October 12, 2011

How to Behave

           Krishna guilt trips Arjuna into entering a battle by using the caste system as his double-edged sword. Krishna begins by lecturing on the cycle of life- that everything that lives, death is certain and to everything that dies, life is certain. According to the circle of life, Arjuna shouldn't worry about the battle; he should especially abstain from pondering about what the outcome of the battle will be. Instead, he should charge into the battle with a feeling of detachment: live and die without a care about the battle. If he does decide to turn his back on the battle, Krishna notes that not only would he be betraying himself and his duties, but his family and his fellow soldiers. Ah, the weight of tainting his family name fully crushing down on his poor shoulders. Krishna doesn't make things any better as he goes on saying: "so basically, you should go into battle and forget that today could be your last day... but don't worry, if you die it's better for you anyways".
          Confucius would look upon this and praise how this is a pure example of li. He would side with Krishna and urge Arjuna to fulfill his role by supporting his people and rushing into battle. Following Krishna's advice would uphold Confucius's belief that people should respect and follow their superiors. But Confucius would frown upon all the talk about death and life and reincarnation. He would think that they were wasting too much time discussing religion. "Heaven and reincarnation are too big of ideas for mere humans to ponder upon", he would say.
           Krishna's earnest urges are parallel to Zarathustra's teachings in which he is describing a rewards system where if Arjuna does the right thing, go to battle, he will be rewarded with heaven but if he does not then his bad deeds will be rewarded with bad things. So I suppose that both Krishna and Zarathustra advocate the idea of karma. Along with the idea of a heaven and hell, the Bhagavad Gita has more similarities to Zarathustra's teachings than those of Confucius. 

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