shock.
[15:48] What would you do seeing your friend in that predicament?
[15:51] You'd go and help her and you'd try to relieve her embarrassment.
[15:57] You might tell her don't worry about it.
[16:00] It's nothing, forget it.
[16:02] Now suppose it was you who stumbled and fell against the buffet table.
[16:10] As you lay on the floor soaked with punch with all your friends looking on, what would you tell yourself silently in your mind?
[16:19] Chances are that you'd scold yourself with really harsh language for your clumsiness.
[16:25] What a fool I am, how
[16:28] could could I do something so stupid?
[16:31] it's ironic.
[16:35] when a friend makes a mistake we're likely to be comforting and encouraging,
[16:39] but when we make a mistake we might severely criticize and belittle ourselves.
[16:46] this is self-deprecation and it can be emotionally harmful.
[16:51] each criticism or harsh word towards ourselves is like another lash from the charioteer whip.
[16:58] if such self-deprecation becomes habitual it can actually damage your self-esteem and low self-esteem frequently leads to depression and someone who is deeply depressed might not be able to get out of bed in the morning.
[17:20] that's like what happens to the horses who have been mercilessly whipped and denied water and rest they EV
[17:28] eventually give up trying to pull the Chariot forward.
[17:32] this is a vivid example of what can happen when our intellects and emotions are in conflict with each other.
[17:44] the last example of this conflict we'll consider here brings us back to our earlier discussion about telling ourselves just this once.
[17:52] which we sometimes say to justify doing something that we know is wrong with a lame excuse that we won't do it again.
[18:00] again this is called rationalization.
[18:05] we use our intellects to make a wrong action seem rational or reasonable when it truly isn't.
[18:12] our intellects are meant to resist the irrational pull of our emotions but sometimes we use our intellects to make excuses for the unreasonable demands of our emotions.
[18:27] it's that as if our intellect
[18:30] somehow get hijacked by our emotions.
[18:33] imagine a charioteer allowing his horses to pull his Chariot off the road and towards that deep ravine and instead of pulling back on the rains he sanctions them with the excuse just this once.
[18:50] ridiculous.
[18:52] after these remarks you'll probably think twice before using this just this once excuse again.
[19:01] to summarize all this we can't afford to allow our emotions to drag us down the path of adharma.
[19:10] nor can we afford to ignore our normal legitimate emotional needs.
[19:17] since our emotions can't discern the difference between Dharma and adharma.
[19:23] important decisions in life must be guided with our intellect our heads not by our hearts but at the same time.
[19:33] we can't ignore our hearts in fact each
[19:37] decision we make must help assure our own emotional well-being
[19:43] a healthy balanced approach to decisionmaking is one that acknowledges the importance of both head
[19:53] and heart but in spite of all this you've probably heard a popular s that encourages you to follow your heart
[20:05] this dictum seems very appealing but based on our discussion so far it's crucially flawed to follow your heart is to be guided only by your emotions not by your intellect
[20:19] imagine a charioteer who allows his horses to go wherever they want
[20:25] H it's easy to see the drawbacks of this follow your heart philosophy but even then someone might
[20:35] argue like this our emotions don't
[20:38] always drag us down the path of a Dharma
[20:41] they can also draw us towards
[20:45] Dharma this argument is certainly true
[20:48] but there's still a major defect in this
[20:51] follow your heart
[20:54] philosophy if the charioteer allows his
[20:57] horses to go wherever they want how will
[21:00] he ever reach his chosen
[21:03] destination when the Chariot arrives at
[21:05] a fork in the road will the horses take
[21:09] the fork leading to his destination or
[21:12] will they take the other
[21:14] Fork the answer to this question
[21:16] according to mathematics is that there's
[21:19] a 5050 chance that the horses will go
[21:23] the right
[21:24] way that suggests that there's a 50/50
[21:27] chance of your emotions drawing you
[21:30] towards
[21:32] Dharma but life is much more complicated
[21:36] than this illustration suggests the
[21:39] tremendous complexity of decisions we
[21:42] have to make is better represented by a
[21:46] complicated intersection like this
[21:50] one now what is a likelihood that the
[21:53] horses will find their way to the
[21:56] desired destination
[21:59] it's quite clear that the charioteer had
[22:01] better hold on to the Reigns and guide
[22:05] his Chariot correctly in the same way
[22:08] our intellects had better restrain our
[22:12] emotions as necessary to skillfully
[22:15] guide us down the path of
[22:18] Dharma The Chariot here we've been
[22:21] talking about became skillful in his job
[22:25] because he was properly trained he was
[22:28] taught how to control and care for his
[22:30] horses how to use the reins effectively
[22:33] and how to maintain his
[22:35] Chariot usually a charioteer would learn
[22:39] all this from his own father like the
[22:42] charioteer our intellects must be
[22:45] properly trained they must be taught how
[22:48] to discern Dharma and how to deal with
[22:51] powerful emotions and how to maintain
[22:54] our physical and emotional health like
[22:57] The Chariot
[22:59] we learn much of this from our
[23:01] parents but due to the complexity of the
[23:05] decisions we face in life we probably
[23:08] need more instruction than we received
[23:11] from our
[23:12] parents we need the equivalent of
[23:15] graduate
[23:16] school and that advanced instruction can
[23:20] be found in the bhavat
[23:23] Gita SRI Krishna as arjun's Chariot here
[23:27] didn't merely steer their Chariot he
[23:30] also guided Arjuna spiritually with the
[23:34] profound teachings we find in the Gita
[23:37] those same teachings can serve to guide
[23:39] us all in dealing with the complexity of
[23:42] life in learning how to manage our
[23:45] emotions and in staying focused on
[23:48] spiritual growth in the beginning of
[23:51] chapter 2 Arjuna admits his need for
[23:55] guidance and asks Shri Krishna to teach
[23:58] teach him in verse S he
[24:26] says Arjuna admits that his swava his
[24:30] nature is overcome by weakness KP and
[24:35] that he is completely confused
[24:38] samuda about Dharma then he says to Sri
[24:44] Krishna I ask
[24:47] you what is
[24:50] best tell me
[24:55] clearly I am your student
[24:59] sh teach
[25:03] me I the one who have sought your
[25:07] Refuge just as Arjuna sought out Shri
[25:11] krishna's advice we can do likewise and
[25:16] just like Arjuna was blessed by Shri
[25:19] krishna's teachings we can all receive
[25:22] those Blessings by studying and EM
[25:25] bibing the teachings of the bgav
[25:32] [Music]
[25:55] omaya Gaya your
[26:01] M om shant
[26:05] shant
[26:10] [Music]
[26:14] [Applause]
[26:16] [Music]
[26:27] shant
[26:28] [Music]