Can Kuruskshtera be compared to the body, the senses to the Pandavas, the Kauravas to the vices and the war to the inner battle?
Can this metaphorical explanation supplement the literal explanation?
Hare Krishna can we in the Bhagavad Gita, can the body be compared to Kurukshetra and the senses to the five Pandavas and sinful desires that we have to the many Kauravas can this metaphorical explanation be accepted as a supplement to the literal explanation answer not exactly most often the metaphorical explanation that is given in this way where Kurukshetra is compared to the body is used not to supplement but to supplant the literal explanation that is to replace it to say that actually there is no the fight did not actually happen and that certainly is not the correct understanding because the whole Bhagavad Gita involved fighting a war all Bhagavad Gita involved are asking Arjuna to fight a war Arjuna did indeed fight the war so in the Mahabharata describes what happened in the war so that is definitely not acceptable now with respect to considering the Kurukshetra to be a battlefield, to be like a human body and his senses to be the Pandavas there is a mistake in the analogy in terms of its implications yes there is an inner war in our heart and we can say that the Bhagavad Gita is calling upon us to fight that inner war and we have a higher nature and a lower nature and the higher nature can be said to be represented by the Pandavas the lower nature by the Kauravas and because the Pandavas took shelter of Krishna so they were able to conquer over the higher nature that is they were able to conquer over the lower nature they won over the Kauravas and yes our higher desires are few so they can say they are like five Pandavas and lower desires are like are many many so they are like the hundred Kauravas that is fine but often in this analogy the senses are compared to the Pandavas which confuses three that the battle inner battle is not happening in the body it is happening in the consciousness the body is physical it is not exactly the same as the consciousness so the territory that is being fought for is our consciousness will our lower nature lower desires dominate our consciousness or will the higher nature dominate the consciousness and of course whatever dominates the consciousness will take control of the body but both are the battle is being fought in the arena of the consciousness and both the parties fighting are there are lower desires and there are higher desires whereas in the metaphor in this analogy specifically the senses are compared to the Pandavas so it confuses things that senses are not the Pandavas senses cannot be equated to the Pandavas because it is not that the senses are inherently virtuous but rather the senses are inert they are neutral in the sense that they can be used for sense gratification they can be used to serve Krishna but right now the senses are contaminated by the enjoy mentality and so in a large sense we can say that the senses are also like Kauravas only when they become purified the enjoy mentality is removed from the senses then they become then they can be used in Krishna’s service so the senses never become like Pandavas actually within us there are higher desires and there are lower desires so the higher desires are like Pandavas the lower desires are like Kauravas and the higher desires are the higher nature can triumph over the lower nature by taking shelter of Krishna Sri Prabhupada himself also uses this understanding in the second initiation ceremony when Haigriva Prabhu and others got initiated Prabhupada told that now you should never lament in your life because now you have given the reins of your chariot to Krishna that means the war is going on but you have given the chariot to Krishna control to Krishna you have taken guidance and shelter of Krishna and Krishna is in charge he will guide you to victory so I have given another answer where I explained how the metaphorical explanation can also be accepted but this particular metaphorical explanation confuses between the between the terrain of consciousness and the physical body and that’s why