Brian Ghilliotti: Gateway Community College: Philosophy 111: Term Paper

1. Brian Ghilliotti
Philosophy 111
Term Paper
May 4, 2019
The backdrop of Arjuna’s Dilemma, described in the ancient Hindu text Bhagavad Gita,
consists of a dynastic battle between two sets of cousins over the rulership of an ancient
kingdom in India. Known in legend as the Battle of Kurukshetra, the two opposing forces were
led by Arjuna and his five brothers and his rival Duryodhana with his brothers. During an
attempt to find a negotiated settlement of the fighting, Arjuna was able to secure the personal
protection of Krishna, who was a major deity within the pantheon of Hindu gods.
The negotiations broke down, and both factions decided to resolve it on the battlefield.
Arjuna asked Krishna if he could be his charioteer in battle. At the beginning of the battle,
Krishna drove Arjuna’s chariot into the space between the opposing armies in order to give
Arjuna an opportunity to estimate the strength of his rival. It was at this point that Arjuna began
noticing many family members and former teachers in the opposite ranks. Arjuna began to
have second thoughts. He was unable to bring himself to engage and possible kill family
members in battle. Thus began Arjuna’s Dilemma.
1
Arjuna initially does not express willingness to fight. As Arjuna was quoted in the
Bhagavad Gita as saying,“My limbs fail and my mouth becomes dry... the bow slips from my
hand.” He then turned to Krishna for guidance: “O Krishna, this is a great sin to kill our own
people.”
2
Krishna responded by urging Arjuna to fulfill his destiny. He first tried to make the
argument that no one really dies, just the physical form of a person dies, with the soul being
Unknown Author. “The Heart of Hinduism.” Iskon Educational Services. 1
iskconeducationalservices.org. Last viewed: 6 May 2019.
https://iskconeducationalservices.org/HoH/further-information-and-teaching-
resources-primary/dharma-stories-further-information-and-teaching-resources-
primary/t-arjunas-dilemma-on-the-battlefield-dilemmas/
Cuomo, Douglas J. “Arjuna’s Dilema: Synopsis”. http://www.douglasjcuomo.com
2
Last viewed: 6 May 2019. http://www.douglasjcuomo.com/ADnotes.html

2. indestructible. Krishna essentially argues that Arjuna will not really be “killing” anyone by
“killing” their bodies. The researcher finds this line of reasoning a little strange. In this case, if3
we are to accept Krishna’s reasoning, it would be a way to exonerate the actions of murders up
to this very day. It could argued that murderers only harmed their victim’s body, and the victim’s
soul was “unharmed”. In reality however, the loved ones of the murder victim are not going to
find much solace in this argument. In either case, the victim who was murdered probably went
through considerable suffering before they died. Suffering is never justified, neither is
premature death.
Arjuna was apparently also unconvinced, as Krishna needed to make additional
arguments to motivate him to fight. Krishna argued that Arjuna must fulfill his socio-religious
class dharma. In Hindiusm, society is divided along religiously defined social classes called
castes, hereditary in nature, and individuals born into these castes must fulfill a purpose, or
destiny, associated with this caste. This destiny is called a dharma. 4
The researcher finds this argument unconvincing as well. It is the researcher’s view that
all human’s have free will, and should not believe in some general social construction that
keeps groups of people confined to only specific roles in society and life. The researcher can
only be convinced that this would be acceptable if there was a scientific basis for this
circumstance, derived from the scientific method.
For example, if there is a biological reason governing these differences behind
specialization limitations, such as in ant colonies , the researcher could accept this argument.5
However, humans are not ants, and by their very nature were not meant to be confined to
specific pre-determined social roles in life defined by hereditarily based social structures.
Jones, Richard H. Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions. Lexington Books, 3
Oxford, UK, 2004. Page 126.
Unknown author. “Dharma (Hinduism)” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
4
Georgetown University. Last viewed: May 6, 2019.
https:/berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/dharma-hinduism
Imster, Eleanor. “What Makes Giant Solider Ants?” EarthSky. EarthSky.com Last viewed: May 5
6, 2014. Published: October 18, 2018. https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-giant-
soldier-worker-ants

