S , Slifeblissprograms.org/e-books/pdf/bhagavad_gita_1st... · 2012-03-09 · divine beings by immaculate conception, since Pandu himself was incapable of siring children as a result

2

S A S T R A , S T O T R A & S U T R A

Published by Nithyananda Foundation, Bangalore, India

Copyright© 2006

First Edition: July 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in

the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored

in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for

public or private use without permission in writing from

Nithyananda Publishers. In the event that you use any of the

information in this book for yourself, the author and the

publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

All proceeds from the sales of this book go towards

supporting Nithyananda Foundation’s charitable activities.

Printed in India by W Q Judge Press, Bangalore, India

3

BHAGAVAD GITA – The Song of God : Chapter 1

NithyanandaTalks given in USA on The Bhagavad Gita – Chapter 1

A 5000 year old technology of inner science made

relevant to modern day life…..Timeless solutions to the

path of bliss!

4


5


CONTENT

Bhagavad Gita: A Background ................................................ 8

Introduction ............................................................................... 13

Sastra, Stotra & Sutra ............................................................. 15

Appendix

Science and spirituality ................................................ 194

Offerings from Nithyananda Foundation ................... 202

6


! Paaqaa-ya p/itbaaioQataM Baagavata naaraayaNaona svayaMvyaasaona ga/iqataM puraNamauinanaa maQyao mahaBaartMAWOtamaRtvaiYa-NaIM BagavatIM AYTadSaaQyaaiyanaIMAmba %vaamanausandQaaima Bagavad\gaIto BavaWooiYaNaIM

Om paarthaaya pratibodhitam bhagavataa naaraayanena svayam

Vyaasena grathitaam puraanamuninaa madhye mahaabhaaratam

Advaitaamrutavarshineem bhagavateem ashtaadsaadhyaayineem

Amba tvaamanusadadhaami bhagavadgite bhavadveshineem

Om Bhagavad Gita, I meditate upon you, the affectionate

Mother, the divine mother showering the nectar of non

duality and destroying rebirth, incorporated into the

Mahabharata in eighteen chapters by sage Vyasa, with which

Lord Narayana, the Supreme Consciousness Himself,

enlightened Arjuna.

7


vasaudovasautM dovaM kmsacaaNaUrmad-nama\dovakIprmaanandM kRYNaM vando jagad\gauruM

Vasudeva Sutam Devam Kamsa Chanura Mardanam

Devaki Paramaanandam Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum

I salute you Lord Krishna, Teacher to the World, son of

Vasudeva and supreme bliss of Devaki, destroyer of Kamsa

and Chanura.

8


Bhagavad Gita: A Background

Bhagavad Gita, or Gita, as it is often called, is considered a

sacred scripture, a sruti, that which was transmitted by

hearing. As a sruti Gita is clubbed along with the ancient

scriptures of Veda and Upanishad which are the expressions

of the great sages, the maharishi.

Veda and Upanishad, the sruti, were not God given as some

people believe. They arose through the insight and awareness

of the great sages when they went into a no mind state.

Gita is a part of the purana, the epics; it forms part of the

Hindu epic Mahabharata. Unlike the Veda, which were

internalized by the great sages, the maharishi, or the

Upanishad, which were the teachings of these great sages,

9


Gita is part of a story narrated by Vyasa, a great sage.

No other purana, or part of a purana, has this special status

as the Gita. Gita arose from the super consciousness of

Parabrahma Krishna, the Cosmic Cobsciousness and is

therefore considered a scripture.

Mahabharata, literally the Great Bharata, refers to the nation

and civilization developed by the descendants of Bharata, a

great King who ruled a region, what today is known as India.

The story of this epic is about two warring clans, Kaurava

and Pandava, closely related to one another. Dhritharashtra,

the blind King of Hastinapura and father of the 100 Kaurava

men was the brother of Pandu, whose children were the five

Pandava princes.

Pandu, originally the King of Hastinapura, was afflicted by a

curse of a sage and he handed over the kingdom and his

children to his blind brother Dhritharashtra. Vyasa, the sage

who tells this story, says that all the five Pandava children

were born to their mother Kunti through her union with

divine beings by immaculate conception, since Pandu himself

was incapable of siring children as a result of his curse. Kunti

received a blessing when she was still a young unmarried

adolescent that she could at will summon any divine power.

Duryodhana, the Kaurava Prince, had no love lost for his five

Pandava cousins. Along with his even more wicked brother

Dushassana, he made many attempts to kill the Pandava

10


brothers off without success. Karna, Kunti’s eldest son whom

she had cast away at birth, since he was born before she was

married through her union with the Sun God, by a strange

twist of fate joined hands with Duryodhana.

On his coming of age, the Pandava Prince Yudhishtra being

the rightful heir to the throne that his father Pandu had

vacated, was given by his uncle Dhritharashtra half the

kingdom. Yudhishtra ruled from his new capital Indraprastha

with his brothers Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva.

Arjuna, won the hand of Princess Draupadi, daughter of the

King of Panchal in a swayamwara, a marital contest in which

princes fought for the hand of a fair damsel. To obey the

promise that the five Pandava brothers made to their mother

Kunti that they would share everything equally, Draupadi

became the wife of all five Pandava brothers.

Duryodhana persuaded Yudhishtra into a gambling session,

where the evil Sakuni as Duryodhana’s representative

defeated the Pandava King. One by one, Yudhishtra was

made to lose all that he owned, his kingdom, his brothers,

his wife and himself to Duryodhana. Draupadi was shamed in

public by Dushassana who disrobed her. Pandava brothers and

Draupadi were forced to go into exile for 14 years, with the

condition that in the last year they should live incognito.

At the end of the 14 years, Pandava brothers tried to reclaim

their kingdom. In this effort they were helped by Krishna, the

divine reincarnation of Vishnu in the form of the King of

11


Yadava clan. However, they were rebuffed by Duryodhana.

Finally, war resulted, the Great War, the War of

Mahabharata. Various rulers of the entire nation, that is

today India, aligned with one or the other of these two

clans, the Kaurava or the Pandava.

Krishna offered to join either of the two clans. He said: ‘One

of you may have me unarmed, not taking any part in the

battle. The other may have my entire Yadava army’. The first

offer was made to Duryodhana, who predictably chose the

vast Yadava army, in preference to the unarmed Krishna.

Arjuna chose Krishna as his unarmed charioteer.

The armies assembled in the vast field of Kurukshetra, now

in the state of Haryana in modern day India. All the Kings

and Princes were related to one another, often on opposite

sides. Arjuna was charioted by Krishna himself. Facing the

Kaurava army and his friends, relatives and teachers, Arjuna

was overcome by remorse and guilt and wanted to walk away

from the battle.

Krishna’s dialogue with Arjuna on the battle field of

Kurukshetra is the content of Bhagavad Gita, which literally

means Song of the Divine. Krishna persuaded Arjuna to take

up arms and vanquish his enemies. ‘They are already dead’,

says Krishna, ‘all those who are facing you are dead. Go

ahead and do what you have to do. That is your duty’.

Bhagavad Gita has eighteen chapters and is presented as the

12


narration of Sanjaya, Dhritharashtra’s charioteer to the blind

king.

The Great War of Mahabharata lasted 18 days. All the

Kaurava Princes as well all their commanders such as

Bhishma, Drona and Karna were killed in battle. The five

Pandava brothers survived as winners and became the rulers

of the combined kingdom.

In this dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, the dialogue is

between man and God; nara and Narayana as they are

termed in Sanskrit. Arjuna’s questions and doubts are those

of each one of us. The answers of the Divine, Krishna,

transcend time and space. Krishna’s message is as valid today

as it was on that fateful battlefield some thousands of years

ago.

Like Arjuna many thousand years ago, you are here in a

dialogue with a Master. May the Master’s words resolve your

questions and clear your doubts.

Nithyanandam!

13


Introduction

In this series, a young enlightened Master, Nithyananda

comments on the Gita. Thousands of commentaries of the

Gita have been written over the years.

Amongst the earliest were by the great spiritual Masters such

as Sankara, some thousand over years ago.

In recent times, great Masters such as Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa and Ramana Maharishi have spoken from the

Gita extensively. Many others have written volumes on this

great scripture.

Nithyananda’s commentary of the Bhagavad Gita is not a

literary translation and an explanation of that translation. We

14


have added here, for the sake of the curious reader, all the

verses in Sanskrit or Devanagari script along with the Roman

or English script transliteration, word by word meaning and a

summary of that verse’s meaning. Here the comparison with

other commentaries stops.

Nithyananda takes the reader through a world tour while

talking about each verse. It is believed that each verse of the

Gita has seven levels of meaning. What is commonly

rendered is the first level meaning. Here, an enlightened

Master takes us beyond the common into the uncommon,

with equal ease and simplicity.

To read Nithyananda’s commentary on the Gita is to obtain

an insight that is rare. It is not mere reading; it is an

experience; it is a meditation.

Sankara, the great Master philosopher said:

‘Bhagavad gita kinchita dheeta, ganga jala lava kanika pita,

sakrutapi ena murari samarcha, kriyate tasya yame na charcha’

‘A little reading of the Gita, a drop of Ganga water to drink,

remembering Krishna once in a while, all this will ensure

that you have no problems with the God of Death.’

The original discourse delivered by Nithyananda has been

further expanded with His inputs into this book version.

May this reading help you in your endeavor to attain Truth.

15


Sastra, Stotra and Sutra

There are millions of spiritual scriptures and millions of books

on planet Earth.

From time immemorial, human beings have created spiritual

scriptures, and still continue to create spiritual books.

The Bhagavad Gita, the book on which I will be speaking, is

an incomparable one.

We cannot compare this book with any other book; and this

is not just because we are discussing this book, but because,

and this I can say for sure, that there is no other book

which has penetrated human consciousness so deeply.

There is no other book which has contributed to the

16


preparation of so many enlightened beings on planet Earth

like the Bhagavad Gita.

There is no other book which is such a complete

encyclopedia of spirituality.

I can say that the Bhagavad Gita is the unabridged

dictionary and encyclopedia of spirituality.

All the spiritual scriptures can be classified under three

headings:

One is Sastra: Sastra are those books which give clarity about

the aim, the goal of human life; those which teach us about

how to live life, what is the purpose of life, what is the goal

of life. These give an intellectual understanding about the

ultimate truth of man and God.

All our major questions get answered intellectually and

logically by Sastra.

We can be logically convinced to follow the ultimate path.

There are several examples of these:. The Ten

Commandments are Sastra for example. Those books which

give us regulations, which give us the do’s and don’ts, Vidhi

and Nishayada; which tell us what should be done and what

should not be done, which guide us in life; these are called

Sastra. The Sruti and Smriti of Hindu religion, the sacred

scriptures such as the Veda and Upanishad, and the

guidelines such as the Manusmriti and epics such as

Ramayana, all these are Sastra.

17


The second kind of literature is called Stotra. The person

who has realized the ultimate truth, the person who has

experienced the truth, the person who has had a glimpse of

the divine love, divine expression for himself, one who has

seen the reality, when such a person expresses his joy, this

expression is called Stotra.

We worship, we surrender ourselves to the Divine; it is a

Stotra. The literature from the heart is a Stotra; the literature

from the head is a Sastra.

The third kind of literature is called Sutra; which give us

techniques to realize the ultimate state. Sastra give us the

intellectual understanding, Stotra give us emotional feeling,

Sutra give us the Being level experience. Sastra are like

signboards; intellectual scriptures which explain the basics of

life. Stotra help us surrender to the Divine; the glory of the

Divine is expounded by the Stotra. The third, Sutra, is

literature, which gives us techniques to achieve devotion or

enlightenment.

Sastra by themselves cannot lead us to enlightenment,

although they can be a good support; they can take us to an

enlightened Master. Till that point, they are a great help.

Stotra are spoken from the level of emotion, feeling. When

we have a deep feeling, we just express it, it just flows

through us; our whole Being is flowing; that is Stotra. Sutra

means the technique which helps you achieve the goal of the

18


Sastra or the goal of the Stotra. Goal of Sastra is Atman,

divinity within; goal of Stotra is God. Of course, both are one

and the same but they have two different paths.

There are people who are intellectually oriented, who are

centered on logic, analysis and calculation; their kind of

mind needs Sastra; they need intellectual scriptures. There

are people who do not do anything unless they are

intellectually convinced, unless they are clear about the

whole thing. Of course, we cannot say that they should not

come for spirituality, however there are so many scriptures;

Stotra level scriptures which say, ‘don’t come inside if you

don’t have faith.’

Let me tell you: we should look at man with more

compassion; we can’t put faith as the main criteria, as the

first criteria to enter into spirituality. If we put faith as the

first criteria to enter spiritual life, we are refusing to give

spirituality to almost 90% of human beings. It is not easy to

believe anything immediately for most people. Faith may not

be instantaneous.

We cannot just believe, especially in modern days. Words

like belief and faith have limited relevance; all these words

are outdated. These words no longer have the meaning they

had ages ago; these words are totally out of our lives. We

can’t say that only the person who believes, one who has

faith, can come to spirituality. Spirituality should be open to

every being. We should create a system through which we

19


can reach every individual. Our Vedic seers, rishi created

Sastra, scriptures which give intellectual understanding.

Logically, we are made clear of what the path is, what the

goal is, why we are asked to do all these things, what for we

need spirituality. All these major questions, all our questions

are answered logically. All these major questions are

answered intellectually in Sastra. The conclusions are given

to us.

We need to understand a few things about Sastra.

Sastra are scriptures which completely take away all our

doubts.

‘Samsaya Rakshasa, Nasana Hastram’

Samsaya, is doubt; it is a rakshasa, demon. Please understand

samsaya is a rakshasa, doubt is a devil. Once a doubt enters

our mind, till we clear it we can’t sleep, we can’t rest.

Sastra help us get rid of these doubts intellectually. One

thing we should understand about intellectual clarity is that

unless we have complete intellectual clarity, even if we

believe, our belief will be a pseudo belief.

Please be very clear: our belief is a pseudo belief. Anyone can

shake our faith. Our faith does not have a strong base. Our

faith is almost like a building without foundation and if we

build without a foundation, what happens to the building, the

same will happen to us, if we don’t have the base of Sastra.

20


A person asked Vivekananda, ‘Master, what is the importance

of Veda and why should we study Sastra?’

Vivekananda said, ‘if you study Sastra, all your faith, all your

sincerity will become so strong that nobody will be able to

shake your faith and sincerity.’

Otherwise, any fool can tell us that what we are doing is

superstitious and we start thinking about it, we start

contemplating about it, ‘Am I really doing superstitious

things? Am I really following the right things? What am I

doing?’ We will start having doubts about ourselves. We

won’t believe our faith. Please be very clear, we don’t believe

our belief. That is the problem. Every human being should

understand that we never believe our belief. We may think

we believe in something; we may think we have faith, but

our faith or belief is not deep enough. It does not take us

anywhere unless we have the foundation of intellectual

conviction. Unless we have the deep foundation of Sastra we

will not be able to believe in anything.

I have seen people who think they believe. Please be very

clear: even our emotions are not so deep. You think we have

love, we think we believe. I see all kinds of people, who

come and say what they think they believe.

One person came to me and said, ‘Oh! Master, I love the

whole world.’

21


Again and again, I tell people that to love the whole world is

very easy, but to love your wife is very difficult!

That is why we are stuck. To love the whole world is very easy.

We can always say Vasudeva Kutumbaha, the world is my

family.

‘I feel like the whole world is like my family, Master,’ we say.

The problem is that we are not in tune with our own family,

and we think we love but we don’t really love. Our emotions

are not deep; our faith is not deep. This is because we don’t

have the intellectual conviction.

A man who doesn’t have the intellectual conviction and has

just faith, his faith can be shaken by anybody. Just one person

is enough to break our faith; we’ll be totally shocked, we can

be totally shaken.

Sastra, the intellectual understanding, give a base so that all

our convictions, all our faith, all our belief can enter into our

Being and start working. Bhakti, devotion, is just an alchemy

process. It is as if a touchstone touches us; have you heard

about a touchstone?

Ramakrishna says beautifully, ‘if a touchstone touches any

metal, it becomes gold just by a sparsha, a touch; just a

touch is enough for any metal to be converted to gold’.

22


Bhakti is a touchstone; the moment bhakti or devotion touches

us, we simply become God, we become Divine. The problem is,

we never allow bhakti to touch us, we never allow devotion to

work on us; we never allow devotion to penetrate our Being.

We think we want God, but we are continuously afraid of

the Divine. We may think we want Divine, but as long as it

is superficial, as long as it is under our control, things go

well. The moment devotion enters our Being, and starts the

process, we say, ‘No, no, not that much, this is enough! I

think that is too much for me!’

We stop at a certain point, our faith is pseudo.

A small story:

One guy lived throughout his life as an atheist. One day, he

fell from a cliff and was holding, hanging on to a small

branch. Slowly, the branch also started giving way.

The man started shouting, ‘Oh God! I never believed in you,

but now I do, please save me! Please save me, now that I

believe in you.’

He heard a booming voice from heaven that said, ‘Oh my

son, don’t worry I’ll save you. Just let go off the branch! Let

go off the branch and I will save you.’

Immediately the man responded, ‘Is there anybody else out

there who can save me?’

23


Our faith is just pseudo. Is there anybody else who can save

me? God is only one of the many choices for us; if there is

no good movie on TV, then we go to the temple. If we don’t

have any other commitment, any other party that day, we

think of going to the temple. God is only one more choice

for us in our lives. Till we have intellectual conviction about

life, God is just one more choice in our life. Spirituality is

just one more choice. We just choose. It is just one more

shop like Wal Mart or K Mart; we decide which shop we

should enter. It is just one more shop, nothing more than

that. The basic need for life is intellectual conviction.

One guy was praying to Lord Venkateshwara, ‘Oh Lord,

please give me a million dollars. If you give me one million

dollars I will put 200,000 dollars in your hundi, donation box.

If you don’t believe me, please deduct 200,000 dollars and

give me just the balance 800,000 dollars!’

Our faith is only this much, our spirituality is just a game.

As long as things go well, as long as things go according to

our route, God is great. I have seen people when they pass

in their exams, they break coconuts in front of Ganesa

temples and if they fail, they will break the Ganesa deity

itself! If they pass in their exams, they break coconut for God

Ganesa, if they fail they break Ganesa himself!!

Our faith is very pseudo. If it is not life transforming, we do

not allow the devotion to work on us. There is a beautiful

verse in the scriptures of Vedanta, the translation of which

24


goes: to clear your intellect, you need to break; you need to

open your intellect; you need to have a clear intellectual

understanding about life, about spirituality, about everything.

Sastra, scriptures, give us that intellectual clarity, that

intellectual understanding.

If we see all the great devotees, all the great bhakta like

Chaitanya, Ramanuja, Madhva, all these great bhakta had a

very strong intellectual base. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a

great nayaika philosopher. Nayaika means logic; he was a

great philosopher of logic. Once you reach that height, those

peaks of logic, only then you fall in the valley of love. Only

then you are qualified to fall in love. Unless you reach the

heights of logic, you are not qualified to fall in the valley of

love. All the great masters, all the great devotees who reach

the peak of intellect, had a strong Sastra base.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramanuja, Madhva, all these great

masters of devotion had a strong intellectual base in the first

category scriptures Sastra.

Next, are the Stotra. Stotra means expressing our experience

or expressing our love; expressing our devotion to our Master

or God, the Guru or God.

Expressing our deep love is Stotra. We stand in front of the

Divine, we stand in front of the Lord and we express our

feeling. Many people ask me, ‘what is this, Master, why is it

that in Hinduism you have idol worship?’

25


I tell them that Hinduism doesn’t have idol worship. We

don’t worship the idol, we worship through the idol. When

we stand in front of the deity, do we say, ‘Oh stone! give me

a boon. Oh stone! Please give me. Oh stone! Please save

me?’ No! We say, ‘Oh God, please save me. Oh Lord! Please

save me, Oh Prabhu! Please save me.’

Please understand, we don’t worship the idol in Hinduism,

we worship through the idol. So what we are doing is not idol

worship, but worship through idol. In Vaishnavism, the

devotion or bhakti stream of Hinduism, there is a beautiful

word Archavataara. This means that the idol which is

worshiped in the temple is called the incarnation of God.

Archavataara means incarnation of God. It is not just a

stone. Incarnation means the divine descending on the planet

Earth. Just like how we have all the incarnations, the ten

incarnations, the dasavatara of Vishnu. Each of these avatar

are there just like incarnations. Just like these avatar, the

stone, the idol that we worship is called Archavataara. We

relate to the divine through the vigraha, through the moorti,

the idol, the image.

