Verse 1.21, 1.22
Arjuna Uvaacha:
Senayor ubhayormadhye ratham sthaapaya me’chyuta.
Yaavad etaan nireekshe’ham yoddhukaamaan avasthitaan;
Kair mayaa saha yoddhavyam asmin ranasamudyame.
Translation
Arjuna said:
In the middle of the two armies, place my chariot, O Krishna, so that I may behold
those who stand here, desirous to fight, and know with whom I must fight when the battle begins.
RG Purport: This is the beginning of the great dialogue between God and man that continues to guide millions and trillions of living entities, enabling the serious to wade through the cycle of birth and death and establish oneself on the platform of deathlessness. Arjuna is the representative of the major population of the world who are ignorant of the art of Life and Krishna, the Lord is the representative of the Enlightened, the one who knows, the one who is the eternal guide, the one who is Sadhguru, the Guru of the highest kind. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna has to be understood in the most profound perspective before one can even attempt to understand anything about the conversation between these two friends. It is very strange to note, especially in these two verses that the one who is supposed to be subservient to the highest aspect is ordering the highest aspect namely Sri Krishna. Arjuna says that he wants to behold the two sides of Pandavas and Kauravas before the actual commencement of the war. Krishna, taking the position of a faithful charioteer and friend obliges. In this scene one can witness the bonding between the Supreme and His servant who have at the outset seemed to have exchanged roles. One can establish a relationship with the Lord either as a servant, as a friend, as a parent or as a lover. In this case the intimacy between Krishna and Arjuna reflects that of friendship where the Lord takes His position as a charioteer of Arjuna. This is very much unlike material relationships where social positions are considered and a friend is bothered about his own situation and circumstance before he obliges his friend.
When Arjuna asks Krishna to center their chariot on the field of Kurukshetra, Arjuna being a devotee of Krishna and the best amongst humans, wanted to assess fairly whether war was inevitable. He wanted to introspect whether the Kuru dynasty, to which he belonged was required to pay such a heavy price , a war that was going to suck out lives of unlimited number of people , people who were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of 100 Kauravas and the 5 Pandavas for no fault of theirs. He wanted to understand whether he was justified even from the remotest angle.
Arjuna’s mindset is similar to that of a person who is moving around in the material world. An individual is involved in Karma, carrying out activities and getting bound by that activity itself. Such a bound individual is seeking answers within his mind , which in itself represents the battlefield of Kurukshetra where Arjuna is the conscience which gets kicked by the tempest of favorable and unfavorable winds of a muddled up character. This is the time when the individual requires a Guru, an enlightened one who will be able to direct the individual’s life to the other end of Samsara or material life which is verily the turbulent mind of the individual.
Charan Pahari 