Gita 10.05 – Krishna asks Arjuna to fight, yet is the source of the qualities that engender peace

Bhagavad Gita 11.5 Krishna is in this section of the Bhagavad Gita 10th chapter speaking how he is the source of everything and in that connection he says pruthagvidah these differently arranged things mattay from me they have come bhavanti bhava bhuta naam bhava is nature's bhuta naam of the living beings so the different natures of different living beings have come from me and our nature is made essentially of our qualities so Krishna qualities before this ahimsa samata tushtis, non-violence equilibrium or equanimity satisfaction tapo dhanam austerity, charity yasho yashaha fame and infamy all these come from me so here Krishna has seven qualities out of which six out of which five are straight positive qualities and the last two are a pair of dualities yasho and yashaha so the point of this section is the 10th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna has said at the start bhuya eva maha bahu shunume paramam vachaha yatte ham priyamana yavakshami hitakamyaya Krishna has said that I am speaking this for your benefit because I consider you dear to me yatte ham priyamana that knowledge is the knowledge of devotion the last chapter concluded with a call for devotion manmanabhamad bhakto bhuya eva again I will speak this so in the previous chapter Krishna stressed on the glory of bhakti and in this chapter he will focus on the glory of the object of bhakti this bhagwan, he himself and he is describing a subtle feature of his glory that is how he is the source of everything and here he gives a list of qualities how he is a source of these qualities so ahimsa, it's interesting that Bhagavad Gita is sometimes thought of as a book that calls for violence in today's culture where there is so much threat of religious violence violence done in the name of religion the thought that a religious book explicitly calls for violence can be disconcerting to say the very least and yet Krishna here when he is talking about the various qualities that manifest in this world he mentions here ahimsa so Arjuna was proposing ahimsa actually Arjuna was saying better I will not fight yadi mama pratikaram ashastram shastra paaneham dhartharashtra ranehan yustanne kshematarambhavet that if better that without any fighting I am killed, that will be better than killing my own relatives, so he was basically recommending non-violence and overall Gita's call was not so much to violence as to dutifulness and the dutifulness requires violence that is to be also accepted and yet Krishna says over here ahimsa also comes from me so the implication is that one should not think that Krishna is a god who calls for violence, Krishna is a source of everything violence and non-violence and when we are dovetailing with Krishna then we will know when is the, he will guide us from within to know when is the right time for non-violence and when is the right time for violence ahimsa samata tushtis Bhagavad Gita asks Arjuna to fight the war but not losing sight of ultimate realities, samata time and time again Krishna recommends that Arjuna stay equipoised in 5.20 in the Bhagavad Gita he states that be equipoised not be elated when there is gain do not be dejected when there is loss so that same point is made over here, samata, normally any competitive activity the victors become jubilant jubilant in fact but here Krishna is telling no, samata and interestingly tushti, satisfaction so these may be seen as qualities that are not exactly the qualities of those who are about to call a war war is a war is a hugely expensive option not just in terms of finance but also in terms of life and we wonder if somebody is satisfied with life, satisfied with whatever situation they are in, then why would they go to the trouble of a war Krishna is conveying to Arjuna that he is the same lord who is asking him to fight is also the source of satisfaction so Arjuna is to fight not motivated by dissatisfaction or greed but motivated by devotional diligence, by devotional surrender it is not that Arjuna is craving for a kingdom and that's why he is fighting Arjuna is a devotee and Krishna by providing him enlightenment through the Bhagavad Gita further enhances his devotional consciousness and thus these qualities Arjuna may be apprehensive that he will be abandoning such qualities by fighting in a war but Krishna tells that by doing my will know that all such qualities are manifest through me and when you do my will you will come close to me and these qualities thus you will come closer to these qualities also these qualities will manifest through you tapo dhanam yasho yashah austerity Arjuna was saying I will perform the austerity of living in a forest I don't want to fight against my relatives Krishna is conveying that I want to do austerity that also comes from me tapo dhanam a question may come up that Kshatriyas are supposed to do charity how can they do charity if they themselves are having no property that is also a question which profoundly troubled Yudhishthira when he went to the forest and that was when Dhaumya Rishi suggested to him that you can get the Akshaya Patra by worshipping Lord Surya and through that Surya Pooja when he got the Akshaya Patra he felt satisfied now I can feed abundantly the Brahmins who are accompanying me when I am going to the forest yasho yashah so here Krishna talks about two things the duality of fame and infamy Arjuna is thinking that if he fights a war and kills his relatives then this will be stained by blood and thus it will be inauspicious but instead Krishna tells Arjuna that actually if you don't fight if you run away from the if you retreat from the battlefield you will be will be deemed a coward bhyadranadupartamam sentetvam maharatah eshampitvam bahumato bhutvaya asti silagham people won't think that you have run away because of compassion they will think that you have run away because of cowardice and in life our motives alone are not all important people's perception of our motives is also important so Arjuna may think that I am acting compassionately but if people think that he is acting in a cowardly way Arjuna needs to consider that of course people's perception alone shouldn't shape our decisions but we shouldn't take our decisions without considering perceptions also we want to do the right thing and we also want to convey the right perception so that whatever example we set whatever purpose we want to serve through our purpose is properly served now on the other hand by fighting by doing the will of Krishna when Arjuna fights Yashoda and Yashaha he may get fame in some circles because he emerges as a victor against the formidable army of the Kauravas and in some circles he may get infamy because he fought against his own relatives even his grandsire and his martial teacher Krishna says so see that all such dualities they are coming from me don't get too excited or worried by them know that through all these activities you are coming closer to me and I can observe and take away all negativities and fill your life with positivity that is the underlying message that understanding how Krishna is the source of everything one can become devoted to him utterly and that underlying purpose of all this narration of origins that will become clear in the future verses.