Gita 01.35 Our pleasure-pain calculation determines our decisions and is determined by our worldview

Bhagavad Gita 1.35 Arjuna is continuing here his argument refusing to fight against the Kauravas he says he says even for gaining the kingdom of the three worlds it is not worth it to fight against them sons of Dhritarashtra what pleasure will we get what is there to be gained in it so essentially essentially Krishna is arguing Arjuna is telling here that if I won't do it even for gaining the rule of the three worlds then why would I do it for gaining the earth what pleasure is there in that all of us function based on a pleasure pain called calculation we all want some pleasure and we all want to avoid pain in this situation we look, we check what are the things that will give us pleasure and we do them and the things that causes pain we try to avoid them if some things give us more pleasure than the pain that they cause us normally things are not black and white very few things give soul pleasure or cause soul pain so when things do give us both pleasure and pain at that time we do comparison what gives more pleasure or what causes more pain then accordingly we decide to either do that activity if the pleasure is more than the pain or we refuse to do the activity if the pain is more than the pleasure while working thus the profit loss calculation that we do or the pleasure pain calculation that we do is quite often not objective at one level we can say it just can't be objective because life doesn't function objectively or rather our emotions in response to life's upheavals cannot be objectively quantified so for a person who loves sports like cricket paying a lot of money to go to a watch a sports cricket match in a famous cricket ground will seem worthwhile even braving the crowds consider it not only worthwhile but enjoyable somebody who is not a cricket fan will consider it simply a waste of time, money and loss of convenience when we wish to do a particular thing say if we are working at a job and if we are told to work we are asked to work overtime if at that time we are in acute need for money or if we are going to get a raise or promotion by that job and we want that promotion then we may think that yes I will work overtime but if we want to spend more time with our family or we want to spend more time on our spirituality and that is what is important for us then we will feel even if I get the money it is not worth it so not only will two different people analyze pleasure and pain differently but even the same person at different times during their life may analyze pleasure and pain differently so we have some reference point some background context based on which we analyze pleasure or pain and that context is what we need to understand if you understand that context then we can move forward steadily in evaluating as objectively as possible so Arjuna is here doing a profit loss calculation and he is concluding that fighting is just not worth it he feels what will I gain by fighting nothing ultimately all that I will gain is a kingdom but whatever pleasure I may gain by that kingdom far greater is going to be the pain which I will feel when those connected with me in family relationships are killed and not only are they going to be killed by some force of nature but I will be a cause for killing them and the pain caused by that will be unbearable so he is using this profit loss calculation or pleasure pain calculation and he is saying that certainly I cannot fight against them fight against the Kauravas, the Dhartarashtra so it is interesting Arjuna is not referring directly to Duryodhana he is using Dhartarashtra so because it is not just Duryodhana, there are 100 Kauravas who are fighting with whom he has to fight and they are all sons of Dhritarashtra that means that he is seeing their relationship with the elder although Dhritarashtra never really acted as a affectionate father figure towards them but still he they had some respect for him because he was their uncle and he is so Dhritarashtra can refer as an inclusive name for the sons of Dhritarashtra and he is saying by killing them what I gain and it is not going to be enough to counter the pain of not just losing all of them but killing all of them so Arjuna is doing a pleasure pain calculation the Bhagavad Gita will give him a deeper reference point a much bigger framework within which to do this analysis and thereby his decision will be reversed but the principle that our pleasure plane analysis is foundational to our decision making and our world view our priorities our purposes our principles they all come together in determining and tilting the scales in a particular direction in the pleasure plane analysis depending on who we are or who we think we are and what we think is the most important in our life what are our interests, what are our purposes what are our values based on this we consider certain things as highly pleasurable or highly painful so our pleasure plane analysis determines our decision making it underlies our decision making and our world view underlies our pleasure plane analysis so to the extent we can get our world view aligned with reality to that extent our pleasure plane analysis will become more objective and then our decision will also become more sound so the Bhagavad Gita will help Arjuna to make his decision sound by bringing objectivity by bringing his world view in harmony with reality and thereby bringing objectivity to his pleasure plane analysis and there hand clarity and maturity to his decision making thank you.