The rest of the text deals with matters that pertain to more pressing theological concerns on the battlefield. The stated purpose of the text, namely convincing Arjuna to fight against his cousins, in what could ostensibly only be a matter of doubt about the ethicality of a war against one’s own family, is to put to rest and is no longer the focal point, the refrain of the text. The following analysis of the Gita is arranged thematically, starting with Knowledge, proceeding to Lawlessness, and finally considering Duty.
However, before I embark upon this analysis, permit me a few words about the message of moderation. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defines moral virtue as the mean between ‘excess’ and ‘defect’ (II.6, 1106b23–27). Here, too, moral virtue is defined along those lines, particularly in 6:17. The discussion takes place in light of an exhortation to know the Self (distinct from the individual self), the ultimate Self, atman; but the way to do this is not to renounce the world. Arjuna is told, “But those who are temperate … will come to the end of sorrow” (6:17). The focus here is on temperance, in “eating and sleeping, work and recreation” (6:17), not on renunciation and monastic life. Moral virtue is possible and attainable in the vita coactiva. The text is an exhortation to know the Self, not to abandon society and its mores, whatever they may be; it is an exhortation to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not because one is attached to the results of such deeds. It is not a call to monastic life of the Buddhist sort that removes vitality from society by imposing an austere penance upon it, but rather provides the middle path as the way to follow.
Continue reading “The Middle Path: Notes on Books 5–18 of the Gita” →