Choosing the real: By Krishna Ragini devi dasi
Life sometimes appears to us like a labyrinth. One has to make the right choice each time the passage bifurcates. A labyrinth is an irregular structure, with many passages, hard to find way through or about%u2026 So are some choices in life%u2026
That was the case of Arjuna, the great devotee-warrior from Bhagavad-gita, who saw himself faced with a decisive battle. Anyone who ever found himself or herself in front of an important life-choice, to a greater or lesser degree, can relate to the experience of Arjuna. Arjuna had to choose between fighting the battle and bringing righteousness back to the world, or withdrawing to the forest, to live the life of a hermit. Both options seemed valid and acceptable to the culture Arjuna lived in. Still, only one choice was right in those circumstances, at that moment in time.
In a labyrinth-like situation, what would make us go on with our goals? What would cause us to continue pursuing our purposes in a structure one is not sure one can go through, nor what is awaiting ahead? It must be something one feels with all their being. Only such a thing can give vital force: courage, resourcefulness, strength in the heart%u2026
Arjuna was a warrior, a ksatriya. A warrior is so by intrinsic quality, not by external denomination. For him, to desert an important battle and take the path of a hermit in the forest would have been artificial. Artificial things don%u2019t match one%u2019s internal quality or genuine predisposition. So, they deprive one from the strength coming from within. Without this internal force, any goal, material or spiritual, would be hard to pursue in the long run.