When we stand in front of the idol and pour our heart out it is

called Stotra. All the songs of the Alvars and Nayanmars,

Meera, Chaitanya, all these songs written by the great

devotees are called Stotra. People always come and ask me

‘Sometimes I don’t feel like chanting these Stotra. Should I do

it mechanically even if I don’t like doing it? Should I do it?’

26


I say, ‘Do It.’ For one or two days you may feel it is a

mechanical exercise, but I tell you that the moment you start

enjoying the meaning, the moment you start understanding, it

will become your being. It will become your feeling.

When you express through your heart it becomes Stotra.

The next thing is Sutra. Sutra is the kind of literature that

gives us the technique to reach enlightenment which is

shown by Sastra; to reach the devotion, the ultimate bhakti

which is expressed by Stotra. Sastra are from the intellectual

level, Stotra are from the emotional level and Sutra are from

the Being level.

There are three kinds of human beings: some who are head

oriented, some heart oriented and others, Being oriented. To

fulfill every kind of human being, our rishi or sages have

created three kinds of literature. Our enlightened people

have created three kinds of literature - Sastra, Stotra and

Sutra.

This Bhagavad Gita is a book in which all three are put

together and there is something more. Bhagavad Gita is the

only book, I can say, the one and only book which is Stotra,

Shastra and Sutra, all combined in one.

It is Sastra: it gives a clear intellectual understanding about

life, about atman or the soul, about what is to be done, what

should not be done. Vidhi and Nishayada, do’s and don’ts,

27


rules and regulations are clearly explained. I have not seen

any other book explain these concepts so deeply. Please be

very clear: just explaining the do’s and don’ts will not help.

Giving the intellectual reason as to why it should be done,

why it should not be done, is necessary. There are many

books which talk about how many times you can marry or

whether you can marry at all. There are many literatures

that explain but very few books which give the reason as to

why we should do or why we should not do.

Gita is the only book which gives us a strong intellectual

base, intellectual clarity.

In Vedic literature, there are three books which are

considered as authority. No other religion has got so many

books like Hinduism, like Vedanta. We can be sure of one

thing: no other religion has so much of literature. Among

the literature, our Masters have chosen three books called

‘Prasthanathreya’. These books are the final authorities in

spirituality. One is Brahmasutra, another one is Upanishad

and the third is the Bhagavad Gita. Brahmasutra is written

by Veda Vyasa, an enlightened master. Upanishad again is

written by rishi, enlightened masters. But Gita is directly

from God, from an incarnation, Poornavataara.

Even among the incarnations, Krishna alone is considered

Poorna, complete, full incarnation. Why is Krishna

considered as Poornavatara? Why not any other incarnations?

Why is it that only Krishna is considered as Poornavatara?

28


We should first understand why incarnations come to planet

Earth. Why incarnations happen on planet Earth

Ramakrishna says beautifully, ‘there was once a big, beautiful

garden with many trees, with many varieties of flowers, many

varieties of fruits. Three friends were walking near the

garden and there was a big wall. One friend climbed the

wall and saw the garden. He said, ‘Oh my God! Such a

beautiful garden,’ and he just jumped into the garden and

started enjoying, eating the fruits. The second friend climbed

the wall and saw the garden. He felt it was so beautiful but

he had a little bit of courtesy and he turned around and

said to the third, ‘my dear friend’, there is a beautiful

garden below, come, I’m going.’ Saying this, he too jumped

and started enjoying the fruit.. The third friend climbed the

wall, saw the beautiful garden. He also saw his two friends

enjoying and he understood the level of joy and the bliss

that they were enjoying. He then said to himself, ‘No I’ll go

down and tell all my people that there is such a beautiful

garden and I will bring them all and make them enjoy this

garden.’

The man who comes down to tell all his fellowmen is an

incarnation. The man who descends from the Divine is the

incarnation. The person who comes back to planet Earth to

tell you about divinity, to make you realize what he has

experienced, is called an incarnation.

A scientist is a person who creates a formula to understand

29


the things of the outer world. For example, Newton saw

something happening in the garden. He saw the apple falling

from the tree, and suddenly some understanding came to

him. Why is this falling? What is happening? Why shouldn’t

it go up? Why is it coming down? He started thinking and

some understanding came to him. The glimpse of the truth

happened to him at that moment, and immediately he

analyzed, created a formula so that every body could

understand what happens when things fall. He created a

formula. The theory of gravity. So a scientist is a person who

creates a formula for the outer world.

In the same way, mystics, enlightened persons, are those who

create a formula to reproduce the inner world experiences.

Scientists create formulae for the outer world, whereas

Masters create formulae for the inner world. The meditation

techniques given by each Master are these formulae. On the

other hand, an incarnation is a person who can directly give

the experience without even using a formula. All these great

incarnations come down to planet Earth to give the spiritual

experiences, to make people realize that they are Divine, to

make people realize that they are God, to tell people that

the other side is beautiful: there’s a very big garden, come

let us go and enjoy!

An incarnation is a person who has come down, who has

descended to teach divinity to the world. Why is Krishna

Poornavatara? Because He has got all the qualities which are

needed to push human beings to divinity. The person who

30


can push human beings to divinity is called Jagat Guru -

Guru of the whole universe. There is a beautiful sloka, verse:

Vasudevasutam DevamKamsachanura Mardanam

Devaki ParmanandamKrishnam Vande Jagat Gurum

The sloka says: Krishna is the jagat guru. Jagat guru means a

person who can help the whole world; all types of human

beings and from all levels. The universe is a place where all

types of human beings are, and at all levels.

Krishna is the person who can help all kinds of people from

all levels to experience divinity, to reach the ultimate, to

realize the truth in them. There are intellectual people,

emotional people and there are people who are at the Being

level. Some incarnations apply more for intellectual people,

for example, the great Master Sankara. Sankara suits

intellectual people. Buddha suits intellectual people.

Intellectual people can relate to Buddha easily, but for

emotional people it is very difficult. We can’t imagine

Buddha with a flute. We can’t imagine Buddha singing and

dancing. We can’t imagine Sankara singing and dancing. We

can’t imagine Sankara doing raasleela – the intimate play

with the Gopikas!.

Only for intellectuals, will Buddha and Sankara appeal.

31


Then, there are some incarnations for emotional people.

They are Masters like Meera and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

They are always singing and dancing, celebrating. An

intellectual man can never understand Meera or Chaitanya

Mahaprabhu. He can never understand Aandal, the one who

was lost in devotion to the Lord. They can never understand

these incarnations.

For people who are at Being level, who are centered on their

being, for them, again it is very difficult to relate with the

intellectual or the emotional masters. They straight away

want the experience. They are neither ready to analyze nor

ready to believe. A person ready to analyze, he goes to

Sastra. A person ready to believe is drawn to Stotra, but a

person who wants a straight experience, instant coffee,

instant experience, he can neither wait for Sastra nor can he

wait for Stotra; he straight away wants the technology; he

wants the applied science. Sastra are like main theory, the

basic science. Stotra are like marketing department, publicity.

Sutra are applied science. They are straight answers.

A small story:

One guy reaches Yama Dharma’s court for judgement. Yama

is the God of Death and Justice. Yama says, ‘you have

committed some sins and also have some merit. You can be

allowed in heaven or in hell. You have a choice. You can

see both the places and choose which one you want.’

32


The guy says, ‘alright, I’ll first go to both the places and

then decide.’

He went to hell first. He saw that the people were so

beautiful, dancing and singing. It was completely hi-tech;

computers were available; Internet was available. They were

getting the everyday news effortlessly; everything was so new,

air conditioned and people serving. He thought, ‘what is this?

What happened to hell?’ He enquired and the people in hell

said, ‘all the technology-oriented people are coming here; all

the techies are here and so we have changed the whole

setup. Now we have updated the whole system. No more like

old times. Now, everything is new.’

The man decided to go to heaven as well and see how

things are there. There is a chance that some techies would

have gone there as well. There is a possibility. So, he went to

heaven. In heaven, he saw the same old Saints with long

beards, sitting on clouds and singing Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Nothing else, nothing new. It is the same heaven, nothing

much was happening.

He went to Yama and said, ‘I think I’ll go to hell.’

Yama said, ‘please be very clear. You cannot change your

mind. Are you sure?’

The guy said, ‘yes I’m sure I’ll go to hell.’

33


As soon as he decided, suddenly a door opened and he fell

into hell. There he was shocked with what he saw. He saw

the conventional hell, people being tortured by many devils.

It was the regular traditional, conventional hell. He was

shocked; he asked, ‘what is happening? What is this? When

I came here half an hour ago hell was different and now the

whole thing has changed.’

They said, ‘no, no, that was our promotional feature from

our marketing department!’

Understand: sometimes we are caught in the marketing

department. Don’t be caught in the marketing department.

And when you go to the marketing department, be very

clear about what the truth is and what is exaggerated. You

need to analyze. Of course, when I say we go through the

Stotra we need to understand it. Please be very clear: when

we go through the Purana, the epic stories, we need to

understand the spirit of the Purana. We need to understand

the spirit. There is a big difference between fact and truth.

Purana are the great truths. They show us the way to the

truth. So while understanding Stotra, we should understand

the spirit of the Stotra.

The next, Being level people are those who neither want

Sastra nor do they want Stotra; they straight away want

applied science, technology. For them, Siva who created the

Vignana Bhairava Tantra, is the answer. All these great

34


meditation techniques! For those people who are Being

oriented, for them these meditation techniques are suitable;

for them, Zen Masters are ideal. They can relate with the

Zen Masters. So, for the intellectual crowd, there is one

kind of incarnation, for the emotional crowd, another kind

of incarnation, and for Being level people, another kind of

Master.

But here is Krishna, with whom, people at all three levels

can relate. If you are an intellectual, He gives you the Gita,

Gita Krishna. If you are emotional, there is the Radha

Krishna. He can sing and dance, he can play, he can be

naughty, he can fulfill your emotional Being. He can give

you the ultimate emotional fulfillment.

At the Being level, you want a straight technology of

enlightenment. Again, he offers the truth, Dhyana Yoga in

the Gita.

He is complete fulfillment. His very life is Sutra! The very

life of Krishna is Sutra. Sutra means the technique that leads

you to enlightenment. The body language of an enlightened

person is Sutra. Krishna is the person whose body language

straight away leads you to enlightenment. Understand that

Rama will lead you to Dharma, righteousness. If you follow

what Rama did, you will have Dharma but with Krishna, you

will straight away have Moksha, liberation.

With Krishna’s Being, when we experience the Being of

35


Krishna, when we understand Krishna, His very Being is a

technique, His very life is a technique. That is why there is

a term in Bhagavata called ‘Leela Dhyana’. Just remembering

the leela, the playful pranks of Krishna, is Dhyana -

meditation.

Please understand: no other incarnation is given the word

Leela Dhyana, no other incarnation is praised. Just

remembering His acts is Leela. Masters say that remembering

the acts of Krishna is Leela.

All the great rishi once went to Vrindavan, where Krishna

was born, to see what was happening: why these fellows are

so happy, always singing and dancing and we rishi are sitting

with closed eyes and long faces and trying to meditate for

long hours and nothing is happening; except the beard,

nothing else is growing. We are sitting for a long time but

these Gopika, the female cowherds who were Krishna’s

playmates, are always happy, signing and dancing! What is

happening? They just wanted to see. They were disturbed by

these Gopika’s constant singing and dancing.

A small story:

A guy was sitting on the banks of a river trying to meditate.

He heard the sound of anklets and opened his eyes and saw

a young lady, a young woman walking towards the river to

fetch some water. He asked, ‘what is this? What kind of

disturbance is this?’

36


Then he closed his eyes and started meditating again.

The next day, at the same time, he heard the sound again.

Unconsciously he opened his eyes, saw the young girl and

asked, ‘what kind of disturbance are you creating?’

Again, he closed his eyes and started meditating.

On the third day, at the same time, he became anxious and

waited for the sound of the anklets!

These rishi must have been disturbed by the singing and

dancing of the Gopika, around Krishna. They wanted to

know what was going on in Vrindavan. They came down,

they went to Vrindavan just to see the Gopika. Not only did

the Gopika not receive them properly; they didn’t even care

to listen to what they had to say. They were happy,

completely fulfilled, and in total contentment, remembering

Krishna, in the reminiscences of the memories of Krishna.

These rishi asked, ‘what is this? We are rishi. We have come

all the way to see you and you are not even receiving us

properly.’

One Gopika came up and asked, ‘Rishi? Who’s that?’

‘We meditate on the Lord’s feet in our heart’, said one of the

Rishi.

‘Meditate on His feet? Come, we will show you, how we are

37


playing with Him! You are meditating on Him. Why? Come,

we will show you, how we are playing with Him. You say, you

are trying to remember Him by chanting; we are trying to

forget Him! He is so much in our being. We are not able to

forget him, we are not able to do our work, and he has

completely filled up our inner space.’

Many people come and ask me, ‘Master, should we remember

you constantly, should we take you as our Master?’

I tell them: never make that mistake. If I am going to help

you, if I am your Master, you will not be able to forget me. If

you have to remember me with effort, be very clear that I am

not your Master; forget me, carry on doing your work, carry

on with your life. If you have to remember something

consciously, with effort, it is ugly. Only when you can’t

forget, only then, devotion happens in you. The Gopika, say,

‘we are not able to forget. We are not able to forget our dear

Krishna.’

Emotional people can also relate with Krishna. They can sing,

dance and play with Him, and the Being level people who

are continually aspiring, seeking a straight experience, again

to them as well, Krishna appeals, because just by will He can

show, He can give enlightenment experience like how he

gave to Arjuna, by just showing His cosmic form, Vishwa

Roopa Darshana.

Just by showing that He is in everybody, and everybody is in

38


Him, He is able to express; just by will, He is able to give an

experience of the Divine to Arjuna; He is able to give

Eternal Bliss to Arjuna. So whether we are intellectually

oriented, emotionally oriented or Being level oriented, we can

see our fulfillment in Krishna.

Krishna can give us fulfillment. When intellect ripens it

becomes intelligence, when emotion ripens it becomes

devotion, when our Being ripens we become enlightened.

All these three enlightenment modes - Being, devotion and

intelligence, all these three express at their peak in Krishna.

Krishna is a person who can fulfill every Being, which is why

He is called Jagat Guru. Jagat Guru, guru of the whole

universe.

One Swami in India came to me. He said, ‘I am the Jagat

Guru’.

‘Jagat Guru?’ I asked, ‘what is this? It’s like having a small

hotel on the roadside and naming it the Sheraton.’

I asked him, ‘Jagat Guru? What do you mean by that word?

Do you know the qualifications of a Jagat Guru?’

He said, ‘No, no, I have one disciple and his name is Jagat.

So I am called Jagat Guru!’

So understand: the word Jagat Guru does not mean just the

39


guru of one person Jagat! Jagat Guru is the person who leads

the whole universe into the Divine Consciousness.

Krishna is the only person who is a Jagat Guru.

So, to a person who is intellectually oriented, the Upanishad

will appeal, Sastra will appeal, Brahma Sutra will appeal.

To a person who is emotionally oriented, the Stotra will

appeal; the songs of Chaitanya, Meera, songs of Tulsidas will

appeal.

For a person who is at the Being level oriented, for him

Vignana Bhairava Tantra or Patanjali Yoga Sutra, which give

applied science, technology will appeal. But Krishna appeals

to every being. He is for the intellectual people, emotional

people and Being level people and something more. He has

created keys to open all the locks. He has created methods

which can give spiritual experience for the whole of

humanity; to people who have come and gone, people who

are here, and who are yet to come. He has created the

technology even for the following generations. He is Nithya

Ananda or Eternal Bliss. Gita is the Ultimate scripture which

is Sastra, Stotra and Sutra.

40


When Krishna says,

xÉèxÉÆ ÊUôxnùÎxiÉ ¶ÉºjÉÉÊhÉ xÉèxÉÆ nù½þÊiÉ {ÉÉ´ÉEò&*xÉ SÉèxÉÆ C±ÉänùªÉxiªÉÉ{ÉÉä xÉ ¶ÉÉä¹ÉªÉÊiÉ ¨ÉÉ¯ûiÉ&**2.23**

Nainam chindanti sastrani, Nainam dahati pavakaha

Na chainam kledayantyapo na soshayati marutaha (2.23)

Weapons do not cleave, nor fire burn the Atman. Water does

not wet it wind does not dry it

When He talks about the basic ideas, the basic truths about

life and spirituality, it is Sastra.

When Arjuna says,

xÉ¨É& {ÉÖ®úºiÉÉnùlÉ {ÉÞ¹`öiÉºiÉä xÉ¨ÉÉä%ºiÉÖ iÉä ºÉ´ÉÇiÉ ´É ºÉ´ÉÇ*+xÉxiÉ´ÉÒªÉÉÇÊ¨ÉiÉÊ´ÉGò¨Éºi´ÉÆ ºÉ´ÉÈ ºÉ¨ÉÉ{xÉÉäÊ¹É iÉiÉÉä%ÊºÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ&**11.40**

Namo Purastat atha prsthatas te, Namostute sarvata eva sarva

Ananta viryamita vikramas tvam sarvam samapnosi tato si sarvah

(11.40)

‘Oh Lord, I bow down to You from front, from behind, on all

sides; You are infinitely mighty, pervading everything, You are

the Ultimate.’

41


Arjuna is doing the Stotra; Arjuna is praising the Lord; he is

expressing his devotion.

ªÉÆ ªÉÆ ´ÉÉÊ{É º¨É®úx¦ÉÉ´ÉÆ iªÉVÉiªÉxiÉä Eò±Éä É®ú ÉÂ*iÉÆ iÉ¨Éä ÉèÊiÉ EòÉèxiÉäªÉ ºÉnùÉ iÉnÂù¦ÉÉ´É¦ÉÉÊ´ÉiÉ&**8.6**

Whatever your thought is when you leave this body,

absorbed in that thought, that alone you attain, Arjuna! (8.6)

Krishna here provides the technique, the Sutra to Arjuna. A

most powerful Sutra that would help anyone attain what he

wants.

Bhagavad Gita is the only scripture that combines the

wisdom of Sastra, the depth of feeling of Stotra, and the

practical reality of a Sutra. It is a means to enlightenment for

all, delivered by the Master of Masters.

In this first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, we see Arjuna,

the most prolific fighter amongst the Pandava princes and

the darling of all his teachers, winner of Draupadi and the

treasured friend of Krishna, in a deep dilemma.

Years ago, a man called Arthur Koestler wrote an article

about Communism, titled ‘Yogi and the Commissar’. We do

not know whether he had read the Gita, but he had

certainly captured Arjuna and his plight with his title.

42


Arjuna is both the Yogi and the Commissar. As a Yogi, he is

deeply spiritual, centered within himself and deeply aware of

his moral and ethical obligations. As the Commissar, Arjuna

is the warrior, ready to avenge, ready to impose order and

control; he is the archetypal Kshatriya prince.

It is impossible to continuously and consistently continue with

both these personalities without faltering.

Arjuna falters, as he faces his enemies on the battle field of

the Great Mahabharata War. His dilemma unfolds.

Arjuna’s dilemma is such that he is now unable to be neither

a Yogi nor a Commissar.

He loses his detachment as a Yogi. In turn he loses his

courage as a Commissar.

He sees his enemies and identifies himself with them. In

front of him, are his mentors, family and friends. They are his

extension, his lineage, his identity. He can no longer pretend

that he is the ultimate warrior, the Commissar, who can

dispassionately dispatch them to death.

Arjuna’s dilemma is the dilemma of all humanity. It is an

internal conflict between what we perceive as our value

systems and beliefs, and what we feel we should do.

Our value systems and beliefs are the samskara or deeply

engraved memories that drive our decisions. The problem lies

43


in the fact that these samskara lie deep in our unconscious.

We are not even aware of them.

In the case of Arjuna, Arjuna understood his Kshatriya code

of conduct very well, which demanded that he cannot turn

down a challenge to fight and gamble. However, his deep

rooted attachment to his clan and lineage proved stronger

than what he considered to be his duties. These beliefs were

far stronger than the codes of conduct.

Arjuna’s samskara were primal. They were related to his

survival issues, his identity issues. By killing his clan members,

he was in effect destroying a part of himself. No code of

conduct was worth that destruction. That was his dilemma.

All of us, at one time or another are caught in such

dilemma. We are taught to follow certain societal rules and

regulations. As long as our basic desires are in tune with

these societal and religious rules and regulations, we have no

problems, no confusion, no dilemma. However, when, what

we seek and the path we need to follow to achieve what we

seek violate these rules and regulations, our dilemmas start.

