Bhagavad-Gita: Discourses 1 through 6 (pp. 1 -- 60) - Article Example

Bhagavad-Gita: Dis s through 6 The dialogue between the great warrior Arjuna and God Krishna forms what is commonly known as the Bhagavat Gita. The dialogue is one of the most important sources of Indian literature and philosophy. In many ways, it is based on the challenges and moral dilemma that Arjuna faces. Arjuna was a great warrior who on that day of the dialogue found himself in a difficult situation. The dialogue is mainly based on the different sides of Arjuna and the God Krishna who had been sent to guide Arjuna’s chariot.

The he was about to fight involved his own family members and teachers. The dialogue is based on the problem of divided loyalty. It was a matter of duty to the family against duty to the fight a war against evil. Arjuna argues that that he does not take pleasure in the successes of war that would involve killing his kin, and I see adverse omens, “Kesava! I do not see any good in killing my kinsmen in battle,” (The Bhavagan Gita, 31). In his own opinion, Arjuna was not ready to do battle with the group because he thought that the law would be a violation of the unity of life.

Arjuna’s desire was to reach the state of the supreme good. He wanted to choose a course of action that would not put him into conflict with any laws of morality or duty on either side of the divide. In the dialogue, Arjuna seeks some express response from Lord Krishna on the merits of fighting. He argues that the decision of fighting would not be consistent with some of the teachings that he had given him. It appears that the feelings of kinship had overwhelmed him and he was no longer ready to participate in a bloodshed that would involve his own people, “My limbs fail and my mouth is parched up, my body quivers and my hairs stand on end!

” (The Bhavagan Gita 26).One of the challenges that was revealed in the challenge was the fact that Arjuna kin did not see things in the same way as Arjuna. “Though they, with intelligence overpowered by greed, see no evil in the destruction of families, and no sin in hostility to friends, Why should not we, who clearly see evil in the destruction of a family, learn to turn away from this sin, 0 Janardana (Krishna)? (The Bhavagan Gita 37). However, the God Krishna gives Arjuna the reason to fight when he advices him that it would be wrong for him not to act.

He argued that action as an army is a duty that Arjuna cannot abandon. According to the argument of Krishna, Arjuna’s duty in the army should be regarded as a higher calling and he must be prepared to sacrifice all other issues for the sake of his higher calling. The entire dialogue focusses on the matter of action. Arjuna would be doing a wrongful act by refusing to act against sin. The rival groups were regarded as greedy and that they had been blinded by their own greed in a way that made it difficult to carry out acts of righteousness.

As a result, Arjuna was compelled to act in a war that would pit virtue against sin, which was the great duty that he had been sent to do by the deities. ReferenceBhagavad-Gita: Discourses 1 through 6 (pp. 1 -- 60) pdf.