3. Krishna seems to focus on the socio-religious class dharma argument, and suggests
that if Arjuna, who is part of the warrior caste, does not fulfill pre-determined destinies related
to his caste dharma, he would be guilty of even bigger sins than what Arjuna will be guilty of for
murdering family members in battle. He also makes the argument that he is carrying out
purposes that Arjuna does not understand. In this case, by taking lead in this battle, Arjuna
would supposedly initiate a needed culling of the warrior caste, which was supposedly too big
and in a general trend of spiritual decline.
6
Again, the researcher finds this line of reasoning both fascinating and fallacious. If this
was true, and if these social castes really did exist by means of scientific natural
differentiation , could Hitler have used twisted versions of this argument to justify his targeting
of “undesirable” groups? Hitler probably would have loved to hear this argument from Krishna,
giving him the ultimate propaganda boost he needed to justify his “Final Solution.” However,
mass extermination of any group, based on a natural process ( for example, we must get rid of
‘soldier ants’ since they are now useless as ants have no natural predators, as a hypothetical
example) or a social artificial construction, is wrong.
Arjuna was understandably still unconvinced. At this point he was considering
withdrawing from the Hindu social order and planned to become the equivalent of a monk. So
Krishna made the argument that if one pursues their caste dharma without any personal
motives for gain or fame in the process, essentially separating hostile action from personal
motive, one will not gain “bad karma” in the act.
7
The researcher finds this to be the ultimate psychopathic argument. All suffering is
justified, and personal culpability is exonerated, if it somehow fulfills some higher purpose
(defined by whom?). People’s reactions, sufferings, and the secondary order impacts of these
reactions and sufferings are merely consequences along a trail where the ends justify the
means. The researcher wonders why, if Krishna had God like powers, couldn’t he accomplish
Jones, Richard H. Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions. Page 126.6
Deming, Will. Understanding the Religious of the World. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. West Wessex,7
UK, 2015. Page 25.

4. this need to re-engineer a warrior heavy society by a non-violent process? Did Krishna need to
do this quickly? But again, if Krishna was a God, certainly this could have been done quickly
and non-violently. Perhaps his goal was also population control besides caste control?
If Krishna was wise, he would ask why this over population problem happened in the
first case. Perhaps it was a reaction of individual humans in extreme poverty environments,
where they seek to make their families large as a means of seeking local, short-term survival
advantage? Perhaps Krishna would have realized that this extreme poverty could have been
the result of the social injustices that this socio-religious caste system could generate by those
who want to abuse their positions within this system?
Krishna seems to finally convince Arjuna by intimidation. Arjuna finally picks up his bow
and resume fighting by tying all of this previous arguments with a ying and yan g argument,8
which he rationalizes after Krishna intimidates him by shape shifting into a terrifying form and
warning him that this has already been pre-determined Arjuna is the vehicle for this pre-
determined process.
This is interesting; prior to this point Krishna had been making destiny based arguments
for Arjuna. Arjuna was destined to be on this battlefield, how he got there was his own path to
take. However, at this particular moment, Krishna suggests he is being made to fight in this
battlefield. This sounds more like pre-determinism vs pre-destiny. This is a common theme9
found in many traditions of ancient literature. The most familiar example of this theme can be
found the Hebrew Bible, where Jonah tries to resist his destiny to become a prophet against
the city of Nineveh, only to be cast overboard from his ship in a storm. He was allegedly saved
by a whale, to be returned to his homeland to carry out God’s will.
The researcher feels that Arjuna’s “understanding” that evil and good are all part of
God, and that essentially all evil has some inherent good and all good has inherent some evil, is
Deming, Will. Understanding the Religious of the World. Page 25.8
Jones, Richard H. Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions. Page 126.9

