Arjuna’s Presentiment of Bad Consequence of the Civil War in the Essay Bhagavad-Gita

The essay Bhagavad-Gita tells about the dilemma of duty which the character tries to solve for he does not want to kill his friends and relatives to get the throne. This character, Arjuna, can not be satisfied with a part of wealth contained in this world as a recompense for killing his relatives. Crying to his friend Arjuna says that he does not agree to kill, even for the riches of the kingdom of three worlds.

Arjuna can also foreknow the bad consequence for such a battle. If all the warriors in the kingdom are killed, it will destroy their families. If the family is ruined then consequence will be that all their laws are also ruined, which will bring the family into lawlessness. In the ruin of a family, its antique laws would be demolished, and when the laws are destroyed, the whole family will be inferior to lawlessness. He also says that when the lawlessness predominates, the women of the family become depraved, and when women are depraved, confusion of the casts appears.

At this point Arjuna seems to be suggesting that the murder of a husband will not only cause the destruction of all the laws of his family but the widow of the killed warrior will have to seek help from another source. The consequence of the war goes much deeper for the archer than just the death of the citizens. This war will not only result in the death of many members of families, it will ruin the society as a whole and make the forefathers of the family fall from heaven. And this confusion will lead the family and those who have ruined it to hell. For the spirit of their forefathers fall, bereft of their gifts of rice and water.