A sincere wayfarer, faithfully treading the path of self-control to rediscover the Self, may get lost, if death were to rob him on his way, or for want of complete self-control he were to fall from Yoga. The striking example with which this idea is brought out by Arjuna, is one of the most brilliant poetic strokes in the entire Geeta. This is often quoted in literary circles, whenever an attempt is made to evaluate Vyasa, the poet, in Sanskrit literature.
In summer, mushroom-shaped floating castles of clouds arise from behind the mountains to peep into the valleys below. At the touch of some strong current of wind the mass takes to flight, leaving along its trail, small bits of fleecy cloudlets. Those little ones, torn away from the parental bulk, get knocked about and are at the mercy of every puff of breeze. Such summer cloudlets, aimlessly kicked about according to the whims and fancies of the winds, can never fulfil the expectations of the farmers, or the clamour of the thirsty. Unfulfilling themselves, they get tossed hither and thither without any haven for themselves. “LIKE THE RENT CLOUD,” Arjuna asks, “will not the aspiring self in the seeker be forced to roam about and ultimately get lost in the vast amphitheatre of the Universe?”
WHY DOES ARJUNA ASK THIS QUESTION?
