What is Dharma?
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 2 Verse 31
Verse 2.31 explained
Introduction
Bhagavad Gita is a conversation between Krishna and Arjun. This dialogue begins just before the war of Mahabharata is about to begin. On seeing his family in opposition, Arjun is gripped with fear and confusion and wants to run away, but Krishna convinces him to fight and tells Arjun why he today raise his weapons to kill his brothers and relatives in this war.
Bhagavad Gits teaches us how to live life!
The core message of the Bhagavad Gita is considered very powerful for it can fundamentally transform the way you live your life. Bhagavad Gita is also called a summary of Vendantic Knowledge or simply ancient Knowledge.
Bhagavad Gita is crystallized form of the Hindu thought.
Bhagavad Gita is 700 verses long, spread across 18 chapters. Here we will understand Verse 31 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Verse 2.31
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि |
धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते || 31||
swa-dharmam api chavekshya na vikampitum arhasi
dharmyaddhi yuddhach chhreyo anyat kshatriyasya na vidyate
Translation
You shouldn’t get agitated thinking about your Dharma i.e. duty. For a warrior like you, there is nothing better in existence than to fight a war for upholding Dharma i.e. righteousness
Commentary
Krishna tells Arjun about Dharma.
Dharma is an interesting word. Its meaning differs in different contexts but in general
Dharma means Duty
Dharma in a personal context means “one’s natural Duty”, while Dharma in a social context means “to do what is beneficial for the society”, and Dhrama in a Universal context would mean “laws of Nature”.
Let’s understand this in detail via examples.
Dharma of a Householder
For a man in the modern world, who is a householder, has a wife, and children, and also his old parents, and works in a company, what would be his Dharma?
Well, for such a man, Dharma would mean his Natural Duty. This would mean that the duties is ought to do by virtue of being in his position.
He is a father, so his Dharma is to be a good father and take care of his children. He is a Husband, so his Dharma is to be a good Husband and take care of his wife. He is a son, so his Dharma is to be a good Son and take care of his parents. And, since he is a working professional, his Dharma is to be a good professional by trying to excel at his work. And above all, his Dharma is to take care of himself and strive for a healthy body and mind.
Not only this, he will have other relationships with people, society, and the world which can dictate his additional duties.
He would be a friend, a brother, a mentor, a member of a community, a citizen of a country, and last but not the least, a member of humanity, and a creature amongst billions present on this earth.
Thus his natural duty would be to do whatever is necessary, in his capacity, to fulfill his responsibility.
To simplify, if you are playing for a team in a game of cricket, and you are a batsman, then your duty is to score runs for your team, but it doesn’t end there. You are also a fielder, you are also a team member, you are a Cricket player, you are a sportsman, you are a human being. Thus your additional natural duties stem from these roles.
You can’t say that I have done my batting and now I shall not field. You simply can’t!
You can’t say that I shall not be part of the team strategy, as I am only a batsman!
If someone gets hurt on the field, it is natural that you rush for his help, or at least be concerned. This happens as this is your natural duty, and your mind recognizes this. Helping someone is due to compassion, and compassion is the natural outcome of the most fundamental natural duty of mankind, and that is to Love!
To Love is our Dharma!
Similarly, we have a duty towards this Earth. In this modern world, we now know that our collective actions impact our environment. Global warming is an example. It is not just because of industries. A man who rides a bike and runs an AC is equally contributing towards Global warming. But if we recognize our duty towards mother earth, then we shall act more responsibly. And the change will come naturally in our actions.
Now one can argue that “what if I don’t recognize my duty, what if I am unaware of my Dharma?”.
Well, that is a fair argument. In fact, Dharma is the duty we recognize as our duty and thus assign to ourselves. Only when we recognize and acknowledge it, we can work towards it.
But if we ignore some of the duties, then it is obvious that no work goes in that direction. That is when Karma comes into play. If we don’t consciously work towards something, then we can’t expect to get certain outcomes.
For example, if you don’t water a plant, then in absence of water, it will wither and eventually die. There is an outside chance of it being alive, if it gets water naturally through the rain. But its health wouldn’t be so great. This is evident when you see a pet dog and compare it to a street dog. Pet dogs are in better shape and health, while Street dogs are merely surviving in this world.
When you don’t talk to a friend, then distance creeps in, and gradually the relationship becomes weak. A deep friendship changes into a mere acquaintance held by memories of the past.
So each relationship requires work. That is a universal fact. If the duty is discharged, the manner in which it is discharged will determine the outcomes and quality of that relationship.
So if a natural duty is ignored, whether willfully or due to sheer ignorance, that outcome will not be good. Just like a plant needs sunlight and water to survive and when not given will die, similarly, when Dharma is ignored, it will cause distress, to someone or something, somewhere, at some time in your life.
A man can still declare that he doesn’t consider certain duties as his Dharma and such a man should be ready to bear the consequences.
A man who is married and has children, can’t say that I am not a father, and run away from his house to focus on his own life. Technically he can, and many do, even the most respected like Buddha have done that, but this will cause distress.
How can children grow in the best way possible without their father?
How can a woman be happy and feel complete without a partner?
To exist is possible, but if natural Dharma was followed, then life would have been even more beautiful.
Even the great Gautam Buddha ran away from his house. He was a father and a husband. But he felt that his inner calling was his only Dharma. Years later, his wife and his son accepted him and even respected him, but as a Guru, as a spiritual leader.
Ask his son, and while he will understand why his father did what he did, he will never have a close bond with his father, for his father was never there.
Ask his wife, she respected Buddha as a Guru, but there was no love for him as her lover. Buddha lost that when he left the house.
So while Buddha, addressed his inner calling, and considered that to be his Dharma, his son, and his wife for sure felt the distress that changed their quality of life. Even Buddha in his weakest moments would have felt the pain. And this pain was natural, as he didn’t follow his natural Dharma.
So Krishna is telling Arjun here that he is a warrior and to fight is his Dharma, his natural duty. He is not only a warrior but a leader of the Pandava army. He is not fighting the war not only for power, but he is also fighting this war to suppress evil and establish righteousness.
And it is not that he became a warrior today. He has trained all his life to be a warrior. So that is his natural duty. He can’t thus deny fighting today.
Thus Krishna is telling Arjun that he shouldn’t get bothered by the compassion he is feeling at this moment against taking lives. It is natural for him to feel it, but as a warrior standing on the battlefield his duty, his Dharma is to fight to the best of his abilities, and that too to win!
Krishna tells Arjun, that for a warrior war is a duty, be it any war but there can be nothing better if that war is fought for establishing Dharma in the society, by eliminating evil and making righteousness and rule of law prevail.
The Kauravas didn’t play by the rules and were evil, and their defeat will transfer power to Pandavas who have a better value system and thus will be better rulers. So this war is indeed a great opportunity that serves Arjun’s personal Dharma as a Warrior and also helps him help the larger society by letting better governance and goodness prevail by eliminating the selfish and evil Karuavas.
Thus Krishna argues Arjun shun away all the thoughts and fight, for if he doesn’t it will only cause distress to him and the world at large!
I have translated Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit to English and shall be publishing here verse by verse.
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