Bhagavad Gita Reveals: You Can’t Heal in the Same Environment That Broke You
Riya Kumari | Mar 20, 2025, 23:59 IST
Look, I hate to be the one to say it, but the Bhagavad Gita had this figured out long before your best friend, your therapist, or that one self-help influencer who posts sunrise yoga reels with captions like “protect your peace.” You cannot—let me repeat—CANNOT heal in the same environment that broke you. Krishna knew it. You know it. And yet, here you are, still texting your toxic ex, still having brunch with people who drain your soul, still working that job that makes your nervous system shrivel like a neglected houseplant.
Some truths don’t need a thousand years to prove themselves. You already know this one. You’ve felt it in the way your heart clenches when you walk into that same room, surrounded by the same people, breathing in the same air that once stifled you. You’ve seen it in the way history repeats itself—not because fate is cruel, but because you never left the setting where your worst moments were scripted. And yet, leaving feels impossible. Maybe because you’ve convinced yourself that if you stay a little longer, fight a little harder, you’ll turn the ruins into a home. But the Bhagavad Gita—one of the greatest conversations on the human condition—makes it clear: Some battles must be fought, yes, but some wars are won simply by walking away.
When Arjuna, the warrior prince, found himself paralyzed before war, it wasn’t because he lacked strength. He was bound by the weight of familiarity—by the love he had for the very people he had to stand against. His enemies weren’t strangers; they were family, mentors, people he once trusted. The fight felt impossible, because how do you go to war with what once shaped you? And yet, Krishna tells him: This is not your home anymore.
The world is built on change. What serves you today may stifle you tomorrow. What once nurtured you may now be the thing keeping you from growth. The places, relationships, and identities you cling to—if they are rooted in your past pain, they will only ever recreate it.
There is a simple but cruel law of nature: The soil you plant yourself in determines what you become. Stay in toxicity, and no matter how much light you seek, you will keep absorbing poison through your roots. The Bhagavad Gita doesn’t just speak of external battlefields but of internal ones. If you are constantly in survival mode—defending, explaining, proving your worth—you are not healing. You are enduring. And there is a difference.
Krishna’s wisdom is sharp and unforgiving: You cannot change an environment that refuses to evolve. No amount of patience, love, or sacrifice can transform a place that has already decided what role you must play. The only way forward is to step out of it entirely.
We romanticize resilience. We tell ourselves that staying, suffering, and fighting for change is the nobler path. And sometimes, it is. But there comes a point where staying is no longer strength—it is self-betrayal. Krishna’s advice to Arjuna was not just about war. It was about life. You are not meant to remain where you are shrinking. You are not meant to explain yourself to those committed to misunderstanding you. You are not meant to fight for space in a place that suffocates you.
You are meant to go where you can expand. Where your peace is not a negotiation. Where your growth is not seen as a threat. And yes, it will hurt to leave. The past always pulls at you like an old wound. But wounds heal in clean air, not in the place they were inflicted. So let go. Move on. And if you cannot walk away just yet, at least loosen your grip on what is keeping you bound. Some battles must be fought. But some wars are won simply by walking away.
That Broke You
The Battlefield is Not Your Home
The world is built on change. What serves you today may stifle you tomorrow. What once nurtured you may now be the thing keeping you from growth. The places, relationships, and identities you cling to—if they are rooted in your past pain, they will only ever recreate it.
You Are Not Meant to Bloom in Wasteland
Krishna’s wisdom is sharp and unforgiving: You cannot change an environment that refuses to evolve. No amount of patience, love, or sacrifice can transform a place that has already decided what role you must play. The only way forward is to step out of it entirely.
Growth Demands Departure
You are meant to go where you can expand. Where your peace is not a negotiation. Where your growth is not seen as a threat. And yes, it will hurt to leave. The past always pulls at you like an old wound. But wounds heal in clean air, not in the place they were inflicted. So let go. Move on. And if you cannot walk away just yet, at least loosen your grip on what is keeping you bound. Some battles must be fought. But some wars are won simply by walking away.
That Broke You