When the noise is inside
Inspired by the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga
The battlefield hasn’t changed. The armies still stand. The air is thick with tension.
But, Arjuna, who was trembling moments ago, has gone quiet.
Krishna hasn’t asked him to act yet. He’s asking him to be still.
“When the mind is undisturbed by sorrow or desire and remains steady in both, such a person is wise.” (Gita 2.56)
This line lands differently when you’ve lived a few storms.
Because noise isn’t just around us. It’s inside us: the need to react, defend, decide, prove.
Arjuna’s battle wasn’t only on the Kurukshetra. It was within himself.
The modern battlefield
A few years ago, early in my career, I was leading a manufacturing shift when something went terribly wrong.
An operator mixed up two unpacked products. They looked almost identical, and the error went unnoticed until final inspection. It was caught before shipping, but in our world, that’s as close as you get to disaster.
Because it happened in my shift, I was held responsible. I was suspended for three weeks along with the operator.
At that moment, I was furious – convinced I was being unfairly blamed.
The noise in my head was louder than any machine on that floor.
Looking back now, I can see it clearly – process controls could’ve been stronger, and so could my composure.
I didn’t step back – I reacted.
And what lingered wasn’t the suspension letter; it was the unrest it left within me.
Today, I believe that moment taught me more about leadership than any success ever did.
Sometimes, you don’t lose clarity because of what happens around you – you lose it because of what you let happen within.
Mistaking motion for meaning
We often confuse motion for progress, loudness for clarity.
The world rewards urgency – respond faster, decide quicker, push harder.
But the faster we run, the blurrier the path becomes.
Arjuna wanted to fix his confusion by overthinking it.
Krishna reminded him and reminds us even today that peace doesn’t come from controlling the world, but from mastering the mind. (Gita 2.64)
Calm doesn’t come from speed. It comes from stillness that’s earned, not gifted.
The kind that grows only when you learn to quieten the noise.
Finding calm in everyday life
That lesson returned years later – not at work, but at home.
It was a long day at work. Tough meetings, three hours of traffic, a tired body pretending to still have patience.
My daughter asked for milk before bed. The cup sat on her table while she kept chatting, packing her school bag, checking her Instagram, doing everything except drinking it.
I told her once. Then again. And then I snapped.
Not because of the milk – but because I’d carried the day’s chaos home.
She went silent. And for some reason, I walked out of the room, still angry – guilt followed almost immediately.
Later that night, when everything quieted down, I realized she wasn’t careless.
She was just being a child.
It was me who was still on the battlefield, replaying the day. I wasn’t angry – just drained.
And that’s when I realized peace isn’t born from quiet rooms, but from a quiet mind.
Calm is not absence – It’s mastery
Calm isn’t passive. It’s not the silence of inaction.
It’s the space between emotion and expression, where understanding begins
Sometimes, it’s saying, “Let’s talk tomorrow.”
Sometimes, it’s taking a walk instead of sending that email.
And sometimes, it’s simply remembering that you don’t need to fix everything right now.
The battlefield doesn’t end.
But you can choose to be the eye of the storm.
Krishna calls that person sthita-prajna – one of steady wisdom.
My Arjuna moment
Each of us has our Arjuna moment – when everything outside demands reaction, and the only wise thing left to do is PAUSE.
Mine came as a shift lead, and later, as a father – two completely different battlefields, same lesson.
The world won’t always quiet down for you.
But you can choose what part of it enters your mind.
Calm isn’t the end of chaos. It’s the art of staying steady through it.
What’s your Arjuna moment — the one where you found calm in the middle of your chaos?
Written by Vibhor Jain © 2025 | Originally published at mindspringlife.com