Shlok 21-23 Sanjay was reporting to Dhritraashtr what all was happening at the battlefield of KuruKshetr. He said: "Arjun requested Shri Krishn to take the chariot to a spot (in the middle of the two opposing armies) from where he could survey all those who were anxious for the battle and with whom he would be fighting this battle. He wanted to know who all had assembled there to support ill-intentioned Duryodhan." 24-25: At Arjun’s request Shri Krishn drove the chariot to the middle of the two opposing armies and brought it to a halt, and then pointing at Bheeshm, Dron and other kings he said: "Look at these all standing together, O Arjun!" 26-30: At this, Arjun saw his-own grandfather, uncles, brothers (cousins), (their) children, grand children and friends in the two armies opposing each other. As he saw all of them there, his heart softened and he turned very sad. Full of compassion he said to Shri Krishn: "Seeing my own people standing against me, anxious for the battle, my limbs are loosening up, my mouth is getting dry; this Gaandeev is slipping away from my hands; my skin is burning and hairs standing on the end. I cannot stand on my own and my mind is in a whirl."
Sanjay
Seer VedVyaas granted Sanjay, for a limited period, the ability to view what was happening at the battlefield and narrate it to Dhritraashtr. It was a supernatural ability granted for a limited purpose. We can relate this to satellite camera eye that captures events taking place at a distance.
Seer VedVyaas had initially offered eyesight to Dhritraashtr if he wanted to watch the bloodshed that was of his own making. Dhritraashtr declined but he expressed the desire to listen to what would happen at the battlefield.
Reins of Arjun’s chariot
Arjun had requested Shri Krishn to take reins of his chariot in the battlefield.
In other words, he had sought his help as the One, who would lead him to the path of victory for dharm; One who would be the guide through the course of this battle for elimination of adharm.
Shri Krishn had agreed to take hold of the reins of his chariot and lead him through the course of this battle for life and death, dharm and adharm, good and evil.
Shri Krishn would not fight the battle Himself
Duryodhan and Arjun both had approached Shri Krishn for help before the war began. Shri Krishn was in sleep for a while when they arrived. Duryodhan occupied the solitary chair behind the head of Shri Krishn. Later Arjun arrived and he stood at Shri Krishn’s feet with folded hands.
When Shri Krishn opened his eyes his gaze naturally fell on Arjun standing at the feet. Arjun sought help and it was promised. Arjun then announced DurYodhan's presence. Shri Krishn turned about and noticed him. He in turn presented his case stating that he had arrived first and thereby entitled to help.
Shri Krishn said he would help both. One of them can have him unarmed; the other can have his vast army. He made the offer to Arjun first because he was younger to Duryodhan.
Arjun asked for Shri Krishn unarmed. For him the choice was simple. He saw God in Shri Krishn. To him, victory is where God is, and God is where Dharm is.
Arjun understood that God would not fight the battle for the man when the evil was man’s own making. Man has to fight his own battle with adharm; however, he can expect God’s presence on his side.
Duryodhan was delighted at Arjun’s choice of unarmed Shri Krishn for Krishn was an ordinary person to him. He got the vast army instead of unarmed Shri Krishn. For him, victory was where there was power, and power was attained by the support of army. To him, power was all that mattered; not realizing that power of dharm finally scores over power of adharm. His was an Aasuric tendency.
Arjun’s dilemma
Our life is a battleground in itself. At times we face situations like this. Those on whom we depended, those whom we trusted, those whom we cared for; they stand against us to fight us.
For Arjun the situation was much more graver. Here, they not only stood against him, but also stood against him in a life and death battle! A battle that would be decisive; that would be conclusive; that would eliminate bad people; that would leave a few, rather very few, to be counted on our fingers!
It was the love, it was the compassion, and it was the dense fear of a ‘kind’ that promised destruction of all and sundry, it was the sense of total elimination, nonexistence, that made Arjun shiver, his mighty bow Gaandeev slipping away, his mind in total confusion.
Arjun’s Concerns about the Effects of War
Shlok 31
Arjun said to Shri Krishn: "Now I see all opposing signals, killing my own people does not seem to me do any good to any one."
Arjun’s dilemma
That was a situation where in that vast army opposing him, Arjun saw many of his own loved ones stand in the forefront. The entire nations battling forces [4 million, 40 lakh] had assembled there at KuruKshetr, the larger faction thereof supporting the evil forces of Duryodhan, and the rest supporting the nobler tendencies of Yudhisthir.
