Gita 01.42 Disruption of dharma leads to overpopulation of disruptive souls, causing total breakdown of dharma

Bhagavad Gita 1.42 Krishna is speaking here, or rather Arjuna is speaking, and he is describing the consequences of the destruction of the dynasty. He is stating that, this fault, what is the fault? Kula Gnanam, of the destruction of the dynasty. The fault which leads to Varna Sankarakai, the begetting of unwanted progeny.

Utsadhyante Jatidharmaha, and that will lead to the disruption of Jatidharmaha, the duties according to social divisions. Kula Dharma Shashashvataha, or the destruction of the Kula Dharma. Again Arjuna uses the word Shashashvataha.

Earlier Arjuna has used Kula Dharma Sanatanaha, Kula Dharma Shashashvataha. Generally when we come to respectable age in our lives, of course every moment of life is respectable, but when we grow up, mature, we have our own family and children, then we come to a responsible position. At that time we find that we tend to care for traditions quite a bit more.

So we learn to appreciate the value of tradition as we grow older. Because we understand that many things may need to be changed, but in our youth we tend to see all the things that are wrong. This is not working right, this is not working right, this should be done like that, that should be done like that.

But as we grow older, we start recognizing that doing anything at all is not easy. Doing anything requires effort and energy. And for doing that, we need to take our steps forward steadily.

So youth are often rebellious of tradition. But those same youth, by the time they come to middle age, they become champions of tradition. Or at least they become strong supporters of tradition.

So here, Arjun is talking about the importance of preserving traditional dharmas. He talks about Jati dharma and Kula dharma. So, we often talk about a varna system, where society is divided into four varnas.

At a functional level, each varna was like a huge category. Because there are so many people in the category of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra. So beyond the varna, there is also the Jati.

There is also the, we could say, sub-caste or dynasty or lineage, whatever be the word you want to use for it. So, it's a smaller division within the division of caste. And therein, each one of us needs to take things forward, for moving forward in our life steadily.

So, just like if there is an existing transport system, it may not be very good. But blowing up a road is not enough for building up a new road. We need to put in our efforts to build up another road.

And therefore, it's vital that there be a plan in place for taking care of things properly. Otherwise, without that kind of plan, everything will collapse. Because we may end up not with an improved communication system, but with no communication system at all.

So, similarly, here, Arjuna is recognizing that the order in society is maintained by dharma. And dharma refers to various things. In this context, he is referring to various traditions that maintain order in society.

If those traditions break, then nothing can continue. Most of the things which we take for granted, for example, in today's society, when we press a power button, we expect electricity to be there. When we turn on a tap, we expect water to be there.

When we turn on our Wi-Fi router, we expect internet to be there. There is a certain level of orderliness that we take for granted for our daily functioning. And there is a lot that goes on in the background to maintain this order.

And when there is large-scale destruction in society, then there is destruction of those who are responsible for maintaining this order. Then that destruction causes disruption of various things which we take for granted. So, sometimes in going after one problem, and if we go after that problem in an excessive disproportionate way, we end up creating other problems for ourselves which we can't very easily deal with.

And thus it ends up that the cure may end up becoming a bigger problem than the problem itself. And we may end up feeling that, what have I done? Why have I done this? And how can I move on in my life? So Arjun is foreseeing this mass destruction that will result if indiscriminately life is allowed to go on, the war is allowed to go on rather. If the war goes on, he feels life will not go on, life will be hugely disrupted.

And not wanting such disruption, he will conclude his argument by saying that better to not fight. The quality of society is largely determined by the quality of people in society. And while we implicitly know that, but often we attribute the quality of people to their educational level, to their social level, but we also need to look at their karma level.

What is the quality of the people who have been born into society? Now we may argue that if people have bad karma, but they have enough karma to be born as human beings, then they are going to be born somewhere. Yes, that is true, but a few disruptive souls being born into society will not cause as much problem as a large number of disruptive souls being born into one society. There will always be people who are in tamas, people who are antisocial, but when such people concentrate at one place, then society collapses.

So when there is a wholesale breakdown in dharma in society, then that starts a domino effect which will lead to further breakdown of dharma in a chain cycle. And to prevent such a thing from happening, it's a prime responsibility of those who are administering society, of those who are striving to lead society properly. So Arjun is recognizing his responsibility and therefore expressing his strong reluctance to fight the war.