Acharya Prashant begins by examining the mental states of Duryodhana and Partha (Arjun). He notes that there is much to learn from the trepidation, angst, and sheer helplessness visible in Duryodhana's predicament, despite him being a great and invincible warrior. Duryodhana is anxious to the point of breaking down, but unlike Arjun, he does not admit his state. Arjun is candid enough to confess his condition to Shri Krishna, whereas Duryodhana does not visibly or verbally acknowledge his agony. Duryodhana is presented as a dark example of a wasted opportunity, a man who realizes too late that he has already lost. The speaker describes the worst feeling as knowing one has lost everything but still having to live on. The speaker explains that human life is a limited opportunity for realizing the Truth. The relationship between the ego and Truth is one of eternal love, yet life itself is not eternal. This window of opportunity is very limited, not just by lifespan but by the elasticity of consciousness. One can stretch so far from the Truth that a return becomes practically impossible. The saints have sung about the glory of this rare opportunity. However, the actual time available is much shorter than one's full lifespan, diminished by childhood, old age, and worldly preoccupations. The speaker suggests that if one can do something worthwhile in the few decades available, life is worthwhile; otherwise, it is a truly wasted opportunity. Acharya Prashant then delves into Arjun's condition, which he categorizes into biological and social aspects. The biological aspects include attachment, fear, and lust. The social aspects are rooted in his beliefs, such as the transmigration of the personal soul, the caste system, a patriarchal mindset, ritualism, and superstition. The entire Bhagavad Gita is presented as a discourse against Arjun's position as enunciated in the first chapter. To understand the purpose of the Gita, one must first understand Arjun's condition. Krishna's method is not to tackle each of Arjun's flawed beliefs individually. Instead, he addresses the root of all these problems, which is the lack of self-knowledge. Krishna introduces Arjun to the Self. The speaker uses an analogy: instead of chasing individual flies, one should remove the jaggery that attracts them. Similarly, Krishna targets the ego, or self-illusion, which is the source of all of Arjun's problems. If one is casteist, superstitious, or ritualistic, it simply means they have zero self-knowledge. By introducing self-knowledge, all these other issues vanish as if they never existed. Krishna does not teach science to counter superstition or social revolution to counter casteism; he teaches self-knowledge as the ultimate solution.