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fauji


				

				

				

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fauji


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				

				
				
				

				

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				For less capable people He wrote the Mahābhārata
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Maybe it is just a metaphor, but for my western brain that this is presented as virtuous/moral is very alien and even evil.




To provide more context, the war was the result of succession crisis. Both Yudhishthira(Arjuna's brother) and Duryodhana had a solid claim to the throne and both group of cousins had a rivilary dating back to their childhood. To avoid a civil war the kingdom was divided among them(after seeing Duryodhana's willingness to try baltantly assassinate the cousins). After the division, Duyodhana still unable to let go of his jealousy insitigates plots to take the divided kingdom wholly for himself, triggerring an inevitable War. Now in this war everyone on the subcontinent is forced to choose a side.


Arjuna here is more than willing to kill the evil cousins that took quite unjustly the kingdom of his brother. But when he comes to the battlefield he not only sees his cousin but also people he cares about, his grandfather, mentor, teachers, students, close friends who due to bad circumstances, misplaced loyalty, bound by their words side with his cousins.


That's where his dilemma comes from. He has to fight and possibly kill people he cares about and he asks what the fucking point of the war. He is willing to let his cousin have the kingdom if he is so fucking desperate for it that he would rather have the kingdom burn than let them have even a sliver of land(a compromise of just 5 villages was proposed in the negotitation to stop the war, but duryodhana rejected it saying this). He feels it is better for him to live destitude than to kill the very people he feels compelled to protect, after all "Ahimsa parmo dharma"(non-violence is the highest duty, which is often repeated in the Mahabharata)


Krishna's opinion is simply that, he is foolish to choose that. Like the people in front of him have chosen to fight him for their own reasons, he also has his Dharma(duty). Not only to the people who he has sworn to protect but for the principle of dharma(justice and fairness). The reason for this war is not limited to Duryodhana's envious desire to not let them have anything but is a result of larger malaise in the society to be subservient to their desire(which is shown repetedly through the story as it goes back 6 generations) at the cost of their Dharma(duty).


Krishna's asks Arjuna to trascend that and act according to Dharma regardless of his desires. He tell him to fight because 1. He is a soldier and it is his duty to fight, and Fate, not Arjuna will determine who lives and who dies, and he should neither mourn nor rejoice over what fate has in store but should be sublimely unattached to such results. This dispassionate action devoid of attachment to the result is what is advocated, fighting the war is just the action what is his Dharma in that context.


It is difficult to convey fully the context because I am missing so much, the whole story is like 200k to 100k verse poem. Adding to that words Dharma which are difficult to fully translate in english


I would highly recommend this paper regarding th Gita
https://ia802907.us.archive.org/8/items/gitaandoppenheimer/Gita%20and%20Oppenheimer_text.pdf


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				For less capable people He wrote the Mahābhārata
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would highly recommend that you give "Yoga Vashishtha" also a try(especially one translated by swami venkatesananda). It hammers home the same point as Bhagvad Gita but mixes a little intellectualism in the story based format that is common in Hindu texts. A lot of hindu texts and this one in particular point to a panpsychist metaphysics so its intellectualism is in support of that thesis, but overall its one of my best reads after Gita.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's quite clear that tariffs were introduced by Trump admin to address trade deficits rather than to reduce the other countries tariffs. This means that the biggest risk to US according to Trump administration is creation of a new reserve currency or rather a group of currencies(Like BRICS) that replaces the US dollar and triggers a balance of payment crisis in the US over both its trade and budget deficit. This also means that Trump Admin views creation of such entity as inevitable. US's earlier moves to consolidate dollar's position in international trade via threats also point to the same.


Now that has been said, what's the endgame? This is by any measure a ballsy move since the associated risks with these move. Inflation all over the world being one. Pushing Europe towards China being second. And a consolidation of anti-America alliances being third.


On the flip side, there is no guarantee that USA would lower its tariff just because you lower yours, especially for economies with higher spending power with protectionist measures like Europe. For the world the lesson remains the same as the one in cold war, being the enemy of US is dangerous and being an ally of US is fatal.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Now this is a wild theory, but how about a quid pro quo between Macron and Le Pen. Macron takes care of the accusation so that Le Pen is cleared and NF supports the amendment for increasing the presidential term limits.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of March 31, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If the establishment's goal was to prevent the rise of Right in France(and more importantly Europe) then conviction of Le Pen and removal of her candidature on such shaky ground was clearly a bad move and will definitely come back to bite them one way or the other. On a short term basis yes this removes a long standing thorn on their side by the name of Le Penn and energizes the left leaning base with that sweet sweet nectar of schadenfreude, it does nothing but push away the patient fence sitter mulling which side they should take. Even worse it gives the Right all over Europe an agenda to rally around and a martyr to celebrate. How will the left, positioning itself to be fairer, more democratic and incapable of abusing sacred institutional machinery(positioning not related to actual behaviour)  deny comparison to Erdogan's similar disqualification of his own rival using state machinery. Saul Alinsky in his influential book Rules for Radicals laid down the rule "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.", and it certainly seems that the opposition painting the Left violating their own values for political gains will reduce their power. Add in to that the fact the Gaullist positions have recently been vindicated does will also contribute to the rising Right in France.That being said it remains to be seen how the Le Pen and her allies play this situation out.