In this paper I am going to explain Arguna’s journey of discovery in the Bhagavad Gita and relate it to my own journey of discovery through my college selection process. In the Bhagavad Gita Arguna refuses to fight his own family in order to win back control of Hastinapura. Throughout the course of the Gita, Krishna, a wise sage, continuously attempts to convince Arguna to fight the Kauravas to gain back control of Hastinapura for the Pandavas.
Being the leader of the Pandavas, Krishna knew that it was right for Arguna to fight his family so that the power of Hastinapura can be back in the rightful owner’s hands. Through much explanation of how and why it is rightful for Arguna to fight against his family, Krishna eventually convinces Arguna to do what is best. Arguna’s journey is similar to mine because I was set on going to Rutgers from the minute I sent my college applications in. I had no interest in going to any other school and once I wasn’t admitted I was very hurt by it.
Having my mind set on where I wanted to go to college years before sending in applications and then not being accepted really took a toll on me. I really wanted to go to a big school, with a football team, and a bunch of parties rather than a small school that’s reputation is to be quiet and not have much going on, but eventually I realized that the learning style at a big school wasn’t for me. Although I had been accepted into Penn State and the University of Delaware, my parents had convinced me that a small class style was the right fit for me.
I soon became to realize that all of the fun things a school has going on during the weekends isn’t what’s going to help me get good grades and then a job out of college. Our two dilemmas relate because both of us are being persuaded to do something at first that we really don’t want to do. In the Gita, Arguna is faced with the dilemma that he must fight against his family in order to regain control of Hastinapura, but Arguna doesn’t want to fight against the Kauravas because he believes that it is wrong to kill, especially your family. Arguna considers killing your family to be the worst sin of all.
Arguna really doesn’t want to fight at all, especially for something he really doesn’t want back too much, but Krishna persuades him that it is the right path for Arguna to follow. Krishna tells Arjuna that he will either go down the path of good or evil, good being to fight for control of Hastinapura. Krishna says some pretty convincing things like “He who thinks it to be the killer and he who thinks it to be killed, both know nothing. It kills not, is not killed. It is not born, nor does it ever die, nor having existed, does it exist no more.
Unborn, everlasting, unchangeable, and primeval, it is not killed when the body is killed. “(Gita, 47). Here Krishna is explaining to Arguna the cycle of life and death and how the soul is never destroyed and only your human body is. The cycle continues and in each life one’s purpose is to gain karma in so that eventually they can reach enlightenment. Once enlightenment is reached the cycle ends and one’s soul can ascend to God. Arguna is still a bit skeptical and doesn’t fully believe if Krishna is telling him the truth but Krishna continues to persuade by saying: “The boisterous senses, O son of Kunti!
Carry away by force the mind even of a wise man, who exerts himself for final emancipation. Restraining them all, a man should remain engaged in devotion, making me his only resort. For his mind is steady whose senses are under his control. The man who ponders over objects of sense forms an attachment to them; from that attachment is produced desire; and from desire anger is produced; from anger results want of discrimination; from want of discrimination, confusion of memory; from confusion of the memory, loss of reason; and in consequence of loss of reason. He is utterly ruined. (Gita, 49)
Here is where Krishna is explaining to Arguna all of the bad things that will happen to him and why he should believe in him. In order to be released from the circle of life, Arguna must gain more and more karma by doing what is right and in this situation it is right for Arguna to fight against his family. Soon after, Arguna realizes that his duty is to fight against his family and regain control of Hastinapura. For many years prior to applying to college I always dreamed of going to Rutgers. Rutgers had everything I wanted in a college and it was close to home.
Rutgers has big time sports that got even bigger when they moved into the BIG10, a massive student body having over 40,000 students and it’s claimed pretty well for its academics. It’s a very big school and it’s considered to be a party school and at the time I realized that’s all I really cared about was having fun. I heard back on January 1st that I would be placed on the waitlist and still then I had hope that I could be accepted. After months upon months of waiting I had checked my application status almost 10 times a day for months on end.
May 1st was coming around the corner and my parent’s had sat me down and said listen at this point you’re most likely not going to get accepted and even if you do it will be after the May 1st deadline so we have to think about another school. At this point I was at my wit’s end and didn’t even want to go to college but I knew that wasn’t an option. Half of my friends were attending the University of Delaware and I didn’t want to go to college with everyone I already knew and Penn State would have required me to take classes on campus during the summer so I quickly ruled them out.
It came down to my only option being Seton Hall because I wanted to stay in New Jersey, but at the time I had no interest in going to a small catholic school with no football team which was my excuse to my parents for months. My dad being a Seton Hall Law alumni, he knew that Seton Hall was the right choice for me straight off the bat due to the size and location. I wanted to stay close to home because | love New Jersey, but I never really thought about the size of the school and how important that was.
I came from a small high school with just around 600 kids so adjusting to learning in lecture halls with hundreds of kids would have been a big change in my life. I only really cared about how fun the school looked and whether there was a football team or not but my parents made me realize what the important aspects were. Going to a larger school each year they have to place thousands and thousands of kids into jobs whereas at a smaller school like Seton Hall they only have a few hundred kids per class in the business school.
Another important part I realized was the size of the classroom. Having around 15-20 kids in every one of my classes is very helpful because if I have need one on one assistance I can always get that help when needed. My perspective didn’t really change until 2-3 months into the first semester. In the beginning of the semester as expected I was very miserable here and was jealous of all my friends from home who were at football games for their school while I was watching those games inside my dorm.
As I made a great group of friends here and we all continued to get closer while making countless memories on the weekends I soon started to appreciate Seton Hall much more. I am getting great grades this semester and have mostly A’s and all of my professors have been extremely helpful. Although Arguna’s dilemma is far more serious than mine we both have a similar problem. Having to do something that we both really didn’t want to do at first but realizing that is the best option for our futures is the reason that our two dilemmas relate.
Although I never had to kill any family members, there definitely was some arguing going on in the house when the topic of college was brought up. I believe that we both made the right choices and hopefully my choice turns out to be the right one in the long run. I have learned to love Seton Hall and have been getting a very good education thus far. As I have started to mature, I have realized that everything in life isn’t about partying and that college is very serious. Whether its writing papers or studying for exams, there is always a ton of work to be done.
