Nervous breakdown of Arjuna

 

 

 

Divided into eighteen chapters, the Bhagavadgeeta starts with grief and ends with enlightenment and liberation. The first chapter is named as the Arjuna- Vishada- Yoga or the chapter dealing with the grief of Arjuna. Arjuna was a celebrated warrior of the Mahabharata time. He was confident enough to win the war of the Mahabharata. But as soon as he enters the battle ground, he falls into a deep trap of despair, sadness, confusion, desperation and escapism. He wants to withdraw from the war, being overwhelmed by seeing his own close relatives arrayed against him and his army in the battle ground. Negative tendencies overpower his rational mind. His emotions hijack his intellect. His mental resilience is shattered and he is in a state of deep depression. He loses the connection between his subjective and objective mind. His body is agitated and mind is chaotic.

 

His unhealthy condition of the mind injects a strong spirit of cowardness in his personality. He is in a state of severe distress and suffers from withdrawal symptoms. Vedavyasa has given an apt description of Arjuna who is suffering from neurosis. His limbs are sinking. The mouth is parched. His body is experiencing severe shivering and Arjuna has goosebumps. The bow slips from his hands. The skin burns and he is not able to stand straight. The mind is racing like a whirlpool. As a result he misinterprets and misconstrues the things and facts. He starts glorifying escapism and cowardice couched with the language of pity, non-violence and compassion. He is displaying a false sense of renunciation. He even goes to the extent of misinterpreting spiritual scriptures to justify his withdrawal from his bounden duty. He is so depressed that he does not want victory, pleasure and even the kingdom of the three worlds at the cost of the war. Arjuna represents every individual who suffers from some despair or other in the battle of life.

 

The modern theory of psychology describes all these symptoms associated with nervous breakdown. A person with psychosomatic disorders behaves like this. These are the researched symptoms of a split personality. This is called a neurotic state characterised by anxiety, distress and difficulty in coping with the day to day life routine. According to neuroscience, in such a state of the mind, the limbic system of the brain becomes so strong that it shuts down the rational brain. Emotional part of the brain gets activated and the person is so overwhelmed that he loses his logical and rational thinking. The control of the intellect over the emotions is totally lost .

 

Psychology and psychiatry prescribe counselling for such patients. The counsellor first assesses the mental condition and makes a diagnosis. Mental, emotional and behavioural patterns are observed. The counsellor uses different psychological and therapeutic techniques and approaches to treat the patient. The best part of the counselling is the method of conversation between the patient and the counsellor. In the case of Arjuna after assessing and diagnosing his mental state, Lord Krishna starts the different techniques and approaches of counselling through conversation which has emerged in the form of the Bhagavadgeeta. One by one we will see these mental, emotional and spiritual techniques of counselling in the form of self development in the later articles covering all the remaining seventeen chapters of the Bhagavadgeeta.