Originally Posted by
devotee
Namaste Satay,
Let me make an humble attempt. :)
i) Why is God telling Arjuna to slaughter his loved ones ?
Ans : May be the professor didn't know the answer. However, Satay must be aware of it, I am sure. If someone asks this question, it means he has never read the B.G. Asking this question after reading B.G. is akin to asking "who was Sita ?" after listening to the Ramayana !
ii) Why God never spoke a word about the tactics of war but going on and on about yoga and the nature of man? Shouldn’t God be instructing Arjuna on the tactics of war instead? Why God doesn’t speak a word about the actual war in the Gita?
Ans : Arjuna had everything with him to go for the war. He was brave, the best archer, one of the best warriors of his time. He didn't need tution on war tactics. What he needed most was the "will & motivation" to fight with his full capacity. He considered 'killing" (that too of his own relatives) a sin & therefore, he was not in a perfect mental condition for the war. So, God taught what he needed at that time. Does anyone really think, Arjuna needed a lecture on how to fight ? He was already an expert of that field !
iii) Don’t you think hindu God’s have a weird behaviour? For example, when the evil spirit bhairon is after Durga, she goes and hides in the mountains. What kind of Gods are these? They hide when the evil spirits are after them? They cut off their son’s head and place an elephant head over his shoulders? What’s all this?
Ans : First of all, in Hinduism there is a difference between 'devas' (god ?) & the God (the Supreme Lord). Devas are the beings (taijsa state) who live in the heaven & once their karmic period is over, they come back again to the Mirtyuloka. So, they are not much different from the human beings in so many aspects.
There are wars when the Devas flee from the battlefield. However, there are not many instances when the Supreme Godhead like Lord Shiva & Lord Vishnu or Ma Durga have fled from war. There was once the case of BhasmAsur when Lord Shiva didn't fight .... that was because BhasmAsur was a devotee of Lord Shiva (it would have given a wrong signal, if a devotee was killed by the same God whom the devotee worshipped) & also enjoyed boon from him which made it difficult to defeat him in the usual way of fighting .... In such a case, fighting would have created only destruction & not the end of the evil & also would have sent a wrong signal to the devotees. So, he thought it bettet to leave it for Lord Vishnu. In fact, this was the reason that Lord Shiva refused to help Rama against Ravana directly but helped Rama in killing Ravana through the incarnation of Lord Hanuman (who is considered an "ansha" of one of the rudras of Lord Shiva) .
I have not heard of Ma DurgA running away from Bhairava. (It was Ma PArvati running away from BhasmAsur). First of all, Bhairava is not an evil spirit but a Gana of Lord Shiva. However, you have mentioned "Bhairon" & not Bhairava. I am not aware of any other "Bhairon" --- please update me. And it was not an evil spirit who cut off the head & placed an elephant's head on Ma PArvati's son (i..e Lord Ganesha) ... it was done by Lord Shiva himself. Or are you referring to some other story ?
There is another story of Lord Krishna running away from battlefield .... but that running away was also an effort not to hurt the glory of the devotee (God always enjoys getting defeated by his true devotees).... he knew how to kill him without fighting directly ! Lord Krishna had nothing to prove by trying to kill a devotee by his own hands ( an egoist approach).
Regards,
OM