{"id":264,"date":"2024-03-03T16:24:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T21:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/dharmicmeanderings\/?p=264"},"modified":"2024-03-04T00:21:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T05:21:44","slug":"lord-krishna-is-encouraging-his-disciple-arjuna-to-fight-a-righteous-battle-that-he-wants-to-avoid-the-opposing-side-is-made-up-of-relatives-whom-he-loved-until-they-entered-the-dark-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/dharmicmeanderings\/2024\/03\/lord-krishna-is-encouraging-his-disciple-arjuna-to-fight-a-righteous-battle-that-he-wants-to-avoid-the-opposing-side-is-made-up-of-relatives-whom-he-loved-until-they-entered-the-dark-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Thou Should Not Grieve: Mourning And The Bhagavad Gita"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Photo by Bishnu Sarangi from Pixabay<\/p>\n
Over the years I\u2019ve been questioned about this very challenging virtue that is extolled in The Bhagavad Gita<\/a>. For context, Lord Krishna is encouraging his disciple Arjuna to fight a righteous battle that he wants to avoid. The opposing side is made up of relatives whom he loved until they entered \u201cthe dark side.\u201d Keep in mind that this army is a malevolent gang. They must be defeated for the good of the kingdom. But Arjuna just doesn\u2019t see that.<\/p>\n
In a most stunning soliloquy that describes the immortality of the soul Krishna exhorts Arjuna fight on and dismiss any feelings of sadness due to the great number of lives which will be lost once the war commences.<\/p>\n
While not the most precise translation from the original Sanskrit, I have a deep appreciation of the 19th<\/sup> century rendition of the Gita by Sir Edwin Arnold.<\/a> One would not be faulted for mistaking his poetry for a composition by Shakespeare or one of his contemporaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThou grievest where no grief should be. Thou speakest words lacking wisdom. For the wise in heart mourn not for souls that live, nor those that die. Nor I, nor thou, nor any one of these ever was not, nor ever shall not be.\u201d<\/p>\n
And later\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThis life within all living things, my Prince, hides behind harm. Scorn thou to suffer then for that which cannot suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n