The Battlefield
Planet Earth, the Body and the Mind
Having thought I had surrendered, I realized I was now being introduced to the Battlefield, the place of war between my spiritual and material tendencies and desires. In the Bhagavad Gita I learned that the Battle of Kurukshetra was an allegory for the struggle within each person to transcend the material world and connect with Absolute Truth, thus launching us into some kind of eternal Samadhi I knew nothing about. Two armies gathered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra , one army named the Kauravas, descended from a blind father, designating ignorance. The other army was the Pandavas, descended from a very pale-skinned father, designating purity. Do not blame me for that one! Krishna is black, remember? This was simply symbology.
Arjuna asked Krishna to pull his chariot in between the two armies so he could see whom he was to fight. Faint and despondent, Arjuna dropped his bow and said he could not fight to kill his cousins, uncles and friends, even though these relatives were trying to kill him and take over the kingdom of the Pandavas. The text of the Bhagavad Gita began when Krishna instructed Arjuna why he should fight, by describing the science of the soul, our purpose in this material world and how to get out of the struggle of material existence. He explained how we are not actually this body, but a spiritual being on a path to attain the Absolute and because we are not these bodies, our relatives and friends are unfortunately, temporary. Our real truth is eternal and spiritual. Therefore we should act according to Dharma or right action and then ultimately, surrender to the will of the Absolute.
Krishna, the cousin of Arjuna, acted as the chariot driver for Arjuna who was known to be the best archer of the times. The allegory goes like this. The Chariot represents our Bodies, the vehicle given to us on this planet as we fight the battle for our liberation. Arjuna or the Passenger represents the Soul, as in each and every one of us. Krishna, his Chariot Driver, represents the Supersoul or Spirit within each of us, who is not separate from us and who is directing us, fulfilling our desires and giving reactions to our actions. The Reins of the chariot are the Mind, our tool for controlling the Five Senses represented by the Five Horses.
As humans, we constantly struggle with good and evil, sometimes evil winning out and sometimes good winning. The yogi or transcendental soul works to go beyond the good and evil to a state of transcendental detachment wherein peace exists with pure bliss. This goal, to simply allow the Supersoul to take control, is the perfection of human life.
But like Arjuna when he pulled his chariot in front of his enemies and saw who he was required to fight, we similarly do not wish to fight this battle with materialism. Our belief is that we will find our pleasure outside of ourselves. We do not want to ‘kill’ our material desires. We want to fulfill them! And besides, most people would say, “You can’t get rid of your desires.” The answer to that was to change our desires to something spiritual. That is why we need help in the form of a guru or prophet or teacher like Jesus Christ.
But it is important to remember when Arjuna was in the Chariot, Krishna was his charioteer meaning, in our struggle, God will always be with us. The five horses represent our senses, the organs for experiencing material pleasure. Sometimes our senses run wild, eating too much, drinking too much, hearing criticism of others, watching things that will drain our energy and even allowing smell to drag us into restaurants to eat unclean things.
Fortunately, we have been given a mind, or reins (of the chariot) to reel in and control our senses. As a yogi practices, over many years and many lifetimes, he will eventually use his intelligence (buddhi) to control the senses, surrender to the Supersoul and thus achieve the goal in pure Samadhi, transcendental bliss, wherein there will be no more need for a material body and we will no longer need to incarnate! And that was definitely an exclamation point because that is what I wanted! I did not want to go once again inside that womb. . . or tomb and again in another womb! I wanted to stop the Wheel of Samsara, of Birth and Death.
Dharmakshetra and Kurukshetra, the place of both Dharma (right action) and Kuru (blind material action) are both one and the same, our body and mind. Our body and our mind are battlefields.
As I tell this story of the journey after the vision, the search and the surrender, I have to say that I consciously struggled for many years in this lifetime and only God knows how many other lifetimes, but for some reason, I thought I was getting very closer to understanding this truth. I thought to myself, if I actually do understand, then I feel like it will be the beginning of the journey instead of being somewhere in the middle of it.