That’s why Jesus said, ‘he amongst you, who is without sin,

let him cast the first stone.’ Everyone of us, without

exception, has inbuilt guilt in having violated what we have

understood to be the commandments of religion and society.

That guilt is what we term sin, and we are afraid that the

unknown, the unseen forces will gang up against us and

44


punish us for these violations. Desire versus guilt, is our

dilemma, always, but always.

In almost all cases, if the desires are strong enough, desires

win. Rules and regulations can wait, we say. At worst, we

can always work out a way of appeasing the unknown and

unseen forces. After all, what are priests for; if anything, they

may demand more to intercede with these paranormal forces

on our behalf. That’s all.

The truth is that society and religion encourage us to think

this way. They know that no one can be controlled a

hundred percent and all the time. Let us just put speed

blockers, they say. Let us try and control them through fear

and greed. If they are all good all the time, that would be

very difficult. We will be out of business. They can then deal

directly with the unseen forces. That cannot be allowed. So

let us install rules and regulations that cannot be observed

for the most part, by most people. They will violate them,

they will stumble. Let us then catch hold of them and

control them; control them through fear and greed; through

the fear of God.

Such is the genesis of all religious and societal norms and

guidelines. They are established so that we break them and

feel guilty. Once we feel guilty, we are caught, caught for

ever.

45


There is no sin in the spiritual sense. When you are truly

aware that there are no sins. Whatever happens to us

happens as a result of natural laws, when one is truly aware.

When one has the compassion for all of humanity, when one

feels for every living being the same compassion that one

feels for oneself and one’s own, there is no way one can think

and do harm to another. There can be no sin. And therefore,

there is no guilt either.

Arjuna’s progress on this path of self discovery is the path of

the Bhagavad Gita. That is our path too, if we internalize

the message of Gita. When there is no variation between

what we wish to do and what we believe in, when we are

aware of our samskara and we act in total fulfillment of

these samskara in awareness, we have no dilemma. We are in

fulfillment.

All of us are born with pre-existing desires; these are the

vasana, the mental set up that the spirit within us carries

into our bodies. These are also called prarabda karma.

Prarabda karma, which are the carried over desires when we

are born, carry their own energy for fulfillment. The trouble

is, that at the time of death, most of us go into coma, when

the spirit passes through the Causal layer as it crosses the

seven mind body energy layers, and at this time, we lose

memory of our prarabda karma. We no longer remember why

we were born, with what desires we were born! That is the

root cause of our dilemma.

46


Those who take conscious birth, such as incarnations,

enlightened beings, come with an awareness of their prarabda

karma, when they are born. They know what they are here

for. They have no confusion, no dilemma. Arjuna is not in

that stage yet; neither are most of you.

It is possible to become aware of our prarabda karma and

work towards their fulfillment so that our stock of samskara

gets dissipated. This is the process of Yoga, that Krishna

takes Arjuna through, in these eighteen chapters of the

Bhagavad Gita.

These teachings are not meant for Arjuna alone. They are

meant for each one of us, all of us, so that we dissolve our

samskara and resolve our dilemmas.

47


vÉÞiÉ®úÉ¹]Åõ =´ÉÉSÉvÉ¨ÉÇIÉäjÉä EÖò¯ûIÉäjÉä ºÉ¨É´ÉäiÉÉ ªÉÖªÉÖiºÉ´É&*

¨ÉÉ¨ÉEòÉ& {ÉÉhb÷ ÉÉ¶SÉè É ÊEò¨ÉEÖò´ÉÇiÉ ºÉ\VÉªÉ**1.1**

Dhritharashtra uvacha

dharma-kshetre kuru-kshetre

samavetaa yuyutsavah

maamakaah pandavaas chaiva

kim akurvata sanjaya (1.1)

Dhritharashtra: Dhritharashtra; uvacha: said; dharma-kshetre: in

the place of righteousness; kuru-kshetre: in this location of

Kurukshetra; samavetaah: gathered; yuyutsavah: desiring to

fight; mamakah: my people; pandavah: the sons of Pandu; ca:

and; eva: also; kim: what; akurvata: did they do; sanjaya: O

Sanjaya.

King Dhritharashtra asked: O Sanjaya, on this righteous

location of Kurukshetra, what did my sons and the sons of

Pandu ready to fight, do?

48


It is significant that the very first opening statement of this

great scripture was from a blind man. He not only had lost

the power of sight, but also the power of insight; the wisdom

to distinguish between right and wrong.

Dhritharashtra’s brother Pandu had handed over to him his

throne as well as five children to take care. From the point

of view of any righteous person, these five Pandava princes

were Dhritharashtra’s responsibility as well. However, the

separation in Dhritharashtra’s mind was very clear; he said,

‘my sons and the sons of Pandu’.

What are they doing, he asked Sanjaya plaintively: these

sons of mine, the hundred Kaurava princes, and those five

sons of Pandu, the Pandava princes. He claimed no ownership

to the Pandava princes; no responsibility; no concern for their

welfare. His only concern was for his own Kaurava sons.

Dhritharashtra’s attachment to his sons, especially the crown

prince Duryodhana had blinded all his reasoning. Whatever

his son did was fine by him. From his early adolescence,

Duryodhana had been plotting to kill his Pandava cousins

and even though Dhritharashtra feigned ignorance of his son’s

evil deeds, he was fully aware of what his son was up to.

Even when Duryodhana and his brother Dushassana went to

the extreme extent of insulting Draupadi, wife of the Pandava

princes, by disrobing her in public, at his court,

Dhritharashtra seemed powerless to act, and finally, when

Duryodhana refused to give the Pandavas even a needle point

of land, Dhritharashtra kept quiet, ensuring that blood spilt.

49


The sad part of the tale was that Dhritharashtra was fully

aware that what he was following was the path of evil, and

that it would result in destruction of his clan. Yet, he seemed

powerless to act otherwise. Dhritharashtra’s tale is one

common to all humankind. Often, we follow wrong paths not

because we do not know it is wrong, but almost as if under a

hypnotic spell, knowing quite well that what would result

may not be in our long term interest. The Gita, therefore,

starts on this premise.

It is not merely the fight between good and evil as it is

made out to be. It is far more than that. It is about our inner

conflict in not being able to do the right thing; not being

courageous enough to stand up to what is right; the lack of

awareness and clarity to follow the path of righteousness. It is

a fight between the good and evil within us; not outside us.

Krishna, the super conscious, the Poornavatar, constantly

looms over our being; yet, we ignore this divine call within

us, caught in the illusion that what we are doing otherwise

will make us happy.

Dhritharashtra called Kurukshetra, the location of this war, as

dharmakshetra, location of righteousness. He implicitly

recognized the divinity of Krishna, whose mere presence on

this battlefield conferred upon it the mantle of righteousness.

Wherever Krishna was, that became the place of

righteousness by default. Even in his confused state of

thinking, there was enough clarity in Dhritharashtra’s mind

to acknowledge the supremacy of Krishna and it revealed

itself in his choice of words. It was, as if at one level,

50


Dhritharashtra knew that the fate of his Kaurava clan was

sealed.

If Krishna was the epitome of righteousness, and Krishna was

on the side of the Pandavas, how could the Pandavas lose?

The tragic fate of Dhritharashtra was that he knew that the

destruction of his clan was inevitable, and yet he was

powerless to do anything about it.

Sanjaya was Dhritharashtra’s minister and charioteer. By the

grace of sage Vyasa, Sanjaya was given the power to see

whatever was going on in the battlefield, so that he could

faithfully convey to his King Dhritharashtra and his queen

Gandhari the tragic happenings therein. His third eye was

opened, and not only could he see what was happening at a

far away location, but he had the power of intuition as well,

to know what would happen.

We are all blind in one sense or another, and Dhritharashtra

represents the majority of mankind in this aspect. Blindness

in this case is not only physical inability to see, but in

addition ignorance to discriminate between right and wrong

and the absence of desire of even wanting to distinguish

between right and wrong.

We can all be like Sanjaya, with our third eyes open, instead

of being blind like Dhritharashtra. This is one of the

messages of Gita. To become aware of our inner conflict is

the first step in opening that third eye.

51


ºÉ\VÉªÉ =´ÉÉSÉoù¹]Âõ´ÉÉ iÉÖ {ÉÉhb÷´ÉÉxÉÒEÆò ´ªÉÚfÆø nÖùªÉÉævÉxÉºiÉnùÉ*+ÉSÉÉªÉÇ ÉÖ{ÉºÉRÂóMÉ¨ªÉ ®úÉVÉÉ ´ÉSÉxÉ¨É¥É´ÉÒiÉÂ**1.2**

sanjaya uvacha

drshtvaa tu paandavaaneekam

vyuddham duryodhanas tadaa

acharyam upasamgamya

raajaa vachanam abravit (1.2)

Sanjayah: Sanjaya; uvacha: said; drshtva: having seen; tu:

indeed ; paandavaanikam: the Pandava army; vyuddham:

arranged in formation; duryodhanah: Duryodhana; tadaa: then;

acharyam: the teacher; upasangamya: approaching ; raajaa: the

king; vachanam: words; abravit: said

Sanjaya said: O King, looking at the Pandava army in full

formation, Duryodhana went to his teacher and started

speaking these words.

52


Again, the way Sanjaya started his description of the

proceedings is interesting.

Duryodhana was the crown prince, and in reality the King,

since his father was both blind and powerless to stop him.

Duryodhana saw the soldiers of the Pandava army arrayed in

front of him and there were many ways he could have

responded. As the one person who single handedly instigated

this war, so sure that he would vanquish his cousins,

Duryodhana could have gloated. As a measure to reassure

himself and his army, Duryodhana could have roared out in

anger and in defiance. Yet, after seeing the army he chose to

walk across to his teacher and one of the commanders of the

Kaurava army, Drona, his teacher and mentor.

As we shall see, the purpose was to ensure that Drona

accepted any blame for anything that may happen.

Duryodhana walking up to his mentor was more to hold him

responsible than to seek reassurance or blessings.

When faced with the knowledge of doing something wrong,

knowing fully well that what is being done is wrong, and yet

committed to this path out of sheer ego, this is how we

react. We find something or someone responsible other than

ourselves, who we can shift the blame to. It is well

understood that what would follow is something unpleasant,

and what triggered it off was our foolish actions and yet,

there is solace in the belief that we have someone else to lay

the blame on, however, illogical it may be.

53


Duryodhana understood the modern management concept of

delegation well. Like many managers today, he delegated so

that he could abdicate responsibility.

A disciple in the IT industry was telling me this the other day:

When our big boss, the CEO, is called by a customer and

offered a very difficult project to be done within a week, he

would first send it down to the Divisional Manager, who would

then send it down to a Project Manager, who in turn sends it

to a team of programmers to study and assess the cost.

When the project seems very ambitious and not worth our

while, we at the programmer level would tell our boss, the

Project Manager, that it would be impossible and foolish to

take on; there is no way we can do it in even a month’s time.

The Project Manager would tell the Divisional Manager that

it is a very difficult project and that it would be very

expensive, and cannot be done within a fortnight. The

Divisional Manager would tell the CEO that it is huge a

challenge and that with a lot of overtime it could be done in

a week.

The CEO then commits to the customer that the company

would deliver it in three days, and would make the

programming team responsible!

Delegation can indeed work miracles, as long as the person

who delegates does not know what needs to be done!

54


Duryodhana was now exhibiting his mastery in this field of

management. He was well aware that there is no hope for

him to win the war. However, his greed for power and wealth

had blinded him to a point that he could not face reality.

He would like to change reality so that he could face it. He

could not take responsibility for it, since he did not know

how. All he could do was to turn to his mentors and tell

them they were responsible to ensure that he won.

55


{É¶ªÉèiÉÉÆ {ÉÉhbÖ÷{ÉÖjÉÉhÉÉ¨ÉÉSÉÉªÉÇ ¨É½þiÉÓ SÉ¨ÉÚ ÉÂ*´ªÉÚføÉÆ pÖù{Énù{ÉÖjÉähÉ iÉ´É Ê¶É¹ªÉähÉ vÉÒ¨ÉiÉÉ**1.3**

pasyaitam paandu-putraanaam

acharya mahateem chamoom

vyuuddhaam drupada-putrena

tava sishyena dheemataa (1.3)

pasya: behold; etam: this; pandu-putraanaam: of the sons of

Pandu; acharya: O teacher; mahateem: great; chamoom: army;

vyuddham: formed; drupada-putrena: by the son of Drupada;

tava: your; sishyena: disciple; dhee-mata: intelligent.

O my teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pandu, so

expertly arranged by, the son of Drupada, your intelligent

disciple.

56


+jÉ ¶ÉÚ®úÉ ¨É½äþ¹´ÉÉºÉÉ ¦ÉÒ¨ÉÉVÉÖÇxÉºÉ¨ÉÉ ªÉÖÊvÉ*ªÉÖªÉÖvÉÉxÉÉä Ê´É®úÉ]õ¶SÉ pÖù{Énù¶SÉ ¨É½þÉ®úlÉ&**1.4**

atra soora maheshvasaa

bheemarjuna-samaa yudhi

yuyudhaano viraatas cha

drupadas cha mahaa-rathah(1.4)

atra: here; sohar: heroes; mahaa-isu-asah: mighty archers;

bheema-arjuna: Bhima and Arjuna; samaah: equal; yudhi: in

battle; yuyudhaanah: Yuyudhana; viratah-: Virata; cha: and;

drupadah: Drupada; cha: and; mahaa-rathah: great charioteers.

Here in this army there are many heroic archers equal in

fighting to Bheema and Arjuna; there are also great chariot

warriors like Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada.

57


vÉÞ¹]õEäòiÉÖ¶SÉäÊEòiÉÉxÉ& EòÉÊ¶É®úÉVÉ¶SÉ ´ÉÒªÉÇ ÉÉxÉÂ*{ÉÖ ûÊVÉiEÖòÎxiÉ¦ÉÉäVÉ¶SÉ ¶É¤ªÉ¶SÉ xÉ®ú{ÉÖRÂóMÉ´É&**1.5**

dhrshtaketus chekitaanah

kaasiraajas cha veeryavaan

purujit kuntibhojas cha

saibyas cha nara-pungavah (1.5)

dhrshtaketuh: Dhrshtaketu; chekitaanah: Chekitana; kasirajah:

Kasiraja; cha: and; veerya-vaan: courgageous; purujit: Purujit;

kuntibhojah: Kuntibhoja; cha: and; saibyah: Saibya; cha: and;

nara-pungavah: best of men

There are courageous warriors like Dhrshtaketu, Chekitana,

Kasiraja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya, who are amongst

the best of men.

58


ªÉÖvÉÉ¨ÉxªÉÖ¶SÉ Ê´ÉGòÉxiÉ =kÉ¨ÉÉèVÉÉ¶SÉ ´ÉÒªÉÇ ÉÉxÉÂ*ºÉÉè¦ÉpùÉä pùÉè{ÉnäùªÉÉ¶SÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ ´É ¨É½þÉ®úlÉÉ&**1.6**

yudhaamanyus ca vikraanta

uttamaujaas ca viryavaan

saubhadro draupadeyas ca

sarva eva maha-rathah(1.6)

yudhamanyuh:Yudhamanyu; ca: and; vikrantah: mighty;

uttamaujah: Uttamauja; ca: and; virya-van: brave; saubhadrah:

the son of Subhadra; draupadeyah: the sons of Draupadi; ca:

and; sarve: all; eva: certainly; maha-rathah: great chariot

fighters.

There are the mighty Yudhamanyu, the brave Uttamauja, the

son of Subhadra and the sons of Draupadi. All are great

chariot warriors.

59


+º¨ÉÉEÆò iÉÖ Ê´ÉÊ¶É¹]õÉ ªÉä iÉÉÊzÉù¤ÉÉävÉ ÊuùVÉÉäkÉ¨É*xÉÉªÉEòÉ ¨É¨É ºÉèxªÉºªÉ ºÉÆYÉÉlÉÈ iÉÉx¥É´ÉÒÊ¨É iÉä**1.7**

asmakam tu visista ye

tan nibodha dvijottama

nayaka mama sainyasya

samjnartham tan bravimi te (1.7)

asmakam: our; tu: also; visistah: powerful; ye: who; tan: those;

nibodha: know; dvija-uttama: the best of the Brahmins;

nayakah: leaders; mama: my; sainyasya: of the army;

samjna-artham: for information; tan: them; bravimi: I speak; te:

to you.

O best of the Brahmins, for your information, let me tell you

about the powerful leaders who lead my army.

60


¦É´ÉÉx¦ÉÒ¹¨É¶SÉ EòhÉÇ¶SÉ EÞò{É¶SÉ ºÉÊ¨ÉÊiÉ\VÉªÉ&*+¶´ÉilÉÉi¨ÉÉ Ê´ÉEòhÉÇ¶SÉ ºÉÉè ÉnùÊkÉºiÉlÉè É SÉ**1.8**

bhavan bhismas ca karnas ca

krpas ca samitim-jayah

asvatthama vikarnas ca

saumadattis tathaiva ca (1.8)

bhavan: your self; bhismah: Grandfather Bhisma; ca: and;

karnah: Karna; ca: and; krpah: Krpa; ca: and; samitim-jayah:

victorious in war; asvatthama: Asvatthama; vikarnah: Vikarna;

ca: and; saumadattih: the son of Somadatta; tatha: thus as;

eva: certainly; ca: and.

They are yourself, Bhishma, Karna, Krupa, Asvatthama,

Vikarna and the son of Somadatta, who are always victorious

in battle.

61


Duryodhana was blunt and in the face, in his message to

Drona, his teacher, the acharya, on the battlefield. People

who work for you are there to be told, not to be listened to!

It was unlikely that Drona was a warrior. He was a brahmin

by birth and had learnt his skills of archery and warfare from

his father, sage Bharadwaja. Drupada, the prince of Panchala,

was a fellow disciple of Bharadwaja, and he had promised his

childhood friend Drona a part of his Kingdom, when he

came to power. When Drona was in serious financial

problems and approached Drupada for help, Drupada insulted

him and turned him away from his court. Drona ended up as

the teacher to the Pandava and Kaurava princes. At the end

of their training, as was the tradition, he demanded his fees,

his guru dakhsina. Instead of anything material, he asked

them to capture Drupada and bring the king to him. Of his

disciples, only Arjuna was ready to do this. Arjuna did as he

was asked and brought Drupada as his prisoner of war as a

gift to his guru Drona.

Drupada was mortified at his capture and submission to

Drona. He went into deep penance and sought a child who

would kill Drona. Dhrishtadyumna was born to Drupada as a

result of this penance, and he became, ironically, a disciple of

Drona along with the Pandava and Kaurava princes. Though

Drona was aware of this background of Dhrishtadyumna’s

birth, he still accepted him as a disciple and trained him in

warfare. Dhrishtadyumna became the Commander in Chief of

62


the Pandava army in this great war and Drona was one of the

opposing Commanders of the Kaurava army.

Duryodhana pointedly referred to Drona’s lack of foresight in

training his would-be killer, who was now heading the

opposing army. It was as though he was warning Drona not to

be so trusting again or to go easy with the opponent, who

was once his student. Duryodhana then pointed out the

other great Pandava warriors, such as Bheema and Arjuna,

who too were students of Drona, as well as a number of

other great warriors fighting for the Pandavas.

Duryodhana then decided to explain to Drona about the

great warriors on the Kaurava side. Duryodhana was no

longer a disciple addressing his mentor. It was as if Drona

was a mercenary who Duryodhana had hired to battle for

him. Duryodhana alternately berated Drona for having

trained the opponent army warriors and then placated him by

listing him at the head of his own great warriors.

Duryodhana was a man totally confused.

He started off eulogizing the strength of the Pandava army.

This was not because he genuinely wanted to, but mainly to

point out to Drona the mistakes Duryodhana felt Drona had

committed.

At one level, as a Kshatriya, Duryodhana did not have

respect for Drona, who was a brahmin; he felt that a brahmin

63


had no business being engaged in warfare. However, knowing

the skill of Drona as a warrior, Duryodhana had no choice

but to keep him on his side; it would have been too

dangerous for Drona to side with the Pandava princes.

At another level, Duryodhana had no trust in Drona. He

had always felt that Drona was partial to the Pandava princes

and that Arjuna was his favorite. Duryodhana knew in his

heart, that given the choice, Drona would not support him,

and Drona had no respect for him, and considered him to be

in the wrong. He also knew that Drona held Krishna in great

esteem and did not believe that Duryodhana could succeed

in this war.

