Like Arjuna, seek counsel

Aug 29, 2010, 12.00am IST
N Andal.

We often say that a human being is the noblest work of God, and that when God created this masterpiece He gave it a mind, body and soul.


While the body is transitory and has a normal curve of birth, growth, maturity, decay and death and the mind that is encased in the body also goes along the same route, the soul is beyond death and destruction and joins the cosmic pool when it leaves the body. But God who created all living beings on this universe embedded humans with a special characteristic – that of an intellect capable of knowing his non-being also! But apart from this, our knowledge of the future is zero. We live in the past with our memories, we live in the present with our pains and pleasures and we live in the future with vague guess work.
Just as the physical body is vulnerable to injury and disease the mind, too, suffers as a result of what we say and do. Medical help is available with doctors and treatments for bringing the body back to good health. But when the mind suffers an aberration owing to traumatic events the consequences can be tragic for all those who are close to the person so affected and of course, the concerned individual. Treatment for disturbed minds is not so easily accessible. Moreover, seeking psychiatric help is viewed as something only 'mad' people do, and so there is a stigma attached.
Hence there is need for counselling centres and an openness to encourage people to come forward to seek help. This will help reduce the anxiety and stress levels, leading to a better quality of life for individuals and families and by extension, friends, colleagues and society as a whole. The more depressed you get, the more anxiously you seek isolation that only deepens the depression.

We are no strangers to this state of mind. Arjuna was the earliest known victim of this kind of dejection when the Mahabharata war was about to begin. His charioteer Lord Krishna empathised with Arjuna and took the responsibility of pulling Arjuna out of his predicament. The result was the Bhagavad Gita. The dilemma of Arjuna was that he found it unacceptable that he should wage war with his own kith and kin. Though as a soldier his duty was to fight, how could he be happy after killing his relatives?

Krishna advised Arjuna to be more focussed on his duties and the vows he had taken so that he does not suffer from inner conflict. The war was dharma yuddha, and when Draupadi was humiliated Arjuna had vowed to fight for justice and bring the violators to book.When the land of the Pandavas was taken away by his cousins fraudulently, he had fretted and fumed and vowed to remedy the adharma, the injustice, when the time came. And now at the battlefield the time had indeed come.


In everyone's life there are uncertainties. We all go through inner conflicts. It would be a mistake to think that all things are under our control. In times of frustration, dejection, grief and similar tragedies in life – it will be foolish to abandon hope altogether. It would be wise and prudent to go to someone you can trust and unburden your innermost feelings. Hope remains with us even when our own shadows do not. It is at times of pitch darkness that you realise the importance of light. This light can be provided only by wise counsellors like Lord Krishna.