Various civilizations' spirituality is described in various sources. These works of literature can be historical, fictitious, or allegorical. The majority of the texts are based on earlier heroic events that shaped certain features of a community's culture. As a result, the majority of these texts are sacred and highly valued by the respective communities. The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture that serves numerous spiritual purposes. This is one of the basic books essential to Hindus since it guides Hinduism as a civilization. The Bhagavad Gita presents a story of one of the most powerful Hindu warriors, Arjuna who sort advice from his mentor, Sri Krishna, before proceeding to a troubling civil war. The Bhagavad Gita is a typical allegory. Therefore, there is an allegorical significance of to the Bhagavad Gita taking place in the middle of the battlefield.
The Kurukshetra War is an allegory with an esoteric significance meaning that this was is continual between the good and the evil. According to Aurobindo, Krishna holds a special place in the Hindu history. However, his relevance in the Gita id only as a symbol of the interaction between humanity and divinity. The second allegorical significance of the Bhagavad Gita is the story portrays the battle as a soul and the warrior, Arjuna as an individual who is struggling to fight evil. In a nutshell, there exists an allegorical significance of to the Bhagavad Gita taking place in the middle of the battlefield as illustrated in the two examples above.
Question Two
Different scholars have in the recent past used various quotes from the Bhagavad Gita to quantify the magnitude of certain aspects of war. Robert Oppenheimer is one such renowned scholar in the field of physics who is well-known for the infamous quote, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” While the main drive behind “the father of atomic bomb” using this quote remains unknown, many scholars have tried to analyze this statement with regard to the Bhagavad Gita.
The dusk of WWII marked happiness among different blocks of nations with sadness being witnessed among others. Oppenheimer stated that “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.” It is manifest that Oppenheimer was fighting the same battle as Arjuna. According to Arjuna’s assumptions, death is an illusion. Oppenheimer did not have any beliefs that the individuals of Nagasaki and Hiroshima would not undergo any suffering before their deaths. This individual assisted in the creation of a deadly weapon that led to the massive destruction of property and the deaths of thousands of individuals. This bomb was a representation of the path of the war against evil sources. Therefore, there was some resemblance in the situations that both Arjuna and Oppenheimer were involved in and the decisions taken by the two were similar and had dire consequences.
In short, Oppenheimer’s phrase, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” signifies that he had identified himself as the creator of the deadly conditions created by the atomic bomb in which he was a key player in creating. This renowned physicist thought of the Bhagavad-Gita in this context since he was familiar with the text and saw himself fulfilling Krishna’s words that one has to simply do his function as a warrior.
