Gita 01.38 – Don’t let the anartha-maddened make us similarly mad

Thank you Prapashyat Bhirjana Ardhana Arjuna is continuing his description of his reasoning for not wanting to fight the imminent Kurukshetra war he has said what good can be there in killing relatives we will get so much sin and the question that if you don't kill them they will kill you he says that they are blinded by greed but we don't have to be blinded by greed and accordingly he is saying over here how can we when we know all of us when we know that that we know that this is a sin what is a sin that destroying our own dynasty is a great sin, it's a grievous sin and when we know it is sin how can we not give it up how can we not seize from it when we can see that it is a sin so here Arjuna is saying that in the previous verse he said that they are blinded by greed and so they cannot see the great sin but we are not blinded like that we can see and therefore how can we act at the same debased level that they are acting so Arjuna is taking the higher moral ground over here and saying that we shouldn't stoop to the level of the evil Kauravas so he is saying that we should not respond to evil by evil which is a valid argument but what he is not recognizing and what Krishna will instruct him through the Gita is that Krishna's response is not responding evil with evil but Krishna is allowing them to respond to evil by establishing dharma and whatever it takes to establish dharma they should do so whereas Krishna Arjuna is thinking that we will be acting at the same level of greed wanting to possess land we will also become we will also become blinded by greed if we decide to fight for the kingdom here Krishna is telling them that no that will not happen because you will be working at a higher level of consciousness you will be working at the level of understanding that you are working for me you are a soul the soul dharma is to serve Krishna and to especially the soul is a nakshatriya body then that dharma is to act on behalf of Krishna to establish the rule of dharma in the world and so you are fighting not to regain the kingdom just for your own sake not for the sake of your greed for kingdom which you don't have actually you are fighting to establish dharma so that everybody can all of your citizens can also be situated with the help of a dharmic king citizens can be situated in the path of dharma all this will be revealed later and understanding this higher revelation will change Arjuna's perspective completely but at his level right now he is making a reasonable argument that we should not just because others become greedy that does not mean that we become greedy just because others become angry that doesn't mean we become angry now that doesn't mean that we always remain passive that when others are angry and they want to trample on us and exploit us and destroy us that doesn't mean not becoming angry it doesn't mean that we passively accept whatever injustice is meted out to us but rather we respond to anger appropriately means whatever is the best way to rectify the situation set the situation right that we do so prapasyad bher so in this world many times people in general act sinfully, act viciously act maliciously so at such times the impulse within us will be very strong to hit back the way we get it and in some cases especially for Kshatriyas taking assertive action may be necessary but that does not mean that we have to stoop to their level in consciousness we can still remember our spiritual identity our spiritual purpose our spiritual connection with Krishna and act in the light of that spiritual truth so prapasyad bher we should be able to see with the eyes of knowledge and act accordingly in general the anarthas blind us to everything except the object that attracts us and in this way when the anarthas blind us we are left with nothing but misery because of the anarthas and when we are left thus with misery the only thing we can do is cry out, beg for sake, beg for help and we get nothing in return unless we actually rise to a higher level of consciousness otherwise anarthas keep us entrapped and the way out of that entrapment is by connecting with Krishna purifying ourselves raising our consciousness so for example in this world hatred can never be ended by hatred as it is said in the bible hate not the sinner hate the sin so now when we say hate not the sinner doesn't mean that the sinner is not to be punished it simply means that the sinner is not made the object of hate whatever is required for the correction of the sinner, that has to be done, sometimes that may require punishment, sometimes if the sinner is repentant that may require forgiving whatever it is but the important thing is that we don't let others misbehavior cause similar misbehavior within us we act according to our principles remembering by seeing reality you know if we go to a mental asylum and the person in the mental asylum starts screaming and yelling and shouting profanities at us now whatever that person is speaking may be very cruel and hurting and now when we are hurt like that we may also want to hurt that person back and we may also start hurling profanities but then if we just pause check our impulses and think then we realize oh this person is mad and my responding in a similar way is it going to actually help this person is it really worthwhile for me to take what he is saying seriously so like that similarly the anarthas madden people in this world and when they are mad they do all sorts of crazy things including hurt us now of course if the madman is attacking a visitor who has gone to the asylum for some work then the madman has to be checked and the madman may also have to be regulated and disciplined and restrained and maybe even punished but the point is the guards of the madman and the guides of the madman the they are meant not just to descend to the level of the madman and start acting like that rather they are meant to act in such a way that they protect themselves and protect the madman and try to help the madman recover similarly when in this world people are blinded by anarthas and they act in crazy ways that does not mean that we also become blinded and we act similarly rather we we keep our vision and our wit with us and we respond appropriately by doing whatever it takes to keep ourselves on the path of dharma on the path of spiritual illumination on the path of devotional liberation and to help others as much as possible on that path including those who are actually blinded by lust so for Arjuna the path of dharma meant fighting against Duryodhana and the Kauravas because they had shown themselves to be incorrigible and his fighting would not be to merely grab kingdom as the Kauravas had done his fighting was by the will of the lord to help in the reestablishment of dharma and all this will be revealed in the Bhagavad Gita as it moves onwards.