While traveling in the West and lecturing on the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most common questions asked by peace loving Western students is, “Why is Krishna preaching and almost forcing Arjuna to take up weapons against his own kinsmen while Arjuna shows no interest in it and argues against the ghastly warfare and its irreligious and immoral outcome?”
They assume Krishna to be a warmonger and Arjuna a champion of peace—a compassionate and kind-hearted dude. Indeed, anyone who gives a cursory reading to the first chapter of the Gita sympathizes with Arjuna and is puzzled with Krishna’s preaching to Arjuna to stand up and fight. Even Mahatma Gandhi, an ardent lover of the Gita, could not digest Krishna’s instruction to Arjuna to fight, and thus commented that the whole plot of the Bhagavad Gita is allegorical. Truth, however, is more mysterious than it appears.
Everybody is born with a twin sister called death. When the body is born, death is born along with it. Whether we die today or after 100 years, death is certain. So, everyday we are coming closer to our death. Therefore, every night, we should do this introspection: Did I do something to come closer to Krishna today, or move farther away from Him? Is my japa improving? Is my mind feeling more peaceful and less disturbed? This is the real meaning of introspection.
