Family vs. War

Two values that the authors of the Gita seem to most care about are presented separately in the two assigned readings of the text. In the first teaching, there is a large emphasis on familial duty. According to Arjuna, to betray friends is a “crime” and family destruction is a “sin” (28). Friends, family, and even teachers, are considered with the greatest honor and care that can be provided. Arjuna continues to expand on the importance of family duty by explaining that “when duty is lost, chaos overwhelms the family” (28). Familial duty is also described as a “constant law” (29), which suggests that without the strict adherence to familial duty than society itself would not be able to function.

In the second teaching, there is a strong emphasis on the duty to sacred war. “The coward is ignoble, shameful, foreign to the ways of heaven” (31). Here, to not battle is considered an affront against the gods, for “nothing is better for a warrior than a battle of sacred duty” (36). However, this duty is in conflict with family duty, for in Arjuna’s situation to follow duty in battle would be to go against his duty to the family. Here, the authors place an emphasis on the permanence of a person (in contrast to the impermanence of Gilgamesh), and use it as reasoning that Arjuna would not be killing his family for the soul does not begin, nor does it end. The permanence of the soul itself allows for the two duties towards family and towards war, when appropriate, to coexist.