Social Action And The Gita

Author(s): Jagdeva Singh
Publisher: Jagdeva Singh

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"In the wide world outside and particularly when I move into a different cultural matrix I often find myself oscillating between “to do” and “not to do”. I turn to the Gita to seek a way out. It fails me. Does it fail Arjuna also ?"
Social Action and the Gita
JAG DEVA SINGH
The teachings of the Gita are triggered by an unexpected turn of events in the battle field at Kurukshetra. The Kauravas and the Pandavas, cousin brothers, are entrenched for a decisive fight to settle their claims for the ancestral kingdom. Just when the battle cry has been let loose, conches declaring the war have been blown, Arjuna breaks down at the sight of his elders, friends and relatives ready to fight and kill and get killed. The bow slips down from his hand and he refuses to fight at any cost. Krishna, his charioteer and guide, is taken aback. He would never suspect such an undignified behaviour on the part of Arjuna, the all time renowned warrior, “the best of the archers" of his time and the scion of the illustrious clan of the Pandavas." Arjuna's sudden and impulsive decision not to fight appears to him unseemly for a member of the warrior class, a kshatriya.
This in brief is the crisis Krishna is called upon to apply his mind and wisdom. One may ask : Is Arjun free to refuse to fight when all preparations of war, in consultation with him, have been completed? Can he not be charged of disregarding his obligations to society, the obligations which he has all along promised to fulfill ? Is he entitled to reverse his course of action in the mid stream, particulary when he has chosen to lead a multitude of followers ?
It is not that Arjuna is not conscious of his obligations. He is well aware of all this. But it is the larger interests of the family and race that weighs with him. To him it is clear that his resolve to fight will result in complete dismemberment of society on all scores. It is sure to lead to moral and spiritual deprivation of the clan. He thus resolutely tells Krishna that he has absolutely no intention to pursue that selfeffacing battle which is, to all intents and purposes, a battle fought to gain selfish ends. He would rather be killed than lift his bow to shoot those who stand in the battle front ready to fight against him.
The crisis further deepens. Krishna unmoved by Arjuna's emotional outburst speaks with equanimity, confidence and poise that of a