Chapter Three
The Human Disciple
Note 3.3
Arjuna - a Man Subject to Three Modes of Nature
▀ ▄ ▀ Practical and Pragmatic Viewpoint of Arjuna
From the beginning of the Gita this characteristic temperament of the disciple (i.e. man of action and not of knowledge) is clearly indicated. It is also maintained throughout.
It becomes evident :
▀ In the manner in which he is awakened to the sense of what he is doing.
▀ The great slaughter of which he is to be the chief instrument
▀ In the thoughts which immediately rise in him
▀ In the standpoint and the psychological motives which make him recoil from the whole terrible catastrophe
They are not the thoughts, the standpoint, the motives of a philosophical or even of a deeply reflective mind. They are also not of a spiritual temperament confronted with the same or a similar problem.
We might say that they are those of the practical or the pragmatic man. They are of the emotional, sensational, moral and intelligent human being who is not habituated to profound and original reflection or any sounding of the depths.
They belong to a human being who is accustomed rather to high but fixed standards of thought and action and a confident treading through all vicissitudes and difficulties. This human being now finds all his standards failing him and all the basis of his confidence in himself and his life strip away from under him at a single stroke. That is the nature of the crisis which he undergoes.
In the language of the Gita, Arjuna is a man subject to the action of the three Guna or modes of the Nature-Force.
He is habituated to move unquestioningly in that field. This is the case with the generality of men. He justifies his name only in being so far pure and sattwic as to be governed by high and clear principles and impulses. He can habitually control his lower nature by the noblest Law which he knows. He is not of a violent Asuric disposition. He is also not the slave of his passions.
He is trained to :
▀ A high calm and self-control
▀ An unswerving performance of his duties
▀ For firm obedience to the best principles of the time and society in which he has lived
▀ The religion and ethics to which he has been brought up.
He is egoistic like other men. but with the purer or sattvic egoism which regards the moral law and society and the claims of others. He is not driven only or predominantly by his own interests, desires and passions.
He has lived and guided himself by the Shastra, the moral and social code. The thought which preoccupies him, the standard which he obeys is the dharma. Dharma is the collective Indian conception of the religious, social and moral rule of conduct.
He adheres to especially that part of Dharma which is appropriate to the station and function to which he belongs. He is the Kshatriya, the high-minded, self-governed, chivalrous prince and warrior and leader of Aryan men.
He has reached this high point of his life by following always this rule of Dharma, conscious of virtue and right dealing.
And at this point, he suddenly finds that it has led him to become the protagonist of a terrific and unparalleled slaughter. It has led him to a monstrous civil war involving all the cultured Aryan nations. It will sure lead to the complete destruction of the flower of their manhood. It threatens their ordered civilization with chaos and collapse.
....... ▀ ▄ Chapter Three - Note 3 ▄ ▀ ........
The Human Disciple
.......... to continue
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