Bhagavad Gita 1.43
दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः । उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः ॥
doṣair etaiḥ kula-ghnānāṃ varṇa-saṅkara-kārakaiḥ | utsādyante jāti-dharmāḥ kula-dharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ ||
Translation
By these misdeeds of the destroyers of the family, which produce the intermixture of castes, the eternal duties of caste and family are destroyed.
Reflection
Where do you call something timeless to get out of doing it today?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter One
Śāśvatāḥ. Eternal, again. The word is doing a great deal of work in this part of the chapter. Arjuna pairs the eternity of the order with the speed at which the disruption of it is allegedly unfolding. Where a thing is called eternal but said to be at risk of imminent destruction, the speaker is afraid for himself in language inherited from his teachers. Useful diagnostic: when an argument keeps reaching for śāśvata, check what immediate refusal it is licensing.