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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00000 Nov 2001

 
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Dear Sri Sudarshan (or Sri Sampath Kumar),

Love and respects.

Your explanation and narration is just EXCELLENT. I bow my head in all humility 
and sincerity for your splendid reply. Kindly keep it up. Thank you very much.

Love and regards.

Gopi Krishna.

>>> sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> 10/31 6:02 PM >>>
--- RGarlandG@xxxx wrote:

> What was Kurukshetra? What was the battel between Sri Ramachandra
> and Ravana?> Sri Krishna's advice to Arjuna was to fight rather
then to abandon> his dharma > as a Kashatria. 
> Was the battel justified? 
> Om shanti,
> Brahma
 

Dear friend,
Thank you for your long and very thoughtful note. You have raised
many important and pertinent questions of morality. (BTW, are you
from India? Your e-name doesn't seem to suggest so). I think many
members on the SriRangasri-list too might have had the same thought
as you after reading my post on 'shAnti, shAnti, shAnti'. So, with
your kind permission, I'm copying this correspondence to the
main-list. For any further correspondence on this subject we can go
off-line.

I posted the note "shAnti, shAnti, shAnti" on the srirangasri group
out of a sense of despair. The reason being that I live and work in
Kuwait from where I have a clear, ringside view of the so-called
"holy war of civilizations" presently being fought in this part of
the world. I'm quite saddened by what I see and hear here everyday.

Be that as it may, let me turn to your specific question on the
'Bhagavath-gita':

Contrary to popular notion, the Bhagavath-gita is not a clarion call
to take up arms. Although God, in his 'avatAr' as Krishna,
participated in the war, Kurukshetra was not a "religious-war" in the
sense in which we know that term today. Kurukshetra was, quite
simply, a savagely fratricidal war. Period. In it, not once did the
Pandavas or the Kauravas claim to be waging war in the name of God.
(They may have co-opted God into war; but they were honest enough not
to claim they were fighting it on God's behalf). The war they fought
was hence no 'holier' than all the wars that have been fought on
earthly soil since.

The Kurukshetra War is popularly referred to as "dharma-yuddha" i.e.
the war the forces of 'dharma' (righteousness) waged against those of
"a-dharma" (evil-doers). This is what is taken to be the fundamental
message of the Bhagavath-gita-- in the cosmic struggle between Good
and Evil, there is simply no relenting. And so, like Arjuna, we too
better take up arms and do battle. 

But if you study the Gita carefully you will begin to appreciate that
this message is true only to a very limited extent. It is in fact
less important than it seems. The far more important message of the
'gitAchAryan' is this:

The Kurukshetra War is indeed "dharma-yuddha". What is however to be
understood from the term 'dharma-yuddha' is that the world of Man has
only one choice for its continuing survival. It must either bow to
'dharma' or else face 'yuddha'. 'a-dharma' is said to have one fixed
sticker-price only and it is this: inevitable 'yuddha'.... 

For individuals and nations alike who forsake 'dharma', the price to
be paid is the same: "yuddha" - War! At the individual plane the
'yuddha' takes form as the struggle between his/her lower and higher
self, between desire and aspiration, between death and immortality.
Amongst nations, peoples or civilizations (as between the Pandavas
and Kauravas) the 'yuddha' is waged differently and at many levels --
political, economic, social or ideological. In all cases, it is only
bound to result in one form or other of 'yuddha'... Make no mistake
about it. 

Through the 'Gita', one learns another valuable lesson too: If you do
not marry 'dharma' in haste (and remain monogamous ever after), you
will be left later on repenting it at leisure all your life through
recurring 'yuddha'. "Yuddha" becomes then not only natural outcome
but also moral imperative. When that happens one can't even shy away
from it... This painful lesson was driven home by Krishna to Arjuna
on the eve of War. "The horror of war is about to begin, O Arjuna",
Krishna seemed to say to him then, "This is neither the time nor the
place for contemplation".  

Now, when the Vedas say "shAnti, shAnti, shAnti" they are echoing
pretty much the same message as Krishna's but perhaps couch it in
different words, which, as I explained in my last post, mean only
this: "You must learn to be peaceful before you can even begin
learning to be religious-minded".

So, it would be sad and utter misreading of the 'Bhagavath-Gita' if
it is taken to be moral justification or a veiled apology for war.
The 'Gita' in its essence actually tells us the very opposite: it
tells us about the grim inevitablity of war and the horrors it visits
upon us. 

I think we will all be sadly disappointed if we attempt to use the
idiom and ideas of the 'Bhagavath-gita' to identify who amongst us in
this world is 'Pandava' (the "good-guys") and who is 'Kaurava' (the
"bad-guys"). The 'Gita' can only uncover the 'Pandava' and 'Kaurava'
residing deep within our own individual selves. The 'Gita' can only
serve us as an eternal source of inspiration. I'm always doubtful
whenever it is sought to used as a tool of indictment.
 
If you think about it deeply, the 'Gita' actually sums up the painful
dilemmas of the world in a neat little but time-tested equation:

When 'dharma' wanes, 'yuddha' must arise;
When 'yuddha' arises, 'shAnti' vanishes;
When 'shAnti' vanishes, 'sAdhu-s' perish;
When 'sAdhus' perish, I die with them !
But there is no Death for Me! Not now, and never ever!
So place your trust in Me, O 'sAdhu-s' of the world! 
In Me alone and shed all fear! 
(..."mAmEkam sharanam-vrajA... mA-shucha:!)

Thanks and regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan






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