He had no guilt feelings going to war against his brethren,

as he desperately wanted to keep the kingdom for himself

and did not believe that as long as the Pandava princes were

alive he would be safe.

His problem was not one of doing right or wrong. Whatever

he did was right, according to Duryodhana. He was not a

man given to deep thinking.

However, Duryodhana had no trust in many of the great

warriors who had come to his side. He knew that many of

these great warriors, especially his teachers such as Drona,

Bhishma, and Kripa, who were also teachers to Pandava

princes, would have very much liked not to fight the

64


Pandava army. He knew that they were compelled from a

moral standpoint to fight for him, as their king, and not as

directed by their conscience. This was the source of his

conflict and uncertainty.

It was also strange that Duryodhana chose to go to Drona,

and not Bhishma who was his Commander in Chief. It was

as if he was afraid to say these things that he had said to

Drona, to his great grandfather and Commander Bhishma.

Drona was a mercenary, an employee, who Duryodhana could

talk abrasively to, even though he had been his teacher.

Bhishma, on the other hand, was his great grandfather, who

had given up his chance to be King to fulfill his own

father’s moral obligations, and to satisfy his father’s lust.

There was no way that Duryodhana could have said the same

words to Bhishma at this stage of the war.

Duryodhana was not in that state of desperation to confront

Bhishma. At a later stage in the war, it became far more

clear that the Kaurava army was in deep trouble,

Duryodhana did approach Bhishma and blamed him for being

partial to the Pandava princes. At this stage though,

Duryodhana was not desperate enough.

65


+xªÉä SÉ ù¤É½þ´É& ¶ÉÚ®úÉ ¨ÉnùlÉæ iªÉCiÉVÉÒÊ´ÉiÉÉ&*xÉÉxÉÉ¶ÉºjÉ|É½þ®úhÉÉ& ºÉ´Éæ ªÉÖrùÊ´É¶ÉÉ®únùÉ&**1.9**

anye cha bahavah sura

mad-arthe tyakta-jivitah

nana-sastra-praharanah

sarve yuddha-visaradah(1.9)

anye: many others; cha: also; bahavah: in great numbers;

surah: heroes; mat-arthe: for my sake; tyakta-jivitah: prepared to

risk life; nana: many; sastra: weapons; praharanah: equipped

with; sarve: all of them; yuddha: battle; visaradah: experienced

in military science.

There are many other heroes who are prepared to lay down

their lives for my sake. All of them are well equipped with

different kinds of weapons, and all are experienced in

military science.

66


+{ÉªÉÉÇ{iÉÆ iÉnùº¨ÉÉEÆò ù¤É±ÉÆ ¦ÉÒ¹¨ÉÉÊ¦É®úÊIÉiÉ¨ÉÂ*{ÉªÉÉÇ{iÉÆ Îi´Énù ÉäiÉä¹ÉÉÆ ù¤É±ÉÆ ¦ÉÒ¨ÉÉÊ¦É®úÊIÉiÉ¨ÉÂ**1.10**

aparyaptam tad asmakam

balam bhismabhiraksitam

paryaptam tv idam etesam

balam bhimabhiraksitam (1.10)

aparyaptam: unlimited; tat: that; asmakam: of ours; balam:

strength; bhisma: Bhishma; abhiraksitam: protected; paryaptam:

limited; tu: but; idam: all this; etesam: their; balam: strength;

bhima: by Bhima; abhiraksitam: protected.

Our unlimited army is protected by Grandfather Bhishma,

whereas their limited army is protected by Bhima.

67


+ªÉxÉä¹ÉÖ SÉ ºÉ´Éæ¹ÉÖ ªÉlÉÉ¦ÉÉMÉ¨É´ÉÎºlÉiÉÉ&*¦ÉÒ¹¨É¨Éä ÉÉÊ¦É®úIÉxiÉÖ ¦É´ÉxiÉ& ºÉ´ÉÇ ´É Ê½þ**1.11**

ayanesu ca sarvesu

yatha-bhagam avasthitah

bhismam evabhiraksantu

bhavantah sarva eva hi (1.11)

ayanesu: in the divisions ; ca: and; sarvesu: everywhere;

yathabhagam: as per the divisions; avasthitah: situated;

bhismam: to Bhisma; eva: alone; abhiraksantu: protect;

bhavantah: you; sarve: all; eva: quite; hi: indeed.

Now all of you must give full protection to Bhishma,

stationed in your respective divisions.

68


iÉºªÉ ºÉÆVÉxÉªÉx½þ¹ÉÈ EÖò¯û´ÉÞrù& Ê{ÉiÉÉ¨É½þ&*ËºÉ½þxÉÉnÆù Ê´ÉxÉtÉäSSÉè& ¶ÉRÂóJÉÆ nùv¨ÉÉè |ÉiÉÉ{É´ÉÉxÉÂ**1.12**

tasya sanjanayan harsam

kuru-vrddhah pitamahah

simha-nadam vinadyoccaih

sankham dadhmau pratapavan (1.12)

tasya: his; sanjanayan: causing; harsam: joy; kuru-vrddhah:

oldest of the Kuru dynasty; pitamahah: the grandfather; simha-

nadam: lion’s roar; vinadya: causing to sound; uccaih: loudly;

sankham: conch; dadhmau: blew; pratapa-van: mighty.

Then Bhishma, the mighty grandsire of the Kuru dynasty,

their Grandfather, blew his conch loudly, roaring like a lion,

giving Duryodhana joy.

69


Duryodhana was by nature a coward, suffering from a deep

inferiority complex and an eternal need for attention. He

had always been threatened by the fact that his Pandava

cousins were superior to him and his brothers. He was

especially afraid of Arjuna and Bhima, who were physically

stronger and more skilled than him. Like all bullies through

the ages, Duryodhana too was afraid of only physical power

that was greater than his own.

Duryodhana felt secure only when surrounded by cronies. His

strength and valor arose from the feeling of being supported

by his clan and the army around him. On the positive side,

Duryodhana was an extremely generous friend who gave his

all, when he trusted some one. This quality had attracted to

him strong men like Karna who swore to him their undying

loyalty. Even though Karna knew that Arjuna was his own

brother, all he could say to his mother Kunti was that she

would finally be left with five sons, implying that one of her

sons, either Arjuna or Karna, would perish in the war; such

was the loyalty that Duryodhana evoked in his friends.

Duryodhana, now rightly went on to claim that there were a

number of people, who were great warriors, who would

willingly lay down their lives for him. These warriors might

have been aware that Duryodhana was an immoral person

but such was their commitment to him that it did not

matter.

70


Duryodhana then went on to boost his own morale saying

that the power of the Kaurava army led by the redoubtable

Bhishma was immeasurable, whereas the Pandava army with

Bhima as one of the commanders was limited in power.

Duryodhana’s reference to Bhima, who was not really the

Commander in Chief of the Pandava army, alongside

Bhishma, was due to the fear that he had, of the oath that

Bhima had taken, to break Duryodhana’s thigh and drink his

blood to avenge the insult to Draupadi in disrobing her in

public. Duryodhana knew in his heart that this would happen

and the only factor that could save him would be the

protecting hand of Bhishma.

Duryodhana then addressed the Kaurava army exhorting

them to support their Commander in Chief Bhishma. In

response, Bhishma blew on his conch like a lion, making

Duryodhana joyful.

Bhishma was the first Kaurava Commander in Chief and

Duryodhana wanted to make sure that the entire Kaurava

army was committed to his leadership. In the past,

Duryodhana had not hidden his feelings that Bhishma was

partial to the Pandavas. Now, however, the die was cast, and

Bhishma, the greatest warrior either side had known, was

leading the Kaurava army. Duryodhana wanted to take no

chances that his past rancor towards Bhishma still affected

his supporters.

In some ways Duryodhana had no choice. Though he knew

71


that Bhishma, as well as Drona, would have gone with the

Pandava princes and Krishna, had they not been bound by

their implacable bonds of righteousness, he could not afford

to antagonize them. In fact Karna, his dearest friend and one

of the greatest warriors on either side, equaled only by

Arjuna, refused to fight in the war till Bhishma was leading

the Kaurava army. Karna stepped in only after Bhishma was

mortally wounded on the tenth day of the war. Yet,

Duryodhana had to accept Bhishma’s leadership as a

choiceless option.

Bhishma had the great grandfather status to the Pandava and

Kaurava clan. Bhishma was born to Ganga (Sacred river

Ganges and Divine Mother) as Devavrata. He was the only

one out of the eight sons that Ganga gave birth to, who

survived. When his father King Shantanu wanted to marry

Satyavati, a daughter of a fisherman, Devavrata swore never

to marry so that his step mother, Satyavati’s children could

have access to his father’s throne. Satyavati was the

grandmother of both Pandu and Dhritharashtra. Bhishma was

highly respected for his valor and sagacity. It is one of the

great perceived ironies of Mahabharata that wise men like

Bhishma and Drona chose to side with Duryodhana, knowing

fully well that whatever path Duryodhana was following was

morally incorrect.

In the highest spiritual sense there is no moral right or moral

wrong. Everything is neutral. Bhishma and Drona were not

ordinary people; they were highly skilled both in the Sastra

72


and the Sutra. Moreover, they were fully aware that Krishna

was an incarnation, and the very fact that Krishna sided

with the Pandavas was a clear indication to them as to how

the war would unfold. As great warriors themselves, they had

no fears about their own deaths; more importantly they had

no guilt about what they had embarked upon.

Men like Bhishma and Drona, as well as others such as

Kripacharya, followed their awareness. Duryodhana was their

prince and they were committed to him. They were not

concerned about the result of the war; to them it was a

certainty that Duryodhana would perish and they would too,

along with him. Infact, there is a point in the war, when

Krishna, was greatly angered at the rout that Bhishma was

causing in the Pandava army, and unhappy at the deferential

way Arjuna was treating Bhishma. Krishna got down from

Arjuna’s chariot that he was driving and advanced

menacingly towards Bhishma.

Bhishma instantly laid down his arms, folded his hands in

prayer to the advancing Krishna with His sudarsana chakra,

the divine discus weapon on His finger, and greeted Him,

‘Lord, it will be the greatest blessing for me to die in Your

hands.’

To these great warriors, dying on the battlefield was the duty

of a kshatriya, the warrior, and far more important to note,

was their awareness of the present moment, focused on that,

73


they understood what they had to do, with no judgment

about the right and wrong of what Duryodhana was up to.

Their awareness transcended the moral rights and wrongs

established by society and religion. They had disapproved of

Duryodhana’s action in insulting the Pandava princes and

Draupadi at the court, and yet did not protest. They

disapproved of Duryodhana’s instigation of this war and yet

sided with him, knowing fully well that what lay ahead was

destruction.

This was not foolishness. This was surrender to the inevitable;

surrender to the divine. At the level of their consciousness

these great Masters allowed nature to take its own course, and

allowed themselves to be swept along its tide.

To allow whatever happens to happen, is the sure sign of an

evolved spirit. Ordinary human beings have freedom to think,

act and choose. As a result, they think they are in control of

their destinies. In a sense they are; the forks they choose and

the paths they decide to follow through, are theirs to choose

and follow, and in a sense they are not, as it is their

unconscious samskara that drive them into and through

decisions.

These in turn mould their mental set up and reinforce their

samskara.

Yet, a human being has the choice to break out of this cycle

and live in freedom from his own samskara.

74


It is our constant conflict with nature that leads to our

suffering. We believe we act out of intelligence, when most of

the time our actions are driven by instinct, the unconscious

where the samskara reside. The unconscious operates at

much higher speeds and stores far more data than our

conscious mind. Typically if the unconscious mind is capable

of storing and accessing 60 million images within a short

time, the conscious mind during the same period can process

60 at best. This has been designed by nature to cope with

life or death issues. Unfortunately, this system gets used for

all other issues as well.

If we learn to flow with nature, like the reeds in a river as

they say in Tao, we will always do the right thing. By

resisting nature, and choosing what we think are our options,

we suffer. There are two ways to live life. One to accept the

world and life as it is, what in Sanskrit is termed Srishti

Drishti; the other way is to try and make the world according

to our viewpoint, called Drishti Srishti. The first attitude, one

of acceptance, brings happiness; the second, one of resistance

brings suffering. No one can change the world according to

their viewpoint; it is an exercise doomed to failure.

In our lives, we cannot even change the attitude of our

neighbor or even our spouse.

At best, we can transform ourselves, that’s all.

75


All talk about revolutionizing the world is just talk, that’s all.

No revolution has ever succeeded in bringing about any

change. Revolutionaries are against dictatorship and become

dictators themselves. That has been history always.

Ironically, an enlightened Master has no such freedom. He is

a slave to the Universal Energy, Parasakti, and Divine

Existence. Every move and every thought is at the behest of

the Divine. An enlightened being is choiceless. An

enlightened being is in complete surrender to the Divine.

The motives, thoughts and actions of an enlightened being

cannot be measured by the scales applied to ordinary mortals.

Their actions may be seemingly immoral or at least strange as

perceived from the rules and regulations of society. These

actions are taken in a no mind thoughtless state that is

constantly in the present, with no expectations of what would

happen in the future and no regrets about what had

happened in the past.

Bhishma was of divine origin, the son of Ganga. He had the

gift of living as long as he wanted and to die when he

wanted. His integrity and morality were of a standard that

was a benchmark for others of his era. Yet, Bhishma kept

quiet when Draupadi was disrobed and insulted. He did not

act when the Pandava princes were denied even a needle

point of land by Duryodhana. He chose to fight for

Duryodhana.

76


However, when Duryodhana requested him to lead the

Kaurava army, Bhishma told him that the Pandava princes

were as dear to him as Duryodhana was, and while he would

wage war against their army, he could not take their lives.

This was the condition, under which Bhishma agreed to

fight for Duryodhana, against the Pandava army.

Bhishma had, time and again, counseled Duryodhana against

his evil deeds towards the Pandava princes and Duryodhana

was fully aware of how Bhishma opposed his acts. Yet, in this

instant, Bhishma’s compassion for Duryodhana overcame his

distaste for his actions and behavior. Bhishma understood the

desperate fears running through Duryodhana’s mind and felt

the need to reassure him.

In response to these exaggerated claims of Duryodhana,

Bhishma blew his conch as a sign of resounding affirmation

to whatever had been said by Duryodhana. Sanjaya said that

Bhishma’s conch sounded like the roar of a lion, coming from

the oldest and the bravest of all the warriors assembled on

the battlefield. It was also an affirmation of Bhishma’s own

support to the Kaurava prince.

Bhishma’s conch was also the signal that the war should

begin. It was a celebratory signal, seeking victory.

77


iÉiÉ& ¶ÉRÂóJÉÉ¶SÉ ¦ÉäªÉÇ¶SÉ {ÉhÉ´ÉÉxÉEòMÉÉä ÉÖJÉÉ&*ºÉ½þºÉè ÉÉ¦ªÉ½þxªÉxiÉ ºÉ ¶É¤nùºiÉÖ ÉÖ±ÉÉä%¦É´ÉiÉÂ**1.13**

tatah sankhas ca bheryas ca

panavanaka-gomukhah

sahasaivabhyahanyanta

sa sabdas tumulo ‘bhavat (1.13)

tatah: then ; sankhah: conches; ca: and; bheryah ca panava-

anaka: drums, bugles, horns and trumpets; go-mukhah: cow

horns; sahasaiv: quite suddenly ; abhyahanyanta: blared; sah:

that; sabdah: sound; tumulah: tumultuous; abhavat: became.

Then, conches, bugles, trumpets, drums and horns were all

suddenly sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous.

78


iÉiÉ& ¶´ÉäiÉè½ÇþªÉèªÉÖÇCiÉä ¨É½þÊiÉ ºªÉxnùxÉä ÎºlÉiÉÉè*¨ÉÉvÉ´É& {ÉÉhb÷ É¶SÉè É Ênù ªÉÉè ¶ÉRÂóJÉÉè |Énùv¨ÉiÉÖ&**1.14**

tatah svetair hayair yukte

mahati syandane sthitau

madhavah pandavas caiva

divyau sankhau pradadhmatuh (1.14)

tatah: then; svetaih: by white; hayaih: horses; yukte: being

yoked; mahati: magnificent; syandane: chariot; sthitau: seated;

madhavah: Madhava, the husband of Lakshmi, the goddess of

wealth and prosperity; pandavah: son of Pandu; ca: and; eva:

quite; divyau: divine; sankhau: conches; pradadhmatuh: blew.

Then, seated on a magnificent chariot drawn by white

horses, both Krishna and Arjuna, sounded their divine

conches.

79


{ÉÉ\SÉVÉxªÉÆ ¾þ¹ÉÒEäò¶ÉÉä näù´ÉnùkÉÆ vÉxÉÆVÉªÉ&*{ÉÉèhbÅÆ÷ nùv¨ÉÉè ¨É½þÉ¶ÉRÂóJÉÆ ¦ÉÒ¨ÉEò¨ÉÉÇ ´ÉÞEòÉänù®ú&**1.15**

pancajanyam hrsikeso

devadattam dhananjayah

paundram dadhmau maha-sankham

bhima-karma vrkodarah (1.15)

pancajanyam: the conch named Pancajanya; hrsika-isah:

Hrsikesa Hrishikesa, one who directs the senses; devadattam:

the conch named Devadatta; dhanam-jayah: Dhananjaya, the

winner of wealth ; paundram: the conch named Paundra;

dadhmau: blew; maha-sankham: the great conch; bhima-karma:

one who performs terrible tasks; vrka-udarah: one with the

belly of a wolf.

Then, Krishna blew His conch, called Pancajanya; Arjuna

blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, blew his great conch

called Paundra.

80


+xÉxiÉÊ´ÉVÉªÉÆ ®úÉVÉÉ EÖòxiÉÒ{ÉÖjÉÉä ªÉÖÊvÉÎ¹ ö®ú&*xÉEÖò±É& ºÉ½þnäù É¶SÉ ºÉÖPÉÉä¹É¨ÉÊhÉ{ÉÖ¹{ÉEòÉè**1.16**

anantavijayam raja kunti-putro yudhisthirah

nakulah sahadevas ca sughosa-manipuspakau (1.16)

EòÉ¶ªÉ¶SÉ {É®ú Éä¹´ÉÉºÉ& Ê¶ÉJÉhb÷Ò SÉ ¨É½þÉ®úlÉ&*vÉÞ¹]õtÖ xÉÉä Ê´É®úÉ]õ¶SÉ ºÉÉiªÉÊEò¶SÉÉ{É®úÉÊVÉiÉ&**1.17**

kasyas ca paramesv-asah sikhandi ca maha-rathah

dhrstadyumno viratas ca satyakis caparajitah (1.17)

pÖù{ÉnùÉä pùÉè{ÉnäùªÉÉ¶SÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ¶É& {ÉÞÊlÉ´ÉÒ{ÉiÉä*ºÉÉè¦Épù¶SÉ ¨É½þÉù¤ÉÉ½Öþ& ¶ÉRÂóJÉÉxnùv¨ÉÖ& {ÉÞlÉC{ÉÞlÉEÂò**1.18**

drupado draupadeyas ca sarvasah prthivi-pate

saubhadras ca maha-bahuh sankhan dadhmuh prthak prthak(1.18)

81


ananta-vijayam: the conch named Ananta-vijaya; raja: the

king; kuntiputrah: the son of Kunti; yudhisthirah: Yudhisthira;

nakulah: Nakula; sahadevah: Sahadeva; ca: and; sughosa-

manipuspakau: the conches named Sughosa and Manipuspaka;

kasyah: the King of Kasi (Varanasi); ca: and; parama-isu-asah:

the great archer; sikhandi: Sikhandi; ca: and; maharathah:

great chariot warrior; dhrstadyumnah: Dhrstadyumna ; viratah:

Virata; ca: and; satyakih: Satyaki; ca: and; aparajitah:

invincible; drupadah: Drupada, the King of Pancala;

draupadeyah: the sons of Draupadi; ca: also; sarvasah: all;

prthivi-pate: King of the Earth; saubhadrah: the son of

Subhadra (Abhimanyu); ca: and; maha-bahuh: mighty-armed;

sankhan: conches; dadhmuh: blew; prthak prthak: each one his

one

King Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conch, the

Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosa

and Manipuspaka. That great archer the King of Kasi, the

great fighter Sikhandi, Dhrstadyumna, Virata and the

invincible Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and the

others, O King, such as the mighty-armed son of Subhadra,

all blew their own conches.

82


Conches, called shank in Sanskrit, are the shells of mollusks

that live in the sea. From time immemorial, Hindu scriptures

have referred to the use of conches in ritualistic, devotional

and celebratory occasions. In general, a conch was blown into

and sounded to signify obeisance to the Divine or royalty, or

in celebration of an auspicious and victorious occasion.

Blowing on the conch signified joy.

It is said that the valampuri shank, the conch that describes a

right hand spiral has exceptional supernatural properties. The

sound produced by blowing into a valampuri shank produces

the sound of aum, the pranava mantra, the sound of creation.

Experiments have indeed shown that when the sound of aum

is recorded digitally, the shape of the sound wave is that of a

valampuri shank!

Each of the great warriors in the Mahabharata war had his

own personal conch, and each one’s signature was the sound

produced by his conch, which was identified with that warrior.

Most of the great warriors also had their own flags that flew

on their chariots; and their weapons, especially their bows had

great spiritual significance, as these were often obtained by

them after long penance to the Divine. It is said, that Arjuna’s

presence in any part of the battlefield would be known, even if

his flag was masked by dust and distance, by the sound of his

conch and the twang of his bow!

When Bhishma blew on his conch in support of Duryodhana,

the response was tumultuous on both sides. Every warrior on

83


the battlefield took out his conch and blew his signature

sound. Of all the sound that emanated some stood out.

Vyasa through Sanjaya says that Krishna and Arjuna sounded

their divine conches. This is significant as Vyasa does not

attribute divinity to any one else’s conch. He refers to

Krishna as Madhava, and later as Hrishikesa. Madhava

signifies that Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, who is the

husband of Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth and Fortune, and in

this context signifies that whoever Krishna sides would be

invincible. Krishna is then referred to Hrishikesa, controller

of the senses, the super conscious, who in fact has created

maya, the illusion that is the Great War of Mahabharata.

Vyasa implies that all that happens is a creation of Krishna;

for what purpose, He alone knows. The Divine truly has no

purpose, the Divine IS, that is all.

Krishna sounded his Panchajanya, the conch of Vishnu. The

sound of Krishna’s Panchajanya drowned all other sounds on

the battlefield. It was the announcement for all that the

Divine was already present with the Pandava army.

Arjuna’s chariot which was being driven by Krishna was a

boon from Agni, the Fire God; it was said to be capable of

traversing all the three worlds; so too was his bow Gandiva,

a gift from Agni. Arjuna is referred to as Dhananjaya, winner

of wealth, in reference to his ability to generate the wealth

needed by his brother Yudhishtra.

84


Not to be outdone, Bhima blew on his Paundra, a fearsome

sound that invoked dread amongst the Kaurava army. Bhima

is called Vrikodara here, one with the stomach of a wolf;

Bhima was forever hungry and ate more than all his brothers

combined, and yet had a lean and flat stomach of a wolf;

and like the wolf, the predator, he was feared by his enemies

for his strength and anger.

Bhima’s sound was then followed by the other three Pandava

princes’, Yudhishtra, Nakula and Sahadeva and then by the

great warriors’, Drupada, Virata, Satyaki, Sikandi,

Dhrishtadyumna, Abhimanyu and others, all blowing on their

conches in celebration of their impending victory.

Each of these warriors had a great history. Yudhishtra, the

eldest of the Pandava princes was born to his mother Kunti

through the grace of Yama, the God of Justice and Death,

and was universally known as Dharmaraja, the king of truth,

as he was never known to tell a lie. Nakula and Sahadeva

were born to Madri, the second wife of Pandu, through the

grace of the Ashwini Kumaras, celestial beings.

Drupada, the King of Panchala, was the father of Draupadi,

wife of Pandavas and father of Dhrishtadyumna.

Dhrishtadyumna was born to Drupada, when he prayed to

Siva to give him a son who would match Drona in valor and

vanquish him in battle.

85


Virata was the King in whose kingdom the five Pandava

princes and Draupadi spent a year incognito. His daughter

married Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son by Subhadra, Krishna’s

sister.

Sikandi was born as Bhishma’s nemesis, when Amba, a

princess who Bhishma captured as a bride for his step

brother Vichitravirya, immolated herself to be reborn to

avenge her shame.

It is as if Sanjaya, the narrator of the incidents of war,

repeatedly tries to impress upon the blind King

Dhritharashtra the caliber of the Pandava warriors and their

glorious antecedents, so that the shock of the impending

disaster to the Kuru clan of Dhritharashtra would not be

unexpected to the blind king. Sanjaya specifically refers to

these warriors as ‘aparajita’, invincible, always victorious in

whatever they undertook, with the clear implication that

they will be victorious in whatever they embark upon as well.

It is significant that Bhishma’s conch, which was sounded by

him as the Commander of the Kaurava army, to signify the

beginning of the war, was responded to by Krishna, and not

by Dhrishtadyumna, the Pandava Commander, or any of the

other Pandava princes. Krishna’s was a response, not a

reaction to the challenge issued by Bhishma. It was an

acceptance of the fact that whatever was thrown at the

Pandava army was being accepted.

86


Krishna as the super conscious guide of the Pandava princes

absolves them of any guilt or wrong doing by taking upon

Himself the responsibility for whatever was to happen. The

rest of the Pandava army, including Arjuna followed His lead

in blowing their conches.

87


ºÉ PÉÉä¹ÉÉä vÉÉiÉÇ®úÉ¹]ÅõÉhÉÉÆ ¾þnùªÉÉÊxÉ ´ªÉnùÉ®úªÉiÉÂ*xÉ¦É¶SÉ {ÉÞÊlÉ´ÉÓ SÉè É iÉÖ ÉÖ±ÉÉä ´ªÉxÉÖxÉÉnùªÉxÉÂ**1.19**

sa ghoso dhartarastranam

hrdayani vyadarayat

nabhas ca prthivim caiva

tumulo ‘bhyanunadayan (1.19)

sah—that; ghosah—uproar; dhartarastranam—of the sons of

Dhritharashtra; hrdayani—hearts; vyadarayat—broke; nabhah—

the sky; ca—and; prthivim—the earth; ca—and; eva—quite;

tumulah—tumultous; abhyanunadayan— resounding.

This tumultuous sounding of the conches, rent the sky and

the earth, and broke the hearts of the sons of Dhritharashtra.

88


When Bhishma sounded his conch, what it invited in return

was the resounding response of the conches of the Pandava

warriors. There is no mention by Sanjaya that Bhishma’s

conch sound or the accompanying sound of drums and

trumpets from the Kaurava army caused any concern amongst

the Pandava army.

What he now says is different. At the sounding of the

conches of the warriors of the Pandava army, led by Krishna

and Arjuna, Sanjaya says that the hearts of the sons of

Dhritharashtra were shattered.

The words used here are significant. He says that the

blowing of the conches created vibrations in the sky and

upon the earth. The conches of the Pandava princes and the

great warriors were not mere musical instruments. They were

imbued with divine presence. The sound that they produced

when activated by their owners to whom they were gifted by

celestial beings were imbued with great spiritual power. They

were in fact mantra, or sacred sounds, which created

powerful vibrations which affected the environment. That is

the uproar Sanjaya was talking about.

In the Hindu epics, one hears of references to weapons

called ‘astra’. An astra was not a physical weapon. It was a

thought or a word that was given enormous power to destroy,

by its creator. These were mantra that created vibrations or

energy forces to destroy, the same way as a nuclear device.

89


At a later stage in the Mahabharata war, when the Kaurava

army had been routed, one of the remaining warriors,

Aswattama, son of Drona, in revenge and out of despair

released the Brahmastra, deadliest of the astra then known.

It is said that the Brahmastra was like a nuclear weapon,

capable of delivering terrible heat and destruction, which

could bring at least twelve years of famine to the land.

Brahmastra was a weapon that was obtained after severe

penances by Aswattama from Brahma, the Creator.

Arjuna countered the Brahmastra with Pasupatastra, which he

had obtained from Siva. To prevent massive damage to the

world, both warriors were advised to retract their weapons.

While Arjuna could and did, Aswattama could not.

It is said that Krishna received the Brahmastra as his own

before it could do damage.

The conches that the Pandava warriors used were not meant

to destroy physically, but they were clearly successful in

destroying the fantasies that the Kaurava princes nurtured in

their minds. The purpose of the conches being sounded was

to set the stage for the battle and define its boundaries. They

were clearly successful in establishing these boundaries; the

Pandava princes and warriors had the comfort of knowing

that they were doing, what in their awareness was right and

that they had the support of Krishna Himself to their cause.

The Kaurava princes were afraid. All that motivated them

was greed and envy.

90


We should understand that Sanjaya was able to see far

beyond the superficial responses of individuals on the

battlefield. Imbued with his powerful ajna, third eye vision,

Sanjaya was able to fathom the subconscious and unrevealed

emotions and responses of the warriors. Whatever may have

been the perceived reaction of the Kaurava army to the

response from the Pandava warriors, Sanjaya concludes that

the Kaurava princes were demoralized.

91


+lÉ ´ªÉ´ÉÎºlÉiÉÉxÉÂ où¹]Âõ´ÉÉ vÉÉiÉÇ®úÉ¹]ÅõÉxEòÊ{Év´ÉVÉ&*|É´ÉÞkÉä ¶ÉºjÉºÉÆ{ÉÉiÉä vÉxÉÖ ût¨ªÉ {ÉÉhb÷ É&**1.20**

atha vyavasthitan drstva

dhartarastran kapi-dhvajah

pravrtte sastra-sampate

dhanur udyamya pandavah (1.20)

atha: now; vyavasthitan: stationed; drstva: seeing; dhartarastran:

the sons of Dhritharashtra; kapi-dhvajah: one whose flag is

marked with the ape; pravrtte: about to begin; sastra-sampate:

the arrows released; dhanuh: bow; udyamya: after taking up;

pandavah: the son of Pandu; hrsikesam: to Hrishikesa; tada:

then; vakyam: words; idam: this; aha: said; mahi-pate: O Lord

of the Earth.

O King, at that time Arjuna, the son of Pandu, who was

seated in his chariot, bearing the flag marked with Hanuman,

took up his bow and prepared to release his arrows, looking

at the sons of Dhritharashtra, spoke to Krishna these words:

92


The armies were face to face. They were in military

formation. The conches had been sounded in anticipation.

The warriors on both sides were waiting for their

commanders to signal the first move in offense.

Arjuna was at the forefront of the Pandava army. He had

blown his conch Devadatta along with Krishna, when he

blew upon his conch Panchajanya.

Arjuna had taken up his divine bow Gandiva and had fixed

the arrow to the bow. However, instead of releasing the

arrow, Arjuna looked at the Kaurava army amassed in front

of him, with all the Kaurava princes, his cousins, facing him.

He then addressed Krishna, his friend, mentor, divine guide

and charioteer.

Arjuna’s chariot as we saw earlier was a gift from Agni, the

fire god. The chariot had the flag of Hanuman, the monkey

god, son of the wind god Marut, and the close confidante

and bhakta of Rama, the incarnation of Vishnu prior to

Krishna.

The Fire God Agni requested Krishna’s help when Indra,

Chief of the demigods threatened to quench his fire with

rain. Krishna, accompanied by Arjuna, helped him by offering

a forest that Agni could consume. Very pleased with this

help, Agni gifted Arjuna with the Gandiva bow, a team of

horses, a chariot, two inexhaustible quivers, and armor. This

93


chariot was driven by four horses named Saibya which was

green in color, Sugriva which was golden, Meghapuspa which

was blue as a cloud and Balahaka, which was white.

Once, when Bhima was walking through a forest, he found

an old frail monkey lying on his path. Bhima asked the

monkey to move and give him way. The monkey pleaded that

it was too weak to move, and suggested Bhima shift him.

Bhima first picked up the monkey’s tail with his fingers.

When the tail would not budge, he tried harder. Even with

all his might Bhima, who was known to have the strength of

eight thousand elephants, could not move the monkey’s tail

even an inch. Bhima understood that this was no ordinary

monkey, and saluted the monkey and asked who it was.

The monkey revealed itself as Hanuman, who as another son

of the wind God and was in fact Bhima’s brother. Hanuman

blessed Bhima saying that he would be with the Pandava

princes at all times, and that he himself would ride with

Arjuna, on his chariot, upon his flag.

It is said that wherever Hanuman is, Rama is present.

Arjuna, therefore is accompanied not only by Krishna, but

also by His earlier incarnation Rama!

Arjuna, and the Pandava princes are twice blessed!

94


+VÉÖÇxÉ =´ÉÉSÉ¾þ¹ÉÒEäò¶ÉÆ iÉnùÉ ´ÉÉCªÉÊ¨Énù ÉÉ½þ ¨É½þÒ{ÉiÉä*

ºÉäxÉªÉÉä û¦ÉªÉÉä ÉÇvªÉä ®úlÉÆ ºlÉÉ{ÉªÉ ¨Éä%SªÉÖiÉ**1.21**

arjuna uvaca

hrsikesam tada vakyam

idam aha mahi-pate

senayor ubhayor madhye

ratham sthapaya me ‘cyuta (1.21)

ªÉÉ´ÉnäùiÉÉÊzÉ®úÒIÉä%½Æþ ªÉÉärÖùEòÉ¨ÉÉxÉ´ÉÎºlÉiÉÉxÉÂ*Eèò¨ÉÇªÉÉ ºÉ½þ ªÉÉärù ªÉ¨ÉÎº¨Éx®úhÉºÉ¨ÉÖt¨Éä**1.22**

yavad etan nirikse ham

yoddhu-kaman avasthitan

kair maya saha yoddhavyam

asmin rana-samudyame (1.22)

95


arjunah: Arjuna; uvaca: said; senayoh: of the armies; ubhayoh:

of both; madhye: in between ; ratham: the chariot; sthapaya:

position; me: my; achyuta: O infallible one; yavat: while; etan:

all these; nirikse: behold; aham: I; yoddhu-kaman: desiring to

fight; avasthitan: standing; kaih: with whom; maya: by me;

saha: with; yoddhavyam: to be fought; asmin: in this; rana:

war; samudyame: situation.

Arjuna said: O infallible one, please place my chariot

between the two armies so that I may see who are the war

mongers gathered here, with whom I must wage this battle.

96


Infallible One, said Arjuna to his friend and mentor Krishna,

please take me to a vantage point between the two armies so

that I can see for myself who I am fighting with. Let me see

who are all assembled here on this battlefield. Who have all

taken up arms to fight, and who are all those I must be

prepared to fight. Krishna, please show me, he says, show

me who they are who I must vanquish.

Arjuna knew each one who was on that battlefield at

Kurukshetra, to the last man. He had no confusion about

who he was fighting with and who he had to face. All these

decisions, the changing of loyalties, the drop outs, all these

had happened in the days before the war. The negotiations

had all come to an end; the lines had been drawn very

clearly, even if unwillingly in some cases.

It made no sense at all for Arjuna, at this last minute to

request Krishna to show him clearly who he was fighting

against. It was as if, he was hoping, that at the last minute

something would come up that would change the course of

events, and if that were to happen, he knew that it could

only happen through the grace of his charioteer, friend and

guide, Krishna.

It is as if Arjuna was making a desperate plea to Krishna,

‘please show me something that I do not know; show me

something that You alone, the Infallible Divine, You alone

know. Take me there, where You will, and show me.’

97


ªÉÉäiºªÉ¨ÉÉxÉÉxÉ´ÉäIÉä%½Æþ ªÉ iÉä%jÉ ºÉ¨ÉÉMÉiÉÉ&*vÉÉiÉÇ®úÉ¹]ÅõºªÉ nÖù¤ÉÖÇräùªÉÖÇräù Ê|ÉªÉÊSÉEòÒ¹ÉÇ É&**1.23**

yotsyamanan avekse ham

ya ete tra samagatah

dhartarastrasya durbuddher

yuddhe priya-cikirsavah (1.23)

yotsyamanan: those who wish to fight; avekse: see; aham: I;

ye: who; ete: those; atra: here; samagatah: assembled;

dhartarastrasya: the son of Dhrtarastra; durbuddheh: evil-

minded; yuddhe: in the fight; priya: to please; cikirsavah:

wishing.

Let me see those who have come here to fight, wishing to

please the evil-minded son of Dhritharashtra.

98


ºÉ\VÉªÉ =´ÉÉSÉB´É¨ÉÖCiÉÉä ¾þ¹ÉÒEäò¶ÉÉä MÉÖb÷ÉEäò¶ÉäxÉ ¦ÉÉ®úiÉ*

ºÉäxÉªÉÉä û¦ÉªÉÉä ÉÇvªÉä ºlÉÉ{ÉÊªÉi´ÉÉ ®úlÉÉäkÉ¨É¨ÉÂ**1.24**

sanjaya uvaca

evam ukto hrsikeso

gudakesena bharata

senayor ubhayor madhye

sthapayitva rathottamam (1.24)

sanjayah: Sanjaya; uvaca: said; evam: thus; uktah: addressed;

hrsikesah: Hrishikesa; gudakesena: by Gdakesana; bharata: O

Bharata; senayoh: of armies; ubhayoh: of both; madhye: in the

middle of; sthapayitva: by placing; ratha-uttamam: the finest

chariot.

Sanjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, being thus addressed

by Arjuna, Krishna then drew up the fine chariot in the

midst of both armies.

99


Arjuna starts out on a challenging note. He says he would

like to see all those who had assembled to fight him, in

support of the evil minded Duryodhana. Accordingly Krishna

drew up the chariot between the two armies so that Arjuna

could have a good look at all those who had assembled

there.

Arjuna is being called Gudakesa in this verse, one who had

transcended sleep, or the need to sleep. Sleep, here, also

refers to the unconscious mind. All our samskara, the

embedded memories, our value systems and beliefs that drive

our actions, reside in our unconscious. Arjuna is being

referred to here as one who has conquered his samskara, as a

result of his total surrender to Krishna.

Krishna has been called Hrishikesa, one who controls the

senses. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna is the

highest form of interaction between the Divine and the

human. In a later part of Mahabharata, there is an incident

that illustrates this relationship.

Arjuna was walking with Krishna. Suddenly Krishna points

out to a crow on a tree and says to Arjuna, ‘Arjuna, look at

that green crow! Can you see it?’

Arjuna responds immediately, ‘Yes, Krishna, I do see the

green crow.’

They walk a little further and again Krishna points to

100


another crow on another tree and exclaims, ‘Arjuna, do you

see that black crow on that tree!’

This time Arjuna says, ‘Yes Krishna, I do see that black

crow.’

Krishna turns to Arjuna and says, ‘Arjuna, you are a fool!

How can a crow ever be green? Why did you agree with Me

when earlier I pointed out to a crow and said it was green?’

Arjuna simply said, ‘Krishna, when You pointed out to a crow

and said it was green, all that my eyes saw was a green crow.

What can I do?’

Such was the total surrender of Arjuna to Krishna. Krishna

was truly Hrishikesa to Arjuna, one who controlled his

senses.

When approaching the Divine or one’s Master, the ultimate

step is one of complete surrender. This surrender happens in

three stages. At the first level, it is of intellectual surrender,

the intellectual acceptance of what the Divine, what the

Master represents and what He means to you. A true seeker

reaches this stage eventually when he encounters the real

Master destined for him. The seeker sees in the Master,

qualities he has been searching for and answers to questions

that have for long arisen in his mind.

At this stage of intellectual surrender, when the disciple

meets his Master, questions start dying down. It is as if

101


answers come to one’s mind even before questions happen.

Questions can never be answered. They are a reflection of

one’s internal violence, violence of one’s ego, wishing to

prove one’s control over another person. If we analyze our

own questions, almost always it is about telling another

person about what we know, telling that person that he does

not know, rather than the desire to know ourselves. Rarely

are our questions in the mode of a child, who asks out of

curiosity. A child may ask, ‘why is the sky blue?’ An adult

would rarely ask such a question. Unless that adult is a wise

scientist whose curiosity transcends his knowledge base and

he truly seeks to know.

Intellectual surrender to the Master replaces questions with

doubts. Doubts are not violent as questions are. They do not

arise from ego. They arise from a genuine need to know and

to understand. Doubt and faith are two sides of the same

coin. One cannot develop faith in one’s Master without

having doubts about him. Despite his high level of surrender,

one does see Arjuna initially in this state of questioning as

well, perhaps as a lesson to us ordinary mortals. Arjuna

progresses during the Gita from the stage of questioning, to

the higher stage of intellectual surrender and doubts.

