"Yield not to impotence, O Partha! It does not befit thee." The first chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, is all about atmosphere - It sets the tone for the coming discourses in a dramatic fashion. Grief, it is said, can be a powerful trigger for transformation. It was so in Arjuna's case, when he lost his nerve as he stood in the middle of the battlefield. Disillusioned and in a state of emotional breakdown, he launches into a series of arguments against the war to a silent Lord Krisna. This condition of Arjuna is not new; it lies hidden within each of us and appears when we are poised to act, crippling us of our capabilities. It is for this condition that Lord Krisna provides a remedy in the following discourses that we call the Bhagavad-Gita. The second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita is what one would call a statement of intent. It begins with Arjuna totally surrendering to the Lord. The strategic and logical Lord Krisna then gives and exhaustive summary of the contents of the Gita starting by defining the logic of thought in the philosophy and then goes on to roughly sketch the different paths that lead to God - The Path of Action, The Path of Love and the Path of Renunciation. In a nutshell, it is the epitome of the entire Bhagavad-Gita.
