There is a significant lesson to learn here. First of all dharma is not a set of arbitrary man made rules based on fixed human ideas of good and bad. Dharma is a subtle and plastic principle to guide human thought and action with the purpose of helping man grow towards the Divine individually as well as collectively. But human beings tend to either harden it into a fixed code forgetting the spirit behind it. Or else they misuse dharma for defeating the purpose behind it. Instead of helping mankind grow towards the Godhead the rules are misused to stifle the progress of mankind towards Truth and Unoty and Peace and Harmony and Light.
This degeneration of dharma, the rules of life is called as dharmasyaglani. As mankind advances the old rules and old ways of life must also evolve and give way to the new way. The Avatar comes when dharma is undergoing degeneration due to misuse or technical use forgetting its spirit. The acme of dharmasyaglani wherein rules were misused to the extreme happened during the game of dice in the Kuru assembly. That was the nadir of the degeneration of dharma. Sri Krishna simply completed the process that had already begun because the Age was changing and a new way of life had to be given to mankind. While Sri Krishna destroyed the defunct old on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he gave the new dharma through the Gita. He broke all rules of conduct but gave instead the highest of all rules enshrined in these immortal words of the Gita, ‘sarvadharma parityajya mamekam sharanam vraja. Aham tvasarvapapebhyo mokshisyami ma suchah.’ Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in the Divine alone. The Divine will deliver you from all sin and evil. Do not grieve or fear.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
