The motive-hunting cowardice in Arjuna has come to pick up a great argument, seemingly quite convincing to the undiscriminating. On the other hand, to one who has not lost his balance and who knows perfectly the art of evaluating such a situation, this is no problem at all, and Arjuna’s arguments are quite hollow. The war that is imminent is not between individuals due to any personal rivalry. Arjuna has no personality apart from the Pandava-forces, and the pair, Drona and Bhishma, are also not mere individual entities; in their identification, they are the Kaurava-forces. The two forces are arrayed to fight for certain principles. The Kauravas are fighting for their policy-of-Adharma. The Pandavas are fighting for the principles-of-Dharma as enunciated in the ancient lore of the Hindus.
So glorious being the cause, when the two armies representing the will of the People have marshalled themselves, Arjuna, the hero, had no individual right to accept any personal honour or dishonour, or to insist on any respect or disrespect, in meeting the individuals who were champions of the wrong side. Without taking this total view-point of the situation, Arjuna made the mistake of arrogating to himself an individual ego and observed the problems through the glasses of his ego. He recognised himself to be the disciple of Drona and the grandson of Bhishma. The very same teacher and grandsire were also seeing Arjuna in the opposite camp, but they felt no compunction, because they had no such egoistic misconceptions. They drowned their individuality in the cause they were championing. In short, Arjuna’s egoism was the cause for his terrible moral confusions and misconceptions.
I have often discussed this portion with some of the best men of our country and I have found all of them justifying Arjuna’s argument. That is to say, this is a very subtle point to be decided and, perhaps, Vyasa thought of solving this riddle for the society with the very principles of Hinduism for the guidance of future generations. The more we identify ourselves with the little ‘I’ in us, the more will be our problems and confusions in life. When we expand ourselves through our larger identifications — with an army, a cause or a principle, or a nation or an age — we shall find our moral confusions dwindling into almost nothingness. Perfect morality can be declared and lived only by him who has sought to live and discover his real identity with the Self which is ONE WITHOUT A SECOND, EVERYWHERE, IN ALL BEINGS AND FORMS. Later on, we shall find Krishna advising this TRUTH as a philosophical treatment for Arjuna’s mental rehabilitation.
