Bhagavagd Gita - Session 1 - Track 110

Let us come to this question as to how India developed its own society, based upon the perception that war is a fact, you cannot avoid it, but ultimately you have to arrive at the situation where war can be eliminated altogether: if Divine is Satchitananda, manifestation ultimately must be Satchitananda. There, war cannot have any place. Satchitananda would have only the garden of delight; war would not be the fact; pain would not be the fact; death would not be the fact. On the one hand realise that this is the present fact, but work in such a way that these facts can be removed, can be eliminated.

How to create a society of that kind? Very wisely the human society, which was concepted, decided that ‘all people should not be engaged in war’; war is a fact, but let not everybody be engaged in war. It is true that people will be engaged in war because war is a fact, but at least let not people be obliged to participate in an armed war. That people won’t fight, you cannot avoid fighting, this is a fact of life, but let not everybody be required to participate in a war which is fought by arms. Only one portion of society may be assigned the task, and who? Only those who by nature are capable, brave, courageous, fighters, who are even violent in their nature; let these people be identified and let them be assigned the task that whenever the war takes the form of armed war, then, you kindly join this war.

And fight for what purpose? Indian society made a tremendous kind of concession and also a kind of a restriction. You should fight ‘only’ when you think that you are to fight for Dharma. Your idea of Dharma may be wrong but on your side you must be sure that you are fighting only for the preservation of the Dharma, otherwise don’t fight, don’t take to arms. Tremendous restriction was put upon war, fight only when you have to protect somebody else. Self-defence of course is required but that should not be the only purpose of your fight: basic purpose must be to support the weak, the oppressed and to protect them. Only when such an occasion arises then you come into the armed conflict.

Even when you fight, do not creat such enmity between the two camps that you cannot even visit each other. The war must end at the end of the day: it was also the rule of law, at the sunset the war comes to an end, and you can even visit your friends or enemies in the other camps; there is nothing like a surprise war, like bombardment suddenly coming up on you, that was not Indian idea of civilisation; that even if you fight you must fight in a very civilised manner. Become as civilised as possible. You cannot avoid war that is a fact, but make such design of war that only those who are really powerful, those who are really developed, only they will win. It will not be the law of wilderness or vile law in which only ‘the might is right’. The ‘right’ also has to have a great consideration in the movement of ‘might’.

It did not only ‘prescribed’; it is also said, “Others shall not take part in the war”. Those who are in charge of teaching, those who are Brahmins, those who are Vaishyas, those who are Sudras, they shall not take part in the war.