Gita 02.32 – Dharma rewards success according to each varna’s definition of success

Bhagavad Gita 2.32 Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita 2.32 is continuing his reasoning with Arjuna about how one should act in the light of the knowledge of the soul so he is talking about the first level application that is the application of dharma of swadharma with respect to seeing beyond this particular life by itself by divine will by the arrangement of providence when one obtains that when it arrives so if it arrives by itself by higher arrangement what is it arriving swargadwarapavrtam that thing arrives which opens the doors to heaven so what is it that opens the doors to heaven sukhina kshatriya partha kshatriya becomes very happy with this kshatriya is delighted when that thing happens that thing arrives which opens the doors to heaven and what is that thing is mentioned in the last verse last line 2.32d labhante yuddham idrisham labhante to obtain like that yuddham war idrisham like this so krishna is talking about the upcoming battle as something which is a labh which is a profit, a benefit whereas arjuna was perceiving it as a unmitigated disaster that was going to lead to narakheniya tamva so that would take one to hell, krishna is saying that this is going to open the doors to heaven svarga dvaram apavrtam so 1.43 krishna, arjuna had said then this would take me to hell forever but krishna is telling actually this will open the doors to heaven and therefore it's a labh just like somebody is working at a particular job and suddenly person gets opportunity for a big promotion working as say as a manager in a company suddenly one gets opportunity to become the CEO of a company and if it if that opportunity has come by itself person would be delighted so like that svarga dvaram apavrtam now here krishna is educating arjuna in order to see things from the perspective of the longer term wherein they appear significantly different from what they would appear in the short term so he is saying that in the previous verse he said actually for a kshatriya fighting is the most important duty and especially fighting dharmyadi uddha that for the protection of the cause of dharma to fight is an important duty now here he continues and states that such a duty it is there is no shreya krishna has said in the previous verse there is no gain which is as good as this so now what is the shreya what is the long term gain that which was hinted at in the previous verse is explicitly stated in this verse that svarga dvaram apavrtam it will open the doors to heaven of course krishna will talk about higher levels of perception and ambition and action in the next in the subsequent sections this is the section of karma kanda beyond that is the section of karma yoga 31 to 37 is karma kanda 38 onwards is karma yoga till the end of the chapter but along with that what is talked about can also apply to bhakti yoga but here we see that krishna is talking about the karma kanda which is talked about in the vedas wherein attainment of heaven is glorified because as compared to worldly existence in this world heaven is a phenomenally great achievement of course from the perspective of eternity even the achievement of heaven pales into insignificance but as compared to whatever one may achieve in this world certainly the achievement of heaven is very great and krishna is saying that if you attain heaven it will be great and the war which opens the doors to heaven is glorious now how exactly will arjuna go to heaven it is understood that a kshatriya who fights heroically and does the kshatriya duty well so even if the kshatriya dies in the war field then that kshatriya attains heavens so the heroism of the kshatriya in laying down his life fearlessly as a kshatriya duty that heroism is immensely appreciated and based on appreciation of that heroism it is stated that actually how glorious it is that the kshatriya can that the kshatriya will attain heaven so the rules of dharma are arranged according to the are arranged so that people when they perform heroically according to their natures according to the definitions of success according to their natures they are granted success, they are granted results so while this sort of statement that a kshatriya who fights heroically in the war field will go to heaven this you may think is a is an encouragement for kshatriyas to fight but the point is that it is not told for brahmanas, it is not for vaishyas not for shudras they have to do their duties appropriately so that they can be elevated and brahmanas are expected to have shantir and to be tolerant, to be non-violent so there are definitions of success for different people according to their according to their nature and there are rewards for achieving success according to their definitions so now a kshatriya is a martial guardian of society and for such a martial guardian its vital courage, fearlessness heroism are vital qualities for a kshatriya and when a kshatriya exhibits those qualities then that heroic warrior is rewarded so Krishna is telling Arjuna actually you will fight and even in the worst case you die you will attain heavens and the relatives whom you are concerned about if they fight heroically and they also fight courageously and they they lose their life but still because of the principle that they have fought courageously they too will attain eternal life sorry they too will attain heaven so basically he is saying that both you and your opponents can be eager for the fight this is not meant to just have no impetus for the fight its not just meant to start fighting indiscriminately but it is meant to indicate that when the answer fight happens the kshatriya should fight in a heroic spirit without chickening out without flinching and of course the karma that the kshatriyas have done prior to that will also be taken into account and they will get reactions for that also but for the specific karma of heroically fighting at war they get a result so the principle here is to recognize that Arjuna which is seen as a disaster when it is seen from the long term perspective of of kshatriya duty and its reward Krishna is saying that it is a matter of not of shoka but of sukha and therefore you should embrace it not be ambivalent and diffident and dejected as you are doing right now.