Bhagavad-gita As It Is | Part [BG.CH1.26]

Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra

TEXT 42:

doshair etaih kula-ghnanam

varna-sankara-karakaih

utsadyante jati-dharmah

kula-dharmas ca sasvatah

 

 

TRANSLATION:

By the evil deeds of those who destroy the family tradition and thus give rise to unwanted children, all kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.

 

PURPORT:

Community projects for the four orders of human society, combined with family welfare activities, as they are set forth by the institution of sanatana-dharma, or varnasrama-dharma, are designed to enable the human being to attain his ultimate salvation. Therefore, the breaking of the sanatana-dharma tradition by irresponsible leaders of society brings about chaos in that society, and consequently people forget the aim of life-Vishnu. Such leaders are called blind, and persons who follow such leaders are sure to be led into chaos.

 

 

TEXT 43:

utsanna-kula-dharmanam

manushyanam janardana

narake niyatam vaso

bhavatity anususruma

 

 

TRANSLATION:

O Krishna, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those whose family traditions are destroyed dwell always in hell.

 

 

PURPORT:

Arjuna bases his argument not on his own personal experience, but on what he has heard from the authorities. That is the way of receiving real knowledge. One cannot reach the real point of factual knowledge without being helped by the right person who is already established in that knowledge. There is a system in the varnasrama institution by which before death one has to undergo the process of atonement for his sinful activities. One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of atonement called the prayascitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities. 

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Translation and commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada