section_path: Themes covered/The Gita and War/Pacifism and the Gita
section_name: Pacifism and the Gita
paragraph_text: Pacifism and the Gita
  
  Because by the end of the Gita, Krishna convinces Arjuna that it is his right and duty to fight, the Gita has been argued by some as pro-war, others argue it is neither pro- nor anti-war.
  
  Noted author Christopher Isherwood suffered the death of his father in WWI and saw no serious effort by the allies to avoid plunging head-long into the next war. In his novels, The Berlin Stories, he describes life in Germany as the Nazis rose to power. In the late 1930s, Isherwood, with advice from and influence of Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard he became a practicing pacifist and Conscientiousness Objector, working with the Quakers, doing alternative service to help settle Jewish refugees fleeing the war. In 1944, Isherwood worked with Swami Prabhavananda of the Vedanta Society of Southern California to translate the Bhagavad Gita into English. In the Appendix, there is an essay written by Isherwood titled, The Gita and War. He argues that in certain circumstances, it would be quite alright to refuse to fight. In Arjuna's particular circumstances, since it is a righteous war, and he's a warrior by birth and trade, he must fight.
  
  ...every action, under certain circumstances and for certain people, may be a stepping-stone to spiritual growth—if it is done in the spirit of non-attachment. There is no question, here, of doing evil that good may come. The Gita does not countenance such opportunism. Arjuna is to do the best he knows, in order to pass beyond that best to better.