Some people think that Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita just to get Arjuna to fight. If that were so, Krishna chose a laboriously long-cut method for persuasion: doing a metaphysical overview of various paths for holistic living such as karma-yoga, dhyana-yoga, jnana-yoga and bhakti-yoga.

Instead, Krishna could have chosen a far easier way: just incite Arjuna by describing how the opposing Kauravas had ruthlessly and repeatedly persecuted his family. Even if Arjuna had a soft spot for Bhishma and Drona, Krishna could still have instigated Arjuna by highlighting that they too had remained passive while his wife Draupadi was dishonored right in front of their eyes. 

Even an ordinary man would become aggressive if his wife were insulted publicly. What then to speak of a mighty kshatriya like Arjuna who was more than capable of punishing anyone who dared disrespect his wife! 

Yet it’s remarkable that Krishna doesn’t even mention Draupadi’s disrobing. What’s even more remarkable is that he doesn’t refer even once to any of the Kauravas’ atrocities. And what’s most remarkable is that far from inciting Arjuna, Krishna repeatedly tells him to avoid anger; he even declares that anger is a gate to hell (16.21). 

Why does Krishna never mention the Kauravas’ atrocities? Because his purpose is not just to get Arjuna to fight; it is to instruct Arjuna, and through Arjuna all of humanity for all of posterity, in timeless principles of living. That’s why he analyzes various paths for spiritual growth. Bhagavad gita

Only because Krishna stresses universal principles in the Gita that it has had enduring appeal for millennia. And it has been cherished and relished even by saints and philosophers who never taught that fighting was the way to live the Gita.

One-sentence summary: 

Krishna never mentions the Kauravas’ atrocities in the Gita because he wants to inspire Arjuna with timeless principles for living, not incite him with circumstantial reasons for fighting.  

Think it over:

  • What’s wrong with the notion that Krishna spoke the Gita just to get Arjuna to fight?
  • What is remarkably absent in Krishna’s words to Arjuna in the Gita? 
  • What does this absence imply? 

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16.21: There are three gates leading to this hell – lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.

What Krishna never mentions to Arjuna in the Gita

To know more about this verse, please click on the image