Chapter 1 Shloka 41

अधर्माभिभवात् कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रिय:।

स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसंकर:।।४१।।

Arjuna continues:

O Krishna, with the increase of sin,

women of the family are sullied;

O Varshaneya, with women corrupted,

illegitimate children take birth.

Chapter 1 Shloka 41

अधर्माभिभवात् कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रिय:।

स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसंकर:।।४१।।

Arjuna continues:

O Krishna, with the increase of sin, women of the family are sullied; O Varshaneya, with women corrupted, illegitimate children take birth.

Arjuna was quite correct in saying that with the destruction of dharma, the women of the family will be sullied, because:

1. People would begin to indulge in materialistic pleasures.

2. There would be no regard for public opinion nor for the traditions and norms upheld by society over the ages.

3. Individualism would increase and in suppressing another for the satiation of his own likes, man would become self willed.

4. The virtuous would be suppressed by the sinful oppressor.

5. The wicked deeds of such sinners would increase without any hindrance.

6. If sin increased in such dimensions and every person gave greater importance to his likes than to his duty, the women of the family would also uninhibitedly indulge in their likes and desires, resulting in the loss of morality. Women in the grip of such promiscuity would give birth to illegitimate children.

Varna sankar (वर्णसंकर:)

a) Little one, the union of men and women of disparate caste, attributes and tendencies will naturally result in the birth of illegitimate offspring.

b) The offspring of such sullied mothers will not even know the names of their fathers nor will they have access to any knowledge of dharma or duty.

c) Nobility and virtue will vanish from this earth.

Little sadhak, listen!

1. When one’s internal tendencies begin to flirt with external objects, how can the mind progress towards the Lord?

2. If the mind is attached to gross objects, how can attachment to the Truth arise?

3. Conflicts will naturally arise in the mind of the one who revels in material objects – then how can he know the path of Shreya?

4. When he performs evil deeds, opposition from the unconscious mind will create mental knots which will cause suffering and pain.

5. Until the sadhak realises the root cause of his negative traits, he remains rudderless like an orphan.

6. If he persists in the pursuit of ordinary pleasures, then this indulgence in the mind’s entertainment will cause his fall from a humane state.

7. When tendencies of the mind are thus sullied, it will become impossible to comprehend the Truth.

8. If the pursuit of materialistic pleasures becomes the only aim of life, all traces of dharma will be obliterated. Such people will be caught in their likes and will not be able to discern the difference between dharma and adharma, knowledge and ignorance.

If the dharma of the family is thus destroyed, faith and virtue will both vanish. Then where will the sadhak conduct his practice of sadhana? This is the state of affairs in the world today. People have forgotten the familial values and traditions and are becoming increasingly individualistic.

The present problem

1. These days, everybody demands his rights and disregards his duties.

2. Nobody even recognises the other to be a human being!

3. They cannot even recognise their duty in their own homes. Therefore virtues such as forgiveness are there merely in name.

4. Nobody comes to the aid of those who are suffering; simplicity and gratitude are fast vanishing from people’s hearts.

5. A selfless life seems to be an illusion found only in stories, and deeds performed without any selfish motive are rarely found. Even one’s own parents, brothers, sisters and close associates are rejected and seem burdensome to most people.

6. There is no inclination to maintain  the family’s honour and name. Self aggrandisation is the order of the day.

All such tendencies have developed due to a decline in familial dharma. Such illegitimate tendencies have taken birth due to this decline in one’s value for ancestral traditions and primarily due to the destruction of the virtuous members of the family and the ascendency of the wicked.

Illegitimate knowledge

Little one, if one does not understand the essence of scriptural knowledge and one mixes it with one’s own understanding and mental concepts, the practical manifestation of such knowledge is an illegitimate offspring. When one gains knowledge of life from a Realised Soul, one must know that knowledge to be the Absolute Truth and one must mould one’s life according to that standard.

The true perception of knowledge

If you want to know the true meaning of the Gita, then you should weigh each word of the Gita with Lord Krishna’s life. If there is even a single word that does not tally with His life, know that word to be wrong and meaningless – a mere figment of the imagination – a frivolity and an illegitimate seed. Such knowledge is spurious since it has not sprouted from the union of the intellect and the practical translation of that knowledge in life. For example:

a) Had Lord Krishna not been completely detached from Himself, His knowledge would have been a mere entertainment for the mind – a play of the intellect.

b) Had He not been a Brahmchari, or one who lived the attitude of Brahm in practice, His knowledge would have no meaning for us.

c) If He were not the image of tapas and yagya, His teachings would not have held any importance for us.

True knowledge lies in perceiving the Truth about the Lord’s essence and His form or external manifestation. If we study the Scriptures keeping the lives of Rama, Krishna, Nanak, Mohammed or Christ before us, then the true meaning of the Scriptural word and its manifestation in life will become clear to us. They appeared absolutely ordinary – their uniqueness is the essence of the Lord’s spirit which inhered within them.

If we can understand this secret, then our knowledge will take a practical shape and form, otherwise our understanding of the Scriptures is wrong and will lead us astray. We give false meanings to the Lord’s injunctions in accordance with our mental concepts and desires. We must know such knowledge to be illegitimate since it is coloured with our mind and its tendencies.

Arjuna has addressed Lord Krishna here as ‘Varshaneya’. In doing so, he is reminding Lord Krishna of his antecedents – that He belonged to the ‘Vrishni’ clan. ‘Vrishni’ also means adharma, corruption, pretence, temper etc. Thus Arjuna’s reminder was a taunt.

However, ‘Vrish’ also stands for the greatest, strong, just, one who performs all deeds within the purview of Truth. It also means a mendicant.

Thus the Lord’s wrath symbolises His Justice and His adherence to Truthful deeds. It is also a remedy for the elimination of sorrow. Even His so called ‘lie’ manifests His inherent justice and the power to eliminate sorrow.