Gita 01.21 The non-partisan position of the Gita’s revelation points to its universality

Bhagavad Gita 1.21 Arjuna Arjuna Arjuna Arjuna Arjuna so here are the first words spoken by Arjuna and these words he is asking Krishna what he is making a specific request to Krishna that request is that please place my chariot in between the two armies please place my chariot and what is the purpose of that by which I can observe the two armies that are assembled I can observe who has assembled for fighting this war it's interesting this question it reveals it tells a lot by if you focus on what it is what it is not telling or what it is implying at this stage the battle plans have gone on which had gone on for a long time have now climaxed the moment for action has come and at this moment for action for Arjuna to be seeking to make an observation not of the opposite military formation but of the opposite warriors is intriguing normally if we see at the start of the Gita when Dhanu Dhanu sees the Pandava warriors assembled in the battlefield he checks how they are assembled what military formation have they made and that prompts him to action he immediately goes to Dronacharya and tries to goad him to fight wholeheartedly on his behalf the point is that he is not leaving things he is seeking how best to fight and therefore he feels that seeing the aggressive military formation of the Pandavas he has to make sure that his own side is also equally aggressively ready but Arjuna's question is not about the opponent's military formation, martial formation, his question is about is based on trying to understand their psychological disposition their inner intention he his question is who are there to fight with me so we see his question will be spread over three verses in this verse he says by which I can see those who have come for fighting so in the middle of the two armies please assemble them so he is on the Pandava side prominently as their foremost archer and he is asking let's go in between say there is a match a football match now each team members are on the opposite side of or if you consider a game like kabaddi where the two teams are arrayed on two opposite sides and suddenly one player or the chief player from one side says I want to go into the middle to see who is there so now at one level we can say from the middle you can have a clearer view at the same time in the middle the middle is not the place to be when the battle lines have been drawn each player has to go to their side generally if somebody doesn't take a side such people are called as fence sitters some of course some people can be mediators where two people are in conflict and somebody mediates in between to get them together but some people have an intention of wanting to get people to come together but in the case of those who are bench sitters or fence sitters bench sitters are those who are not playing at all fence sitters are those who are not ready to move forward those who are unable to decide what to do and for somebody to come in the middle just when the battle is about to start it is a disorienting action at the very least once the battle lines are drawn the middle is not the place to be in each player has each person, each warrior has to be on their side, in their appropriate position in the side positioning oneself in the middle has a significance the Bhagavad Gita is spoken in the middle ground it is when Arjuna is in the middle of the two armies Krishna will speak the Bhagavad Gita and that indicates that while at an earthly level there might be conflict and at an earthly level there has to be action which might seem partisan the Gita's positioning indicates its non-partisan position in a partisan conflict non-partisan means impartial or non-sectarian, universal so actually Krishna's message is universal it is meant not just for the Pandavas but also for the Kauravas it is not just meant for people of any particular denomination, be it particular religion, particular region particular gender, particular social level, no it is for everyone and the non-partisan location of the Gita's revelation that means how is it non-partisan location because the Gita's revelation, the Gita will be spoken in the middle of the two battlefields in the middle of the two armies on the battlefield that location which is you could say neutral ground in that neutral ground when the Gita is spoken that non-partisan location of the Gita's revelation points to its transcendence points to its points to its universality points to the universality of its spirituality so this message didn't just benefit Arjuna, if Duryodhana had been willing to hear it Duryodhana too could have benefited from it God, does he take sides in human conflicts? No, it is humans who take sides against or for God so that's what the Bhagavad Gita will categorically tell us that Krishna is the lord of everyone he is the well-wisher of all living beings but not all living beings have a similar disposition towards him and he is non-partisan but at the same time he is purposeful he has a purpose of doing good for everyone and accordingly he acts and some people are allies and some people are not allies see if we have a if we have a mental asylum in which there are patients with different levels of sickness the doctor is the well-wisher of all the patients in the mental asylum in the mental health care center but suppose some patients become violent that they start threatening and destroying things around them hurting people around them and there are some other patients who try to stand up to them and restrain them and the doctor comes in it is not that the doctor is taking sides in the conflict between patients rather the doctor is the well-wisher of all patients still the doctor will choose whom to focus on the doctor will choose whom to connect with so that order in the hospital can be restored so that everybody can be benefited so paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha duskrtam Krishna empowers the virtuous and disempowers the demonic the vicious the ungodly the anti-godly you could say that is not sectarianism that is his actions so that social and spiritual order can be restored by which by that establishment of dharma everybody will eventually be benefited so when those who are in a mental asylum are committing violence when they are restrained maybe they are sedated that is for their own good because otherwise they will create a huge amount of disruption and destruction for everyone and ultimately for themselves when they give in to their fits of insanity it is their insanity that is going to increase so they need to be restrained for their own good similarly all the Gita's message will encourage Arjuna to gain a transcendental vision by which he will start fighting but the fighting itself is not sectarian the fighting itself is universal for the benefit of all Krishna's message is not just about fighting the war it is about learning to live in harmony with dharma and that message resonates and benefits everyone.