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Bhagavad-gita - A Legitimate Question


>> alright, this is a legitimate question, not just a flame.
>> i read the B. GIta for a class and as i understood it, Arjuna doesnt
>> wanna go into battle and kill all his neighbors, and doesnt want to just
>> sit there and get killed himslef, so he doesnt know what to do, so his
>> little blue friend Krishna explains to him the meaning of eternal life of
>> the soul and how a human can kill bodies but not the soul and it is Arjuna's
>> duty to go and fight, so he should and it is not murder.   so therfore seeing
>> as how humans are by nature meat eaters (dont even try to argue that it
>> is a scientific fact - look at our teeth and digestive systems) isnt it our
>> duty to kill and eat meat? if we dont do that arent we not carrying our our
>> duty as humans and therefore fucking up out karma?

  Thank you for reading the Bhagavad-gita and asking such a nice
  question.

  Bhagavad-gita can be somewhat bewildering, because, as  you have said
  Krishna is encouraging Arjuna to kill his relatives. This sounds bad.
  In the beginning Arjuna says to Krishna "Look on the battlefield before
  us we see assembled so many of our friends and relitaves on both sides.
  I can not fight. If this battle goes on and all my friends are killed
  life would not be worth living." Most people would side with Arjuna,
  being non-violent and compassionate. Even great politicians in India
  (Mahatma Gandhi for example) have somehow twisted things around to
  present the Bhagavad-gita as non-violent, but it is not. It is spoken
  on a battlefield just before one of the biggest battles ever seen on
  this planet.

  When Krishna heard Arjuna say he was not going to fight, but rather he
  was going to leave the battlefield and go and live in the forest [for
  running from the battle would be considered very cowardly] He was a
  little amused. He said:

           kutas tva kasmalam idam visame samupasthitam
           anarya-justam asvargyam akriti-karam arjuna

"My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at
all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not
lead to higher planets, but to infamy."

  A little background on the battle and the Vedic culture is required to
  understand why Krishna was astonished when Arjuna decided to leave the
  battlefield before the fight even started. Arjuna and Krishna were
  fighting on behalf of the Pandavas who were the rightful rulers of the
  world but they had been driven out of the kingdom and forced to live in
  the forest by the cunning tricks of the Dhrtarastra (who would have
  been the king but because he was blind was ineligible) and his son
  Duryodhana. So although the Pandavas headed by Yudhisthira Maharaja
  were the rightful rulers of the world they were forced to live in the
  forest due to the tricks of the Kuruvas headed by Dhrtarastra.

  In the Vedic culture there are four clasifications of men, the
  brahmanas, the ksatriyas, the visyas and the sudras. These are the
  intelectual priestly class, the military/administrative class, the
  productive/farming class and the worker class respectively. The
  Ksatriyas have to have some land because their business is to rule and
  govern the people and to protect them from internal problems (thieves,
  rogues, etc) and from attacks by outsiders. So Arjuna was a Ksatriya
  and his business was to protect the citizens, but he had decided to
  flee from the battlefield. This is certainly not a good thing for a
  military man to do, even today we would expect the army to fight for
  us, to protect us if another country attacks us. So Krishna was
  astonished, "Where have these impurities come from?"

  There is more to this battle than meets the eye. At that time there
  were many strong armies on the face of the earth and the huge buildup
  of military strength was becoming a problem. So Krishna's plan was to
  have this battle to reinstate the rightful ruler, Maharaja Yudhisthira,
  and at the same time relieve the earth of the unnecessary burden
  created by the excessive military presence. Krishna had arranged the
  battle and now His friend Arjuna was on the battlefield, facing the
  enemy, and he said to Krishna, "Krishna, I will no fight - I will go
  and live in the forest instead". So I think you can see why Krishna was
  amazed.

  Then Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna and after hearing the
  Bhagavad-gita Arjuna understood his business was to serve Krishna, not
  to worry so much about his own ideas about things. This is the real
  purport of the Bhagavad-gita:

        sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
        aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah

"Abandon all varieties of dharma (religion) and surrender unto Me. I
shall deliver you from all sinful reaction, do not fear."

  So our business it just to please Krishna, whatever Krishna wants we
  should do -- this is transcentental to dharma (religious principals).

  You have made your own interpretation of the Bhagavad-gita in your
  artical, "...doesn't that mean we should eat meat...." and your
  approach to reading Bhagavad-gita is similar to most of the people who
  comment on Bhagavad-gita. They read it but they twist it around to suit
  their own ideas, their own philosophy. This is not a very worthwhile
  exercise. If we want to actually understand the Bhagavad-gita we have
  to hear it from a pure devotee who has no personal motivation, and we 
  have to be prepared to listen to him, at least theoretically accepting 
  that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His book, the 
  Bhagavad-gita contains the absolute truth.
  
  There are so many translations of the Bhagavad-gita in English but most
  of them don't present Krishna's ideas, they present the ideas of the 
  author. I'm sure if you wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita it 
  would come out something like, "And Krishna said to eat meat...". But 
  Krishna didn't say that at all so reading such a commentary is useless.

  We are very fortunate that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
  Prabhupada has given us the "Bhagavad-gita As It Is". The special
  quality of Prabhupada's translation is he has given Krishna's opinion,
  not his own. This makes it a very special book. I urge you to read
  "Bhagavad-gita As It Is" and put it into practice in your life. I can
  guarantee that you will then understand the purpose of life and be
  equipped to make the most of your life here and after leaving this body
  you can go back home, back to Godhead. We belong in the spiritual
  world, we don't belong here in this miserable place!

  Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.


Thank you. Hare Krishna!

Madhudvisa dasa       
(madhudvisa@krishna.org)     /sudarsana 
                                
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
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