[Advaita-l] 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐘𝐮𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢?
Sundar Rajan
godzillaborland at gmail.com
Sat Oct 4 02:22:35 EDT 2025
*What Is Common Between Arjuna and Yuval Harari?*
“ஏன் மொட்டைத் தலைக்கும் முழங்காலுக்கும் முடிச்சுப் போடுகிறீர்கள்?”
*“Why are you tying a knot between a bald head and a knee?”*
That’s the Tamil way of dismissing a strange comparison. In English, we’d
say: *“You’re comparing apples and oranges.”*
So what could a warrior prince standing on the battlefield of Kurukshetra
possibly have in common with a 21st-century Oxford PhD and bestselling
author?
At first glance, nothing. One wielded the bow of Gandiva, the other the pen
that wrote *Sapiens*. Yet when it comes to meditation, both Arjuna and
Yuval Harari confess the same thing: the mind refuses to obey.
------------------------------
*Arjuna’s Honest Admission*
In the *Bhagavad Gita* (6.34), Krishna explains the discipline of
meditation. But Arjuna interrupts with disarming honesty:
*cañcala**ṁ hi mana**ḥ k**ṛ**ṣ**ṇa pramāthi balavad d*
*ṛḍhamtasyāha**ṁ nigraha**ṁ manye vāyor iva su-duṣkaram (6.34)*
*“The mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate, and strong.To control it
seems to me harder than controlling the wind.”*
Here is a warrior—trained in discipline, courage, and mastery—admitting
defeat before his own inner restlessness. Arjuna reminds us that outer
strength does not guarantee inner stillness.
------------------------------
*Harari’s Modern Confession*
Fast-forward millennia. Yuval Noah Harari—historian, global intellectual,
Oxford PhD—admits the same struggle.
In interviews and writings, Harari emphasizes that *his PhD did not help
him meditate*. Intellectual analysis, he says, often makes meditation
harder:
*“Meditation is about observing reality, not analyzing it. The PhD got in
the way.”*
And yet:
- He practices meditation two hours every day.
- He spends 30–60 days each year in silent retreat.
- He dedicated *Homo Deus* to his teacher, S. N. Goenka.
- On *60 Minutes* with Anderson Cooper, he explained that meditation
helps him withstand the chaos of modern information overload and stay
centered.
Harari’s confession mirrors Arjuna’s: intellectual brilliance, like warrior
strength, does not quiet the mind.
------------------------------
*Why Is Meditation So Hard?*
The *Katha Upanishad* (II.1.1) gives a timeless diagnosis:
*parāñci khāni vyat**ṛṇat svayambhū*
*ḥtasmāt parā**ṅ paśyati nāntarātman*
*“The Self-existent One turned the senses outward;therefore, beings look
outside and not at the inner Self.”*
Śaṅkara’s commentary sharpens the insight:
- The senses are like “holes turned outward.” Their very design draws
attention outside.
- Thus, beings naturally perceive the outer world and ignore the
*antar-ātman*, the Self within.
- Only a *dhīra**ḥ*—a rare, discerning seeker—can “turn the gaze back” (
*āv**ṛtta-cakṣus*) to behold the Self, desiring immortality.
In other words, we are wired outward. To meditate is to reverse this
current, to turn the mind inward. It is like forcing a river to flow
upstream. That is why meditation feels so unnatural—so hard.
------------------------------
*Concentration vs. Meditation*
As Swami Bhajanananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California notes (*in
an excellent paper on Meditation vs Concentration*), much of the difficulty
comes from confusing concentration with meditation:
- *Concentration* arises easily when the senses are outward—on a book, a
game, a project.
- *Meditation* is the reversal—drawing the senses inward (*pratyāhāra*),
turning consciousness back upon itself.
This is not escapism. It requires detachment, purification, and sustained
will. Sri Aurobindo described the process well:
*“It is a long road where every inch must be won against resistance.”*
------------------------------
*The Universal Struggle*
So when we place these voices side by side—
- *Arjuna*: *“Harder than controlling the wind.”*
- *Harari*: *“A PhD doesn’t help.”*
- *Upanishads*: *“The senses are turned outward by design.”*
—suddenly, the comparison no longer feels like “apples and oranges.”
It reveals a universal truth:
Meditation is not difficult because we are weak. It is difficult because it
demands the rarest of acts—reversing the very direction of human
consciousness.
+Note: While it may not seem like it, all these posts are part of the
*Tesla=Dhyana* metaphor I started on Guru Purnima, and we are marching
towards the main theme slowly.
Blog Post:
https://quantumviewpoint.blogspot.com/2025/10/what-is-common-between-arjuna-and-yuval.html
Explainer Video (Tamil):
https://youtu.be/zm5CkV9S784
Explainer Video (English):
https://youtu.be/zTdKKh96hTE
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