Chapter 1 Shloka 47

संजय उवाच

एवमुक्त्वार्जुन: संख्ये रथोपस्थ उपाविशत्।

विसृज्य सशरं चापं शोकसंविग्नमानस:।।४७।।

Sanjay says to King Dhritrashtra:

Having said this, Arjuna, overwhelmed with grief,

cast away his bow and arrows in that field of battle

and retired to the back of his chariot.

Chapter 1 Shloka 47

संजय उवाच

एवमुक्त्वार्जुन: संख्ये रथोपस्थ उपाविशत्।

विसृज्य सशरं चापं शोकसंविग्नमानस:।।४७।।

Sanjay says to King Dhritrashtra:

Having said this, Arjuna, overwhelmed with grief, cast away his bow and arrows in that field of battle and retired to the back of his chariot.

Look little one! Having expounded his justification, Arjuna has relinquished his bow and arrows.

1. He has refused to fight this war.

2. He is so stricken with grief that he has become confused.

3. Moha has turned him into a coward.

4. Devoid of knowledge, he has been overcome by ignorance.

Little one! If you analyse (or study closely or really think about it) you will realise that he has broken all his ties with justice and embraced injustice instead.

a) It is not only sinful to aid and abet the unjust, but to watch silently as injustice is being done is also sinful.

b) When one is personally beset by problems, one fights for release from those difficulties; when another is enmeshed in difficulties, it is a sin not to do one’s all to save him.

c) To watch an oppressor tyrannise others and yet to remain silent is a sin.

Arjuna was a great fighter. He had defeated countless warriors in the battlefield. Why did he falter? Why was he confused and why did he capitulate to cowardice?

If he did not consider it a sin to kill other sinners in the past, why did he consider it a sin to kill the Kauravas?

The present problem

Little one, this is how people react in life:

1. It is easy to set another’s home afire but difficult to set fire to one’s own home;

2. It is simple to denounce another as a thief but difficult to accuse one’s own relations;

3. To destroy another’s family is comparatively easy but to place the mirror of Truth before one’s own family is extremely difficult;

4. How easy it is to sully the honour of the other; to do the same with one’s own near and dear ones is well nigh impossible.

The Bhagavad Gita holds the remedy for this terrible disease wrought by Kaliyuga.

Those who stood opposite Arjuna, prepared for battle, were his own Grandsire, his uncles, his in-laws, his sons and grandsons, his brothers-in-law and several other near and dear relations. It was difficult to even consider killing them in battle. Even if one’s own people are oppressors and perpetrators of atrocities, it is difficult to oppose them. How could he widow the women of his own clan? It would have been different if they were strangers. Therefore Arjuna says to the Lord, ‘Even if these people are wicked sinners, it would be a sin to kill them!’

1. Arjuna’s entire conversation with Lord Krishna in this chapter, is based on his moha.

2. Overcome by moha, a warrior of his calibre and strength became ready to flee the field of battle!

3. He was impervious even to the consideration of his own defame in fleeing the battlefield.

4. He even forgot his basic essence and his Kshatriya nature!

In today’s world are we, too, not guilty of:

a) maintaining silence even when we see our family doing injustice to others? Yet we seek to eradicate injustice from the world!

b) keeping quiet and not raising our voice against evil conduct in our own homes? Yet we make efforts to obliterate evil from the world!

c) not raising our voice against our own near and dear ones, nor making any effort to fight their atrocities?

The thieves, oppressors, black marketeers of this world are all related to one or another of us. The evil wrongdoers and traitors of the world also belong to our families. Those who sell themselves for petty gains and leave the course of justice, they too, are people like us. If you are a lover of justice, raise your voice against your own people first. This is the dharma and foremost duty of a sadhak. In this lies the redemption of the honour of the family. This is the way to uphold one’s familial traditions and values.

In actual fact, the venerated ones of the family are those who:

a) protect the great traditions of the family;

b) establish divinity in the family;

c) give proof of that divinity in their personal lives.

Arjuna said, “If we kill our kith and kin, our familial dharma will be destroyed.” If one considers this carefully, one will realise that the family’s honourable traditions will be destroyed if demoniacal attributes and tendencies gain supremacy. If those who possess divine attributes rule the kingdom, dharma can never decline; in fact it will be firmly established.

Now understand another fact. It is not necessary that Truth cannot be established without a bloody war! In today’s world, one can seek the assistance of the government and the judiciary to establish justice. An individual can also resort to several other methods and non-injurious means to establish dharma in his own family and in society.