The Gita’s Ethics (A Critical Study)
by Arpita Chakraborty | 2017 | 59,351 words
This essay studies the Ethical Teachings of the Gita, as presented in the Mahabharata in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. Ancient Indian ethics as evolved from the Vedas developed through the Upanisads, the Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana and finally reached the Dharma-Shastras such as the Manusmriti. As the means to liberation, the e...
1. Pre-suppositions of the Gita’s Ethics
The Gita is basically a book of human conduct. Theory of human conduct is related to ethics. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality -that is, concepts such as good and bad, noble and ignoble, right and wrong, justice and virtue. The Gita emphasizes ethical codes of conduct and behaviour for the attainment of highest good. The main purpose of the Gita is to solve the problems of life and stimulate right conduct. In that sense, it is obviously an ethical treatise. Actually the battle field of Kurushetra is not confined to that particular geographical spot. It is human life -every one’s life. Human nature in its totality is taken into consideration by the Gita through Krishna. In this world each one of us is an Arjuna facing the same predicament, the same dilemma, and the Gita seems to teach us how to face the situation. The Gita teaches us not to refrain from our duty, but to do our duty with courage.
As the story of the the Gita goes, Arjuna when saw his near and dear ones as his opponent in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he felt so dejected that he wanted to throw his bow and arrows, retire to the forest and become a recluse. Arjuna asked Krishna whether he should fight or not. Krishna who had anticipated himself as his charioteer saw Arjuna’s mental and moral condition and tried to persuade him to fight by teaching him the truth about the world, man, and ethics and finally. Thus it seems that Gita’s ethics is the ethics of action. Krishna narrates ethical principles to Arjuna to convince him to take part in the battle. Krishna advised Arjuna to fight without passion or ill will, without anger or attachment. Krishna declared that if such a frame of mind developed violence does not remain violence. We must fight against what is wrong without attachment; if we allow ourselves to hate, that ensures our spiritual defeat.
Ethics of the Gita, when analyzed, seems to take certain principles as axiomatic. The Gita does not spell out explicitly, but it bases its ethical theory, like most Indian philosophies, on the theories of Law of karma and Transmigration of soul. Freedom of will has to be assumed if any ethical theory’s claims to provide way for man’s conduct are to be taken seriously and the Gita is found to be no exception. But this chapter is an attempt to show that the three pre-suppositions and then to examine them.