Gita 01.33 When various purposes pull us in different directions, we need to prioritize our purposes

Bhagavad Gita 1.33 here Arjuna is speaking expressing his reluctance to fight and he he they are situated here for the purpose of fighting and they are ready to give up their life and their wealth their everything and then he starts listing the various relatives who are ready to do that Acharya Pitra so he looks at his teacher Arjuna his grandsire and other relatives in the previous verse Arjuna has said that that this is for the very people who we may want to fight with whom we would like to enjoy the gains of victory successes of life if those very people are pitted against us then what is the point of fighting what is the purpose of fighting, what is the purpose of living thinking thus Arjuna becomes extremely disheartened all of us we have certain purposes in our life and we could say there are levels of purposes say for example when we are hungry may cook some food or may go to some food joint so that we can eat some food but if we get carried away now if we consider eating food is not the goal of our life it is one purpose which is immediately driving us beyond that another purpose could be we are working to may be we are students studying or may be working to get a job our purpose is so that we can earn money so that we can have food or our purpose may be that we may want to take care of our family and take responsibility for their growth or we may want to grow in our career make an impact get a name all these are purposes that drive us and now if these purposes overall make us move in the same direction so our first purpose could be our bodily survival second purpose could be the bodily maintenance of our family members a third could be our own as we say job satisfaction our own fulfillment fourth could be our social position and standing like this we all can have various purposes and these purposes can make us move so purpose precipitates progress provide of course the purpose is progressive the purpose can also be regressive and alcoholic purpose may be to drink at that time and that may captivate the person and carry them away so when we understand that we have multiple levels of purposes then we can move forward towards doing the purpose that is the best for us that will help or best fulfill us but if different purposes start pulling us in different directions then things become difficult say if we are to visit a friend do some office work and get a haircut done and if all three are in the same direction then we can move easily but if the three are in three different directions and we have finite amount of time to do all three things then we will be perplexed about what we should do and what we should let go of similarly for us when our different purposes start pulling us in different directions then we have to select which purpose matters the most to us and we need to focus on that purpose then and discerning that purpose and discerning what matters most to us requires understanding ourselves first if we don't understand ourselves then we can't move forward we can't progress for us to move forward each one of us needs to have an understanding of what drives us the most and where we can be driven the best in this progressive journey it is vital that we learn to move linearly based on priority so for Arjuna here he is thinking that he will gain the kingdom by fighting the war but then the very people with whom he would like to celebrate that victory those people are not with him those people would be killed he is saying that those very people are pitted against me and they are ready to give up their wealth and their life that means here Arjuna is finding that two purposes are violently contradictory to each other that is the time when we experience a cognitive dissonance not just a cognitive dissonance it can cause a cognitive breakdown because which purpose to fulfill which purpose is more important when we have to drive to one place or the other it is a practical confusion where do we go when it is when it is a decision to make which is based on some conceptions that we have then we can face a it is not a practical problem it is a cognitive problem resonance or ponsonance refers to when two sounds go together but cognitive dissonance is when two sounds go in opposite directions and often in violently opposite direction at that time we just don't know how to move forward so that analysis that Arjuna will go through will be explained soon but right now Arjuna is voicing his apprehension by pointing out that these purposes are violently contradictory and it is like we have to go in not just two different directions but two opposite directions when two desired destinations lie in opposite directions we experience distressing dissonance and that is what is happening to Arjuna and Krishna will reveal to him to help him resolve that confusion a higher purpose that underlies all other purposes and it is that realization that will be the basis of Arjuna's gaining relief and that will be the substance of the Bhagavad Gita that purpose will be based on Arjuna's understanding of who he is and what he is meant to do in life and we will discover that Bhakti which is based on Arjuna's identity as a soul that Bhakti is not just another purpose to pursue in life Bhakti is the purpose that permeates and unites all other purposes in life how that is so we will discuss in our future verses Thank you.