Question
Is a neutral person in a religious war equal to enemy, according to GITA?
Answer
Gita is quite clear that one must oppose the wicked and fight on the side of dharma. There is no room for neutrality in a war against adharma. The concrete example is that of Arjuna. He refused to fight against adharma on personal grounds. Sri Krishna chastised him for such unmanliness.
O Arjuna! Whence has this loathsome stupidity come upon you in this crisis? It (this attitude) is unworthy of a noble personage.** It is a bar to heaven and a cause of much disrepute.**
Gita 2.2
O Partha! Yield not to unmanliness! It befits thee not. Abandoning this base faint-heartedness, rise up, O dreaded hero!
Gita 2.3
Hindu dharma usually recommends nonviolence. However, there may be occasions when violence is necessary for defence of dharma.
Highest Morality
Tuladhara said, ‘O Jajali, I know morality, which is eternal, with all its mysteries. It is nothing else than that ancient morality which is known to all, and which consists of universal friendliness, and is fraught with beneficence to all creatures. That mode of living which is founded upon a total harmlessness towards all creatures or (in case of actual necessity) upon a minimum of such harm, is the highest morality.’
(Mahabharata Santi Parva Section CCLXII)
A neutral person in a war against adharma is not an enemy but he is definitely misguided.
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