The Pilgrim Kamanita · Chapter
X: Esoteric Doctrine explained
Vajaçravas expounds an esoteric doctrine that denies moral responsibility for violent acts, arguing through reason, scripture, and the heroic song of Krishna and Arjuna that killing and robbery incur no guilt, and that the robber, as the de
What happens
Vajaçravas expounds an esoteric doctrine that denies moral responsibility for violent acts, arguing through reason, scripture, and the heroic song of Krishna and Arjuna that killing and robbery incur no guilt, and that the robber, as the destroyer, becomes like the highest god Brahman, the 'Eater' of all beings.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion and Reality
The doctrine asserts that killing and dying are mere appearances, as only the indivisible Brahman truly exists; the distinction between murderer and victim is an illusion.
Renunciation and Worldliness
The text subverts traditional renunciation by arguing that violent action, not gentleness, aligns one with the highest reality, turning worldly violence into a spiritual path.
The Nature of Nirvana
The esoteric teaching redefines liberation as identification with the all-devouring Brahman, where the robber becomes 'Lord of Creation' through destruction.
Characters to notice
- Vajaçravas
The worshipful commentator who interprets the Sutra, arguing that divine punishment does not apply to robbers and that violence aligns one with Brahman.
- Krishna
The highest god incarnate who, as Arjuna's charioteer, reveals the esoteric doctrine that no one truly kills or dies, urging Arjuna to battle.
- Arjuna
The Pandaver king who hesitates to fight his former friends and cousins, but is transformed into a sage and hero by Krishna's teaching.
- The Kauravas
The hostile army in the war, consisting of cousins and former comrades of Arjuna.
Key passages
“Who, slaying, believes that he kills, Who, when slain, believes that he dies, Astray is this one and that— He dies not, nor does he kill.”
The one who thinks they kill and the one who thinks they are killed are both mistaken, because the true self neither dies nor kills.
Quoted from the Veda (Yama and Naçiketas) to support the doctrine of non-responsibility.
“Who for a murd'rer holds the one, Who deems him murdered that lies here, He knows, and knows of either, naught— For no one murders, no one dies, Come then, the fight beginnest thou!”
Anyone who believes in a murderer or a victim understands nothing, because in reality no one murders and no one dies; therefore, begin the battle.
Krishna's teaching to Arjuna in the heroic song, justifying the war.
“I eat them all, but me they do not eat.”
I consume all beings, but none can consume me.
Spoken by the highest Brahman in the form of a ram to Medhatithi, illustrating the god's devouring nature.