Does Krishna consider Arjuna’s concerns about destruction of family meaningless?
Okay. All the very best. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. Question. At the start of the Bhagavad Gita in chapter one, Arjuna expresses many concerns about the destruction of the family tradition.
Now are those concerns meaningless? Krishna doesn't seem to address them in his response where he talks about knowledge of the soul. Answer. No, they are definitely not meaningless and Krishna does address them in the third chapter.
Arjuna has expressed a concern about Varna Sankara, about the unwanted progeny being born and Arjuna has said that if we fight and if we kill the dynasties, then there will be unwanted progeny. Krishna expresses the same concern but turns the argument around in the third chapter when he said, Utsideyurime loka nakuryat karma chedaham sankarasya chakartasyam upahanyam ma praja So in 3.24, he says that if I don't do my duty properly, yadiyaham navarteyam jatukarmanyatanrita mamavartamanuvartante manushyaparthasarvashah. So in 4.23, he says, 3.23, he says that if I don't do my duty carefully, then people will follow me and they will also not do their duty and if that happens, then Utsideyurime loka that there will be upheaval, there will be disruption, there will be devastation and then sankarasya chakartasyam upahanyam ma praja and then in that way Varna Sankara will take place.
So how exactly is Krishna saying that Varna Sankara will take place? Arjuna's argument was that if the two parties fight and then in the fight, in the fight, the Kula, the Kula Kshaya Pranashyanti that the leaders of the Kula, the Kula gets destroyed and the women are unprotected and unprotected women will be exploited and then unwanted progeny will happen. Now Krishna is saying over here that if I don't do my duty and indirectly Krishna says, if you don't do your duty, then what will happen? Then people in general will start neglecting their duty and when people neglect their duty, then the result will be that a woman will not stay protected. Now as a Kshatriya, you are a Kshatriya, I am a Kshatriya and a Kshatatrayate is a Kshatriya.
Kshatriyas are meant to protect people from hurt and women are among the five classes of people that are to be protected and especially protected by Kshatriyas. So if we don't protect them, if we don't do our duty, others will also not do their duties and in society there are always people, unscrupulous, vicious people who exploit women and they will exploit and that way divarna sankara will happen. So in the third chapter, the consistent message of Krishna is that you should do your duty in the mood of Karma Yoga and that message later culminates in the Bhagavad Gita's 18th chapter, you should do your duty in the mood of Bhakti Yoga.
So essentially Krishna does not dismiss Arjuna's concerns but Krishna shows how those concerns will be addressed best by the course of action that Krishna is thinking and not by the course of action that Arjuna is thinking. So it is not by giving up the war that divarna sankara will be avoided, will be prevented but it is by fighting the war that divarna sankara will be prevented. The point is that it is when people are responsible and do their duties properly then society will be protected.
So in fact we can't, although Krishna gives spiritual knowledge to Arjuna of the soul and talks about Bhakti Yoga which is spiritual love between Krishna and Arjuna but that spiritual knowledge and spiritual devotion are very much talked in the context of practical social concerns. So that's why the Bhagavad Gita's message is spiritually eternal at the same time it is socially relevant also. The Bhagavad Gita is a call to fight with a spiritual motivation, with spiritual vision so that social order can be maintained.
That also Krishna says further in the fourth chapter that I have come here to establish dharma and even when he says that sarva dharma pratyajyama me kamsa namo jaya in 18th chapter there he is not saying that to say that reject dharma but he is saying that to say that I am now going to talk about the highest dharma of pure devotion to me. So certainly the social concerns are not neglected or rejected by Krishna but Krishna is showing how by keeping the spiritual vision first and not letting material illusion obscure our vision by keeping spiritual vision first we will be able to address even the social concerns in the best possible way. Thank you.