ARJUNA’S AFFLICTION

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

ARJUNA’S AFFLICTION
In this world, people are troubled by various kinds of afflictions. Some afflictions are
inflicted upon us by other forms of life—infective bacteria, disease-carrying insects, bedbugs and
so forth. Even so-called innocent and beautiful flowers can produce pollen which may cause acute
asthma or hay fever in some people. Dysentery, cholera, amoebiosis and so many other diseases are
inflicted upon us by other forms of life.
Then there are other afflictions over which we have absolutely no control, such as
earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves and volcanic eruptions. There can be too much rain causing
floods, or too little rain resulting in droughts and starvation. Thousands can die in a severe heat
wave. These are natural forces which afflict mankind and have been afflicting him since the dawn
of creation.
But, terrible as these afflictions are that come to us from the operation of natural forces and
from other forms of life, there is a third form of affliction which is an even greater menace, a greater
problem. Atmajanita tapa (self-created sorrow), afflictions which are not inflicted upon us by
anything exterior, but afflictions arising from our own psyche can make us suffer acutely and
intensely. Our jealousy, envy, intolerance, anger, passions, infatuated attachments and delusiona,
fears, anxieties, hatred and ill-will can all consume us and throw the mind into a state of terrible
agitation and deprive it of peace. Thoughts of revenge, frustration, dejection, depression,
melancholia and disappointment do not come to us from outside.

Outside factors may have a ten percent part to play by stimulating or triggering off certain of
these states, but the truth is that they abide within. If they are not there within, then no outside factor
will be capable of stimulating them. You must grasp this point. If the negative emotions,
sentiments, moods, attitudes or states of mind are not within, then any number of outer factors may
be there, but they will leave the person unaffected.
Therefore, this third type of affliction, adhyatma tapa, comes from one’s own self, one’s
own psyche, one’s own mind. We create pleasure and pain, happiness and misery by allowing our
interior to be thrown out of serenity, balance and stability. We create the affliction for ourselves by
throwing a certain reaction from our interior towards something exterior. If we refuse to react, the
exterior factor has no power over us.
So, this third type of affliction or tapa can afflict you at any time, in any place. If an
earthquake or tornado occurs and you are not nearby, then you are not affected. You only read about
it in the newspaper or see it on TV. But you carry the source of the third type of affliction with you
always. You are one with it; it is one with you twenty-four hours of the day and night. You have to
deal with it. And there is no escape unless you know the art and science of changing yourself,
becoming immune to outer factors, rising above them, transcending them and letting them be.
Otherwise, this is something that is inbuilt and part and parcel of your personality. It is always
present to harass you unless you come to terms with it, change it, educate it, alter it, conquer it,
subdue it. Do anything, but it is necessary to deal with it in such a manner that it is no longer able to
produce these types of afflictions within you.
So, Arjuna was suffering intensely in an acute state of this third type of affliction, adhyatma
tapa. In the beginning he was overconfident: “I will show them, I will teach them a lesson. O
Krishna, take me to the middle of the battlefield and stop the chariot in between the two forces.”
Little did he know that by doing this he was going to experience exactly the same situation
inside—in between two forces. On the one side he had a sense of duty to the Pandavas and their
forces and on the other, a sense of compassion and of attachment to the Kauravas and the forces
assembled together on their side. He was torn with conflict, with conflicting emotions and ideas. He
made himself miserable. He became a total wreck for the time being, suffering both a physical as
well as mental and nervous breakdown.