(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswam)
Challenges That We Face in Personal & Professional Life Open Doors For Spiritual and Material Development
यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम् |
सुखिन: क्षत्रिया: पार्थ लभन्ते युद्धमीदृशम् || 2.32||
yadṛichchhayā chopapannaṁ swarga-dvāram apāvṛitam
sukhinaḥ kṣhatriyāḥ pārtha labhante yuddham īdṛiśham|| 2.32||
Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 2- Ver. 32:
O Parth, Happy are the warriors, who receive such opportunities to defend righteousness unexpectedly, opening the stairway to the celestial abodes for them.
Explanation
Warriors are expected to be fearless and even willing to lay down their life for the sake of society’s safety. The opportunity to protect righteousness was supposed to be welcomed with wide arms by chivalrous warriors. In this life and the next, the performance of their duty would be rewarded as a noble act.
Shree Krishna goes a step further in his instructions, saying that even if Arjun is uninterested in spiritual teachings and prefers to remain on the physical plane, it is still his social obligation as a warrior to defend righteousness.
The Bhagavad Gita is not a call to inaction, but rather a call to action. Arjun is receiving the opposite advice from Shree Krishna. While Arjun desires to ignore his responsibilities, Shree Krishna persuades him to carry them out. Shree Krishna wishes to witness an interior shift in Arjuna’s consciousness rather than an exterior renunciation of works.
Arjuna asks Krishna in Chapter I, verse 37, how he can be pleased battling his people. Krishna argues that a Kshatriya can only be happy if he is battling and performing his duties. You get heaven, bliss, by fulfilling your commitments.
Arjuna is a lively individual with numerous desires, called vasanas. To discharge his desires, he needs to operate in a spirit of service toward a higher aim. Then he will be capable of contemplation and meditation, through which he will be able to eliminate the rest of his cravings and arrive at the stage of Realization. He’ll never get there if he doesn’t do his job.
A person following his or her svadharma would always prefer to put in extra effort on a difficult task rather than pulling through a poor one. Shri Krishna reminded Arjuna of this by saying that a true warrior would relish the challenge of battling the Kaurava army, which was comprised of world-famous warriors.
Verse & What we can learn
If we feel that any new work entrusted to us is a chore rather than a challenge, if all we can do is whine, then we should reconsider whether we are truly pursuing our svadharma.
It is challenges in life both spiritual and material that gives a chance for us to better ourselves in every way possible if taken in the right sense. Challenging our limits and taking that extra step forward when we think we cannot anymore becomes our first step towards victory whether the challenge is physical or psychological, or spiritual.
Challenges are a part of life, and if we want to come out victorious, we have to be always prepared for the unexpected and the unknown. Like a soldier is given training before he is out there fulfilling his duty, we also have to train our mind and heart to take the right direction all the time and to keep the strength to follow it no matter what.
Daily Meditation helps in this process; it helps us have control over ourselves our thoughts, words and deeds. There are many types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, meditation for stress relief along with meditation techniques for beginners. You can start with anyone that connects to you and practice it daily so that you are ready to face the challenges that life poses in whatever way.
In the next verse, Lord Shri Krishna tells Arjuna the negative consequences of not performing his duty as a Kshatriya.
Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…