JCB's red highlight:
In faith of Me
All dangers thou shalt vanquish, by My grace,
But, trusting to thyself and heeding not,
Thou can’st but perish! If this day thou say’st
Relying on thyself, “I will not fight!”
Vain will the purpose prove! thy qualities
Would spur thee to the war.
hoosierham: Funny how God usually sends aid to the non-violent in the form of a man willing to use force to stop the aggressor. If good men do nothing then evil will triumph.(At least absent DIRECT divine intervention.)
whatisthetruth: Very nice verse my FRiend, but if you’re dead you can’t read it.
With all due respect, you've got the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita absolutely backwards, as well as your derivative conclusion about the "Indian religion."
In the story of the Bhagavad Gita, the Lord (Krishna) is actually telling the warrior Arjuna to FIGHT.
The war is a battle between two families that have been torn apart, and the brave Arjuna sees family members and lifelong friends across the battlefield before the fighting starts, and his heart fails him. He asks Krishna how he could possibly fight his loved ones?
Krishna replies that Arjuna is a warrior, and that a true warrior's fight is not just a job, but a command given to him by God to uphold truth and righteousness in the world. Along the same lines of much of the appreciation of the military on Free Republic, Krishna points out that if there were no true warriors, there would be no peace and no civilization.
In the part you quoted above, James C. Bennett, Krishna is telling Arjuna that if he obeys God's command to fight for the sake of what is right, God will protect him through Grace in this world and the next. But if he refuses to fight, he can't avoid a shameful death. Furthermore, his refusal to fight will be in vain because his very nature is a warrior, so he will end up fighting anyway despite himself, but without trust in God - so he will be destroyed for nothing.
The story is profound, as it teaches courage and faith in God in the face of despair. And it is especially relevent today, as we see so many Americans turning away from the freedoms this country makes possible, and supporting lies and murderous cults instead, while we despair about our own countrymen and women. The Bhagavad Gita teaches that we should stand up to them - that if they are to go down, in whatever way, because they support evil, then that will happen anyway - God is not mocked. But if we don't do our duty by defying their lies, we sin for not refuting them.
There are many religious traditions in India, but the Bhagavad Gita is important to most of them. And because of it, even the most pacifistic yogis acknowledge the importance of the Indian military. Those yogis are not like our liberals - at all. Indians in India do not practice California New Age Progressive crap, as many young people from here travelling there have discovered to their dismay.
Excellent clarification, thanks!
Talisker, please look at comment #9, and realise the context of my reply. The first line of my reply to that comment, was italicised to indicate the source of those words, which was comment #9, and not posted by me. You have mistaken another’s words for mine.
I was responding to those same words, with the part highlighted in red.
VERY WELL SAID! And a very correct interpretation of the Gita.