Most people take scriptures literally. I always have. But things were changing in the world around us and I was beginning to see things differently. Was Krishna actually here on this planet? One teacher says that Krishna was actually here on this planet and another says, “It just appeared that way. Krishna appears in Vrindavan like a movie projector casts a film on a screen. Krishna never has a material body and never comes in contact with material nature.” If so, then where did the stories come from? What’s up with the footprints? Some say the stories came from the sages who could see through their hearts. Others say to see Krishna, your eyes had to be anointed with love. So evidently, some people actually did see Him while others did not. I liked that idea, but what did I know?
In India, there is a place north of Delhi named Kurukshetra where the battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas took place. The story was part of the Puranas (history) of India, so my guess is the story is real, but it is also an allegory describing a battle to defeat ignorance. It was still going on every day in each and every person on this planet, and interestingly, Earth, anagrammed, is Heart and Earth is the perfect school for souls to experience and grow in their hearts. It was also described as our Battlefield, or one of our battlefields.
What I did know is there was a battle going on within my mind and my body. I did not want to die! Did I already say that? But neither did I want to grow old. I could see that peace would ensue if my mind were not agitated. And why was my mind agitated? The same reason as yours. We simply want someone to love us and without that eternal love, there is something missing within each one of us. So our mind and our body are battlefields, accepting and rejecting at every moment, things for our pleasure of course, but especially accepting and rejecting the opposite sex. We fall in love for some time when we meet someone compatible and attractive but as time moves on, we see the faults in our partner and judge and criticize and things just become ugly.
And all this battle going on in the mind causes depression. One year I was in Colorado with my kids where people were a step above most in the United States, as far as I was concerned, regarding dharma. They were so honest, they were constantly laughing at themselves. They’d say things like, “I need some Zanex.” “What?” I said. “Mom, everyone is depressed!” Then they would laugh about it. It was a joke! Everyone was joking but they all knew it was true. We’re all depressed!
Now you may say, “Not me. I stay busy and won’t let myself get depressed.” But just listen to those words! A yogi doesn’t stay busy or get drunk to keep from being depressed, he just meditates on truth or a mantra and is in bliss. That level of bliss, however could take a lifetime to achieve, depending on where we were spiritually in our last life, right? But it is obvious I was on a battlefield and I was at war with my mind and my senses, especially since I was making an effort to turn my lead into gold! This was the real alchemy.
I’m was told by people who knew a lot more than me that our body needed to be finely tuned for our spirit soul to easily leave and transcend this world. But yet I saw all around me people were clogging it up with chemicals like Coke and Pepsi. And then because of boredom, we drank way too much wine and vodka. (That was my case.) And there were those who didn’t drink but ate until they almost popped, bulging from super-sized meals. And some people were what we called ‘stoners’. Always fucked up on pot.
But, here’s the thing, we were not perfect. And just like all the wonderful material things we desired in this world which would go away naturally when a higher taste developed, we needed to make some small efforts here and there to develop a higher taste, better fuel for our bodies and our minds. Back then I could see, both my body and my mind were a Battlefield. Actually, I was told that the process to ascend started with the body first and then went to the mind.
According to Vaishnava philosophy, as well as other belief systems, the hardest thing to transcend is something called Pratista. That means when you reach a certain point in your self realization and advancement, you want adoration or praise. The example was given of a priest or evangelist who developed a congregation who dearly loved him. As time went on and his congregation grew, so did his ego until his fall down was inevitable. He or she would start spending all that glorious money his followers graced him with on himself. Pretty soon he would be wearing silk suits, getting a doctorate degree, driving a new Rolls Royce and holding his head up high. In America, we saw this behavior often. These people not only ended up in prison in Texas, but it would be my guess that they would be imprisoned in this material world for a long time. This pratista was referred to as ‘the last snare’ in the effort to give up our material desires and unite with God. And believe me, Pratista or the desire for honor is a material desire!
The war within required reconciliation. Trying to become pure in heart was a battle I would need to fight if I were to enter into the real world of eternal pleasure with the Divine. It was the battle I would have to fight if I did not want to take birth again and again and again.