Gita 03.02 – When scripture doesn’t fit into our mental framework, the framework needs change

Thank you Here Arjuna is continuing his question and he is saying Krishna your words are Vyamishra Vyamishra is mixed Vyamishra is thoroughly mixed so you are confusing speaking in two directions because of which my intelligence has become bewildered eva means certainly it has become bewildered so please tell me one thing by which I can attain I can attain long term good so this desire for Shreya is repeated by Arjuna he has used the word Shreya even in 2.7 when he was surrendering to Krishna Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Shreya Many times when we approach a subject with our own preconceptions then when we hear something new we filter it through our preconceptions and then when it doesn't fit into the framework of our mental cupboard of our conceptual cupboard that we are carrying around then we feel it is confusing so we all have a mental cupboard just as in cupboard there are different racks and different hangers and different compartments for keeping different things and we try to place things in their places now if something extra comes which doesn't fit anywhere then we wonder what to do with it we just take it out and keep it outside the cupboard so like that when we hear some information we hear something new we try to fit it somewhere in our mental cupboard and when we find that it doesn't fit anywhere then we just we get confused either we just discard it neglect it reject it or if we can't do that we just have to face it then we find ourselves confused so Arjuna is in that situation in general human mind is that has a tendency to process out filter out information that doesn't fit into one's framework our knowledge usually proceeds from the familiar to the unfamiliar that means if we hear something new then we try to link it with something which you already know and then we try to make sense of it so if you meet a person with a particular physiognomy face structure which resembles that of say people of the far east India's far east that means say Assam and that area then we start thinking this person must be from that area so basically we try to fit things into our mental cupboard and for that we try to place the unfamiliar in the context of the familiar but when the unfamiliar is so unfamiliar that it just doesn't fit into our mental context into our mental cupboard then what do we do so one thinker has said that the theories that we like we call them facts and the facts we don't like we call them theories that means that whatever fits nicely into our mental cupboard we give it a prominent place even if it doesn't deserve that much place that we give a prominence and that which doesn't fit into our mental cupboard we just reject it and say that this is fictitious now this whatever mental cupboard we have and whatever framework it has that may serve us well in certain situations but sometimes life throws us into situations where the framework of our mental cupboard falls short where we realize that oh this is not going to work nothing makes sense so at that time we either reject the particular fact that we have seen or we have to revise our mental cupboard itself we have to acquire a new conceptual framework in our mental cupboard and that requires a lot of introspection and willpower and humility and determination also so humility to accept that oh I don't know enough and I may have to change the way I think it's not just I don't know enough it's just what I know itself might be incorrect and the determination also because the mental framework tends to become rigid and changing it is not easy so again and again the old mental framework falls back into place and we can't assimilate new things so now Arjuna had this mental framework of two courses of action karma or jnana karma means he fights and jnana means he gives up his fighting Krishna has introduced karma itself with jnana that means act but act in knowledge so act with knowledge of the soul by that you will not be bound now this is something is action or renunciation renunciation are the two ideas that Arjuna had but Krishna has introduced a new option of renunciation in action and that is not fitting into Arjuna's mental cupboard so because of that he is feeling oh why are you speaking mixed words so Krishna has in 2.37 told Arjuna to fight and that message of fighting continued on when Krishna told him do your karma the idea was do your work and for Arjuna the work would mean fighting but then in response to Arjuna's question of the Sita Pragya Sikha Bhasha in 54 from 55 to 72 Krishna has not even once mentioned about fighting a war on the other hand of doing a karma also directly Krishna has talked about buddhi, has talked about shanti and these within Arjuna's mental framework these are associated with jnana those who are jnanis they have buddhi and they achieve shanti so at one level Krishna has told Arjuna to fight to do karma which involves action and at another level Krishna is recommending, glorifying, extolling elements like buddhi and shanti which belong to the jnana marga at least as Arjuna knows it so therefore he is feeling Krishna why are you speaking both things why are you speaking at one level karma at another level jnana how do the two the two are contradictory so please tell me one thing what to do na shreyo ham apniyan so now here Krishna in response to Arjuna's question will clarify but overall the resolution to such situations comes when things don't fit into our mental framework when those facts or things are coming from somebody very wise authoritative like Krishna who is supremely wise and authoritative then rather than trying to reject the things or trying to force those things into our mental into our conceptual framework in our mental cupboard we need to change that conceptual framework that will amount to changing the mental cupboard itself but then that is what is required for the growth in our understanding for our spiritual evolution and for our attainment of higher fulfillment in life thank you.