Zach Brown
HI-103-12
Col. Osborne
12/4/2019
What does Krishna Say?
The Bhagavad Gita is known for its display of Indian culture relating to war and its Hindu ties within the text. In this class we have already read the Art of War by Sun Tzu, which gave us a better understanding of the Chinese philosophy on war. In that text we saw how the Chinese focused more on the psychological and strategic planning that surrounded the war to decide how, when, and where to conduct it if conflict must occur. However, in The Bhagavad Gita there is a new culture brought to those who read it and with that is brought a new belief on war. This selection from the much larger Hindu text known as the Mahabharata, is a piece based off Hindu ideals and displays a dialogue between Arjuna, a man fighting with the moral idea of having to battle his own family, and the god Krishna. Throughout this text, which consists of 18 teachings, Krishna answers Arjuna’s dilemmas by explaining how he can best follow the ways of Krishna. Through this it also shows us how Arjuna must fight because of the tie religion has with war in Indian culture. The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue meant to show the Hindu views within the Indian subcontinent’s society when dealing with matters of war and how they affect the perception and process of conflicts.
The story begins with Dhritarashtra asking Sanjaya to tell him of the conflict between his sons and the sons of Pandu. One of the sons of Pandu, Arjuna, is who the piece primarily focuses on and his conversation with Krishna. As Sanjaya tells the beginnings of the story he says how Arjuna halted his army and said, “Krishna, I see my kinsmen gathered here, wanting war. My limbs sink, my mouth is parched, my body trembles, the hair bristles on my flesh.”, which sets up the topic of discussion for the rest of the text and gives us insight into the perceptions of war from Hindu culture (Miller 27). Within this same section of the writing we see Arjuna express his struggles with handling this war as it is against his own kinsman, teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, grandsons, and uncles, which also shows the patriarchal society they live in as we see know signs of female titles in who this conflict deals with. These struggles are what Krishna will soon help solve for Arjuna within their discussion on the battlefield before the war. Krishna’s insight to Arjuna shows us Hindu ideals and how they correlate to the religious struggles within conflict.
After displaying his personal struggles with the war Arjuna says “I shall not fight”, to which Krishna knows he must offer his counsel (Miller 33). Krishna says, “Never have I not existed, nor you, nor these kings; and never in the future shall we cease to exist.”, which shows reincarnation, a key aspect of Hinduism (Miller 33). This aspect of Hinduism is used to influence Arjuna to see how war is meant to be, but not through tactics like we saw in Sun Tzu’s piece but instead through religious views given to us through the teachings of Krishna. Krishna furthers his point when he says, “… it is not killed when the body is killed”, showing how important reincarnation is to Hindu culture and its effect it has in conflicts (Miller 34). Krishna is advancing his point that Arjuna must fight being it his duty by explaining how one of the most basic principles of Hinduism, reincarnation, is tied to war. This early point made by Krishna sets forth the main purpose of this work on how reincarnation and other religious views are weaved into the Hindu view on conflict.
The teachings continue as Krishna explains the many ideas Arjuna must know for determining if he should conduct this war and why it would be justified through Hindu beliefs. Krishna tells Arjuna, “ Men who always follow my thought, trusting it without finding fault, are freed even by their actions”, this statement nearly fully justifies Arjuna’s war with his kinsmen because as long as they followed the ways of Krishna and the Hindu gods they should be freed from the cycle of rebirth (Miller 47). Another key point brought up throughout this work is the idea of discipline. Many of the teachings that are presented to Arjuna deal with discipline and the withdraw from earthly wants. Krishna is explaining Arjuna’s duty to caste as he must be disciplined and follow the ways of Krishna. This is not something that one would find important in time of war but Krishna places emphasis on it due to its importance to Hinduism. Krishna tells Arjuna, “He is said to be mature in discipline when he has renounced all intentions and is detached from sense objects and actions”, which does not mention any correlation to war (Miller 65). Its focus is not to show war tactics but instead to teach Arjuna as well as the reader of this piece another key aspect to Hinduism which is discipline and sacrifice.
Another point that we see in this work is yoga. Yoga is defined as the uniting of the individual spirit with the universal spirit of god. It also explains how one must have peace of mind and the discipline to improve one’s inherent power in a balanced banner (“Definition of Yoga…”). This brings about another tie to religion that is presented to Arjuna in how he must fight this war through Krishna and Hinduism. As Arjuna fulfills his duty to caste through understanding yoga he must understand the early teaching, which occurs throughout the work various times, of reincarnation. As Arjuna begins to learn more about each of these elements we see the ties they have to war in Hindu culture.
As the story continues, we begin to see more of what Krishna truly is. He explains his power and the many aspects that make up him. He explains how the most disciplined are those devoted to him. All of these teachings do not instruct how to win the war the Arjuna must fight but he presents them to Arjuna to show how powerful he truly is. Arjuna must listen to his teachings to not better his strategies of war, but instead justify his meanings for war through his Hindu beliefs and better understand how to properly follow his religion. In the eleventh teaching Krishna shows Arjuna his true form and Arjuna is awed by the wondrous sight he is presented with and states how Krishna is “supreme eternity” (Miller 100). However, in this Arjuna also sees world destruction in Krishna’s “terrible form” and asks for reasoning. Krishna responds by saying how all those people that Arjuna knows as well as his kinsmen will cease to exist and then says, “ Therefore, arise and win glory! Conquer your foes and fulfill your kinship! They are already killed by me.”, showing another justification for Arjuna’s battle with his kinsmen (Miller 103). This plays a major role in the story as it shows how Krishna is all powerful and controls all life which will all eventually end through him according to the Hindu beliefs. This shows Arjuna another justification to fight the war since his kinsmen will already die to Krishna if not killed by him, however, this still does not relate to a military strategy or present Arjuna with a way to win the war he is to fight.
The Bhagavad Gita is a display of the ties religion has within the constraints of war in Hindu culture. Throughout the book we saw how there was little correlation to actual war efforts, but instead its primary focus was put into showing Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna. These teachings did not tell Arjuna how to win the war by the god giving him better military tactics. These teachings instead showed Arjuna how the war with his kinsmen was justified as well as correlatedHindu ideals with the reasons for which Arjuna most fight the war. These teachings were meant to show the prince how to properly think about war and life, but they also show the reader of this story the Hindu views of war. We see from the very beginning how Arjuna struggled with having to fight his own relatives and people he may know, but through the teachings from Krishna it gives us a new view on the subject. This story showed us a display of Hindu teachings in a wartime setting in which we learned more about the teachings from one of their gods that correlated with their religious views and not war tactics.
Works Cited
Miller, Barbara Stoler., and Barry Moser. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War. W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services Library, 2009.
“Definition of Yoga: Ministry of AYUSH: आयुष मंत्रालय: GoI.” Ministry of AYUSH | GOI, ayush.gov.in/about-the-systems/yoga/definition-yoga.