श्रीभगवानुवाच -
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो-
लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे
येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ।। ११.३२ ।।

śrī-bhagavān-uvāca
kālo’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt-pravṛddho-
lokān-samāhartum-iha pravṛttaḥ |
ṛte’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye’vasthitāḥ praty-anīkeṣu yodhāḥ || 11.32 ||

War is a destructive process engineered by man. But how does creation itself meet its growth and destruction? Time is the sole power and means to bring forth existence as well as to withdraw it! “Now is active this phase of destruction, and Time is going to accomplish the task, ” declares Krishna. To shift the cause and means to anything other than Time will be a sheer delusion.

Even without Arjuna and his battle, explains Krishna, the Kurukshetra soldiers are going to meet destruction. Birth, growth and destruction go together, each complementing the others. Neither their place nor the tempo can be set aside. Doubt and indecision lurk only where enlightenment lacks.

Normally Arjuna should not have had any doubt at all. But he has. So, as in dream, a bewitching display is hatched by his mind. The object causing doubt and indecision is itself led to destruction, while Arjuna stands inactive, witnessing the process. By just being a witness to the episode, there is no question of any sinfulness for him – a very effective way of dealing with the mind’s crisis!