Gitacharyan's advice on War

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The following is an extract from Shriman Mani Varadarajan's recent

posting:

"I do not see how it follows that because Krishna urged

Arjuna to wage war in a particular situation, under a particular

set of rules, with people ready to do battle, it then behooves

one to rationalize harming an animal. In fact, ahimsA is

extolled as a great virtue at least 2 or 3 times in the Gita."

 

In this context, members may be interested in perusing Mahatma Gandhi's

views on the subject. I quote from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi

(CWMG Vol.41; Pp 94-100) :

 

"From the bitter experience of desire for fruit the author of the Gita

discovered the path of renunciation of fruit, and put it before the

world in a most convincing manner. The common belief is that religion

is always opposed to material good.......In my opinion the author of the

Gita has no delusion. He has drawn no line of demarcation between

salvation and worldly pursuits. On the contrary, he has shown that

religion must rule even our worldly pursuits. I have felt that Gita

teaches us that what cannot be followed out in day-to-day practices

cannot be called religion. Thus, according to the Gita , all acts that

cannot be performed without attachment are taboo. This golden rule

saves mankind from many a pitfall. According to this interpretation,

murder, lying, dissoluteness and the like must be regarded as sinful and

therefore taboo. Man's life then becomes simple, and from that

simpleness springs peace.

Thinking along these lines, I have felt that in trying to enforce in

one's life the central teachings of the Gita, one is bound to follow

truth and ahimsa. When there is no desire for fruit, there is no

temptation for untruth and himsa. Take any instance of untruth or

violence, and it will be found that at its back was the desire to attain

the cherished end. .........

When the Gita was written, although people believed in ahimsa, wars

were not only not taboo, but nobody observed the contradiction between

them and ahimsa...........Let it be granted that according to the letter

of the Gita it is possible to say that warfare is consistent with

renunciation of fruit. But after forty years' unremitting endeavour

fully to enforce the teaching of Gita in my own life, I have, in all

humility, felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without

perfect observance of ahimsa in every shape and form."

 

Adiyen

MK Krishnaswamy

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