The Bhagavad-Gita: A study of Krishna's Threes

Essay by AKAaronCollege, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

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Throughout the Bhagavad-Gita Arjuna the warrior grapples with the ideas of what is Good and what is Evil. Bringing up several sensible arguments against war Krishna simply laughs and answers his doubts with ultimately five counter arguments. The first of Krishna's responses is the most fundamental and is the philosophical argument. The philosophical argument is the idea that nothing in the world is real and that all is in a temporary state of being, everything except the Self. The Self is untouchable and unable to be contaminated which is why, Krishna argues, Arjuna shouldn't worry about his own Self being dirtied by the act of killing. The next case is the argument of the Arjuna's varna and asrama, the svadharma argument. Simply put, Arjuna shouldn't worry about killing someone or about the war because it is his duty in life to fight and to kill. One of the more absolute of Krishna's answers, it displays the solidarity of the caste system in the Indian religion.

The next response given by Krishna is the idea of Karma-Yogi and that Arjuna should act as being wholly indifferent of his actions. This is a major goal in the Hindu religion as it is almost impossible to attain and is thus more often referred to as "holy indifference." If Arjuna can act with detached action then he will have achieved a major goal in life and can actually gain something about life from the war he is about to wage. The fourth major argument I found is that of Arjuna's Faith. In this response Krishna informs Arjuna that there is nothing done in the world that is not without the permission of the Lord. This point is made to help Arjuna gain the ability to act indifferently to his actions, as it...