Didn’t Krishna protecting Arjuna from the Vaishnava astra break his vow?
So, how is Krishna's protecting Arjuna from the Vaishnava master justified in terms of war ethics? See, Krishna had taken a very specific vow.
That vow was, I will not raise weapons in the Kurukshetra war. And his raising his own body that was first of all not a weapon and secondly, it was not used to attack anyone. So, in that sense, Krishna stuck to the principle that he would not be taking a role of a fighter or aggressor in the war.
But he, even as an ordinary charioteer also, even if Krishna had not been God, ordinary charioteer's responsibility is to protect the warrior from any unexpected danger. So, it's not always that the warrior can see everything. So, at one time, Shalya was the charioteer of Karna.
Shalya also warned Karna, you know, danger is coming from here, danger is coming from there, be careful. So, to protect a warrior from unexpected danger or unforeseen danger, that is the duty of a charioteer. So, if Krishna had raised a weapon and Krishna had attacked an opponent, that would have been a violation of his promise.
But he didn't do that. Any other questions? One place I saw a photo,.