When we speak of the Mahabharata as an actual battle that took place in the past in the land of Bharata, Paramahansa Yogananda, in his "God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita", published by Yogada Satsanga Society of India, 1999, sees it as a battle taking place within us. Paramahansa Yogananda writes in the introduction to his book that
Man's soul consciousness - the realization of his oneness with the eternal all-blissful spirit - has descended through various gradations into mortal body consciousness. The senses and blind mind and the power of pure discrimination both reign in the bodily kingdom; there is constant conflict between the forces of the materialistic senses engaging the consciousness in the pursuit of external pleasure and the pure discriminative power that tries to return man's consciousness to its native state of soul realization.
“I have written this Gita as it came to me,” he said, “as I was united in ecstasy with my great Gurus and the originators of the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita that has come through me belongs to them. And I know what my Master said: ‘A new Gita, hitherto only partially exposed through centuries in the many lights of various explanations, is coming out in its full effulgence to bathe all true devotees of the world.’”
Sri Yukteswarji had told him: “You perceive all the truth of the Bhagavad Gita as you have heard the dialogue of Krishna and Arjuna as revealed to Vyasa. Go and give that revealed truth with your interpretations: a new scripture will be born.” (Source: Yogananda and the Bhagavad Gita)
Kurukshetra, the battlefield, is the man's body. The battle was fought to "reclaim the kingdom from ego and its army of evil mental tendencies," says Yogananda. He says it's only possible to combat and overcome the enemy within through Yoga meditation. Paramahansa Yogananda explains that when our bad habits take the better of us and are established firmly in us, first starting as a habit and finally becoming our character when it is firmly lodged in us, these habits tend to "banish the free will of wisdom for 12 years."
"Complete physiological and mental changes" are required, including taking on good habits, to bring a reversal, he says. This takes 12 years to bring a notable effect and change in the brain structure. He adds that we need "a million years to purify the brain to express the cosmic consciousness within."
"It is also believed that spiritual progress happens in practitioners in the cycle of 12 years, i.e., it takes 12 years of disciplined practice to change a habit." (Source: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/)
It explains. Agathiyar is said to have sat still in tapas for 12 years under the bottom of the sea. Arunagiri was told to sit quietly by Lord Muruga. He did for the next 12 years. He emerged as a saint, rid of all the impurities both in body and mind, becoming purified in body and soul. Gnanabharathi, in his book "Tamil Mannin Thanthai," traces the account of the 12-year period of disappearance in Ramalinga Adigal's life, which Adigal describes as a period of much pain and difficulty before emerging renewed in the streets of Chennai.
Arjuna is said to have gone into exile for 12 years for breaking a mutual agreement with his brothers and later another 13 years with his brothers after their defeat in a dice game. Another version of the story goes that Arjuna was ordered by Shri Krishna to spend 12 years in Tapasya, or austerities. (Source: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/)
Similarly, the Kumbabhishegam in temples is done once every 12 years, and the Purna Kumbha Mela is also celebrated once every 12 years.
Tavayogi told me that the guru shall observe his student for 12 years before parting with him the secrets.
Hence the need to take rebirth numerous times, I guess. If Supramania Swami told me that we shall keep polishing, Tavayogi told me we shall come back to work on it further, picking up from where we left off.
It is interesting to note that if it takes 12 years to rid oneself of previous habits, science says that by repeating 21 times, only then shall it begin to register in our subconscious minds. Repetition and making a habit of good things register a corresponding response and outcome in the subconscious. Tavayogi, too, in giving us the Pranayama practices, asked us to do it 21 times.
My blog posts too might seem repetitive to readers. A friend and reader from Kerala once wrote in, saying, "Even if you wrote it umpteen times, we learn from repetition the most." I used to wonder why Tavayogi kept repeating the same speech everywhere he went. Reading the book "Jeeva Brahmakya Vedanta Ragasiyam" by Satchidananda Yogeeswar, I was asking myself why the author repeats the same matter again and again in subsequent pages. He answers my query in a later chapter, saying that one needs to drive a notion again and again so that it is registered and remembered. Tavayogi, who was a man of few words, too, whenever he took the stage, repeated his message. I should know, for I get to view and edit and upload his speeches after every event. Asking him once, he turned back to me, asking me if I was following whatever he said. He did not imply me, but the majority of people who turn up to listen. So too, I guess I end up repeating the same in these pages, at least so that I can remember them too.