War Is Evil

*******

You asked what I thought about Krishna's words to Arjuna, in the mystical classic, The Celestial Song of God, about war. I disagree strongly with what is said at the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita. I do not believe that it is good, moral, fair, or just to justify war. War is evil, and cannot be justified. I do not disagree with Krishna's cosmic view of life: Like him, I do not believe that mind is extinguished at death. I believe that we simply return to another universe, or, in Christian terms, we "go to heaven." But I think that it is horrible to say that war is "okay" because "no one really dies in war." I do not believe that this was a part of the original record or story. I think that the argument was made for the sake of compassion. War is nightmarish, and unless you understand it in its more cosmic context, it can drive you crazy with grief. So, it was out of compassion that Krishna said what he said. But it is still, and always, wrong to rationalize war. War is murder, and there can never be such a thing as a "good war."
*******