In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna urges Arjuna to pick up his bow and go to war. This was because Arjuna had been born into a ksharitya family of kings and warriors. His brother's kingdom had been illegally taken over by a tyrant. It was not the dharma of the priest or the stone mason to stop the evil tyrant. As a defender of justice, it was Arjuna's job to ensure that the kingdom was returned to its rightful ruler.
Even though Arjuna didn't want to fight, Krishna insisted he must fulfill his dharma. The Hindu view is that even if the stone worker would rather be a World Federation wrestler, he should stick with the professional responsibility he was born into. This attitude is incomprehensible to many Westerners. But in India (as in many Asian cultures), the welfare of society as a whole outweighs the individual's own preferences. Traditional Hindus believe that it is by fulfilling their duty, not by fulfilling their fantasises, that people hold their society together.
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