All belligerents ride and march out to battle and arrange themselves into two massive orders of battle. Duryodhan surveys the good guys’ army and gloats that they have no chance.
Arjun has Krishna take him out to the center of the battlefield, surveys the bad guys’ army, sees his beloved grandsire Bhishma and his beloved teacher Dronacharya.
And then doubt overcomes him. Doubts about the purpose of this war. Why should people die over a piece of land? Doubts about killing. Do all his relatives need to die or suffer bereavement just so a few insults can be avenged? Doubts about what is moral. Is it moral to fight, or to just surrender and live peacefully?
“Should I fight or not? Should I fight or not?”
In Hastinapur, Dhritharashtra is overjoyed. Arjun is the Pandavas’ best warrior, and if he loses the will to fight, no one else will. Dhritharashtra can now convince Duryodhan to just give Yudhistir five villages and return to Hastinapur victorious. Because surely, even Krishna cannot answer Arjun’s doubts, can he?
And Krishna starts reciting the verses which will comprise the Bhagavad Gita.
First, Krishna states that We All Die Someday and that everyone reincarnates, but the soul is eternal. The soul can never be killed. So, there shouldn’t be any worries about death. He states that it is pointless to grieve for those who are gone. He compares birth and death of a body to a person wearing clothes for a period of time, discarding those clothes when they become frayed, and obtaining new clothes.
Arjun asks why then do we form relationships with other people? Why do we love and venerate certain people, if they are just bodies that an intangible soul has chosen to “wear” at the moment. Krishna states that since death is inevitable, all these relationships that we form with other people will die at some point. Likening a body to a season, Krishna states that just as those who are distressed when a season ends, remain mired forever, those who are overcome with grief at the death of a relationship with a person are also stuck forever. And only those who can accept all “seasons” without getting mired in desire can achieve true salvation. Therefore grief is pointless.
Dhritharashtra starts worrying that Krishna is inciting Arjun to wage war by making him unaffected by dynasty and relationships.
Krishna starts talking about a warrior’s duty to fight evil. Because if a warrior does not oppose evil, that warrior’s eternal soul will forever be tarnished by this failure. Even if a warrior dies fighting evil, he will still be venerated for that attempt.
Tropes found here are
- Mexican Standoff: Both armies face each other, waiting to see who attacks first.
- Not Afraid to Die: Krishna states that since death isn’t the end of a soul, we should not be afraid of our own mortality. But more importantly, we shouldn’t dread the prospect of losing the ones dear to us. Because they truly don’t die.
- Pacifist: Arjun starts to become one. Krishna has to talk him out of it.
- Reincarnation: Krishna likens it to a person changing clothes.
- Thicker Than Water: Arjun starts to balk at waging war, because most of his enemies are his family.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Arjun starts thinking this way even before the conflict begins. He starts wondering if he can truly enjoy a kingdom won by the blood of his relatives.
- We All Die Someday: Krishna states that this is the reason why getting mired in grief is pointless.
