Chapter 1 – Gita

Jay:I would like to know first how  Lord Krishna and Arjuna happened to talk on the battlefield, Grandma.

Grandma: It came about in this way, Jay.  The war of Mahābhārata was about to begin after peace talks by Lord Krishna and others failed to avoid the war. When the soldiers were gathered on the battlefield, Arjuna asked
Lord Krishna to drive his chariot between the two armies so that he could see those who were ready to fight. Seeing all his relatives, friends, and soldiers on the battlefield and fearing their destruction, he became compassionate.

Jay: What does compassionate mean, Grandma?

Grandma: Compassion does not mean pity, Jay. That would be looking down on others as poor, pitiful creatures. Arjuna was feeling their pain and their unlucky situation as his own. Arjuna was a great warrior, who had fought
many wars and was well prepared for the war, but suddenly his compassion made him not
want to fight. He spoke of the evils of war and
sat down on the seat of his chariot, his mind
full of sorrow. He saw no use in fighting. He
did not know what to do.
Jay: I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t wantto fight either. Why do people fight,
Grandma? Why are there wars?
Grandma: Jay, there are not only wars between
nations, but quarrels between two people,
quarrels between brothers and sisters, between
husband and wife, between friends and
neighbors. The main reason is that people are
not able to let go of their selfish motives and
desires. Most wars are fought for possessionand power. But all problems could be solved
peacefully if people could see both sides of the
problem and work out an agreement. War
should be the last resort. Our holy books say:
One should not commit violence towards anyone.
Unjustified killing is punishable in all circumstances.
Lord Krishna urged Arjuna to
fight for his rights, but not to kill needlessly. It
was his duty as a warrior to fight a declared
war and establish peace and law and order on
earth.
We humans also have wars going inside
all of us. Our negative and positive forces are
always fighting. The negative forces within us
are represented by the Kauravas and the positive
forces by the Pāndavas. The Gita does not
have stories in it to illustrate the teachings, so I
will add some stories from other sources to
help you.
Here is a story about negative and positive
thoughts fighting each other that Lord
Krishna Himself told to Arjuna in Mahābhārata.

1. Mr. Truthful

There once lived a great hermit, who
was famous for telling the truth. He had taken
a vow not to lie and was popularly known as
“Mr. Truthful.” No matter what he said, everyone
believed him because he had earned a
great reputation in the community where he
lived and did his spiritual practices.
One evening, a robber was chasing a
merchant to rob and kill him. The merchant
was running for his life. To escape from the
robber, the merchant ran towards the forest
where the hermit lived outside the village.
The merchant felt very safe because
there was no way the robber could find out
where he was hiding in the jungle. But the
hermit had seen the direction in which the
merchant went.
The robber came to the hermit’s cottage
and paid his respects. The robber knew that
the hermit would tell only the truth and could
be trusted, so he asked him whether he hadseen somebody running away. The hermit
knew that the robber must be looking for
somebody to rob and kill, so he faced a big
problem. If he told the truth, the merchant
would certainly be killed. If he lied, he would
incur the sin of lying and lose his reputation.
Any immoral act that may harm others is
called sin. Ahimsā (nonviolence) and truthfulness
are two most important teachings of all
religions that we must follow. If we have to
choose between these two, which one should
we choose? This is a very difficult choice.
Because of his habit of telling the truth,
the hermit said: “Yes, I saw someone going
that way.” So the robber was able to find the
merchant and kill him. The hermit could have
saved a life by hiding the truth, but he did not
think very carefully and made a wrong decision.
Lord Krishna’s purpose in telling Arjuna
this story was to teach Arjuna that sometimes
we have to choose between a rock and a
hard place. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that the
hermit shared with the robber the sin of killing
a life. The robber could not have found the
merchant if the hermit had not told the truth.
So when two noble principles conflict with
each other, we have to know which one is the
higher principle. Ahimsa has the highest priority,
so the hermit should have lied in this situation
to save a life. One may not tell a truth that
harms a person in any way. It isn’t easy to apply
Dharma (or righteousness) to real life
situations because what is Dharma and what isAdharma (or unrighteousness) can sometimes
be very difficult to decide. In such a situation,
expert advice should be sought.
Lord Krishna gave another example of
a robber coming to a village to rob and kill the
villagers. In this situation, killing the robber
would be an act of nonviolence because killing
one person may save many lives. Lord Krishna
Himself, on several occasions, had to make
such decisions to win the war of Mahābhārata
and put an end to all the evil-doers.
Remember, Jay, do not tell a lie, and donot kill any living being or hurt anybody, but
saving a life comes first.
Chapter 1 summary: Arjuna asked his
charioteer friend, Lord Krishna, to drive his
chariot between the two armies so that he
could see the Pāndava’s army. Arjuna felt
great compassion to see his friends and relatives
on the opposite side, whom he must kill
to win the war. He became confused, spoke of the evils of war, and refused to fight.

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