Bhagavad Gita: Understanding One Shloka at a time. (Chp. 1, Verse 41) — HBR Patel

Trying to understand Bhagavad Gita, one shloka at a time…

अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रिय: |
स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्कर: || 41||

O Krishna, When lawlessness dominates, the women of the family become immoral. And from the immorality of women, O Vaarshneya, undesired progeny comes into existence.

Arjuna continues to highlight the consequences of this war that was about to begin. By doing so, Arjuna tries to justify his decision to Bhagwan Shri Krishna.

In this shloka, Arjuna highlights the common scenario observed after devastating wars. The father figure becomes absent from the family. There is no one to guide the family member in choosing moral and immoral. Thus, women might get misled and commit some immoral act.

Arjuna highlights this fact to stop the war from happening and thus preventing the scenario where children grow in the environment devoid of any morals or traditions.

Without the protection and guidance of the father or the elders, the child will turn towards immoral behavior in their life which will hamper the family tradition to propagate from generation to generation. The women would have to suffer from unjust and immoral treatment from the enemies and thus, war should be avoided at any cost.

Women in the Sanatana Dharma are worshipped and there aren’t any scriptures that say otherwise. Although, people often quote Manu Smriti for some misunderstood shlokas pertaining to the treatment of women. When we try to understand that shloka in the language that it was written i.e. Sanskrit, we will realize the true meaning of that shloka.

Plus, another shloka that highlights the status of the women in the Sanatana Dharam is also from the Manu Smriti and that is:

यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवता:।

यत्रैतास्तु न पूज्यन्ते सर्वास्तत्राफला: क्रिया:। — ManuSmriti 3.56

Where women are honored, there the gods rejoice; where, on the other hand, they are not honored, there all rites are fruitless.

Virtuoso women are the foundation of a moral family and when they become the victim of this war, the future generation would be deprived of the moral and traditional upbringing. As a result, the well-being of those families and the society would be at stake.

One thing to notice from this shloka is the name Bhagwan Shri Krishna: Vaarshneya. The descendant of the royal Vrsni dynasty. This is in reference to highlight the fact that Shri Krishna was born in the prominent Vrsni dynasty.

Arjuna points this out because he wants to highlight the fact that to carry on with the traditional family values and to preserve this type of righteous and moral upbringing, War should be avoided.