Gita 01.40 – Protecting women and ensuring good progeny are important social responsibilities

Bhagavad Gita 1.40. Adharma bhibhavad krishna sadushyanti kulastriya, sthri shudhushta shuvarshneya, jayate varna sankara. So, adharma bhibhavad krishna.

Here, Arjuna is continuing his description of the consequences of fighting, of the fighting that will lead to the destruction of the dynasty. And he's describing the catastrophic effects on society that will result because of the destruction of the dynasty. And one parameter he's giving is, adharma bhibhavad krishna.

In the previous verse, he said that the Kshatriyas are meant to be the protectors of dharma. When they are destroyed, then adharma will prevail in society. And when adharma prevails, then pradushyanti kulastriya.

When there is no one to protect the vulnerable members of society, then there will be unscrupulous members who will exploit, anti-social elements will exploit the vulnerable members. And in this way, pradushyanti kulastriya. We see this in the wars, the brutal wars throughout history, that when the martial guardians of a society are overpowered, are defeated, then the invaders pillory the conquered kingdom.

And during the pillorying of the kingdom, they often prey upon the women. In many wars, often the soldiers consider it their right upon winning to prey upon the defeated kingdom's women, and sometimes even in more perverse cases, children. And nowadays also, gang rape of women is used sometimes as a brutal instrument of war to humiliate, subjugate and even masculate the conquered population.

And this is extremely brutal. And this is an unfortunate fact of nature, that the conquerors often consider it their rightful claim to wreak havoc upon the women. So when the women are violated, inevitably, there are jayate varnasankara.

Varnasankara is the is what is in English, it's a sphere word that is used, but the word bastard essentially means illegitimate child. And it is now being used as a sphere word. But of course, it always had a dishonorable connotation to it.

But the reason for the usage of this word is actually rooted in unfortunate but factual history. And that history is that often men prey upon women, and then the women become pregnant, and the children who are born, they are never acknowledged by their parents. And they're not acknowledged by their parents, then they often live miserable lives.

And if they are not acknowledged, they are neglected, they are exploited, then they also develop a deep hatred towards society. And they also become violent people. So this is one way from today's sociological context, we can understand Arjuna's concerns.

Now, we all when we study scripture, we have to understand scripture in its original context. Then we have to understand the time independent principle, the context independent principle in the scripture and then see how that applies in today's context. So when a religion flourishes, when antisocial elements flourish, antispiritual elements flourish in society, then they cause great harm throughout society.

They actually create a disturbance, not just by the criminal activities that they do. But they if they especially acquire power, then they can destroy an entire generation. They can actually beget a whole future generation that can be contaminated, that can be distorted.

So varna sankara, unwanted progeny, now the specific ways in which the unwanted progeny can happen can vary. And in Arjuna's case, his concern is that the women, if they are violated, in whatever ways, if they are seduced and misled, or they are forcibly brutalized, either way, the point is that the brutalization of the women, they are leading to the degradation of the next generation is a serious social concern. In all, not just in the Vedic culture, but in all traditional cultures, begetting a good progeny by which the dynasty could be continued was considered as an important responsibility of the patriarch of the generation of the dynasty and not just the patriarch of the dynasty.

Actually, it was considered responsibility of practically all the members of the dynasty. And every member of society has debts. So we have debts to our ancestors because they gave us birth and they gave us our human body.

And from the material Karmakandi perspective, we repay our debt to our ancestors by begetting children and continuing the dynasty. And continuing the dynasty is not just done by, by, by merely by reproduction, but it is also by the replication of the positive character enhancing qualities in the next generation. And doing whatever it takes, doing the proper samskaras by which the next generation grows up to be responsible citizens who are, who contribute positively to the world, that is a responsible, responsibility of the dynasty.

And when that responsibility is neglected and that is considered a grievous loss. So, so we see that Arjuna was aware of this and that's why Pandu, even when he was cursed not be able to have any contact with his wives for begetting children, then he himself thought of the yoga ceremony by which his wives could beget children through the sages. Of course, Kunti, because of a benediction, could beget children through the gods.

But the point was that Pandu considered the responsibility of begetting a progeny and a good progeny is so important that he said even it was a duty begetting progeny and it is a duty to the dynasty and if he could not do the duty, he wanted the duty to be done and it should be done by someone who is also cultured, who is also dharmic, who is also of a high character, so that the progeny will be of high character. And that's why he wanted to suggest the sages who were there in the forest, who were known to be of good character. But when Kunti suggested the gods, the gods are said to be even more powerful, even more glorious and to have sons from the gods is a matter of even more fortune.

So, he immediately agreed to that. In fact, he was delighted with that prospect. So, again, the principle here is that we see that the responsible patriarchs of society, the heads of families, means in the Vedic culture considered their important duty to the dynasty and especially if somebody is a king to the state to beget good progeny who will continue the dynasty and who will contribute to the maintaining dharma in society by their example and by their administration if they were members of the royal family.

So, here Arjuna is expressing a concern that if dharma flourishes now we shouldn't think of dharma merely as some mysterious dark force that just somehow pervades the society. Dharma flourishes, yes, it influences our mind in mysterious ways, but at the same time dharma flourishes by ensuring that dharmic people come to power and then they destroy the protectors of dharma and then they go about violating the principles of dharma. So, they will prey upon and violate the vulnerable members of society, the women, and that violation will lead to unwanted progeny and thus Arjuna feels he will fail in his duty to his dynasty, to his family and to his kingdom at large and that's why he feels that Kulakshaya, the destruction of the dynasty by the war is wholly undesirable and to avoid such disastrous things from happening he feels that it is best to desist from warfare.

Now again Arjuna's concerns about protecting the dynasty from contamination destruction are valid and Krishna will address these and he will actually in the third chapter demonstrate how Arjuna's concerns will actually be addressed best by fighting the war and setting an example of dutifulness for the protection of the vulnerable members of society and not by abdicating that responsibility in the name of protecting the vulnerable members but which will indirectly end up in giving in continuing the power of the adharmic and thereby perpetuating adharma. Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 1.40 Arjuna is continuing to.