A doctor, working at a mental hospital, took a friend to show him the hospital. His friend saw a man in a room with a photo of a woman and the doctor explained that the man loved that woman and got mentally unstable when he couldn't marry her. In the next room, there was another man with the same woman's photo and the doctor explained that he got mentally unstable after he married her. This ironic story explains how fulfilled and unfulfilled desires can have similar disastrous consequences.

The same thing happened with Arjun. At the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita titled ' 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙖 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙖 𝙮𝙤𝙜𝙖 ', he wanted to see Krishna in HIS original form. But he was frightened when he saw the 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙖𝙢 of Krishna. Shaken, Arjun now desires to see Krishna in his human form. Similarly, our goalposts in life keep shifting with time.

Krishna shows his 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙥𝙖𝙢 in which Arjun sees that all his enemies are entering into the mouth of death. Krishna tells him that Arjun is just a 𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙖-𝙢𝙖𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙖 (an instrument in HIS hand) and tells him to fight without stress. In the end, Krishna says that this form can't be seen through vedas, charity or rituals but only through devotion can one attain HIM.

At the ignorant level, one resorts to accumulation of material possessions. When a ray of awareness sets in, one starts charity which is usually to attain something higher like 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙮𝙖 (virtue) to go to heaven after death. When Krishna says that charity can't help, he is advising transcending charity, vedas, rituals and reach him through devotion (𝙗𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙩𝙞) .

It is like a staircase to reach the next level. Charity, vedas and rituals are like steps, but not the destination. One has to go through devotion as the final step to reach HIM.