Family Duties in Baghavad Gita

In the first teaching of Baghavad Gita they talk about family duties and happiness. Arjuna has to face the dilemma of fighting and going to war against his own family and because of this he decides to ask Krishna for advice. Krishna tells him that family duty is very important and that he shouldn’t take it for granted and that he should not go to war against them.

What joy is there for us, Krishna,
In killing Dhritarashtra´s sons?
Evil will haunt us if we kill them,
Though their bows are drawn to kill.

Honor forbids us to kill
Our cousins, Dhritarashtra´s sons?
How can we know happiness if we kill our own kinsmen? ---pg 28

In this quote we can see how Arjuna does not want to fight against all of the people he loves and does not want to betray them. This is a perfect example of family duty since Arjuna´s duty is to protect his family and not to destroy and kill it. If there are no family values the world would be a complete chaos. If the community loses these values, the balance of everything would be lost and people would go completely crazy. We would live with a constant disaster and anarchy.



When the family is ruined,
The timeless laws of family duty
Perish; and when duty is lost,
Chaos overwhelms the family.

In overwhelming chaos, Krishna,
Women of the family are corrupted,
and when women are corrupted,
disorder is born in society.

………………………………………….

The sins of men who violate
the family create disorder in society
that undermines the constant laws
of caste and family duty. ---pg 29

I really liked this lesson since it is very true that family duty and values it’s what maintains order in society. Family is what makes us all happy and sometimes we end up destroying and hurting the people we love the most because of greed and honor. For me, family is everything and all the people that surround me are very special for me so I totally understand Arjuna´s desire of not fighting. At the end of this first lesson we can see how Krishna tells him not to fight in an indirect way.

“Saying this in the time of war,
Arjuna slumped into the chariot
And laid his bow and arrows,
His mind tormented by grief. ----pg 29