The Gita in daily life
When nothing seems worth doing
I cannot make myself do anything and I do not see the point of it. Is there anything in the Gita for this?
I cannot make myself do anything and I do not see the point of it. Is there anything in the Gita for this?
The Gita begins here. Its first chapter is Arjuna’s collapse, described in the body before it is described in the mind: limbs giving way, mouth dry, trembling, skin burning, the bow slipping from his hand, a man who says he cannot keep standing (1.29, 1.30). Sanjaya’s own word for him is despairing (2.10). He says plainly that he cannot see what is right, and asks to be taught (2.7). Everything else in the eighteen chapters is spoken to that man. The text does not begin with someone who is coping.
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · from the Bhagavad Gita
Notice how physical the first chapter is. The account at 1.29 and 1.30 is a list of sensations and not of thoughts: the limbs loosening, the dry mouth, the tremor, the hair standing up, the burning skin, the bow he can no longer hold, the mind that seems to be reeling. Whatever else the Gita is, it opens with a body that has stopped obeying its owner. Anyone who has sat on the edge of a bed unable to begin the day recognises the description. It is printed in the scripture, in the hero’s own words, and nobody has edited it out.
Krishna’s first response is not soft. Do not give in to weakness; it does not suit you; shake off this small faintness of heart and stand up (2.3). On its own that is the sort of thing said by people who have never been unable to stand. But it is not on its own. Arjuna answers it — my own nature is struck down, my mind is confused about what is right, tell me plainly what is better, I am your student, teach me (2.7) — and Krishna does not repeat the rebuke. He begins to teach instead, and he goes on for sixteen chapters. The rebuke opens the conversation. The conversation is the answer.
What the conversation offers is not a reason to feel better. It is a long redescription of what a person is and what work is for, and this page does not try to summarise it. Whether it reaches someone who cannot get out of bed is not a question a website can settle. What the text does establish is that the condition is not disqualifying. The teaching is given to the man sitting on the floor of his chariot with his bow put aside (1.47), and his statement that the confusion has lifted comes only at 18.73, at the very end. Nothing in the text suggests it should have come sooner.
In the Gita’s own words
Where this comes from.
Bhagavad Gita 1.29Arjuna
सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति ।
वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते ॥My limbs give way beneath me and my mouth goes dry. My body trembles and the hair on it stands on end.
The symptoms, in Arjuna’s own words: limbs giving way, mouth drying, the body trembling, the hair standing on end. The Gita starts with the body, not with an idea.
Bhagavad Gita 1.30Arjuna
गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात्त्वक्चैव परिदह्यते ।
न च शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः ॥The Gandiva slips from my hand and my skin burns all over. I cannot keep standing, and my mind seems to be reeling.
The bow slips from his hand, his skin burns, he cannot keep standing, his mind seems to wander. This is the man to whom the entire teaching is then addressed.
Bhagavad Gita 2.1Sanjaya
तं तथा कृपयाविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् ।
विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्यमुवाच मधुसूदनः ॥To him, overcome by pity, his eyes brimming and troubled with tears, despairing, Madhusudana spoke these words.
Sanjaya describing him before Krishna says anything: overcome with pity, eyes brimming and troubled with tears. The state is reported plainly and without embarrassment.
Bhagavad Gita 2.3Shri Bhagavan
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥Do not give in to weakness, Partha. It does not suit you. Shake off this small faintness of heart and stand up, scorcher of foes.
Krishna’s rebuke: shake off this faintness of heart and stand up. It is the opening of the conversation and not its conclusion, which is why it should never be quoted on its own.
Bhagavad Gita 2.7Arjuna
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः
पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः ।
यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे
शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥My own nature is struck down by a poverty of spirit. My mind is confused about dharma, and so I ask you: tell me plainly what is better. I am your student. I have come to you. Teach me.
Arjuna refuses the rebuke and asks for help: my nature is struck down, my mind is confused about dharma, teach me. Asking is treated as the right move, not as a further weakness.
Bhagavad Gita 2.10Sanjaya
तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ॥Bharata, Hrishikesha, as though smiling, spoke these words to him as he despaired there between the two armies.
Sanjaya’s word for Arjuna as Krishna begins: despairing, there between the two armies. The narrator names the state rather than glossing over it.
Bhagavad Gita 18.73Arjuna
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।
स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥My delusion is destroyed and I have regained my memory through Your grace, O Achyuta. I stand firm, my doubt gone; I shall do as You say.
The other end of it: my delusion is destroyed, my memory is back, I stand firm and I shall act. It arrives in the last handful of verses, after everything else.
What to actually do
Small, and today.
- Make the unit of work small enough that one unit is possible. The Gita’s whole account of action assumes a person doing the thing in front of him. If the thing in front of you today is one cup washed or one page read, that is the thing in front of you, and it counts as that.
- Say it to a person in ordinary words. Arjuna does not perform composure. He tells Krishna he cannot see what is right and asks to be taught (2.7). Naming it aloud to one person is the move the text actually models, and it comes before any of the teaching.
- Read chapter one before chapter two. Most people are handed the verses about steadiness first and conclude that they are failing at something. Reading the collapse first, in the hero’s own words, changes what the steadiness is being asked of.
- Let the recovery take the time it takes. Arjuna’s delusion lifts at 18.73, at the end of eighteen chapters. Anyone who offers the same result in an afternoon is selling something the Gita does not sell.
What the Gita does not say
That 2.3 is the Gita’s verdict on a person who cannot function. It is an opening line, spoken by a friend to a soldier at the moment a war is about to begin, and it is followed at once by Arjuna refusing it and asking to be taught (2.7). Krishna accepts the refusal and teaches. Quoting “stand up, Partha” at someone who cannot is using half a verse and ignoring what the text does next, which is to talk to him for sixteen chapters.
The words behind this
Common questions
About this.
Does the Gita say anything about depression?
It does not use that word and it is not a medical text. What it does contain is a long, exact description of a man who cannot stand, cannot hold his bow and cannot see what is right (1.29, 1.30, 2.7), and eighteen chapters addressed to him. That is a description of a state, not a diagnosis and not a treatment.
Why does the Gita begin with Arjuna breaking down?
Because the teaching has to be given to somebody, and the Gita gives it to a man at his worst rather than to a fit student. The first chapter is known as Arjuna’s vishada, his despondency. Everything after it is spoken into that condition, which is why the text is readable by people who are in it.
Is “stand up and fight” the Gita’s answer to despair?
It is Krishna’s first sentence, not his answer. Arjuna refuses it, says he cannot see what is right, and asks to be taught (2.7). Krishna then teaches for sixteen chapters. Treating 2.3 as the whole of the Gita’s response reverses what the text actually does.
How long did it take Arjuna to recover?
The whole conversation. He says his delusion is gone and his memory has returned only at 18.73, after everything else has been said. The Gita gives no shorter route and does not suggest that a person who takes time is doing it wrong.