History has shown us that wars are fought out of greed, hatred or religious prejudice. It is simply a convenience to think that, ‘God is on our side.’ The idea that ‘God is on our side’ is certainly a comforting thought and has accompanied men into almost every war that we know of since the rise of Abrahamic religions. However, the problem has always been that in all these conflicts both sides assumed the banner of righteousness, declaring, ‘God wills it!’ This is sometimes called the ‘theology of convenience’.
Even today it makes good to stir up the troops to their deaths by declaring that, “God favours our cause.” It is a fact that during these dark periods of history, more people have died, and more innocent people put to death in the name of God, than by any other single unnatural cause. Many people consider despotic political regimes as the ultimate empires of cruelty, but the truth is that religious fanaticism has brought far more unnecessary death to the world than any political system of government.
So what makes the war at Kurukshetra any different than modern wars fought for greed or between religious fanatics? Is it not simply jingoism to say that because Sri Krishna, the Supreme Person, was on the side of the Pandavas that they were correct in destroying their enemies? The difference is that Kurukshetra was not fought because one side had a different religious ideology than the other. Kurukshetra was a fratricidal war – a family feud brought on by human faults: greed for sovereignty, failure in duty, envy, family attachment and falsely identifying the body as the self.
But unlike any other war in history, Kurukshetra would record a profound lesson for the benefit of all future generations. The lesson was taught by Sri Krishna in the form of Bhagavad-gita – a lesson that would enable humanity to overcome its mundane shortcomings, become established in transcendence and attain self-realisation.
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