Chapter 1, Verses 38-39
yady-apyete na paśyanti
lobhopahata cetasaḥ
kula-kṣaya-kṛtam doṣaṁ
mitra-drohe ca pātakam
kathaṁ na jñeyam asmābhiḥ
pāpād asmān nivartitum
kula-kṣaya-kṛtaṁ doṣaṁ
prapaśyadbhir janārdana
Although these, with a consciousness clouded with greed, see no guilt in
the destruction of the family, no crime in hostility to friends, why should we
not have the wisdom to recoil from such a sin, O Janardana, we who see the evil in the destruction of the family?
Here again, Arjuna addresses Krishna as Janardana, the killer of evil people. Arjuna says, “We who see the evil in the destruction of the family.” Arjuna sees that such evil action by Duryodhan and his friends is most reprehensible, but that it is not unnatural for them, because their greed has fully destroyed their power of discrimination. They
can’t discriminate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’. They don’t have any feeling: they don’t have any family-oriented feeling; they don’t know how to do good for others.
Duryodhan was always and only concerned about himself and nobody else. He used the people around him for personal gain. Even Duryodhan’s counsellors couldn’t see the great evil which this war would create for themselves, for their own families, for the race. If one is just concerned about personal gain for oneself in a very
egoistic, greedy and arrogant way, one can’t even think of his mother, of his father or anyone – only of himself. Even if this war would bring complete destruction to the race and great sin to themselves, they didn’t care.
Arjuna and his brothers are not blinded by greed. There is no presence of greed in Arjuna. He is not doing this for personal gain. If he will fight, he will fight to serve the Kauravas! He says, “I want to serve these people: there is Bhishma, the grandsire, Dronacharya is my teacher, Kripacharya is my teacher. We should worship them.”
Arjuna is saying that everything we do is for the sake of serving others. A mother serves her child. Even if the mother sees it as a duty, it is serving. Also when you work, you are serving someone. There is service from the beginning to the end, because life itself is service. Then you learn that you have to serve a greater cause. You have to
serve to attain the Grace of God, to attain the Grace of Krishna, to attain the Grace of Narayana. Otherwise service is fruitless. Arjuna continues, “They are blind, they can’t see. But we can clearly see the evil and the disaster which this war will bring to the family and the race. That’s why I don’t want to fight.”
Bhagavad Gita
