The Art Of Man-Making

Listening with Empathy
In the first chapter of Bhagvad Gita, Krishna says only one sentence. Just one. "Behold O Partha! All these Kurus gathered together."
Hearing the word Kuru, Arjuna sees people from his own Kuru dynasty on his battlefield. He sees his brothers, teachers, grandfather, friends and is overwhelmed with misplaced compassion. He breaks down psychologically. Such a brave warrior, who has prepared day and night for this war, who is very brave, skilled indeed and determined to win the war till this moment, fumbles on hearing one word "Kuru". His mouth is dry, legs are trembling, he's getting goosebumps all over his body.
In such a condition, he gives all kinds of reasons to justify his compassion and give up the thought of fighting the war. All that Krishna does is listen with empathy.
In such a broke state of mind, we must listen to the person who is going through this situation with empathy. If we cannot validate the thoughts of that person, we should at least not reject his thoughts or call him stupid for having these set of feelings because it adds to the burden.
Already the person is feeling despondent and you are telling him that he is not supposed to have such feelings, which makes him feel guilty that he is feeling something which he is not supposed to feel.
Pointing out such subtle implications is best known to swamiji and this is where I realized that I don't want but need a guru to understand such niches in this beautiful scripture.