// The attitude of Arjuna comes from a rising of the last doubts of the Karmayogin. There are many who, perplexed by world-problems, the problem of suffering and pleasure, the problem of sin and virtue, declare an escape or flight as the only pathway to the good, and proclaim the virtues of an ascetic withdrawal from life, vairāgya and the renunciation of works.
Lord Buddha has taught that the world is impermanent and full of suffering, and has shown the way to attaining Nirvana. Others like Jesus and Tolstoy have been staunchly opposed to war which has been the ancient law of the world and to the system of marriage which maintains the continuity of humankind. The ascetics say, work itself is the product of ignorance, reject ignorance, reject all work, be quiet and actionless. The Advaitin says, the world is false, utterly false, merge yourself in Brahman.
Then why this world? Why this life? If God exists, then why does He undertake this useless meaningless labour like that of an immature boy? Why did He start this arid joke? If the Self alone exists, if the world is nothing but an illusion, why again does this Self impose this ugly dream on its pure existence?
The atheist says, there is neither God nor Self, there is only the blind action of a blind force. But what kind of view is that? Whose is this force, from where is it born, and why again is it blind and insane?
No one has been able to give a satisfactory answer to these questions, neither the Christian nor the Buddhist, nor the Advaitin, the atheist or scientist. All are silent on these points and are at the same time eager to shirk the issue by evading the question.
Only the Upanishads and the Gita following their line have been unwilling to shirk the issue in this way. That is why the Gita has been chanted during the war of Kurukshetra. Acts terribly worldly—the killing of one's teachers and brothers and kin—these were the objects of the war. At the commencement of that war which destroyed thousands of creatures, Arjuna throws away the divine bow from his hands knowing not what to do, says in a pitiable tone:
tatkiṃ karmaṇi ghore māṃ niyojayasi keśava (Gita 3. 01)
"Then why do you engage me in this terrible work?" In answer there arises, amidst the din of battle, in tones of thunder, the mighty song uttered by the mouth of God:
kuru karmaiva tasmāttvaṃ pūrvaiḥ pūrvataraṃ kṛtam (4. 15)
yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya (2. 48)
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte
tasmādyogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam (2. 50)
asakto hyācarankarma paramāpnoti pūruṣaḥ (3. 19)
mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi saṃnyasyādhyātmacetasā
nirāśīrnirmamo bhūtvā yudhyasva vigatajvaraḥ (3. 30)
gatasaṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthitacetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṃ pravilīyate (4. 23)
ajñānenāvṛtaṃ jñānaṃ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ (5. 15)
bhoktāraṃ yajñatapasāṃ sarvalokamaheśvaram
suhṛdaṃ sarvabhūtānāṃ jñātvā māṃ śāntimṛcchati (5. 29)
mayā hatāṃstvaṃ jahi māvyathiṣṭhā
yudhyasva jetāsi raṇe sapatnān (11. 34)
yasya nāhaṃkṛto bhāvo buddhiryasya na lipyate
hatvā'pi sa imāṃl lokān na hanti na nibadhyate (18. 17)
"Therefore you go on doing works; the kind of work your ancestors have been doing, that work you too have to perform.... Do works in a state of union with the Divine, by giving up attachment.... He whose will and intelligence are fixed in yoga passes beyond virtue and sin in the field of work itself. Therefore strive for the yoga, yoga is the best means to work.... If a man works in a spirit of detachment, he will certainly find God.... With a heart filled with knowledge, entrust to Me all your works; get rid of sorrow by giving up desire and by rejecting egoism; enter the fray.... He who has no attachments left and is free, whose mind lives always in knowledge, he who does works for the sake of sacrifice, all the works of such a man instead of being a cause of bondage at once get completely dissolved in Me.... The knowledge that lies hidden within all creatures is covered up by ignorance. That is why they fall into delusion by creating the dualities like joy and sorrow, sin and virtue.... A supreme peace can be obtained by knowing Me as the Lord of all the worlds, the enjoyer of all kinds of works like sacrifice and askesis, and the friend and beloved of all beings.... It is I who have killed your enemies, you destroy them as a mere instrument, do not grieve; get into the fight, you will conquer the adversary in war.... He who has an inner being free from egoism, whose will and intelligence remain unattached even if he destroys the whole world, still he does not kill, does not undergo any bondage of sin..."
There is no sign here of an evasion of the question, of shirking the issue. The issue has been set forth in clear terms.
What is God, what is the world, what is life, what is the way to right living? These questions have been answered by the Gita in brief. And yet the Gita's aim is not to teach asceticism but to teach the way of works. Herein lies the universal utility of the Gita.//
Sri Aurobindo - An Introduction to the Gita [His Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit, translations.by others]