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Facing One's Difficulties · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asked Sri Krishna to place him
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  between the two armies, ready to engage in a civil war with
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  massive numbers of troops on each side, so that he could view
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  the scene before the actual fighting started.
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  At that moment, he was struck by the magnitude of what was about
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  to take place and indicated that he would not participate, that
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  it was morally unsupportable, and it would be better if he
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  were killed than if he would engage in killing respected
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  elders, teachers and relatives. He was prepared to avoid the
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  moral problem that he now saw rising before him.
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  In very graphic terms, it is instructive to note that Sri
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  Krishna did not accept the idea of Arjuna's sudden qualms about
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  the morality and correctness of the action.
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  An action for which he had been preparing for many years, for
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  which he had undergone extreme austerities and training, for
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  which he had acquired special weaponry, and which was intended
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  to obtain recompense from those who had tried to harm himself
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  and his brothers and wife for many years.
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  Including a humiliating scene before the assembly where his
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  wife Dropity was brought in to embarrass them all.
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  Rather, Sri Krishna pointed out that this was a reaction of the
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  guna of Thomas, not fitting for one of Arjuna's position,
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  training, experience and role, and that he should face the
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  situation directly and not try to avoid it or run away.
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  The reactions that the spiritual seeker has when faced with what
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  appear to be failures, moral lapses, uprising of desires and
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  fear that somehow the spiritual progress is lacking are quite
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  normal Temasek responses that want to avoid rather than face
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  the difficulties. Just as Arjuna was educated
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  about this process and encouraged to throw off the
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  Temasek energy that had moved to the forefront, so spiritual
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  seekers are encouraged to act with courage, fortitude,
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  perseverance and trust in the Divine and the process.
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  Fioro Bindo notes quote Difficulty cannot be overcome by
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  your running away from it. It is not by tormenting yourself
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  with remorse and harassing thoughts that you can overcome.
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  It is by looking straight at yourself very quietly, with a
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  quiet and firm resolution, and then going on cheerfully and
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  bravely, in full confidence and reliance, trusting in the grace,
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  serenely and vigilantly anchoring yourself on your
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  psychic being. That is the true way, and there
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  is no other. End Quote reference.
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  Sri Rovindo and the Mother looking from within.
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  Chapter 4. Ordeals and Difficulties, page
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  98.