|
|
PREFACE
Arjun has the vision that following after the Kaurav army, even the Pandav warriors are hurling themselves into the fiery mouth of the Omnipresent and getting annihilated. Even pious impulses are thus dissolved with final attainment and the ultimate consequence then issues forth. If the accomplished sage undertakes any enterprise after this final dissolution, it is only for the guidance and edification of his less fortunate fellowmen and disciples.
Aiming at amelioration of the world, sages have devised concrete, tangible metaphors to represent subtle abstractions. So it is that characters of the Geeta are all symbolic-mere metaphors-for formless, unmanifest inclinations and abilities. Some thirty to forty characters are named in the first chapter, one-half of whom epitomize forces of piety whereas the others stand for forces of impiety. The first half are Pandav, while the others belong to the Kaurav camp. About half a dozen of these characters are again alluded to on the occasion of Arjun’s vision of the all-pervading God. Apart from these two chapters, there is no other mention of these characters anywhere else in the Geeta. Out of them Arjun alone is present before Yogeshwar Krishn from the beginning to the end. And this Arjun too is, as we are about to see, nothing more than a type. Rather than a three- dimensional individual, he is the type of affectionate devotion.
|
|