At the next level, one reaches the state of emotional

surrender. From Sastra one moves to Stotra. One moves from

the head to the heart. One has come home, so to speak,

when the heart surrenders. The Master possesses you. One

does not have to make an effort to remember the Master. It

102


is impossible to forget Him. His memory brings tears to one’s

eyes, tears of gratitude that are impossible to hide.

Ramakrishna has said so beautifully, ‘When thinking of the

Divine or the Master, if you have tears streaming down, be

very sure that this is your last birth.’

Emotional surrender leads one close to liberation. It brings

you home.

At the final level, there is the surrender of the senses. One

truly realizes Hrishikesa and gives up one’s senses to Him to

control. Arjuna is at that level of surrender, and through the

progression of the Gita, layers of Arjuna’s surrender are

unveiled.

Arjuna referred to Duryodhana as evil minded. This was to

contrast his own state of mind from that of Duryodhana, the

Kaurava princes and the Kaurava warriors. When one’s mind

is filled with greed, lust, envy and fear, there is single

minded focus on the material benefits that are to be derived

from these negative and evil emotions. There was no

confusion in Duryodhana’s mind as to what he should do. His

objectives were clear; do away with the Pandava princes and

usurp the entire kingdom.

Duryodhana was like an animal, operating out of instinct.

Unlike Arjuna, he was not an intelligent man and did not

suffer from doubts and guilt. Animals suffer no guilt. They

103


do what comes to them naturally. They do not consider

hunting their prey as something that needs discussion. If they

turn hungry, they hunt, kill and eat. So it is with

Duryodhana. He needs power, and whatever might be the

means to achieve that power he would employ without any

reservation.

With such a focused and evil mind, Duryodhana and his

cohorts did not suffer from any doubts of awareness. Mired

totally in the darkness of unawareness, these Kaurava

warriors followed Duryodhana blindly, unaware that he who

they followed was blinded himself.

Arjuna, on the other hand is in turmoil. As Krishna brings

the chariot to a stop between the two armies, in a

metaphoric sense He brings Arjuna’s mind to a steady state.

Duryodhana is in darkness. He is in a state of thoughtlessness,

operating out of the instincts of an animal. His moves are

totally unconscious, driven completely by his samskara. In a

sense, he is not in control of himself; his samskara control him.

So strong is his delusion that the wise counsel of the few who

dare tell him that the path he follows is one of self destruction,

falls on deaf ears.

Arjuna, on the other hand, is in a twilight zone. Unlike

Duryodhana, Arjuna has become aware of his samskara, and

is working of their dissolution to free himself from bondage.

However, he is not in the zone of light yet.

104


The conflict between Arjuna and Duryodhana is the conflict

that all humans face within themselves. It is a conflict

between their deep unconscious desires driven by their

samskara and the potential awareness of their Consciousness.

Which part wins would depend on one’s ability to surrender

to the Super Conscious Divine or the Master.

As long as one is in darkness, one does not miss light. A

person born blind has no idea what sight is, and what he is

missing. Whatever he may think he is missing is based on what

others tell him, not because of any experience of his own.

If a blind person grows up in an isolated island, he would

never know that he is visually challenged. People like

Duryodhana live such a life. Their minds are always in

darkness. Intelligence or awareness has never been

experienced by them. Therefore, anything that others may

tell them to be immoral or unethical would make no sense

to them.

However, someone who has been born with sight and had

lost his sight subsequently, would miss seeing. He would miss

the light. He would regret the darkness he would be in. He

would be afraid of that darkness, which a born blind person

would never be, because that would have been his nature.

Arjuna is in the state of a person who has had sight and had

lost it. He was an intelligent man, who suddenly realized that

what he might be doing is wrong and evil. So, he is troubled.

105


¦ÉÒ¹¨ÉpùÉähÉ|É¨ÉÖJÉiÉ& ºÉ´Éæ¹ÉÉÆ SÉ ¨É½þÒÊIÉiÉÉ¨ÉÂ*=´ÉÉSÉ {ÉÉlÉÇ {É¶ªÉèiÉÉxºÉ¨É´ÉäiÉÉxEÖò°üÊxÉÊiÉ**1.25**

iÉjÉÉ{É¶ªÉÎiºlÉiÉÉx{ÉÉlÉÇ& Ê{ÉiÉßxÉlÉ Ê{ÉiÉÉ¨É½þÉxÉÂ*+ÉSÉÉªÉÉÇx¨ÉÉiÉÖ±ÉÉx§ÉÉiÉßx{ÉÖjÉÉx{ÉÉèjÉÉxºÉJÉÓºiÉlÉÉ**1.26**

¶´É¶ÉÖ®úÉxºÉÖ¾þnù¶SÉè É ºÉäxÉªÉÉä û¦ÉªÉÉä®úÊ{É*

iÉÉxºÉ¨ÉÒIªÉ ºÉ EòÉèxiÉäªÉ& ºÉ´ÉÉÇxù¤ÉxvÉÚxÉ´ÉÎºlÉiÉÉxÉÂ**1.27**EÞò{ÉªÉÉ {É®úªÉÉ%%Ê´É¹]õÉä Ê´É¹ÉÒnùÊzÉnù¨É¥É´ÉÒiÉÂ*

+VÉÖÇxÉ =´ÉÉSÉoù¹]Âõ Éä ÉÆ º´ÉVÉxÉÆ EÞò¹hÉ ªÉÖªÉÖiºÉÖÆ ºÉ¨ÉÖ{ÉÎºlÉiÉ¨ÉÂ**1.28**

ºÉÒnùÎxiÉ ¨É¨É MÉÉjÉÉÊhÉ ¨ÉÖJÉÆ SÉ {ÉÊ®ú¶ÉÖ¹ªÉÊiÉ*

´Éä{ÉlÉÖ¶SÉ ¶É®úÒ®äú ¨Éä ®úÉä É½þ¹ÉÇ¶SÉ VÉÉªÉiÉä**1.29**MÉÉhb÷Ò´ÉÆ »ÉÆºÉiÉä ½þºiÉÉk´ÉCSÉè É {ÉÊ®únùÁiÉä*

xÉ SÉ ¶ÉCxÉÉä ªÉ´ÉºlÉÉiÉÖÆ §É¨ÉiÉÒ´É SÉ ¨Éä ¨ÉxÉ&**1.30**ÊxÉÊ¨ÉkÉÉÊxÉ SÉ {É¶ªÉÉÊ¨É Ê´É{É®úÒiÉÉÊxÉ Eäò¶É´É*

106


bhisma-drona-pramukhatah sarvesham cha mahi-khsitaam

uvacha partha pasyaitan samavetan kurun iti (1.25)

tatrapasyat sthitan parthah pitrn atha pitamahan

acharyan matulan bhratrn putran pautran sakhims tatha (1.26)

svasuran suhrdas chaiva senayor ubhayor api

tan samikshya sa kaunteyah sarvan bandhun avasthitan (1.27)

krpaya parayavisto vishidann idam abravit

arjuna uvaca

drstvemam sva-janam krsna yuyutsum samupasthitam (1.28)

sidanti mama gatrani mukham ca parisusyati

vepathus ca sarire me roma-harsas ca jayate (1.29)

gandivam sramsate hastat tvak caiva paridahyate

na ca saknomy avasthatum bhramativa ca me manah (1.30)

nimittani ca pasyami viparitani kesava

107


bhisma: Grandfather Bhisma; drona: the teacher Drona;

pramukhatah: in front of; sarvesam: all; cha: and; mahi-kshitam:

rulers of the world; uvacha: said; partha: O Partha ; pasya:

see; etan: those; samavetan: assembled; kurun: the Kurus; iti:

thus.

tatra: there; apasyat: saw; sthitan: positioned; parthah: Arjuna;

pitrn: fathers; atha: also; pitamahan: grandfathers; acharyan:

teachers; matulan: maternal uncles; bhratrn: brothers; putran:

sons; pautran: grandsons; sakhin: friends; tatha: too;

svasuran: fathers-in-law; suhrdah: well-wishers; cha: and; eva:

quite; senayoh: of the armies; ubhayoh: of both ; api:

including.

tan: these; samikshya: after seeing; sah: he; kaunteyah:

kaunteya; sarvan: all; bandhun: relatives; avasthitan: standing;

krpaya: by pity; paraya: deep; avistah: filled; visidan:

lamenting; idam: thus; abravit: spoke

Arjunah: Arjuna; uvaca: said; drshtva: after seeing; imam: all

these; sva-janam: kinsmen; krsna: Krishna; yuyutsum: all eager

to do battle; samupasthitam: arranged in form; sidanti: fail;

mama: my; gatrani: limbs; mukham: mouth; cha: and ;

parisushyati: parched .

vepathuh: trembling; cha: and; sarire: in body; me: my; roma-

harshah: standing of the hair on end; cha: and; jayate:

happens; gandivam: Gandiva; sramsate: slips; hastat: from the

108


hands; tvak: skin; cha: and; eva: quite; paridahyate: burning.

na: not; cha: and; saknomi: am I able; avasthatum: to stand;

bhramati: whirling iva: as; cha: and; me: my; manah: mind;

nimittani: portents; cha: also; pasyami: I see; viparitani: just the

opposite; kesava: O Kesava, killer of demon Kesin.

109


In the presence of Bhisma, Drona and all other rulers of the

world, Hrishikesa said, Partha, behold, all the Kurus are

assembled here.

There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of

both the parties his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal

uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends, as well as his

fathers-in-law and well-wishers

When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these friends and

relatives present there, he was overwhelmed with deep pity

and spoke thus:

My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present

before me eager to wage war, I feel the limbs of my body

trembling, my mouth is drying, and my hair is standing on

end.

My bow Gandiva is slipping from my hands and my skin is

burning. I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am

forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling. I foresee only evil

omens, O killer of the Kesi demon.

Krishna parked the chariot between the two armies and said

to Arjuna, ‘Here are the people you wished to see.’

There, in front of Arjuna, are his friends and relatives.

Krishna pulled no punches here. Arjuna wanted to see those

who were about to fight him and die, and Krishna with no

mercy at all showed him that these are his near and dear.

110


Krishna Himself was related to Arjuna.

Kunti, Arjuna’s mother, also known as Pritha, was Krishna’s

aunt, sister of Krishna’s father Vasudeva; so He addresses

Arjuna here as the son of Pritha, Partha, emphasizing his

relationship. Krishna is also referred in the Gita as

Parthasarathy, the charioteer of Partha, who is Arjuna.

Assembled in front of Arjuna were compatriots of his father

Pandu, grandfathers and great grandfathers such as Bhishma,

his own teachers such as Drona and Kripa, uncles such as

Sakuni, brothers and cousins as all the Kaurava princes were,

friends and well wishers; he knew everyone of them. At one

time or another, each of them had been an object of

affection and respect to Arjuna. Now, they were part of his

enemy .

The theme of Gita is the story of Arjuna’s dilemma and its

resolution by Krishna.

The expression of Arjuna’s dilemma starts here.

As a warrior, as a kshatriya, Arjuna was used to killing. He

was no stranger to death and violence. As long his mind

accepted the fact that those who faced him were his enemies

and therefore deserved to be killed, Arjuna had no

compunction in carrying out their execution.

However, what he saw in front of him now, were not enemies

as he had imagined, that his mind would project, but, people

111


with whom he had shared common bonds over the years.

These were people, whom he had regarded with love and

affection. They were his relatives; people who were or were

like his father, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons,

tied to him with bonds of blood lineage. Many others were his

friends with whom he had had bonds of loyalty and kinship.

Arjuna’s dilemma was not one of non violence, ahimsa. As a

warrior, as a kshatriya, this word had no place in his

dictionary. His dilemma was one of violence; violence borne

out of his ego, his identity. He could annihilate people he

did not identify with, but could not bear to kill those whom

he could identify with himself in one way or another. The

bond of family was far stronger than Arjuna had imagined.

The bond of family that arose from him was rooted in his

ego, and to cut this bond was to destroy him. This was

Arjuna’s dilemma.

The Great War of Mahabharata was not about the fight

between the hundred Kaurava princes and the five Pandava

princes. It was not about good and evil, and the fight

between the two. It was the war waged within the mind of

Man, nara, represented here by Arjuna while coming to

terms with what was perceived as good and what was

perceived as evil.

What follows now is a litany of fantasies that Arjuna’s mind

weaves in justifying his dilemma.

112


What follows is what the human mind conjures up time and

again as its projection of the unconscious samskara, trying to

justify its actions.

Sanjaya says that Arjuna was overwhelmed with pity. Some

translate this as compassion.

Compassion; true compassion, which is the hallmark of an

enlightened being, is non discriminatory; it does not

differentiate. To the truly compassionate person, the whole

world, of both living and non living beings, is an extension of

his own self. Anything that hurts any object around such a

person would hurt him, and he too would feel the pain.

However, the feeling that is referred to in these verses, as

the emotion that Arjuna had experienced upon seeing his

kinsmen was not of that noble kind.

Arjuna’s emotion was discriminatory. He felt pity for those

who faced him, thinking that all of them would be killed,

pity only because they were his kinsmen; only because he

identified with them.

As I mentioned earlier, this was not compassion borne out of

ahimsa, but pity borne out of himsa or violence.

Arjuna’s emotions arose from his ego.

True compassion arises from a state of absence of ego; from a

113


state of no mind and no thought where the feelings of ‘I’

and ‘mine’ have disappeared.

True compassion is a state of bliss; one of true surrender to

the universe.

True compassion happens out of an awareness of the

Collective Consciousness; that one is part of that Brahman,

when the self merges with the Self.

Arjuna’s pity arose out of fear, fear of losing his identity, his

ego. Arjuna was afraid, mortally afraid. He claimed that his

throat was parched, his hair was standing on edge and his

divine bow was slipping from his sweaty hands. If one did not

know Arjuna better, one would have termed him a coward.

Arjuna was no coward; he had no physical fear for his own

self; he was not concerned that he might be injured or that

he might die. As a kshatriya of kshatriyas, these feelings were

beyond him. But, Arjuna was afraid. He was afraid of

breaking social and ethical laws. His values and beliefs, his

subconscious memories, his samskara, told him that what he

was doing is wrong and unacceptable. So powerful was this

feeling that he was reeling, quivering, dazed and unable to

think or function.

Can something like this really happen? Can a hero, a true

hero to whom death is play, who is trained from childhood by

the greatest of Masters not only in the control of his body

114


but of this kind as well, lose his composure and exhibit the

identical physical symptoms of a frightened coward.

Arjuna’s situation shows how the mind can play games with

the greatest of men, how the samskara can take over the

mind in so powerful a manner, without his Being even aware

of it.

Arjuna was frightened that he would be held responsible for

the death of his kinsmen; people who were father,

grandfather and avuncular figures to him. He was afraid that

even if others did not blame him, he would suffer the guilt

and regret for his action for the rest of his life.

So great was this fear of potential guilt, that it drove Arjuna

into being a coward of sorts. All he could foresee was

disaster and evil; disaster to him and his clan; disaster to his

reputation; material destruction all around him.

At another, far deeper level, Arjuna was terrified of his own

destruction. The moment one starts identifying with kinsmen,

family, friends and relatives, it is a material identification. It

is an identification born out of possession. This identification

arises from one’s ego, from the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

Possession leads from and to attachment.

There can be no feeling of possessing something unless one is

attached to it.

115


People speak of attachment, liking and love. All these are

borne out of and valid only as long as possession results. The

moment the person wanting to be possessed and therefore

liked, turns around and displays independence and

unwillingness to be possessed, the liking and the love

disappear.

Possession arises out of our survival need; from our Muladhara

chakra – the energy center in our body that is locked by

greed. It is a primal feeling that yokes us to Mother Earth, by

adding our linkage base, our possession base. Out of the

need for possession, arise feelings of lust, greed and anger.

Often, what one cannot possess, one wants to destroy. What

I cannot have, let no one have, one would say. Possession

leads to violence.

Arjuna is in this mood and frame of mind. It strikes him, at

this eleventh hour, on the eve of waging war, that what he is

about to destroy are his own possessions; these are his own

kinsmen and part of his own identity. If he were to destroy

them he will be destroying a part of his own self. By

destroying those who are akin to his father, grandfather, son,

brother, uncle and friend, he is effectively destroying his own

mind body system.

It is true that when someone dear to us dies a part of our

mind body system dies with them. Arjuna was aware of this.

He knew that the destruction of so many of his near and

116


dear, his kinsmen, would take a massive toll on him. It would

be akin to committing suicide.

Arjuna’s dilemma was an existential one. What is the point

in eliminating others, if it results in one’s own elimination? It

is a dilemma borne out of partial understanding, a peek into

the truth of Collective Consciousness. If Arjuna were to be

as unaware as Duryodhana, this doubt would have never

entered his mind. Were he to be enlightened as Krishna, the

answer would have been obvious. Arjuna was in between;

hence his dilemma.

Why should I destroy myself? What for? These are the

questions that naturally follow this line of reasoning. Arjuna

was far wiser than many modern philosophers in just posing

this as a doubt, without venturing any answers.

Many philosophers, existentialist and nihilists, have

concluded that there is no meaning to life when they

encountered similar doubts. Since they did not have the

humility of Arjuna, or the guidance of a Krishna, they

provided their own answers borne out of logical reasoning,

without experiential backing. Hence, they were wrong.

Arjuna is undergoing a process of transformation. He has

started off in this war with basic assumptions of kshatriya

codes of conduct. When challenged, a kshatriya must fight;

that is his code of honor, as with the samurai. Arjuna had

no compunctions in doing this, as he was brought up on this

117


belief system.

However, the problem was that Arjuna was a thinking man.

Unlike Duryodhana, or his own brother Bhima, he was not a

thoughtless man. This ability to think, to be aware, was what

had gotten him now into trouble. Doubts assail him. Am I

really doing right? Am I not destroying myself and all that I

stand for, when I wage this war against my brethren?

Arjuna had become a seeker; he had become a seeker of

truth. He was no longer satisfied with what he had imbibed

all these years; the Sastra, the Stotra and the Sutra. He

wished to go beyond. He questioned them, as he had doubts.

He was in a dilemma. Vishada, is the name given to this first

chapter of the Gita, Arjuna Vishada Yoga; Vishada can mean

many things in Sanskrit: grief, sorrow, despondency, despair,

depression, dilemma and so on. Here what we see is the

dilemma that Arjuna was in, not knowing whether what he

had been taught all his life, what he had believed to be true

all his life, whether all that was really true.

The transformation that Krishna leads him through over the

eighteen chapters is the revelation of truth to Arjuna, and all

of humanity.

Krishna is referred to by many names so far. Some of them

and their meanings are these:

The word Krishna itself refers to His dark blue color, the

118


color of the sky, and as infinite as the sky. It also means

existence and bliss, sat chit ananda; it also means who

provides salvation to those who surrender to Him.

Kesava, the name by which he is called in the above verses,

refers to the fact that he destroyed the demon Kesin. It also

refers to his beautiful hair. It also refers to the embodiment

of the Trinity in Him, the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and

Siva, the Sanskrit words K referring to Brahma, A to Vishnu

and Isa to Siva.

Govinda is a combination of ‘go’ referring to all living beings

and ‘vinda’ which means knower, Krishna being the ultimate

knower of the mind, body and being of all living creatures.

119


xÉ SÉ ¸ÉäªÉÉä%xÉÖ{É¶ªÉÉÊ¨É ½þi´ÉÉ º´ÉVÉxÉ¨ÉÉ½þ Éä**1.31**xÉ EòÉRÂóIÉä Ê´ÉVÉªÉÆ EÞò¹hÉ xÉ SÉ ®úÉVªÉÆ ºÉÖJÉÉÊxÉ SÉ*

na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami

hatva sva-janam ahave

na kankse vijayam krsna

na ca rajyam sukhani ca (1.31)

na: not; ca: and; sreyah: good; anupasyami: I see; hatva:

killing; sva-janam: own kinsmen; ahave: in battle; na: not;

kankse: I desire; vijayam: victory; krishna: O Krishna; na: not;

ca: and; rajyam: kingdom; sukhani: pleasures; ca: and.

I do not see how any good can come from killing my own

kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krishna, desire

any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.

120


ËEò xÉÉä ®úÉVªÉäxÉ MÉÉäÊ´Éxnù ËEò ¦ÉÉäMÉèVÉÔÊ´ÉiÉäxÉ ´ÉÉ**1.32**

kim no rajyena govinda

kim bhogair jivitena va (1.32)

kim: what; nah: to us; rajyena: by kingdom; govinda: Govinda;

kim: what; bhogair: by pleasures; jivitena: life; va: or

What use is Kingdom, pleasures or even life, Krishna?

