Yongyi Chen

Religions in Asia

Professor Sherbow

14 February 2017

Should Arjuna fight or not fight?

Arjuna is a part of the Pandavas brothers, who are the five sons of Pandu. Arjuna should

fight because the throne belongs to his brother, Yudhisthira who is Pandus oldest son. Pandu

became king because Dhritarashtra is blind and thus can not directly succeed the throne. Despite

that, Pandu dies when his five sons are young, so Dhritarashtras sons have the kingdom now. So

to set things straight, Arjuna should take back the kingdom from Dhritarashtra and his a hundred

sons because the throne rightfully belongs to Arjunas brother, Yudhisthira. Moreover, Arjuna

should fight for justice even though the army of Prince Duroydhana is bigger than the army of

the Pandavas. As seen in chapter 1 verse 10, the Bhagavad-Gita describes the limited forces of

the the Pandavas and the unlimited forces of Dhritarashtras sons.

Another reason Arjuna should fight is because if he does not, it will be going against his

dharma, which is his sense of duty. The kula-dharma which is the duty of family and it is the

path Arjuna has to realize and take. In addition, the God Krishna was convincing Arjuna to fight.

Krishna is an important figure and he appears when adharma is high and dharma is low and

Krishna knows how important it is for one to follow their dharma no matter what. In chapter 2

verse 2, Krishna says cowardice is shameful and it wont lead one to heaven. Therefore, for

Arjuna to go to heaven, he needs to fight this war even though the odds are against him and his
brothers. To run away from this war is like running away from ones religious duty, which is his

svudharma as seen in chapter 2 verse 3. Moreover, when Arjuna fights against his relatives on

the other side, he is not killing them spiritually. According to Krishna in chapter 2 verse 12,

spirits are always eternal because it will continue to exist in the past and future because they

change into different bodies in their lives. People are reborn after they die, so killing them, does

not mean that they cease to exist. Furthermore, the fighting is socioeconomic because

relationships are just skin deep with relatives and Arjuna is fighting to accomplish his dharma. In

chapter 2 verse 53, when Krishna says Your understanding turns from sacred lore to stand

fixed, then you will reach discipline, the sacred lore refers to the veda and the discipline refers

to how ones buddhi will be realized after one furfills his/her dharma. The idea of controlling

oneself from inside out is important because once a person has attachment, it leads to desire, and

then to anger and anger makes people forget, which causes one to lose their buddhi as seen in

chapter 2 verse 62. Arjuna needs to get rid of his attachment in order to not lose his buddhi and

to follow his dharma.