| 10. Arjuna's behavior was like that
of the judge in the story. The argument advanced by him were not in
themselves wrong. The whole world has seen precisely these consequences follow the last Great
War. But what
we should think about is this: that Arjuna had no real vision, it was only clever and
superficial talk. So, without
paying any attention to Arjuna's words, He straight-away began to set about
dispelling his illusion.
If Arjuna had actually been converted to non-violence, he
would never have been satisfied until his real point had been met, however much he was told about
wisdom and knowledge. But the Gita has nowhere answered this point of his,
and yet Arjuna was satisfied. The implication of all this is that Arjuna's attitude was not that
of non-violence; he
did believe in fighting. As he saw it, fighting was
his natural, clear and inescapable duty. But he wanted to
evade this duty because his vision was clouded by illusion. And it is on this
illusion that Gita's mace falls most heavily.
|
