September Gītā: 2.7

karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam

‘Arjuna: Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.’
Bhagavad Gītā 2.7

For all its poetry, mysticism, philosophy and all round ‘epic-ness’…sometimes I like to remind myself of the main reason I find the Bhagavad Gita such an inspiring body of work. And to do that I might return to the opening verses, which make up much of chapters one and two. In these verses we learn about  Arjuna and - perhaps more importantly - his predicament. Because here is someone who finds themselves up a well known creek without a paddle. From time to time that’s all of us. At work, in relationships, maybe even watching something terrible happen to someone else on the news or - worse still - right in front of us. We just don’t know what to do. 

Because Arjuna has Krishna, we have the Gita. Taking time out of whatever situation we’re in, spending some time with that conversation between the two of them, it’s like having a bit of a word with yourself. There are more modern self help texts, of course. But there’s something very special about this one. And I think that’s because to a certain extent we all have our “Arjuna Moments”. 

– Tom Norrington-Davies