Is The Gita a Terrorist Text?

Is The Gita a Terrorist Text?

         In the context of the petition filed in a Russian court of law seeking a ban on the Bhagavadgita, there has been a revival of anti-Gita campaign in India. We have heard earlier the revolutionary Marxists citing the Gita in  defence of their terrorist activities.Followers of other faiths are afraid that their religions are under attack,that their faith will be shaken,and accuse the Gita of preaching war and violence. Believers fear the Gita.Non-believers take refuge in it!And both, for the wrong reasons.

          The Gita does not need a new defence. However it would do to revisit the context in it where the Lord is alleged to have preached war and violence. It is pointed out that Arjuna was unwilling to fight his kinsmen,his teachers,and his elders. The Lord instigated him to this heinous crime of killing even those who are expected to be respected and worshipped. What could be more incendiary than this brazen instigation?

          It is conveniently ignored by those who seek to brand the Gita as a terrorist text that Arjuna rode into the midst of the battle field ready and raring to fight, as he had done on innumerable occasions before. He had never felt sad on taking the lives of countless people. But why this sudden compassion now? It is because they are his 'own' men. That is, he has one code of dharma against the enemies, and quite another when it comes to dealing with one's 'own' men.It is this 'my and mine' that the Lord exhorted Arjuna to fight. It is terror indeed,for it is truly terrifying,and nothing more terrifying than to act against 'my' own people when they are found guilty of the violation of dharma. I dont mind taking lives of 'others' when they violate dharma. 'The law will take its own course', in the case of any one who is not of my family, my caste, my religion, my country, my colour. If he is 'my' man, the rule is different.

          The Lord does say :'fight('yuddhyasva 2.18)But He is not prescribing violence. Arjuna had already come prepared to fight, but was unable to perform what he wanted to perform,unable to do his duty. The Lord is only removing the impediments in his way of performing the deed,in this case his duty.That is to say,when the Lord said ;'fight',the lord is only saying:'Go on.Do what you want to do.Your fears are unfounded. (Yuddhyasva 2.18. Sankara comments 'anuwada  matram, na vidhihi,' 'a restatement, not an injunction').That is to say that Arjuna's grief(vishada) is not that he has to kill,but that he is not able to kill.He has come to the battlefield all geared up to fight and kill.But he finds himself in a situation where his will to kill is paralysed and he is unable to perform what he has come so willingly to perform.It is this moral paralysis that the Lord has addressed.He is only removing the blocks in Arjuna's performance of what he thinks is his duty,dharma. The  Lord is not telling Arjuna to fight.He is only telling him that his reasons for not fighting are not the right reasons.  If Arjuna would throw away his bow and take a bowl and go begging in the true spirit of a sannyasi, the Lord would have said: 'Godspeed'. At the end of the Gita the Lord did say:'Think well and do what you will'. He did not say “Do what I say. Or, look here. A whip in my hand!' How many religious texts offer such freedom of choice?In another context the Lord says:'Remember me and fight' (mamanusmara yuddhya ca 8.7) That is to say:'Carry God in your heart ,and fight'. Many 'holy' wars, and most wars have been 'holy', have been fought with God on the lips. For, there is no place for God in the heart'.

          Coming back to the topic of violence, how many wars have been fought in the world in the name of the Gita? And how many in the name of  religions that were founded much,much later to the period of the Gita?In the very short period of their history they have waged the longest wars, and the bloodiest.And they are still at war.

          The truth is that there are no holy wars.All wars have been fought for unholy causes,using religion as cover.They have always had a hidden agenda.And not so hidden.Every religion preaches war to defend itself.No religion preaches war to offend other faiths.

              War and violence are an integral ingredient of life.God has not prescribed them.Nor can God stop a war.Lord Krishna did his best to prevent the epic Mahabharata war.He failed.Men will fight ,religion or no religion.And no state can do without the  best means of war.And no one, be he the chief of the army or a common soldier,ever refuse to fight when he is called upon to do his duty.War is an in-built constituent of a social structure.You cant wish it away.The Gita preaches this sense of duty.And no religion,no state, can defend the abdication of one's duty,be it to fight a war or work in a factory.It preaches that everyone should scrupulously follow one's own religion.It says :'Fail in youir faith.It is better than success in another faith.'(3.35.)The Gita is speaking here not of any particular faith,but what it says applies to all faiths.If you abandon your faith and embrace another's you are sure to perish. It is so in the case either of one's social duty or religious faith.         

             The holy texts are for those who believe, not for those who dont. That is why the Lord says that the Gita should never be taught to those who have no faith. Schopenhauer said :'When an ass looks into a mirror, you cant expect an angel to look out'. When a hateful face looks into a mirror, you cant expect a prophet of love and peace to look out.

          The Gita is not a religious text in the sense the Holy books of many religions are.The Gita's message is to transcend all religions(sarvadharman parityajya.18.66. ).The Gita does not give a religion nor ask anyone to give up their religion.A person of any religion can receive and act on the message of the Gita.And the message is to act with cosmic awareness,act not for personal gain but for the cosmic harmony.