युधामन्युश्च विक्रान्त उत्तमौजाश्च वीर्यवान् ॥
सौभद्रो द्रौपदेयाश्च सर्वएव महारथाः ॥६॥
Beloved Souls,
I bow down to the divine seated in your hearts.. accept my salutations!
Gita is full of lessons and teachings even for everyday life. If you have read Mahabharata you would be knowing that on the first day of battle from Kaurava’s side Bhisma (pitamah – grand father of Kaurava’s and Pandava’s) was appointed as Senapati (the leader of the army). But Duryodhana despite he himself appointing Bhishma as Senapati he is approaching his Guru, Dronacharya on the battle field to have a view of his opponent’s (Pandava’s) army formation. This is an evidently confused move.. but why?
This happened because Duryodhana wasn’t having complete confidence on Bhishma for Bhishma was full of love for Pandavas and had participated in the battle only on the precondition that he will NOT kill Pandavas. The second reason is the negative and alleging mentality of Duryodhana. He knew that the first day’s Army formation of Pandavas has been done by King Drupad, able disciple of Guru Dronacharya and this, he thought, was an appropriate moment to blame his Guru for what his disciple has done against the side his Guru was favoring. He is not only blaming but also trying to ignite the same nagativity and anger in his Guru by using the term ‘तव शिष्येण धीमता’ – Your talented disciple, Drupad.
The fear and anxiety of Duryodhana is also visible in his description of Pandava’s Army. Those who don’t know should note that Duryodhana and Bhim were rivals right from their childhood days.. both of them were experts of Gada Yudh. The Arjuna, his prime rival was unbeatable master archer of his times and even greatest of archers of that time feared facing the brunt of Arjuna’s mighty arrows. On many occasions Bhima has already shown his supremacy over him, so psychologically he is not only bit fearful of Bhima and Arjuna here but his whole attention is focused on his objects of fear. In his first look he is seeing all Arjunas and Bhimas in the Pandava’s army. Note the expression here .. ” अत्र शूरा महेष्वासा भीमार्जुनसमा युधि ” after seeing worriers in his opponent’s army. He says “there are many heroes and mighty archers equal to Bhima and Arjuna..” And then he goes on.. taking names of mighty worriers like Yuyudana, Virata , The great worrier – Drupad, Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, Heroic King of Kashi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, The great man Shaibya, the valiant Udhamanyu, the formidable Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra and Draupadi (wives of Arjuna).
There is only one Arjuna and only one Bhima in Pandava’s army but Duryodhana, out of his fear is creating so many Bhimas and Arjunas there. He is treating them all as equivalent to Arjuna and Bhima. This is the psychology of a fearful person.. such a person tends to amplify his fears by his very own thoughts. Each one of you must have experienced this.. when you become fearful of a Ghost or a suspicious presence in the darkness of a night every single noise and movement of shadows makes you even more suspicious. This way, by virtue of your own state of mind you go on augmenting your fear. With fear your senses becomes blurred – your power of objectivity is lost and thus your behaviour and your decisions more often than not lead to undesirable results. The fear is not your enemy but only when you know how to use it for triggering favourable thought process and inducing situationally correct decisions. People say it is easier said than done yet it is not impossible..
I tell you that to be able to use your panic and instinctive emotional triggers constructively all you need is the watchfulness, an alert and unbiased mind. Some may say you can do so if you meditate upon these emotions regularly but that’s not true. It is possible only when you live meditatively and that means when you are able to carry the thread of meditativeness out of your meditation room, meditating for half an hour wouldn’t be enough. Keeping a meditative thread alive requires you understand certain universal principles and values and abide by them. The values you practice in your life are going to help you become responsible and capable of dealing with every life situation, good or bad amicably. Such a person would not blame others for the miseries or awkward life situations he/she is facing in his life. I know you would be interested in knowing ‘how’? Be patient.. in coming chapters Krishna shall beautifully elaborate upon many practices of Yoga and methods of enlightenment.. You will get enough pointers on how to carry these values gracefully and live life in the pursuit of its goals. Lets wait till then..
For sure Duryodhana himself has chosen for the war as he did not settle the issue by giving Pandavas just 5 villages they were ready to accept. He has invited this war but when this situation is presenting itself he is not able to deal with this situation in a responsible way. And this was never possible.. Duryodhana was weak in his heart for he was not following the universal principles, he was not on the path of truth and justice and so fears, doubts and anxiety are surrounding him. His own Army is not in coherence.. they are there just to fulfill their obligations and duties but deep down they all know that they are siding the ‘unjust’.. and such an army can never win. The fate of this was is well known from the first day but the war is of attitudes.. the war is between the right values and wrong values and remember this is not Acharya Agyaatdarshan who is saying that the right attitude will win.. The whole existence will support the right values. The values of tolerance, truth, cooperation, coexistence, friendship, love and justice… will emerge winner everywhere but we must recognize that at times war becomes inevitable. Pandavas have already gone through the years of testing times and hardships walking the path of universal values but this is not yielding.. War is unavoidable now.
But let’s not get lost in the war and once again be reminded that we are witnessing and experiencing the everyday battlefield fashioned by the very divine Creator who fashioned the Mahabharata and let us pray to Him for his eternal love and guidance. Before we disperse let us sing together..
Its all about you! 