The story of the Mahabharata, Paramhansa Yogananda explained, is historical, and deeply allegorical at the same time. The battleground of Kurukshetra, and the story that grew out of the war, represent the eternal conflict within man himself. This is the story through which every soul must pass. It is the unending struggle in the mind between good and evil; between man’s upward- and his downward-inclining tendencies.