121


Arjuna had now started developing his theme in detail. He

had started expressing his doubts with clarity. One may ask

how doubts can be clear.

Doubts need to be clear if they are to be resolved. Unclear

doubts lead only to more confusion. Unintelligent beings have

unclear doubts. Arjuna’s doubts were precise.

How could he seek happiness through destruction of his

kinsmen, he asked; how could any good come out of this

action? How could he desire power, possessions and pleasures

through such action? And if he did realize power, possessions

and pleasures, what use would such a life be to him?

Such resounding doubts with such reverberating clarity!

Though Arjuna was in a dilemma, it was a dilemma born out

of intelligence, not out of ignorance.

Arjuna had been taught, all his life, to seek power,

possessions and pleasures, that he had. So far he had not

come across a single situation where the cost of acquiring

these had seemed to be greater than the end profit, the

resulting enjoyment. Perhaps, he had never bothered to

evaluate the cost benefits.

For the first time in his life, he has encountered a situation

which forces him to evaluate his options.

Do I forge ahead and destroy what is dear to me so that I

122


get more power and seemingly more pleasure, he asks. What

a fundamental question, one that each one of us should be

asking every day in every single thing we do. How often do

we embark on what we believe to be meaningful pursuits,

activities that promise us more material benefits even though

we know that these may in some way damage our own life?

Life becomes very mechanical for most people. One’s past is

vividly remembered and is extrapolated onto the future. If the

past event is one of sorrow, it is then avoided in future

events. If the past event is one of joy, it is sought to be

replicated. Regret and guilt are sought to be avoided in

future, and happiness is welcomed. The problem is that life is

not that predictable. The bigger problem is, that we are so

conditioned by our behavioral patterns, that in spite of all

precautions, we keep making the same mistakes. Our

samskara, the unconscious, the deep driving desires, ensure

this.

Very few stop to think, and to question the purpose of what

they are doing. Even fewer question why they are here in

the first place. We are all so busy running on the same spot

that the action of running seems to be satisfying enough,

signifying that we are indeed going somewhere. If one is

studying, getting into a school or college is the more

important factor, not what one plans to study. If one is

seeking employment, it is the material benefits that are

critical, not whether the work would bring joy, whether one

has any passion for the work.

123


It takes a lot of courage to stop and question; to say, ‘Stop!’

to the world, ‘I want to get off; I want to retire from the

world and seek inner happiness.’

Sanyasin are very courageous people; they are not cowards. It

takes tremendous courage to cut off all material possessions

and relationships and walk away into nothingness, with

nothing but blind faith in hoping to discover inner bliss. It

takes enormous courage to escape from the materialism of the

world with an attitude of seeking one’s true purpose in life.

‘What is the purpose of my life, Krishna’, wailed Arjuna.

Arjuna was a courageous man. Only a courageous man will

have the confidence to open himself up so transparently, so

naked in terms of exposing his innermost fears seeking help.

Arjuna was not depressed; he was not frustrated; he was not

afraid in the usual sense.

Arjuna was confused, but in a way different from

Duryodhana. He was not confused between right and wrong;

he was confused because what he had been taught all his life

to be right, now upon deeper introspection seemed to be

wrong. Could this be true? He asked.

Arjuna had a problem of life and death upon his hands. He

appropriately sought the counsel of Govinda, one who knows

all living beings. Only He could provide answers to Arjuna’s

doubts.

124


ªÉä¹ÉÉ¨ÉlÉæ EòÉRÂóÊIÉiÉÆ xÉÉä ®úÉVªÉÆ ¦ÉÉäMÉÉ& ºÉÖJÉÉÊxÉ SÉ*iÉ <¨Éä%´ÉÎºlÉiÉÉ ªÉÖräù |ÉÉhÉÉÆºiªÉCi´ÉÉ vÉxÉÉÊxÉ SÉ**1.33**

yesam arthe kanksitam no

rajyam bhogah sukhani cha

ta ime ‘vasthita yuddhe

pranams tyaktva dhanani cha (1.33)

+ÉSÉÉªÉÉÇ& Ê{ÉiÉ®ú& {ÉÖjÉÉºiÉlÉè É SÉ Ê{ÉiÉÉ¨É½þÉ&*¨ÉÉiÉÖ±ÉÉ& ¶SÉ¶ÉÖ®úÉ& {ÉÉèjÉÉ& ¶ªÉÉ±ÉÉ& ºÉ ù¤ÉÎxvÉxÉºiÉlÉÉ**1.34**

acharyah pitarah putras

tathaiva cha pitamahah

matulah svasurah pautrah

syalah sambandhinas tatha (1.34)

BiÉÉzÉ ½þxiÉÖÊ¨ÉSUôÉÊ¨É PxÉiÉÉä%Ê{É ¨ÉvÉÖºÉÚnùxÉ*+Ê{É jÉè±ÉÉäCªÉ®úÉVªÉºªÉ ½äþiÉÉä& ËEò xÉÖ ¨É½þÒEÞòiÉä**1.35**

etan na hantum icchami

ghnato ‘pi madhusudana

api trailokya-rajyasya

hetoh kim nu mahi-krte (1.35)

125


yesam: for whose; arthe: sake; kanksitam: desired; nah: by us;

rajyam: kingdom; bhogah: enjoyment; sukhani: happiness; cha:

and; te: they; ime: these; avasthitah: stand; yuddhe: in battle;

pranan: lives; tyaktva: giving up; dhanani: wealth; ca: and;

acaryah: teachers; pitarah: fathers; putrah: sons; tatha: thus

eva: also; ca: and; pitamahah: grandfathers; matulah: maternal

uncles; svasurah: fathers-in-law; pautrah: grandsons; syalah:

brothers-in-law; sambandhinah: relatives; tatha: as well as;

etan: these; na: not; hantum: for killing; icchami: I wish;

ghnatah: killed; api: even; madhusudana: O killer of the

demon Madhu; api: even; trai-lokya: of the three worlds;

rajyasya: of the kingdoms; hetoh: in exchange; kim: how; nu:

then; mahi-krte: for the sake of the earth;

126


Those for whose sake we seek kingdoms, enjoyment and

happiness, when all those for whom we may desire them are

now arrayed in this battlefield, ready to lose their lives and

wealth.

Even if I am slain by teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers,

maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and

all relatives, I would not like to slay them even to gain

control of all three worlds. Why then, Madhusudhana, would

I wish to kill them, for the control of this earth?

127


Arjuna started to explain his dilemma here.

He argued that the reason one would seek power and wealth

through kingdom, enjoyment through its possession, and

happiness, was all for the sake of one’s near and dear ones.

However, these people were now gathered in battle ready to

lay down their lives and lose their possessions. They were

Arjuna’s teachers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, fathers-in-law,

grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives, all related by

blood to him.

Arjuna declared that even if he were to be slain by them, he

would not consider killing them at any cost, even to save his

life, even if, in the process he were to gain possession of all

three worlds. He then questioned Krishna rhetorically, why

would he then destroy them for the sake of this one world,

Earth alone?

Even as he asked this question, Arjuna uses the name

Madhusudana for Krishna, which means the slayer of the

demon Madhu. Arjuna implies that Krishna may be a

destroyer, but he would not like to be one like Him.

Arjuna’s dilemma had now become deeper and more

complicated. He had now gotten into justifications as to why

he should not kill; justifications which have no merit from

the standpoint of a warrior.

Arjuna’s earlier dilemma was with the value systems he had

been brought up with.

128


As a Kshatriya these value systems were that he should

destroy enemies and conquer material possessions. That

dilemma was created by the fact that his enemies were his

kinsmen, teachers and friends. As a doubt, his dilemma had

validity. Now, he tries to convince himself through further

arguments, which lack strength.

Arjuna said, he would rather be killed by his teachers,

friends and kinsmen than kill them, even in self defense or

for the possession of all three worlds.

Not even the greatest of the great riches, power and

enjoyment, he said, would make him destroy these people,

even if they were bent on destroying him.

He would sacrifice himself rather than defend himself, if that

effort of defense would harm them.

Arjuna’s mind was playing tricks on him.

This is a common game we all play with ourselves.

When the stakes are high in any competitive environment;

when they are too high for comfort we fantasize about

rewards far greater, than what could possibly materialize; the

more unreal the better, as it is easier, than to turn them

down. Then, we find reasons, why even these rewards,

though far better, would not be attractive to us, in

comparison with the risks we need to undertake.

129


Once we convince ourselves of this imaginary sacrifice of

imaginary rewards, we find it easier to walk away from the

more realistic and tougher challenge that we have at hand.

Arjuna is playing the same game.

Arjuna said he would not kill even if he were to be killed;

this is a patent lie that his mind is imposing on him.

If Arjuna’s original fear was the destruction of his own

identity as a result of the destruction of his kinsmen, and

therefore something that he wished to avoid, that at least

had some merit. Saying, that he would sacrifice himself for a

cause that is far less noble is purely a measure of expediency.

It is doubtful if anyone can believe Arjuna, except to accept

it as a sign of a demented mind, unsettled by the magnitude

of the task at hand.

Arjuna then went on to say, that he would not consider

killing his kinsmen and teachers, even if he were offered all

the three worlds of this universe in return; even such a great

reward at the end of the task would not attract him. Why

then, he queries, would the reward of just planet Earth, be

of any attraction to him?

It would be pertinent to have been able to ask as to who

offered Arjuna the three worlds to him in return for the

destruction of his kinsmen. It was a pure figment of Arjuna’s

own over excited imagination, with no merit whatsoever. If

Krishna were to have at this stage turned around and had in

130


fact offered Arjuna just that, the control of the universe,

Arjuna’s dilemma would have been far worse. Posed, however,

as a rhetorical question, no answers were actually expected.

There is a folk tale in Tamil, in which a Jackal offers a crow

fruits to eat while trying to entice the bird to capture it.

Interested as the crow is, it is smart. It passes the offer by,

and consoles itself saying that the fruit would have been sour,

otherwise the jackal would have eaten it itself. ‘Oh, oh, this

fruit is sour’, the bird says, ‘I don’t want it.’

Arjuna’s tale is similar. He is consoling himself with the

feeling that even if he were to be offered control of this

universe, he would not be tempted. It is a very safe bet he is

taking, since the chances of his being offered the control of

the universe as a result of killing his kinsmen is infinitely

small. What matters is that it salves his bruised mind.

Time and again, people play this game with themselves and

others. It is a game that every one plays, and therefore gets

accepted.

The starting point here is, that we cannot face the truth,

and therefore cannot tell the truth. Truth is dangerous, both

to the one who speaks the truth and to the one who hears it.

So, we learn to camouflage the truth, in a more acceptable

manner.

If the truth were to be told, Arjuna’s fear was loss of his own

131


identity, arising out of the destruction of his kinsmen.

However, that truth would hurt him. Perhaps, Arjuna himself

is not aware of this truth as it might have been hidden so

well in his unconscious. He therefore found it better, to

invent a host of other reasons including possibilities of what

could have been to avoid facing the truth.

I am reminded of what happened at the ashram one day: A

senior Government official, a devotee, called me desperately

in the middle of the night. ‘I must see you now,’ he said, ‘I

am desperate. I am so bogged down by my problems and so

depressed, I may even commit suicide. It is a matter of life

and death. I need to see you immediately.’

I talked to him for a while and managed to calm him down

and suggested that he could come over the next morning

and that I would see him.

‘No, no’, he said, ‘I cannot come tomorrow morning. I have

urgent meetings that I cannot miss. I will come another

time.’

A few minutes earlier, to see me was a matter of life and

death to him. Now, his meeting in the morning was more

critical!

We create illusions in our mind about the situations we face,

how critical they are to our existence, and we build castles

in the air where we would live either live happily ever after

132


or be imprisoned for ever. We do everything except to face

the present moment.

As we see later, that is what Krishna forces Arjuna to do.

He forces him to face the present moment and when Arjuna

does that, his doubts and illusions clear.

Arjuna understands what he needs to do and goes about

doing it with purpose and without fuss.

133


ÊxÉ½þiªÉ vÉÉiÉÇ®úÉ¹]ÅõÉzÉ& EòÉ |ÉÒÊiÉ& ºªÉÉVVÉxÉÉnÇùxÉ*{ÉÉ{É¨Éä ÉÉ¸ÉªÉänùº¨ÉÉx½þi´ÉèiÉÉxÉÉiÉiÉÉÊªÉxÉ&**1.36**

nihatya dhartarastran nah

ka pritih syaj janardana

papam evasrayed asman

hatvaitan atatayinah (1.36)

iÉº¨ÉÉzÉÉ½þÉÇ ´ÉªÉÆ ½þxiÉÖÆ vÉÉiÉÇ®úÉ¹]ÅõÉxº´Éù¤ÉÉxvÉ´ÉÉxÉÂ*º´ÉVÉxÉÆ Ê½þ EòlÉÆ ½þi´ÉÉ ºÉÖÊJÉxÉ& ºªÉÉ¨É ¨ÉÉvÉ´É**1.37**

tasman narha vayam hantum

dhartarastran sa-bandhavan

sva-janam hi katham hatva

sukhinah syama madhava (1.37)

134


nihatya: slaying; dhartarastran: sons of Dhritharashtra; nah: to

us; ka: what; pritih: pleasure; syat: may be; janardana:

janardana; papam: sins; eva: only; asrayet: will take hold;

asman: us; hatva: by killing; etan: these; atatayinah: wrong

doers;

tasmat: therefore; na: not; arhah: justified; vayam: we; hantum:

to kill; dhartarastran: the sons of Dhritharashtra; sa-bandhavan:

our friends; sva-janam: kinsmen; hi: certainly; katham: how;

hatv: by killing; sukhinah: happy; syama: may be; madhava:

Madhava

What pleasure will we get by destroying the sons of

Dhritharashtra, Janardana? Only sin will overcome us if we

slay these wrong doers.

Therefore, it is not proper for us to kill the sons of

Dhritharashtra and our friends.

How could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen,

Madhava?

135


Arjuna’s dilemma was this. He had two options open to him.

The first was to be convinced that going to battle, especially

against his own kinsmen was wrong, and therefore he should

cease and desist, and walk away from the battlefield. All

arguments he had been advancing are towards this objective.

At the same time, Arjuna was open to be convinced that

what he had set out to do was indeed correct, in which

case he would go back into battle mode, as a true born

kshatriya would do.

Had Arjuna been totally convinced that war against his

kinsmen was wrong, he would not have come all the way to

the battlefield ready to wage war. It was his aware mind that

brought up the question that he might be doing wrong, by

following the traditions set by his past learning. It was to

Arjuna’s credit that he listened to what his mind had to say

and wanted to resolve its dilemma.

Arjuna’s mind now brings up one more argument. Arjuna said

that it was quite possible that Duryodhana and his cohorts

were the aggressors and wrong doers. Whatever they had

done to him and his brothers and his wife was not

pardonable, and they needed to be punished for that. At

least, that was what the laws of the land would say. Arjuna

would have been quite justified in attacking and killing those

wrong doers for what they had done. But, Arjuna asked, if

one wrong could be corrected by another wrong, however

justified, his revenge would still be a sin.

136


‘How can I be happy killing my kinsmen’, asked Arjuna,

‘however justified I might be in doing that? Their misdeeds

cannot be remedied by my misdeed and that would only

make me miserable.’

Central to Arjuna’s dilemma are two factors:

The first one is that of connectivity. The problem that Arjuna

faced is one that we all face when asked to do unpleasant

things to people we know. It is always easier to criticize and

punish people one does not know. To be faceless is to be

fearless. With people one knows, with whom one has

established bonds of connection and friendship, there is a

danger of loss to that connectivity if we were to disrupt it

through what we perceive to be negative behavior, even

when it may be fully justified.

For one to face this factor in one’s dilemma, one must first

break the connectivity, or develop a sense of detachment

that allows what needs to be done without worrying about

the consequences. One follows the process and the path, and

leaves the result to the process. As long as the path is right,

whatever destination the path would take one to, would also

be right.

Over the ages, this connectivity had been broken by religious

and societal separation. Contrary to what anyone might say,

religion separates, it segregates, it destroys. More people have

been killed in religious strife over the ages than for other

137


reasons of aggrandizement. As Lenin remarked famously,

religion is the opium that blunts one’s sensitivity to another

human, and allows one to ill treat, maim and kill another

human. Terrorists are only the modern day representation of

what had been done for centuries in many nations in the

name of religion; it is nothing new. Destroying one another

has happened through the ages, within religions through

artificially created separations, and between religions in the

name of my God and your God.

When religion found insufficient reason to kill, man found

other rational reasons to segregate and kill; color of the skin,

language, different culture, different region; anything that

could differentiate was a good enough reason to discriminate

and destroy.

Outside India, all Indians may gather against another

nationality, another race, say in a cricket or football match

for instance. Once back in India, we start talking in terms of

north and south Indians. If one is a south Indian, and one is

back in the south of India, it is a matter of whether one is a

Tamil, Telugu, Malayalee or Kannadiga. Once one is Tamil,

and the other is a Hindu, the question would be of what

caste one is. If one is brahmin, whether one is an iyer or

iyengar, vadakalai or thenkalai.

The differentiation, the discrimination continues till the most

basic common denominators are identified; as a tribe or a

138


family. Everyone else is an outsider, unwanted, unloved,

unreliable and dispensable, at the subconscious level.

To overcome this break in connectivity, we need to realize

that no man is an island, as John Dunne had so beautifully

said. We are all interconnected. We are interconnected at

the spiritual level and recent discoveries show that we are

also interconnected at the cellular level. Studies in

molecular cellular biology by path breaking scientists such as

Bruce Lipton show that Darwin was wrong when he said we

need to compete to survive. In fact we need to collaborate to

survive; that is what cells do. They know intuitively that they

are interconnected; that they are part of the Collective

Consciousness.

When we arrive upon this planet Earth we are all open to

all possibilities. We are centered upon ourselves as children

in a very simplistic way, and open to all connections. It is as

if we are a large open area that no one can access. Over

time, we build walls. We build walls believing that these walls

will keep us safe within and that the connections inside the

walls are ours to keep. One after another the open space

that we started with becomes a maze. We do not know how

to exit and if we do exit, how to enter again.

In the material world, the corporate world, it becomes even

worse. We believe that such walls, such barriers of function,

domain and geography, are intrinsic to the success of any

enterprise. We believe that unless such specialization, such

139


segregation, such individualization happens, people cannot

perform efficiently. We forget that performing efficiently but

not effectively is far worse. It is running blind folded as fast

as you can, without even knowing where you are running

and why. Yet, people are today rewarded for such blind

sprinting.

Suddenly, a half blind person amongst the totally blind wakes

up and wonders why there is no communication amongst

people who work ostensibly with the same objective. He finds

people safely cocooned in silos, all by themselves, alone and

pretending to be comfortable and efficient. They do not

know who are there in other silos and they do not care.

They become islands.

The silos need to be broken. The islands need to be bridged.

People need to communicate and collaborate instead of

isolating themselves and competing. At the very basic cellular

level, it is now found that cells like to cluster together, and

form clumps that can communicate. It is found that cells

communicate through their boundary membranes and not

through their nuclei as had been assumed. Such discoveries

by biologists such as Bruce Lipton stand Darwin’s theory on its

head. Competition does not ensure survival; collaboration

does; communication does.

However, attachment based on expectation of results becomes

counter productive. As long as this collaboration is selfless, as

long as it is for the collective good and collective survival

140


from a true awareness of the fact that we all are a part of

the Collective Consciousness, this collaboration is extremely

effective.

Arjuna is yet to reach that stage. He is still in the silo stage,

where he had stored all his kinsmen in his own silos.

The other factor that Arjuna faces is the problem of

directness of action. In a war of the type that Arjuna was

faced with, consequences of his action were transparent. If he

shot an arrow and killed a kinsman, the death was a direct

attribute of his action. This is far different from what

warfare is today. Pressing a button could result in the death

of millions today. There are enough nuclear arsenals stored in

the world today that could destroy the planet many times

over. All that needs to be done is for a deranged mind to

press that button, with no feelings of responsibility.

Destruction is not direct. No one needs to take responsibility.

All modern warfare is impersonal and immoral.

This has become very true of modern business as well. People

who run businesses become for the most part faceless, and

the people who serve for the most part faceless too. Decisions

are taken at levels where there is no contact with those

whom the decisions would affect. That’s why so much of

environmental damage is caused by businesses and industries

today. No one is responsible. All decisions are taken by a

board, and no one can be pointed out as guilty. A business or

corporate organization becomes faceless and therefore fearless;

141


it also becomes moral-less and ethics-less. It is something

created by a human, which is no longer human.

