Bhagavad Gita 1.40 (BG 1.40) | Arjuna-viṣāda-yoga: Transforming Grief into Yoga
कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्मा: सनातना: ।
धर्मे नष्टे कुलं कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत ॥
English Transliteration
kula-kṣaye praṇaśyanti
kula-dharmā: sanātanā:
dharme naṣṭe kulaṃ kṛtsnam-
adharmo’bhibhavaty-uta – 1.40
Translation
In the extinction of a family, the age-old rites and traditions of the family cease to be. When the traditional dharma is lost, unrighteousness and lawlessness will overtake the whole community.
BG 1.40: Chanting Audio
Chapter 1: Arjuna-viṣāda-yoga: – Transforming Grief into Yoga - Verse 40
Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
BG 1.40: Commentary by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
Humans are not like animals. They have their culture, customs and ancestral practices, all of which have their long, deep roots and links. These are the ones that sustain human civilization. Any society has esteem and worth only when it has a deep-rooted culture.
Culture represents values and practices persuaded by the emotional mind and refined by the rational intelligence. It becomes a societal treasure when people begin to honour and practise its dictates earnestly. Once the culture gets formed, it is hard to displace or replace it. Our culture is all the more so, because it is based on the eternal truth right from prehistoric times!
When the hold of these cultural thoughts and practices grows weak, the society will have nothing to fall back upon to sustain it in all situations. And it will virtually lead to disorder, even anarchy.
