Question: Does not this battle of Kurukshetra mean that one is fighting against his own wrong ideas and ignorance, fighting an inner battle and not actually fighting to kill somebody?

Sri Chinmoy: No. The battle described in the Bhagavad-Gita was a real war, a literal battle. It is not a symbolic description of an inner battle. Arjuna did indeed have to fight against his own ignorance, fear and cowardice but when he fought, it was as a real warrior. He thought that he was the doer and he had to kill people who were his relatives. Sri Krishna said, “No, you are not the doer, they are already killed. You just have to be the instrument.” Outwardly Arjuna had slain hundreds of persons in other fights, but here he was assailed by powerful doubts and fears. What would people say? “They will say nothing,” claimed Sri Krishna, “because you are fighting for the right cause, the divine cause.”

His enemies, the Kauravas, were forces of evil incarnate and it was God who had made the decision to have them destroyed. In the name of morality and self-righteousness, Arjuna was absorbed in self-pity but Sri Krishna wanted to show him that he had to fight against evil, against ignorance, against darkness. Arjuna thought that he was fighting against human beings. Sri Krishna said, “No, inside human beings there is darkness, there is imperfection, so I want you to do God’s Will and kill them.”