5. a rationalization he made to proceed into battle after being essentially intimidated into doing so
by Krishna.
This rationalization, in the researchers opinion, is the only argument that really makes
any sense, and it was generated by the mortal Arjuna, not the deity Krishna. This idea is
extensively developed in Chinese Taoism. The Buddhists have been known to ridicule this
story, as they feel that it seems to justify suffering and death. Even if the soul is indestructible,
they maintain that suffering and its secondary effects are never justified (a view shared by the
researcher).
However, some analysts look at this story in a less complex way. They argue that it is
easy to confuse the battle that Arjuna faces as a literal battle when in fact it is a symbolic
battle. They maintain that the battle Arjuna faced was really meant to symbolize a spiritual
battle, and not a literal battle, where he could potentially alienate himself from his friends and
family, symbolically “killing” them.
10
Interestingly, there are similar themes found in the Bible. In Luke 12:49-53, Jesus
recognizes that the people who adhere to his ministry will find themselves in potential conflict
with their own families, and may have to be prepared to sacrifice their support if they want to
continue embracing his ministry. In Revelation 10:9-11, we see a similar theme, where John
the Revelator receives and the scroll, which is symbolic of “knowing God”.
Though he finds it sweet tasting, there is some suffering as a consequence of his
knowledge of God, symbolized by a feeling of sourness in his stomach. This suffering is partly
the alienation from society that this knowledge will bring. As the saying goes, once you grow a
third eye, you cannot close it.
This possibly symbolizes that he will find himself at odds with society again, like Jonah
or Arjuna. In the very next line, the angel who gave John the Revelator promises that he will
end up prophesying “again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” We see
Tripathy, Diptiranjan. “What is a dilemma of Arjuna?” quora.com. October 31, 2017. Last 10
viewed: May 6, 2019. https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-dilemma-of-Arjuna

6. similar themes of scroll eating in the Book of Ezekiel (3:1) and the Book of Jerimiah (15:16), and
in these cases they are in a position similar to Arjuna. They can chose to rebel against a pre-
destiny determined by a higher power, like Arjuna and Jonah tried, or they can rebel against the
society that they have been directed to prophesy against, or come into spiritual conflict with.
In Arjuna’s case, this could even lead to complete alienation from their close family and
friends. If we accept the spiritual battle interpretation of Arjuna’s Dilemma (vs the literal
interpretation), Krishna was a very demanding mentor. It is not surprising why “prophets of
doom” in religious literature have usually been depicted as isolated loners within the society
that they have been asked to make warnings against.

7. Sources
1. Cuomo, Douglas J. “Arjuna’s Dilema: Synopsis”. http://www.douglasjcuomo.com
Last viewed: 6 May 2019. http://www.douglasjcuomo.com/ADnotes.html
2. Deming, Will. Understanding the Religious of the World. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. West
Wessex, UK, 2015. Page 25.
3.Imster, Eleanor. “What Makes Giant Solider Ants?” EarthSky. EarthSky.com Last viewed: May
6, 2014. Published: October 18, 2018. https://earthsky.org/earth/what-makes-giant-
soldier-worker-ants
4. Jones, Richard H. Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions. Lexington Books,
Oxford, UK, 2004. Page 126.
5. Tripathy, Diptiranjan. “What is a dilemma of Arjuna?” quora.com. October 31, 2017. Last
viewed: May 6, 2019. https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-dilemma-of-Arjuna
6. Unknown Author. “The Heart of Hinduism.” Iskon Educational Services.
iskconeducationalservices.org. Last viewed: 6 May 2019.
https://iskconeducationalservices.org/HoH/further-information-and-teaching-
resources-primary/dharma-stories-further-information-and-teaching-resources-
primary/t-arjunas-dilemma-on-the-battlefield-dilemmas/
7. Unknown author. “Dharma (Hinduism)” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
Georgetown University. Last viewed: May 6, 2019.
https:/berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/dharma-hinduism
8. Bhagavad Gita
9. Holy Bible, New International Version