The
idea to obtain liberation is the main theme of Gita, advocating three spiritual
paths towards it, namely Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.
The battle of Kurukshetra (field of work or material action)
is fought between two opposing forces: discriminative intelligence (buddhi) and the sense-conscious mind (manas), on a daily basis within us. It
is fought at three different levels: moral, psychological and spiritual.
The material and moral struggle is between good and evil,
right and wrong action on the sensory level. The psychological war is between
the material tendencies of mind pulling the life and consciousness outward
towards matter and the discriminative tendencies of intelligence drawing the
life and consciousness inward towards the soul. The spiritual battle is fought
to overcome the lower states of consciousness and dissolve all duality and
sense of separation from God.
The material man will know inner peace and happiness only if
he sides with goodness and wins the struggle between the good and evil
inclinations that guide his actions on the external bodily field of action. The
spiritual aspirant will know inner peace and happiness once he wins the
psychological war defeating the tendencies of mental restlessness and sense
attractions. The yogi, who seeks the ultimate goal of Self-realisation and
liberation, will know inner peace and happiness on winning the spiritual battle
against the magnetic attraction of the lower ego nature of body consciousness.
The impulsive mental and sense tendencies (Kauravas), and
the self-disciplined offspring (Pandavas) of the soul’s discrimination (Pandu)
assemble on the bodily field (Kurukshetra) of sensory, psychological and
spiritual battle every day. Bhagwadgita suggests, through Sri Krishna (soul), that
we should indulge in a daily (at the end of the day) honest introspection
(Sanjay), to reveal to our blind mind (Dhritarashtra) which force, good or
evil, won the battle that day.