People down the line who implement the decisions respond

like robots and if questioned turn a dumb face upwards; we

are not responsible, we are just obeying orders, they would

say. When decisions become impersonal they become immoral

and unethical. This is true of all organizations, corporate,

political, societal or religious. When Hitler’s Nazi leaders

were later caught and prosecuted at Nuremburg, reasons and

justification that each one of them gave were the same, and

disarmingly simple. We were just following orders, so we are

not responsible.

It is this impersonal nature of slaying one another, causing

harm to one another, at long distance, not even knowing

who one is destroying, that is the greatest destruction

potential of present day warfare and terrorism, as well as

business. When Hitler ordered the genocide of millions of

Jews, he did not have to look into the eye of each one

whom he had killed. If he had had to, even for a deranged

monster like him, it might have been a difficult task.

Destroying another living being in the vast Collective

Consciousness does in fact destroy something within the one

who destroys. With each such destruction, something within

that killer withers and dies. However, when the killing

happens remotely, the impact is diminished and delayed.

142


Arjuna did not have the luxury of remote destruction. He

had to look the victim in the eye before he released his

arrow. He was aware of who he was killing and why. He felt

the destruction within him when he destroyed another being.

The combination of these two factors, that of being

connected by kinship to those who needed to be killed, and

the need to do the killing directly and personally, affected

Arjuna. It affected Arjuna because he was not a

Duryodhana, who had blanked out his mind to the

consequences of his actions. It affected Arjuna, because he

was not a Krishna, who would have taken responsibility for

his actions, being aware all the time. Arjuna was neither

Krishna nor Duryodhana. His mind was engaged in pointing

out that he might be doing wrong, but his mind had not yet

transcended into that state of awareness to take responsibility

for his actions.

This was Arjuna’s dilemma.

143


ªÉt{ªÉäiÉä xÉ {É¶ªÉÎxiÉ ±ÉÉä¦ÉÉä{É½þiÉSÉäiÉºÉ&*EÖò±ÉIÉªÉEÞòiÉÆ nùÉä¹ÉÆ Ê¨ÉjÉpùÉä½äþ SÉ {ÉÉiÉEò¨ÉÂ**1.38**

yady apy ete na pasyanti

lobhopahata-cetasah

kula-ksaya-krtam dosam

mitra-drohe ca patakam (1.38)

EòlÉÆ xÉ YÉäªÉ¨Éº¨ÉÉÊ¦É& {ÉÉ{ÉÉnùº¨ÉÉÊzÉ´ÉÌiÉiÉÖ ÉÂ*EÖò±ÉIÉªÉEÞòiÉÆ nùÉä¹ÉÆ |É{É¶ªÉnÂùÊ¦ÉVÉÇxÉÉnÇùxÉ**1.39**

katham na jneyam asmabhih

papad asman nivartitum

kula-ksaya-krtam dosam

prapasyadbhir janardana (1.39)

144


yadyapi: though; ete: these; na: not; pasyanti: see; lobha: greed;

upahata: overtaken; cetasah: intelligence ; kula-ksaya: in

killing the family; krtam: done; dosam: fault; mitra-drohe:

quarreling with friends; ca: and; patakam: sin; katham: why;

na: not; jneyam: learn ; asmabhih: by us; papat: from sins;

asmat: this; nivartitum: to turn away; krtam kula-ksaya: in the

destruction of a dynasty; dosam: evil; prapasyadbhih: clearly

seeing; janardana: Janardana

O Janardana, these men are consumed by greed and see no

fault in killing one’s family or quarreling with friends. Why

should we, who understand the evil of the destruction of a

dynasty, not turn away from these acts?

145


Arjuna has now distanced himself further from his kinsmen.

He had earlier said that even if his kinsmen had made huge

mistakes, he should not repeat the same mistakes. And that

he would not, even if he were to be offered the entire

universe. He wondered what joy he would get by destroying

his kinsmen and what would be the point in living if he

killed them all.

He has now said that his kinsmen were in darkness. They

saw nothing wrong in destroying one another and their own

kinsmen. They were blinded by greed for power and control.

They were ruled by blind ego. He asked Krishna, ‘shouldn’t

we be distancing ourselves from these people and their

attitudes, we who are not ignorant, not in darkness and not

blinded.’

Arjuna was pleading with Krishna, ‘Please tell me I am right?

Please tell me should I withdraw from this battle?’

The people he condemned as ignorant and greedy, were the

same fathers, grandfathers, teachers, uncles and friends that

he had referred to so passionately, a few moments earlier.

These are the same people who he claimed that he held in

great respect and affection, and did not wish to kill. He

had shifted gears now and had moved from the position of

not killing them because they were his flesh and blood, to a

greater moral position of not wishing to kill them because it

was morally reprehensible.

146


Arjuna said that destruction of the lineage, of the dynasty, is

evil, and that he recoiled from such a deed, even though his

opponents had no such compunction, blinded as they were by

greed.

Arjuna had moved to higher ground from family and blood

linkage to lineage and dynasty. It was now a matter of

tradition and respect for the kula, the lineage that could be

traced back to the Moon, and a hoary tradition that would

be a sin to dismantle and destroy.

Arjuna’s dilemma had now taken a larger format; it was no

longer about individuals, it was about destruction of a race

that had existed thousands of years tracing its roots back to

celestial beings. How could he be expected to do such a

dastardly deed, he asked and pleaded.

In Arjuna’s mind, this was a very pertinent doubt. Killing a

few individuals, even if kinsmen, was a mistake; killing a

whole generation was a far bigger sin, and now he was

expected to destroy a whole race, the very foundation of a

proud and legendary dynasty. How could the future

generations forgive him?

This was Arjuna’s dilemma now.

This same question is posed even today by organizations of all

kinds when they are confronted by individuals who act out

their individual moral compulsions. The word they use for

such people is interesting. They are called ‘whistle blowers’!

147


They call it a foul as a football referee does and blow their

whistle and show yellow or red cards! It would be funny if it

weren’t so serious. Civilized societies have not really made up

their minds about how such people are to be treated. Are

they traitors as governments and religions would claim, based

on constitutional regulations? Or are they heroes as many in

society would like to believe for standing up to their moral

obligations?

Organizations would like to be eternal. They would like to

believe that unlike individuals they have no mortal life time

boundaries. Some assume this as a God given right, and

therefore would like to penalize anyone who attempts to

control, correct or destroy them. A body of humans infuses

their personal ambitions and greed into a larger format to

create organizations, with the hope that even if they die, the

organization that has been created lives on.

It is a reflection of nature’s own way of ensuring the survival

of species. Even if individual members of a species die, the

species should live on. When faced with threats the species

mutates to survive. When faced with threats of extinctions,

organizations lie, threaten, manipulate and do every single

thing that they can within their power to survive.

When Arjuna talks about the threat to his dynasty, it arises

out of a fear of his own mortality. He has asked: even if I

am to die, as I must, should I not ensure the continuance of

my dynasty that bears my signature, my identity?

148


EÖò±ÉIÉªÉä |ÉhÉ¶ªÉÎxiÉ EÖò±ÉvÉ¨ÉÉÇ& ºÉxÉÉiÉxÉÉ&*vÉ¨Éæ xÉ¹]äõ EÖò±ÉÆ EÞòiºxÉ¨ÉvÉ¨ÉÉæ%Ê¦É¦É´ÉiªÉÖiÉ**1.40**

+vÉ¨ÉÉÇÊ¦É¦É´ÉÉiEÞò¹hÉ |ÉnÖù¹ªÉÎxiÉ EÖò±ÉÎºjÉªÉ&*ºjÉÒ¹ÉÖ nÖù¹]õÉºÉÖ ´ÉÉ¹hÉæªÉ VÉÉªÉiÉä ´ÉhÉÇºÉRÂóEò®ú&**1.41**

ºÉRÂóEò®úÉä xÉ®úEòÉªÉè É EÖò±ÉPxÉÉxÉÉÆ EÖò±ÉºªÉ SÉ*{ÉiÉÎxiÉ Ê{ÉiÉ®úÉä Áä¹ÉÉÆ ±ÉÖ{iÉÊ{Éhb÷ÉänùEòÊGòªÉÉ&**1.42**

nùÉä¹Éè®äúiÉè& EÖò±ÉPxÉÉxÉÉÆ ´ÉhÉÇºÉRÂóEò®úEòÉ®úEèò&*=iºÉÉtxiÉä VÉÉÊiÉvÉ¨ÉÉÇ& EÖò±ÉvÉ¨ÉÉÇ¶SÉ ¶ÉÉ¶´ÉiÉÉ&**1.43**

=iºÉzÉEÖò±ÉvÉ¨ÉÉÇhÉÉÆ ¨ÉxÉÖ¹ªÉÉhÉÉÆ VÉxÉÉnÇùxÉ*xÉ®úEäò%ÊxÉªÉiÉÆ ´ÉÉºÉÉä ¦É´ÉiÉÒiªÉxÉÖ¶ÉÖ ÉÖ É**1.44**

149


kula-ksaye pranasyanti

kula-dharmah sanatanah

dharme naste kulam krtsnam

adharmo ‘bhibhavaty uta (1.40)

adharmabhibhavat krsna

pradusyanti kula-striyah

strisu dustasu varsneya

jayate varna-sankarah (1.41)

sankaro narakayaiva

kula-ghnanam kulasya ca

patanti pitaro hy esam

lupta-pindodaka-kriyah (1.42)

dosair etaih kula-ghnanam

varna-sankara-karakaih

utsadyante jati-dharmah

kula-dharmas ca sasvatah(1.43)

utsanna-kula-dharmanam

manusyanam janardana

narake niyatam vaso

bhavatity anususruma (1.44)

150


kula-ksaye: in destroying the family; pranasyanti: perish; kula-

dharmah: the family traditions; sanatanah: eternal; dharma: in

religion; naste: being destroyed; kulam: family; krtsnam: whole;

adharmah: non righteousness; abhibhavati: overcomes; uta: it is

said.

adharma: non righteousness; abhibhavat: prevails; krsna: O

Krishna; pradusyanti: become corrupt; kula-striyah: family

women; strisu: in women; dustasu: corrupted; varsneya: O

Varshnaya; jayate: arises; varna-sankarah: mixed progeny

sankarah: confusion; narakaya: for hell; eva: quite; kula-

ghnanam: of the killers of the family; kulasya: of the family;

cha: and; patanti: fall; pitarah: forefathers; hi: certainly; esam:

their; lupta: deprived; panda: offerings; udaka: water; kriyah:

performances.

dosaih: by evil deeds; etaih: these; kula-ghnanam: of the

destroyer of the family; varna-sankara: mixture of castes;

karakaih: by the doers; utsadyante: are destroyed; jati-dharmah:

caste rituals; kula-dharmah: family traditions; cha: and;

sasvatah: eternal.

utsanna: spoiled; kula-dharmanam: of those who have the

family traditions; manusyanam: of such men; janardana: O

Krsna; narake: in hell; niyatam: always; vasah: residence;

bhavati: it so becomes; iti: thus; anususruma: I have heard by

disciplic succession.

151


With the destruction of the dynasty, the eternal family

tradition is destroyed too, and thus the rest of the family

becomes involved in non righteous practices.

When non righteous practices become common in the family,

O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupted, and

from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of

Varshni, comes unwanted progeny of mixed castes.

When there is increase of such unwanted progeny of mixed

castes, the family and those who destroy the family tradition

are cast in hell. In such corrupt families, there is no offering

of oblations of food and water to their ancestors.

Due to the evil deeds of the destroyers of family tradition, all

kinds of rituals and practices of caste and family are

devastated.

O Janardana, I have heard that those who destroy family

traditions dwell always in hell.

152


Arjuna by now had become desperate. He found that the

reasons that he could so far advocate in terms of his

objections and logic to avoid going to battle seem weak to

him. It may have been a telepathic exchange between him

and Krishna, but it now seems as if Arjuna felt that his

reasoned arguments not to kill his own kinsmen did not

impress Krishna at all.

Arjuna now had started developing a broader theme, that by

killing his kinsmen, he would be not only destroying those

individuals and family, but also the entire lineage, thereby

bringing a tragic end to the race of the Kuru clan.

This, he said, would not only be a disaster in history and

past, but would have untold evil effects on the future

generations too.

Arjuna starts quoting scriptures, the Smruti, social laws, rules

and regulations laid down by Manu and others to explain to

Krishna in what kind of an evil state his actions of

destroying his dynasty would bring to future generations.

Arjuna started saying that the destruction of a noble lineage,

a race and family system would in its wake, bring about

decline in adherence to time honored practices of rites and

rituals, considered sacred by the scriptures. Decline in

practicing these rites and rituals would lead the families that

come thereafter to immoral and non righteous acts.

153


Arjuna then elaborated upon these immoral and non

righteous acts.

He said women in the family would become unchaste, and

with that mixing with other castes would follow and would

result in children of mixed castes, which would be

undesirable.

Arjuna continued to say that scriptures deem that those who

cause such caste pollution would go to hell, since their

ancestors could not be appeased through ritual offerings of

food and water. Those who destroy family traditions would

ruin all sacred practices and lead the families into polluted

progeny, and such people had no place to go but hell.

To understand what Arjuna had said it is important to

understand the origin of the varnasrama or caste based

tradition in Hindu religion.

A child was handed to the care of a Master, a spiritual

Master by the age of three by the parents in the ancient

Indian education system called gurukulam. The Master

became mother, father and teacher to the child. He tested

the aptitude of the child and decided what the child should

be trained for. This decision based on the natural aptitude of

the child was the basis for the varna, color or caste

classification, varnasrama.

154


The Master couldn’t care less about whether the child’s

parents were vaisya or sudra. If he found that the child had

the natural aptitude to learn the scriptures, the child would

be trained as a brahmin. Irrespective of parentage and caste

structure of parents, boys and girls were taught the gayatri

mantra that allowed their natural intelligence to blossom.

Those who had a natural aptitude towards the spiritual path

and expressed this aptitude through personal development

and experiences were trained in the scriptures. Others were

trained in materially relevant arts and sciences.

Such was the origin of the caste system. This system was

very similar to the Guild system that prevailed in England

thousands of years later, and has been said to have

contributed so much to the Industrial Revolution that made

England a super colonial power for a while.

Over time, this caste system which was based on aptitude

and skills was corrupted through human greed. Those who

believed that they were doing more responsible work, and

therefore were more respected, such as the brahmin and

kshatriya castes, decided to pass on their caste qualification,

which were in fact trade qualifications, to their children as if

it was their birthright. Such a practice had no scriptural

sanction. The son of a brahmin, who had neither the aptitude

nor the knowledge to be a brahmin, ceased to have the right

qualifications to be called a brahmin. The son of a sudra, if

he exhibited the aptitude and developed the skills to learn

155


the scriptures and decided to lead a spiritual life, had every

right and qualification to be called a brahmin. That was the

scriptural truth.

Arjuna’s doubts about caste pollution had no scriptural base

or merit. What he talked about became the societal norm

because of human greed. There had been many instances of

caste admixture even in the great Kuru lineage that Arjuna

bemoaned would be destroyed. Satyavati, his great

grandmother was a fisherman’s daughter who his great

grandfather Shantanu became infatuated with. Arjuna himself

had non-Kshatriya wives.

Arjuna talked as if mired in total confusion, when he linked

practice of rites and rituals with morality and chastity. He

talked about women becoming unchaste as a result of

families not following rites and rituals. He spoke as if

demented.

Rites and rituals, as prescribed in the scriptures are an

expression of one’s inner awareness. They become useful when

one is aware. Awareness is not created by blind practice of

rites and rituals.

How many people do we see muttering their prayers and

mantra, rolling their prayer beads, while occupied in the

behest of thoughts and acts? Their tongues are on God and

the mind is with the devil.

156


Arjuna here mouthed the sentiments of organized religion

and priesthood, which derive their power and monetary base

from such rites and rituals. They use these rites and rituals

and their sole authority to perform them as a factor of control

over the rest of the masses. This is how, in each culture and

each religion, the power of the priestly class was established,

as if that was the sole intermediary to God. The destruction

of all such cultures too, historically, was because of such

manipulative priestly class.

Arjuna talked about ancestral worship and implied that

progeny of mixed castes have no right to make offerings to

their ancestors, as a result of which ancestors will go without

sustenance and be displeased and, therefore both the

ancestors and the families will rot in hell. It is not Arjuna

who spoke thus. It is the confusion that prevails in each one

of us over the ages that Arjuna captured and presented. He

raises doubts on behalf of mankind and seeks clarification.

The dementia was not of Arjuna, but of mankind.

When I take my disciples and followers to the pilgrim

centers in the Himalayas, each year, I take them to the four

specified pilgrimage locations sanctified by Adi Sankara,

called Char Dham. Before entering the temples, I warn my

people to be careful of the priests. In the name of God and

in the name of scriptures they will extract as much as they

can out of you. They are excellent psychologists; they are

even better I would say! They can guess how much you have

157


in your bank balance and will prescribe rituals to cleanse

you completely of your bank balance, so that you are left

pure!

I tell my people that I shall perform the needed rituals to

appease their ancestors and their spirits. Some are still not

satisfied. They would like the official priests to perform the

rituals and pay through their noses. The priests ask them to

donate a cow and charge ten thousand rupees, a huge sum

in India, and the miracle is that the same sacrificial cow will

circulate through thousands of pilgrims. All this is in the

name of God and religion.

There are no ancestral spirits waiting to be appeased by us. If

the spirit is enlightened, it merges with the Infinite energy.

If not, it gets reborn within three kshana, three moments

between thoughts. Spirits do not hang around waiting to be

appeased. Nor do they go to hell if they are not appeased.

There is no hell or heaven. Hell and heaven are in our minds.

We are in hell, because we are depressed, guilty and in

suffering. We are in heaven when we are in love, joyful and

grateful. Hell and heaven are spaces in our mind, not

locations that we need to aspire to reach after death. We pass

through hell and heaven even as we live, day to day, hour to

hour, minute to minute. We do not have to wait for our death

to taste hell and heaven; we are in them right now.

158


A small story:

A preacher attracted a large number of disciples promising

them that when they died he would take them to heaven.

He said, ‘serve me well, and I shall take care of you in the

life thereafter.’

One day the preacher died. His two innermost disciples

committed suicide. They were sure he would go to heaven,

and did not want to miss out on their chance to follow him.

So they died too.

All three reached the pearly gates. The preacher saw his two

disciples and was immensely pleased. ‘See. I told you I shall

take to heaven. That’s where we are now.’

The person who greeted them took them to a large palatial

building. He told them that whatever they wished will be

available to them and to enjoy themselves.

The preacher and his disciples were beyond joy. All they had

to do was to think of something and it was there. Food,

music, wine and women, everything came to them even as

they thought about them. They indulged themselves

completely. Many things that they dared not do back on

planet Earth because they had to present an acceptable

profile, they did there! In any case they could not help it;

even if they tried to suppress a desire, as soon as it arose it

was fulfilled. What could they do!

159


After a few days they were tired of all this. There was

nothing to do, no effort involved. It became a suffering to

have things brought to them even before the desire was fully

formed. If this was heaven they had enough of it.

They called for the guard. When he appeared they told him

politely that they had had enough of heaven for a while and

that they would now like to take a look at hell for a

change.

The guard looked confused and then he understood. He

smiled broadly at them and said, ‘where do you think you

have been all this while? This is hell!’

Understand: hell and heaven are our perceptions.

Religions and religious authorities have created the concepts

of hell and heaven, as factors of inducing guilt and

motivation, to control others. They have also created the

concept of sin. There is no sin in spiritual terms. Where

there is sin there is also merit. It is the principle of Tao;

there can be no good without evil, and no evil without good.

The only sin we are in, the original sin, is the ignorance of

our own divinity.

Arjuna is not a fool. He understands all this perfectly. Yet,

he voices his doubts as if ignorant, as if demented, as if

confused. He acts out of compassion for humanity. He acts

out, he articulates the doubts of humanity so that Divine can

answer to all.

160


A thoughtful man like Arjuna cannot talk about the lack of

chastity of women without blaming the men who are equally

responsible. He reflects here the superior attitude of men

over ages who have treated women as chattel and would lay

the blame squarely on their women, if anything were to go

wrong. The doubts he voices are those of the society he lives

in, and those doubts have not changed in thousands of years.

Documents

S , Slifeblissprograms.org/e-books/pdf/bhagavad_gita_1st... · 2012-03-09 · divine beings by immaculate conception, since Pandu himself was incapable of siring children as a result