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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00081 Oct 2001

 
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Dear Sampath Kumar Swamin

I am Raman Kannan, AKA Anandavalli Dasan.
I am little confused and if I may , I would
like to seek clarification.
Suppose, this group had the opportunity to advise
Pandavas, (just for a moment ...Krishna is not
there at the time this Pandavas happened to be 
) and this email group seeks your opinion,
what would your opinion be based on your reading
and understanding of Gita.

I have no problem with your thesis that 
wars MAY not be fought on religious grounds.
Especially those who believe in vedas and
the truth contained in them. That one must
respect all scriptures and religions.
I have references
to Bhagavatham in this regard.

However, if over a period of time, I see 
innocent people getting murdered quite
regularly as in Kashmir or as in New York City
or for that matter in Afganistan, or in
Kurdistan or in Kosavo...
what pray must I do. What pointers does Gita
tell me in this regard.
What are the pros and cons. My quandry is about
the evil-doers amongst a great many good and hard
working people?

I appreciate your time and generosity to share
your thoughts on this matter.

Om Namo Narayana
--
Raman Kannan
--- sampath kumar <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> wrote:
> --- RGarlandG@xxxx wrote:
> 
> > What was Kurukshetra? What was the battel between
> Sri Ramachandra
> > and Ravana?> Sri Krishna's advice to Arjuna was to
> fight rather
> then to abandon> his dharma > as a Kashatria. 
> > Was the battel justified? 
> > Om shanti,
> > Brahma
> 
> 
> Dear friend,
> Thank you for your long and very thoughtful note.
> You have raised
> many important and pertinent questions of morality.
> (BTW, are you
> from India? Your e-name doesn't seem to suggest so).
> I think many
> members on the SriRangasri-list too might have had
> the same thought
> as you after reading my post on 'shAnti, shAnti,
> shAnti'. So, with
> your kind permission, I'm copying this
> correspondence to the
> main-list. For any further correspondence on this
> subject we can go
> off-line.
> 
> I posted the note "shAnti, shAnti, shAnti" on the
> srirangasri group
> out of a sense of despair. The reason being that I
> live and work in
> Kuwait from where I have a clear, ringside view of
> the so-called
> "holy war of civilizations" presently being fought
> in this part of
> the world. I'm quite saddened by what I see and hear
> here everyday.
> 
> Be that as it may, let me turn to your specific
> question on the
> 'Bhagavath-gita':
> 
> Contrary to popular notion, the Bhagavath-gita is
> not a clarion call
> to take up arms. Although God, in his 'avatAr' as
> Krishna,
> participated in the war, Kurukshetra was not a
> "religious-war" in the
> sense in which we know that term today. Kurukshetra
> was, quite
> simply, a savagely fratricidal war. Period. In it,
> not once did the
> Pandavas or the Kauravas claim to be waging war in
> the name of God.
> (They may have co-opted God into war; but they were
> honest enough not
> to claim they were fighting it on God's behalf). The
> war they fought
> was hence no 'holier' than all the wars that have
> been fought on
> earthly soil since.
> 
> The Kurukshetra War is popularly referred to as
> "dharma-yuddha" i.e.
> the war the forces of 'dharma' (righteousness) waged
> against those of
> "a-dharma" (evil-doers). This is what is taken to be
> the fundamental
> message of the Bhagavath-gita-- in the cosmic
> struggle between Good
> and Evil, there is simply no relenting. And so, like
> Arjuna, we too
> better take up arms and do battle. 
> 
> But if you study the Gita carefully you will begin
> to appreciate that
> this message is true only to a very limited extent.
> It is in fact
> less important than it seems. The far more important
> message of the
> 'gitAchAryan' is this:
> 
> The Kurukshetra War is indeed "dharma-yuddha". What
> is however to be
> understood from the term 'dharma-yuddha' is that the
> world of Man has
> only one choice for its continuing survival. It must
> either bow to
> 'dharma' or else face 'yuddha'. 'a-dharma' is said
> to have one fixed
> sticker-price only and it is this: inevitable
> 'yuddha'.... 
> 
> For individuals and nations alike who forsake
> 'dharma', the price to
> be paid is the same: "yuddha" - War! At the
> individual plane the
> 'yuddha' takes form as the struggle between his/her
> lower and higher
> self, between desire and aspiration, between death
> and immortality.
> Amongst nations, peoples or civilizations (as
> between the Pandavas
> and Kauravas) the 'yuddha' is waged differently and
> at many levels --
> political, economic, social or ideological. In all
> cases, it is only
> bound to result in one form or other of 'yuddha'...
> Make no mistake
> about it. 
> 
> Through the 'Gita', one learns another valuable
> lesson too: If you do
> not marry 'dharma' in haste (and remain monogamous
> ever after), you
> will be left later on repenting it at leisure all
> your life through
> recurring 'yuddha'. "Yuddha" becomes then not only
> natural outcome
> but also moral imperative. When that happens one
> can't even shy away
> from it... This painful lesson was driven home by
> Krishna to Arjuna
> on the eve of War. "The horror of war is about to
> begin, O Arjuna",
> Krishna seemed to say to him then, "This is neither
> the time nor the
> place for contemplation". 
> 
> Now, when the Vedas say "shAnti, shAnti, shAnti"
> they are echoing
> pretty much the same message as Krishna's but
> perhaps couch it in
> different words, which, as I explained in my last
> post, mean only
> this: "You must learn to be peaceful before you can
> even begin
> learning to be religious-minded".
> 
> So, it would be sad and utter misreading of the
> 'Bhagavath-Gita' if
> it is taken to be moral justification or a veiled
> apology for war.
> The 'Gita' in its essence actually tells us the very
> opposite: it
> tells us about the grim inevitablity of war and the
> horrors it visits
> upon us. 
> 
> I think we will all be sadly disappointed if we
> attempt to use the
> idiom and ideas of the 'Bhagavath-gita' to identify
> who amongst us in
> this world is 'Pandava' (the "good-guys") and who is
> 'Kaurava' (the
> "bad-guys"). The 'Gita' can only uncover the
> 'Pandava' and 'Kaurava'
> residing deep within our own individual selves. The
> 'Gita' can only
> serve us as an eternal source of inspiration. I'm
> always doubtful
> whenever it is sought to used as a tool of
> indictment.
> 
> If you think about it deeply, the 'Gita' actually
> sums up the painful
> dilemmas of the world in a neat little but
> time-tested equation:
> 
> When 'dharma' wanes, 'yuddha' must arise;
> When 'yuddha' arises, 'shAnti' vanishes;
> When 'shAnti' vanishes, 'sAdhu-s' perish;
> When 'sAdhus' perish, I die with them !
> But there is no Death for Me! Not now, and never
> ever!
> So place your trust in Me, O 'sAdhu-s' of the world!
> 
> In Me alone and shed all fear! 
> (..."mAmEkam sharanam-vrajA... mA-shucha:!)
> 
> Thanks and regards,
> dAsan,
> Sudarshan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
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> 
> 


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