Dilemma of our nation
Today situation is not very different on national scene, as well as on international scene. We need to recognize the similarities. These can become fairly apparent once we have the necessary awareness of the facts, which are kept under wraps by parties benefiting from such cover up.
Before we can graduate to next level
The battle of life at these lower levels has to be won first before we can graduate to the next level. But when we find it easier to shut our eyes at the need for eliminating these evil forces at lower levels and attempt at graduating to the higher levels, all we do is fool ourselves.
Running away from realities of life
For, we find it more convenient to convince ourselves that we need to fight against our inner evils and thus elevate ourselves to higher levels, ignoring the external forces surrounding us that keep influencing us all the while. In this process, we assume that we are controlling our individual selves, separating ourselves from the external evils that encompass our lives. This is a technique to run away from the realities of life. Our lives are influenced every moment in numerous ways by external forces, the forces emerging from whatever that happens around us.
We are letting the evil forces grow
If we continue to turn a blind eye for long towards these external evils surrounding us, thinking that we are growing internally, elevating ourselves spiritually, it would only show that we are taking the easier way out, letting the evil forces grow, and passing on the responsibility to deal with them, to the coming generations.
This was the state of Arjun’s mind at this point, when he thought, no good coming of his attempting to eliminate evil forces, represented by those who were his loved ones.
Shlok 32-34
Arjun continued to say to Shri Krishn: "I do not want victory, I do not want kingdom, and I do not want pleasures of life. What would I gain even by living? We seek the pleasure of kingdom for being with our loved ones, our guru, our children, our grandfather, uncles, in-laws, grand children. But then, they themselves are here ready for battle, giving up their desire for enjoyment of life and wealth."
This is the kind of state where we feel so dejected that we want nothing from life, and that kind of situation arises once a while in our lives too. This is where we can find the relevance of all that is going to follow hereafter. Let us not mistake that Arjun was only concerned about the imminent death of his loved ones alone, and thereby try to convince ourselves that we will not meet such a situation. It is true that so far Arjun spoke of his loved ones because they were in the forefront of the army opposing him, and he was naturally at pain to visualize them dying in front of him, particularly when he himself was going to be cause of their death. May be we will not meet a situation like that in our life, not ‘in terms of physical death’. We may meet a situation in terms of ‘death of relationships of kinds we care’. But as we will progress we will see Arjun was concerned with the 4 million standing at that battlefield ready to give up their lives.
He was worried about the repercussions of such blood bath on the health of the society in totality. And that kind of situation we do meet today when there is talk of war around, and that is where we will see the relevance of what follows.
Shlok 35-37
Arjun said to Shri Krishn, "Let them kill me but I am not ready to kill them. I do not care for the kingdom of three worlds (earth, world above and world below), what do I care for the kingdom of the earth! What good it does if we were to kill sons of Dhritraashtr? If we kill them, in the end we will suffer from the guilt of having killed them. Therefore, it would not be right for us to kill our own kinsmen. How can we be happy after killing our own people?"
Arjun did not want to kill his kith and kin on account of his attachment towards them. In his counsel he brings the argument that he would be guilty of killing them.
The guilt of killing
Let us think about the guilt of killing. Everyday we humans kill millions of cows, pigs, fishes, etc. to fill our belly but we do not feel guilty about it. Why? Are they not living beings like us? Have they harmed us in any way? No, still we kill them. Why we have no sense of guilt? These cows, pigs, fishes are not threat to our existence and yet we kill them everyday, and in millions all over the world. But then, when there is talk of war against evil forces in the world that tend to become a threat to the existence of other peace loving humans, we witness lot of hue and cry. Suddenly people start developing sense of guilt. Others start making noise to protect their vested interests. Whole issue becomes politicized and gets charged with emotions.
Do we ever care to ask our inner conscience: only human life has value? Other life forms have no value? Why? Why is this guilt of killing so opportunistic? By all means, kill the harmless to fill your fat belly. But, don’t kill the evil ones, the harmful ones, for they happen to be our brothers and sisters. Does it mean that like must protect the like? Evil must protect the evil? Harmful humans must protect the harmful humans? Is that the philosophy?
