Gita 01.30 When we face challenges bigger than ourselves, we look for omens to sense the intentions of forces bigger than ourselves

Bhagavad Gita 1.30, यच्यक्नोम्यवस्थातुम् ब्रह्मतीवच्यमेमन्ह इंतानीचपश्यामी विपरीतानिकेशव यच्यक्नोम्यवस्थातुम् But here, he is speaking and he is telling that Arjuna is telling that he is just not able to maintain his composure. He is just not able to continue functioning in a reasonable balanced way because of the situation that he is facing practically at this stage. What is the situation he is facing? Situation is that he is overwhelmed with the prospect of fighting against his opponents and those opponents are essentially the opponents who are his own loved ones, who are his own relatives.

It's understandable that fighting against them can be mortifying for him. So he is telling here that he is not able to perceive what is यच्यक्नोम्यवस्थातुम् ब्रह्मतीवच्यमेमन्ह It's difficult for me to stay where I am because I am so overwhelmed. ब्रह्मतीवच्यमेमन्ह And my mind is wandering here and there.

निमितानी चपशामी I am seeing inauspicious signs everywhere. So विपरीतानी केशव विपरीतानी The idea is that all the symptoms which Arjuna is experiencing at the physical level, they are inauspicious omens for the body to tremble. And he is trying to figure out how to deal with them.

How to deal with those emotions in a proper way and he is realizing that he is just not able to deal with them. And he feels I cannot stay over here. शक्नोम्यवस्थातुम् ब्रह्मतीवच्यमेमन्ह Just cannot think of what to do and what not to do.

So Arjuna is expressing his point that of the futility of actions when everything seems to be inauspicious. When we are doing a particular action, especially something which is very challenging, we look for all the help that we can get. And almost everybody who is working, who has lived life for sometime and has endeavored to achieve something worthwhile, knows that life doesn't come easy.

Knows that there is no shortcut to success and even with hard work there is a lot beyond human control which also shapes the results. And therefore such performers who before they embark on some stupendously challenging course of action look for some signs of whether things are going to work out right or not. And in such situations it's important to recognize that this is not fatalism, it is just that it's just like looking at the weather.

If you are going to go on a difficult journey say somebody is going to climb a mountain and at that time they also notice that there is a lot that needs to be done and they are not going to be able to do it that easily. Then they will work towards clearing out the unknowables or the uncontrollables rather. So, how well they climb up the mountain is in their hands but how the mountain itself how the weather is, is not in their hands.

Since the weather is also predicted to be very rough then the mountaineers may decide to defer their climb till a time when the weather is somewhat less inclement. Similarly for us similarly here Arjuna is seeing all these inauspicious signs. A warrior is usually heroic and fearless.

Warriors don't chicken out even when they face difficult challenges. But here on facing this particular challenge the warriors feel that maybe this is not how it should be. Is this the best time to fight the war? Is this war something which we want to fight? Performance matters but performance is not all that matters.

Destiny also matters. And recognizing the importance of destiny helps us to bring some clarity, some perspective some sense of balance of what needs to be done and what need not be done. So here he is being asked he is asking that I am seeing all these inauspicious signs I am thinking whether I should be here or not.

Quite often the mind runs wild. Sometimes it makes us run wild and sometimes it makes us completely stationary not being able to move at all also. So in the case of शक्नोमि अवस्थातुम् निमिताणि निमिता is omens निमिताणि चिपश्यामि विपरीताणि I am seeing all causes of misfortune.

I am seeing indicators of impending calamities and thus I am losing my resolve to stay here and the mind runs crazy at that time it becomes very difficult for us to function in any normal reasonable way and for all of us we have certain triggers which make our mind go wild. It's not that everything makes everyone's mind go wild but we do have triggers and when a particular thought is triggered within us our mind starts going wild and we just don't find ourselves capable of doing much at that time. So, for example, an alcoholic when they see alcohol their mind starts going wild.

Somehow I have to get this. For other people, it might be other things. For a cricket match, for a cricket fan, it might be just the news of some cricket score, cricket update.

It is the dismissal of a favourite batsman. So, when we understand this point that everyone of us has to face challenges and while going through these challenges if we not lose perspective then we can face the challenges more gracefully. If however, we lose perspective then it becomes next to impossible to face the challenges and omens can indicate that something impending, some great wrong is about to happen and that can make us lose heart.

So, Arjuna sees that he has to fight against his relatives and then he sees that his own body is manifesting symptoms of inauspiciousness. So, what he sees in the battlefield in front of him, the same inauspiciousness is echoed on his own body and thus he cannot but feel agonized, mortified, distressed, not being able to figure out how to move forward, what to do and thus his predicament which he voices in this verse.