Gita 18.43 Kshatriyas control in service of the supreme controller

Transcript

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Hare Krishna Bhagavad Gita 18.43 sauryam tejodh dhrutir daksham yuddhe chaapya palayana dhanam ishvara bhavasya shatram karma svabhavajam so in this verse Krishna is describing the qualities of Kshatriyas in this section Krishna is going to describe how we can work in a way by which we can stay free from bondage and eventually rise towards liberation so he is talking about how we can work in harmony with our inborn nature so the qualities that different Varanas are characterized by are described over here sauryam is heroism saurya courage Kshatriyas often are put in situation where they have to fight to defend dharma or to spread dharma tejo so they need heroism for that purpose courage tejo tejo is vigor a lot of energy traveling from one place to another maybe on horseback or in carriage or sometimes on foot staying discreetly when secretly while planning for attack or while doing reconnaissance to decide how to defend against invading strategy invading enemy now Kshatriyas are meant to be guardians of society you can say that they are martial guardians of society martial means that they sometimes fight in order to protect and such fighting is done not so much in the mood of the necessity mood of I have to prove my greatness over yours but that we have to establish the rule of dharma and whatever is required for the establishment of dharma that has to be done and that sometimes requires fighting so the Kshatriyas have to have the necessary resources for fighting which include vigour their vigour is there that would mean that they have the energy to move forward to do whatever is required ruti now often the projects Kshatriyas also are administrators they also have to be kings they also have to build kingdoms build huge projects supervise the things that have to be happening for that so so actually this is not an easy thing to do sometimes it requires months and years and decades of application so they need that sustained determination ruti that’s the capacity to sustain determination ruti no as it is often said Rome was not built in a day in the classical times Rome was considered to be a magnificently prosperous city and in some ways it was a model of glory so that didn’t happen overnight it took many many years many many generations in fact so the kings also have to have the capacity to persevere in things that are difficult and those who are Kshatriyas those who protect people from hurt they have to have the resources the qualities necessary for establishing the welfare of people Kshatriyas primarily focus on creating or taking care of people’s material welfare and they also create structures by which the Brahmanas can take care of people’s spiritual welfare so that refers to Daksh, that brings us to Daksham Daksham is Dakshata is is the expertise so now when we want to implement things in this world often obstacles can come from the least expected directions and when such obstacles come we can’t be stereotyped in what we will do and what we will not do we have to be resourceful thinking of different ways in which things can be moved forward so that resourcefulness that ability to we could say in today’s language think out of the box to make sure that things move forward that is Daksham expertise of course we could say expertise refers specifically to the martial skills they have to be good at wielding weapons that is required for fighting, they also have to be good at discerning and engaging people because that’s their primary job Kshatriyas work primarily with people, Kshatriyas are also expected to be reasonably good public speakers because it is they who are meant to galvanize the citizens into action they are meant to give such speeches that inspire people to move on to move on to press on whatever projects have been launched including of course if Kshatriyas have to fight a war their speech has to have the capacity to inspire the soldiers to lay down their lives or Daksham so they have to have that expertise Shauryam, Tejod, Daksham Shaurya heroism or courage that we could say is in a broad sense chivalry if somebody is in danger Kshatriyas have to be ready to risk their lives to protect the endangered they are meant to have that heroism but along with that specifically when there is a fight, they have to be lion hearted not chicken hearted they can’t afford to just flee from the fight, no matter whatever happens they will determinedly fight Kshatriya to run from a battlefield was considered an unbearable dishonor and often Kshatriyas would prefer death to such dishonor this also indicates that they were fixed in their duty this doesn’t mean that they would not look for peace we see the Pandavas even Bhima who very clearly characterizes or demonstrates this characteristic of Yudhechaapya plan he allowed a good fight as to Kshatriyas in general but even Bhima was willing to go along with the plan with the attempt for peace so if Kshatriyas will try various ways to resolve conflicts without wars but if a war comes up they don’t chicken out from it Dhanam is charity this is a vital characteristic of Kshatriyas they are meant to support the Brahminical culture especially that means the Brahmanas, the spiritual intellectuals who are engaged in studying and sharing spiritual knowledge they have to support them they need to give charity themselves and they need to create systems and structures by which charity is given of course the Kshatriyas need to give charity to anyone in need Maharaj should be they are willing to give up their own needs, basic needs in order to support others that is the characteristic of Kshatriyas charity and last one is interesting Ishwarabhava Ishwarabhava literally it means the mood of a controller now normally in philosophy we say that one should not have we should not have a controlling mentality the controlling enjoying mentality is the cause of our illusion and bondage and further in the Bhagavad Gita while describing the demoniac in 16.13 to 15 Krishna says how they think Ishwaro aham aham bhogi so having the bhava that one is Ishwara that is considered demoniac so then how is it considered here to be a worthy quality of the Brahmin of the Kshatriyas so Ishwarabhava simply means the mood of taking control in any situation in any project somebody has to have the capacity to take leadership if a group Ishwara does not necessarily mean god it simply means controller and if there is a group of people ok we have to go for a picnic or we have to do this project somebody has to take charge and make sure things move forwards so now while everybody may like the glamour of being a leader to be looked at respectfully and obeyed but not everybody has the capacity to delegate, organize as you say to be a mover and shaker so that mover and shaker being a mover and shaker is typical of the characteristic of Kshatriyas so this is simply a psychological characteristic, some people by default they will like to be in a position where they will, ok you tell me to do it I’ll do my part, so some people even if they are intellectuals, Brahmanas may well be more of loners than team players loners doesn’t mean that they dislike people but they simply like to work alone they don’t feel inspired so much to work in a team and they don’t feel inspired to harmonize the diverse opinions of a team and to make sure that things move forward taking in consideration different people’s feelings and emotions and egos but there are some people who love to do that so they are now for what purpose they are doing it that will determine whether it is whether it is godly or ungodly or somebody can have Ishwar Bhav in the Bhav of Seva to the Parameshwar when we are doing some service for Krishna at that time also we need sometimes we have to work in a team and we need the leader of the team so we may become a leader in a mood of service and we can become a leader in a mood of enjoy, a dominator so that will vary Kshatriyas, so that capacity itself of Ishwar Bhav is value neutral in the sense that it can be godly, it can be ungodly it is itself not bad in this world someone has to become Ishwar but if somebody thinks I am the supreme Ishwar that ko anyo sadrusho maya as Krishna says in that section of the Gita then that is where the attitude becomes problematic but if we understand that this is simply a role that needs to be played in this world and that Kshatriya have the psychological disposition I have the characteristics to play that role then one can be a leader and one can actually do things in a very dharmically conducive way so any project requires good leadership and Kshatriyas are natural leaders so these are the characteristics Krishna says of those who are these are the characteristics of the Kshatriyas Thank you