God as the judge
sribhagavan uvaca
32 kalo 'smi lokaksayakrl pravrddho
lokdn sarnet'artum ': ha pr. vrttah
rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti sarve
ve 'vasthitah pratyanik. su yodhah
The Blessed Lord said.
(32) Time am I, world-destroying, grown mature, engaged here in subduing the world. Even without thee (thy action), all the warriors standing arrayed in the opposing armies shall cease to be Kala or time is the prime mover of the universe. If God is thought of as time, then He is perpetually creating and destroying. Time is the streaming flux which moves unceasingly.The Supreme Being takes up the responsibility for both creation and destruction. The Gita does not countenance the familiar
doctrine that, while God is responsible for all that is good, Satan is responsible for all that is evil. If God is responsible for mortal existence, then He is responsible for call that it includes, life and creation, anguish and death.
God has control over time because He is outside of it and we also shall obtain power over time if we rise above it. As the force behind this, He sees farther than we, knows how all events are controlled and so tells Arjuna that causes have been at work for years and are moving towards their natural effects which we cannot prevent by anything we can do now. The destruction of his enemies is decided irrevocably by acts committed long ago. There is an impersonal fate, what the Christians call Providence, a general cosmic necessity, moira, which is an expression of a side of God's nature and so can be regarded as the will of His sovereign personality, which pursues its own unrecognizable aims. Against it, all protestations of self-determination are of no avail.
33 tasmat tvam uttistha yaso labhasva
jitva satrun bhunksva rajyam sarnrddham
may 'vai '.e mhatah purvam eva
nimittamatram brava savyasacin
(33) Therefore arise thou and gain glory. Conquering thy foes, enjoy a prosperous kingdom. By Me alone are they slain already. Be thou merely the occasion, 0 Savyasacin (Arjuna).
The God of destiny decides and ordains all things and Arjuna is to be the instrument, the flute under the fingers of the Omni-potent One who fulfils His own purpose and is working out a mighty evolution. Arjuna is self-deceived if he believes that he should act according to his own imperfect judgment. No individual soul can encroach on the prerogative of God. In refusing to take up arms, Arjuna is guilty of presumption. See XVIII, 58.