Before destroying the inner evil, destroy the external evil surrounding you
Coming back to a deeper issue: Evil must be terminated! If not, then in time evil will terminate the good.
War between good and evil is an ongoing process to maintain the balance of nature. This applies not only to our inner tendencies but also to our external forces.
Often people advocate that we must crush evil tendencies within our inner self. These people often forget to tell us that we must crush the external evil forces that keep surrounding us.
Result is, those who are already with ‘more’ of ‘good’ propensities, work towards destroying the ‘less’ of ‘evil’ propensities ‘within’ them. Those with ‘more’ of ‘evil’ propensities do not listen to it, and work towards destroying the ‘less’ of ‘good’ propensities ‘within’ them. Thus, good tend to become better and evil tend to become more evil. In the end, evil grows so much that it overpowers the good. So we see the folly of such teaching.
No doubt that good must increase the good and destroy the evil ‘within’ them. But it is no less important that they destroy the ‘external’ evil forces ‘surrounding’ them.
Actually, it is more important because when this is ignored and focus is inwardly, the external evil forces grow so much that they charge the whole environment. And no one; repeat no one, can fully remain unaffected by the environment that is charged with evil propensities. This is where the environment takes precedence over inner self.
First, the environment must be cleaned, and then the focus should be turned inward. But most often those who preach often preach the opposite. Thus, they help grow the good within few, which helps not the humanity on the whole.
These few, who grow inwardly, tend to become indifferent towards the external environment. As the number of such people increases, the human race gets polarized. Many with evil propensities stay together on one side, while many others with good propensities turn indifferent; thus, those with evil tendencies forge ahead unabated.
Role of a Kshatriya and the killings
A Kshatriya is a warrior. His responsibility is to wage war against those with evil propensities and thereby protect the interest of humanity at large.
The war has its toll on human lives. Those with evil propensities must be terminated, if possible eliminated. Therefore, we must be clear in our mind about the purpose behind killing, which is important. Terminating evil is not only justified but also desirable, in the larger context. For its own survival, good must terminate the evil. And that applies to any form in which evil presents itself.
When it presents itself in human form, well then, such human representing evil must be destroyed. If one must resist killing then it has to be for the helpless and harmless (starting with cows, pigs, fishes, etc.).
But when helpless and harmless join the forces of evil or take the side of evil, well they too will get terminated in the battle between good and evil. Therefore, it is important that we be clear in our mind, as to whose side we are on.
Here, it must be clearly understood that I am not speaking of President Bush’s version of terminating evil, which was predominantly driven by the underlying motive to acquire regulatory control over Iraqi oil wells.
Motive is important and must not be selfish, as it was in case of America, and its President Bush.
Shlok 38-39
Arjun continued to say to Shri Krishn, "It is true that these people are not able to see the harm that will be caused to the family on account of this war because their vision is blocked by sense of greed, but then we know the harm it will bring upon to all and therefore, at least we need to think about this."
Nice people often tend to think this way
Good people often tend to think like this and it is, generally, the right way to look at things, but generally; and, in most situations in the initial stages; but not always, and not all along the path. In time, a situation arises when such thinking would only compound the problem. When the limit is reached, one needs to say enough is enough, no more of this nonsense.
As we will proceed through the pages of BhagavadGita we will see this is what Bhagawaan Shri Krishn tells Arjun, but let us wait for that, and proceed with Arjun’s line of reasoning. We often tend to bring to our counsel, a lot of rationale when we wish to justify our stand, and we will see Arjun actively engaged in that pursuit, right now. We will examine the strength of his line of reasoning. We will also evaluate his point of view in overall context, to arrive at its validity or otherwise.
BhagavadGita — Adhyaay' 1 — Arjun'Vishaad'Yog'
— Shlok' 1
Participants in the Battle of Dharm'
and Adharm' — Shlok' 2-20
Arjun’s Dilemma — Shlok' 21-39
Arjun’s Concerns about the
deterioration of the eternal Family-Dharm' — Shlok' 40-43
Arjun’s Concerns about
the deterioration of the eternal Family-Dharm' — Shlok' 40-43 (continued)
Arjun’s Concerns about
the deterioration of the eternal Family-Dharm' — Shlok' 40-43 (continued 2)
Arjun gives up and resigns,
so has Hindu given up — Shlok' 44-47