It Is Your Duty To Fight Injustice

Q: Gurudev, why did Arjuna ask a doubt only on the battlefield and not when he had ample time with Lord Krishna before coming to the war?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Listen, Arjuna did not even ask a doubt, he simply said, 'I do not want to fight', that is it.

It was Krishna who first asked the question. He said, 'Arjuna, you are miserable, you are crying for things which you should not cry for, and you are talking like a Pundit (learned man).'
He said, 'Asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah', (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 11). That is how Lord Krishna starts the Bhagavad Gita.
He says, 'You are grieving for something which you should not be grieving for.'
See, if you are an army man, or if you are a police man, you should be doing your job.

Today, there is a big rally in Delhi.
Yesterday thousands of Art of Living volunteers (Volunteer For A Better India) started a big candle light march at India Gate and today, so many people have joined.
JNU(Jawaharlal Nehru University) has joined, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) has joined, Delhi University has joined. It just needed someone to take the first step.
Yesterday morning, the teachers from Delhi asked me, 'Gurudev, we want to do the candle march prayer.'
There was no shouting of slogans, no blaming, no yelling at anybody, but everyone just peacefully went and sat there. They did meditation for a few minutes, lit candles and simply created an awareness that women should be safe.
There was a time when in this country women were so safe, but this is turning into a very different place now.
So our volunteers and teachers of The Art of Living took this decision just yesterday afternoon to do the candle light march and prayer, and by 6 o' clock people from everywhere had come.
I find such a big difference in people who have had just a little glimpse of that inner peace or inner world, compared to those who do not know about their emotions, or who have not calmed the mind. When such people take up a job, they become so agitated, aggressive, disruptive.

What I am trying to say is that, if a policeman says, 'I do not want to take charge of the law and order', what would happen?
So Arjuna was such. He was a warrior and his job was to protect people from injustice, and he was saying, 'I do not want to protect anybody from injustice.' Then Lord Krishna says, 'Come on, you speak like a wise man, but you are running away from your duty of protecting the citizens.'
Just like the Delhi police saying, 'This is not my business'; or the politicians saying, 'This is not my job.'
I agree with them in some way, because unless human values are inculcated in the people, how can just a few policemen do anything? But still!

Do you know, many a times, there is demoralization of the police force. Do you know why?
The policemen put their lives at risk, they go track and arrest a person and bring them in, and the politicians give them a phone call and say, 'No, do not make any complaint against this person, just leave them', and they have to leave them. When you leave a person this way, then that person come after you, and demoralization happens. This is adharma (that which is not in accord with the law).

Another adharma is this bill on Reservation.
I would say, anybody getting a reservation is wrong.
It is okay to get a reservation for a job, but reservation for promotion, that is not okay. You see, there is a manager and he has employed a clerk under him. Now just because the clerk belongs to a particular caste, in three years if he becomes the superior, then what will happen to the morale of the manager.
The entire administrative set-up in this country will go to the dogs. It will be completely destroyed if juniors are made the seniors of the seniors.

Just imagine you are a supervisor, and your junior, in a few years will become your senior then would you have the courage to make him accountable for whatever he is doing? First of all, no!
Second, suppose you administer your department very well and tomorrow a junior becomes your senior and takes revenge on you, it is such a humiliation.
It is such a humiliation for people, when in any administrative set up, the juniors become the seniors. It will bring to an end the administrative set-up.
This is a very sorry state of affairs for the country.

Since this morning I have called many people and I told them that this is nonsense.
The Rajyasabha is supposed to be the house of intellectuals of this country. How can the house of intellectuals of this country pass such a law? It is dangerous. In the future, people will not forgive them for this.
It is not about the caste. A set of people who are your juniors are given a promotion to become your senior, just because they belonged to some caste, it is not the right thing to do. It is injustice.
I do not think this will stand in the supreme court. Moreover, the supreme court has struck down this law twice already, and still these people are making such a law. This is completely unacceptable.
When the court of law states this is injustice and we are trying to circumvent that whole procedure, it is not the right thing to do. And we, the people, cannot simply sit with our eyes closed.

Reservation in education, reservation in employment is okay, but reservation in promotions will destroy the administrative set up. This is an extremely serious matter. Don't you think so? How many of you think that way? (Everyone raises their hands)

That is what Lord Krishna said, 'Duryodhana is playing such havoc and you want to close your eyes and simply sit. It is your duty to fight. Come on, get up.'
And when he was ready to fight, he gave him knowledge, 'Yogastha kuru karmani sangang tyaktva Dhananjaya', (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 48)
He says, 'First go inside and cleanse yourself. Do not fight with hatred, but fight for justice; fight with equanimity.'
If you are fighting with rage and anger you will harm yourself, because when you are in rage and in an emotional upsurge, your intellect and your mind is not going to function properly.
That is why, your mind first has to be calm. When it is calm and serene then justice will come, the right thoughts will come and your ideas will be more creative, productive and positive. Negative ideas come only when you are in rage. When you are calm and positive, creative ideas will come out of you. This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gita.
He say, 'Yudhyasva vigata-jvarah.'
Jvarah means that feverishness, that anger and hatred; let go of that first and then fight.

See how the Gita got linked to the present day situation. It is so obvious.

I am happy for those volunteers who have spent the whole day, yesterday and today, going to India Gate and creating awareness and making a big wave in the entire nation.
What our Art of Living volunteers did yesterday in Delhi, has spread to the entire country today. There is a candle light march everywhere and people are standing up and speaking against violence against women. This is a very welcomed move.

This is what I keep saying, do not underestimate your power. The power that we have can turn things around.
Each one of you here already is a leader, and each one of you can bring a big change in society. If all of you can come together and do something then this nation will change and the people here will change. For sure this will happen because there is a resilient awakening in everybody.
What is important is that we all have to take responsibility. We cannot point a finger to just one person and make them responsible. The country’s population is so big, we cannot afford to say that this one policeman didn't do his job.
People have to start taking responsibility and that is happening already which is very good news.

Q: Is our date of death predefined or during our lifetime, it can change?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes, it can change.
It is like when you are on the highway, you have some exit points wherein you can exit, isn't it?! Similarly, in everybody's life, some exit points come. If you miss one point, then go to the next exit point.

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