Comments:

John - 2004-06-19 18:42:08
Regarding your question, while I am not the greatest Gita authority ever I do know a little about it, and I'd guess that Krsna is referring to varna-asrama when He says "duty": varna-asrama is what we call "the caste system," though we think of it as horrible and antiquated here in the west whereas in Hinduism it's considered one of God's own inventions. It's the division of people into classes: brahmana, sudra, grhastha, and ksatriya If you're a sudra, your duty is to labor. If you're a grhastha (householder), your duty is to maintain your house well: keep your wife happy, feed and educate your children especially religiously, etc. If you're a ksatriya (i.e. a warrior, like Arjuna, the guy to whom Krsna is talking throughout the book), your duty is to fight! Arjuna didn't want to fight and complained to his friend Krsna about it, and Krsna replies: you must do your duty in this world, and your duty as a warrior is to fight.
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