Radical Personalism – Concise Concepts

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
This is radical personalism.
Our philosophy is a philosophy of radical personalism. Now what do we mean by radical personalism? That we look at a person’s situation and then we speak accordingly. So this image is often about Arjuna bewildered and the Bhagavad Gita being spoken to him.
But there was another situation also when Arjuna was bewildered, was not just bewildered but he was devastated. So we can, just to get a sense, now to enter into that situation, let’s try to visualise the situation a bit more. We as devotees, when we hear about Krishna Leela, it is not just something to be heard.
It is something actually, it is certainly not just something to be for our entertainment. It is meant to be entered into. So one way we could enter into Krishna Leela is to imagine if we are one of the witnesses, one of the minor participants in the Krishna Leela.
So imagine now that this is the 13th day of the Kurukshetra war and say you are one of the guards who is in the tent, the main battle tent where the warriors meet and you see all the Pandavas except for Arjuna is sitting. They are sitting, the other Pandava warriors are there and all their faces are sunk. They are all looking down and Arjuna and Krishna come in and Arjuna is looking disturbed.
What’s going on here? Arjuna looks around at the guards and nobody meets his eyes. Arjuna is now looking worried. Why is he worried? Because nobody is talking with him.
There is no celebratory music of the victory of that day and he comes in and he looks around and he sees all the warriors, his eyes immediately go to the seat of his dear son Abhimanyu and that seat is empty. Arjuna’s heart stops beating and he goes to Yudhishthir who is sitting on the improvised throne. He says, oh brother, oh king, why is everybody so morose? What is wrong? Yudhishthir can’t even look at him.
Yudhishthir looks up and oh brother, oh Arjuna, I have a heartbreaking news for you. Abhimanyu was killed in the battle today. Arjuna can’t believe it.
Arjuna is shattered. He collapses on the ground. He says, how did this happen? Where was I? What kind of father am I that I couldn’t be there for my son? And as he is lamenting, Yudhishthir gets up from his throne, comes near him and starts speaking how Jaidrath blocked all of them and then Abhimanyu was trapped alone in the Chakravyuha and he fought heroically.
He defeated all the Kaurava warriors. Not one Kaurava warrior could counter him. Unfortunately, brutally six of them attack him together and Arjuna cries out in pain when he hears the final account of how Abhimanyu has been killed.
And then Arjuna’s agony gives way to anger and he lashes out. What would Arjuna do in such a time? You may think Arjuna has heard the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita. Will he be unmoved by any kind of emotions? No, Arjuna is completely overwhelmed.
Arjuna turns around and lashes out verbally at his brother. He says, are all your weapons just ornaments? Couldn’t any of you protect my brother? What is the use of your weapon expertise? Then he turns to Krishna and he says, Krishna, at least you must have known what was happening. Why didn’t you tell me? And now here Arjuna is criticizing Krishna.
He’s angry with Krishna. Can anyone be angry with God? Well, actually God is so compassionate that he can absorb anything that we send toward him. He can absorb even our anger.
Without taking offense, Krishna walks up to Arjuna. Now what does Arjuna, what does Krishna do? Krishna does not download a philosophical program. Krishna doesn’t say that you are not the body, you are the soul.
Abhimanyu is not the body, he is the soul. Don’t be attached. No, Krishna adopts a very human approach.
Krishna goes and puts a shoulder around Arjuna and Krishna speaks, oh Arjuna, in this world, adversity befalls everyone sometime or the other. The character of a person is seen in how they respond to adversity. Those who are weak, those who lack virtue, they act in ways that increase the pain for themselves and for others.
Those who are strong, those who are virtuous act in ways that decreases their pain and decreases the pain of others. Arjuna, look around, look at your brothers. They loved Abhimanyu just as you did.
They are as distraught and as devastated as you are and your words are further wounds on their wounded heart. Arjuna, don’t speak in a way that increases their pain. Krishna puts Arjuna into an embrace.
So when Arjuna is in this distress, what does Krishna do? Krishna doesn’t minimize his pain. Krishna doesn’t trivialize his pain. Krishna doesn’t use that as an opportunity to launch a philosophy, launch into a philosophical discourse.
Krishna connects with Arjuna at a human level and sees how at a human level I can help address his pain. So this is a personal approach. Personal approach means we think what is this person’s situation and how can I help them in