Firing Squad

When Krishna addresses Arjuna in the second teaching, he is giving him a pep-talk, telling him that he should go take action in order to protect his morals and his dignity. Krishna lets him know that those he kills will be okay since they will be reborn and their souls will remain intact. However, in the next teachings, Krishna takes a step back and says (colloquially), “But don’t take action too often, make sure that you act in moderation.” What Krishna is attempting to pass along is that action needs to occur from a distance. When he says that action should be detached, he means that action should be taken when necessary instead of needlessly flung about. To me, the summary of Krishna’s argument about detaching yourself from an action came in the 23 verse of the 4th teaching. He says, “When a man is unattached and free,/ his reason deep in knowledge,/ acting only in sacrifice,/ his action is wholly dissolved” (Gita 54). At this comment, I thought of the way firing squads were used for execution. Only one person is ever given a true bullet, the rest are blanks. This way, the men can all feel unattached and free from the man’s death. This is what Krishna is attempting to convey to Arjuna. His actions should be unattached and free, but they should still be made with the proper consideration. In the case of the war, Krishna is trying to make Arjuna understand that war may be right this time, but not necessarily every time and should therefore even though actions should be made from a distance, they should still be thought through first.