Procedure:🔗

What are the best things about you and when do you feel positive? What are the best things about others and which of these do you feel are the same about you? Now do the same for the negative side: What are the worst things about you and what makes you feel negative? What are the worst things about others and which of these do you feel are the same about you?

Restful awareness is your basic right and it is possible with self completion. Best relationships start from you having great relationships with yourself. When you do not complete within yourself, you are carrying the incomplete part of you in yourself. Escaping from yourself is the race you will always lose. So complete with yourself. Conclude by reviewing how, integrity and completion brings about restful awareness in you.

Arjuna already knew each one who was on that battlefield at Kuruksetra. And no confusion about whom he was fighting and whom he had to face. It made no sense at all for Arjuna to ask Krsna at this last minute to show him clearly whom he was fighting against. It was as if he was hoping that at the last minute something would occur to change the course of events. If that were to happen, he knew that it could only take place through the grace of his charioteer, friend, and guide. It is as if Arjuna was making a desperate plea to Krsna, 'Please show me something that I do not know. Show me something that You alone know, Oh Infallible Divine. Take me there, where You will, and show me.'.

yotsyamānān avekṣe 'haṃ ya ete 'tra samāgatāḥ dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher yuddhe priyacikīrṣavaḥ

Let me see these well wishers in this war of the evil-minded Duryodhana, who have come together here to fight

When approaching the Divine or one's master, the ultimate step is one of complete surrender.

sañjaya uvāca evam ukto hṛṣīkeśo guḍākeśena bhārata senayor ubhayor madhye sthāpayitvā rathottamam

Sañjaya said: O descendant of Bhārata, being thus addressed by Guḍākeśa (Arjuna), Hṛṣīkeśa (Kṛṣṇa) then drew up the fine chariot to the middle of both the armies

At the final level, there is the surrender of the senses. One truly realizes Hrsikesa and gives up one's distorted sense of reality and embraces the truth of absolute reality

Arjuna is being called Gudakesa in this verse, the one who has transcended sleep, or the need to sleep. Sleep, here, refers to the unconscious mind.

All our embedded memories and beliefs reside in our unconscious mind. Arjuna is being referred to here as one who has conquered his samskaras, as a result of his total surrender to Krsna.

Krsna has been called Hrsikesa, one who controls the senses.

When the disciple is able to completely trust the master's senses that this world is an illusion and not his own senses that give the idea that this world is real and is the source of his happiness, then the surrender is total. Krsna's senses were controlled. He knew that what He experienced through them was not the source of his happiness and therefore He didn't run after sensual pleasures for His fulfillment.

When approaching the Divine or one's master, the ultimate step is one of complete surrender. This surrender happens in three stages. At the first level it is an intellectual surrender - the intellectual acceptance of what the master represents and what he means to you. A true seeker reaches this stage when he encounters the real master destined for him. At this stage, when the disciple meets the master, questions start dying down. It is as if answers come to one' s mind even before the questions happen. Questions are a reflection of one's internal violence wishing to prove one's control over another person. We ask questions only to tell the other person that we know something. Rarely are our questions like that of an innocent child, who asks out of curiosity

To the master replaces questions with doubts. Doubts are not violent like questions. They arise from a genuine need to know and to understand. Doubt and faith are two sides of the same coin. One cannot develop faith in one's master without having doubts about him. Despite his high level of surrender, one does see Arjuna initially in this state of questioning as well, perhaps as a lesson to us.

The person feels a deep connection with the master. It is impossible to forget Him. His memory brings tears to one's eyes, tears of gratitude that are impossible to hide. Ramakrsna says so beautifully, 'When thinking of the Divine or the master, if you have tears streaming down your cheeks, be very sure that this is your last birth.' Emotional surrender leads one close to liberation.

One truly realizes Hrsikesa and gives up one's distorted sense of reality and embraces the truth of absolute reality. Arjuna is at that level of surrender and through the progression of the Gita, we see Arjuna's transformation take place. Duryodhana's objectives were very clear – to do away with the Pandava princes and usurp the entire kingdom. Duryodhana was like an animal, operating out of instinct. He was not an intelligent man and did not suffer from doubts and guilt. He needed power, and whatever was the means to achieve that power he employed without any reservation.

A human being has a level of consciousness higher than that of animals. He can discriminate between right and wrong and has the free will to act based on such awareness. When a human behaves the way Duryodhana does, he is in the unconscious and unaware state. Mired totally in unawareness, the Kaurava warriors followed Duryodhana blindly. Arjuna, on the other hand, is in turmoil. As Krsna brings the chariot to a stop between the two armies, in a metaphoric sense He brings Arjuna's mind to a steady state.

To help the child understand the difference between Arjuna and Duryodhana and see how this highlights our own patterns and incompletions.

• 1. Who was called Gudakesa and what does it mean?
• 2. How is the relationship between Krsna and Arjusna described here?
• 3. What are the three stages of surrender? Describe each.
• 4. Based on this, briefly compare Arjuna and Duryodhana.