The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita - 6.4. : Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, March 05,  2023. 07:00.

Chapter 6: The Meaning of Duty -4.

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“So, Arjuna,” says Sri Krishna, “You have a duty towards human society, you have a duty to yourself, you have a duty to the world, you have a duty to the antaratman, the deepest Self within you which pervades the Cosmos.” Human society is based on mutual cooperation. We have what is known as the  varna, which is wrongly translated as ‘caste' in modern times. As it is not caste but a classification of society, a better translation would be ‘class' and not ‘caste'. The classes of society do not imply the category of inferior and superior. They imply, on the other hand, a necessity for cooperation on the part of every unit of this classification. There is a necessity to maintain oneself materially, economically. We know very well the importance of one's economic existence. There is no need of a commentary on this. But what is economic life except production and consumption? So there is a necessity to work for the production of material and economic values for the sake of the consumption thereof, by which human beings sustain themselves materially, physically. We have to work hard for this, it means that.

Now, again, it does not mean that everyone will have to do the same work. The entire mankind would otherwise be concerned only with production of material goods as if there is nothing else of value in life. That is also not true; that would be a wrong interpretation of human history and society. There is an economic interpretation of human history nowadays, which is a misplacement of values. We are not merely bodies, we are not merely food-consumers, we are not just money-holders; we are something more, as we know very well, each one of us.

Apart from this necessity to live in an economic atmosphere so as to produce economic values, we have also the need for protection. The need for organisation and enactment of laws is the need we feel for a government of human society. At least the Contract Theory in political science accepts that the origin of government is in a mutual agreement and contract of people for protection of themselves in a particular manner. We have organised a government; we wanted it and have created it in a particular way for our own welfare. The government exists for the people. This function requires another class of people, apart from these who are the producers of consumable goods.

But, then, we cannot simply produce goods and keep them in a corner. There is a necessity to organise the transference of these economic values. In the beginning it was the barter system that prevailed in economic society; now we have currency, etc. Whatever it is, the principle behind exchange of money or goods implies the necessity for the movement of goods, which requires a third class of society to operate it.

And finally, the most important thing which cannot be missed in our activity towards these obvious visible ends, the most important conditioning factor—the knowledge how to handle things—comes in. Whether it is the handling of administration, whether it is the handling of the atmosphere of production of material goods or the transference of goods, etc., we cannot have power without knowledge. One knows how dangerous it is to be vested with power and strength when one lacks in understanding, or knowledge.

So there are the four classes of people who have been specially endowed with this responsibility of conducting themselves in various levels of human society. Arjuna belonged to one class; and every one of us belongs to some class or other. If we will not perform the duties expected of us in that particular atmosphere or class in which we are placed, we would be derelicts, renegades, selfish persons who exploit people for the benefit of ourselves, and that should not be an example that we can properly set before others. It is a highly objectionable attitude.

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To be continued

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