The Gita: Srimad Bhagwadgita: श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता : Chapter 1:12 – 1:19

प्रथमोSध्यायः… (Continued 1:12 – 1:19)

तस्य संजनयन् हर्षं कुरुवृद्धः पितामहः॥

सिन्हनादं विनद्योचैः सङ्खं दध्मौ प्रतापवान् ॥१२॥

ततः संखास्च भेर्यश्च पणवानकगोमुखाः ॥

सहसैवाभ्यहन्यन्त स शब्दस् तुमुलोsअभवत ॥१३॥

ततः श्वेतैर् हयैर् युक्ते महति स्यन्दने स्तिथितौ ॥

माधवः पाण्डवश्चैव दिव्यौ शन्खौ प्रदध्मतुः ॥१४॥

पाञ्चजन्यं हृषीकेशो देवदत्तं धनञ्जयः ॥

पौण्ड्रं दध्मौ महाशङ्खं बीम्कर्मा वृकोदरः ॥१५॥

अनन्तविजयं राजा कुन्तीपुत्रो युधिष्ठिरः ॥

नकुलः सहदेवश्च सुघोषमणिपुष्पकौ ॥१६॥

काश्यश्च परमेष्वासः  शिखण्डी च महारथः ॥

धृष्टद्युम्नो विराटश्च सात्यकिश्चापराजितः ॥१७॥

द्रुपदो द्रौपदेयाश्च सर्वशः पृथवीपतेः ॥

सौभद्रश्च महाबाहुः शङ्खान् दध्मुः प्रथक् प्रथक्॥१८॥

स घोषो धार्त्रराष्ट्राणां हृदयानि व्यदारयत् ॥

नभश्च पृथ्वीं चैव तुमुलो व्यनुनादयन् ॥१९॥

|| परमपूज्य, प्रातःस्मरणीय पं. श्री मुरलीधर जी मिश्र||

Beloved Souls,

I bow down to the divine seated in your heart.. please accept my salutations.

Many of my friends and disciples have been continuously following up with me over this month long silence here on cyber space. I know you all had no intentions of disturbing me but only wanting to receive more of what they get from here. I am thankful to all of you who bore this period of lull and silence and am sure you would have used this time to contemplate more on what is already available with you. For all those whose missed calls could not be reverted and mails did not see a reply I wish to inform that this happened owing to certain engagements which included two tightly spaced special sessions of “World Religious Parliament (विश्व धर्म् संसद्)” and a seminar marking the beginning of ‘150th birth anniversary year’  of Swami Vivekananda. I must thank you all for your forbearance and confess that it was only with your supportive energies emanating from the divine within you that I could contribute well to these events. I once again thank you for your unconditional love and faith in me. Now back to “The song of Divine – The Gita”…

Thus as Duryodhana concluded his anxiety laden effort of describing both the sides to Dronacharya, Pitamah Bhishma assumed the role of the lion-hearted warrior. He roared like a lion and blew his conch-shell announcing the beginning of the war!

His act was also directed towards taking the anxiety off Duryodhana and he successfully did achieve that. So far Duryodhana wasn’t sure if pitamaha (great grandfather) Bhishma would actually be ready to take up this responsibility at hand but when Bhishma announced the beginning of war by blowing his conch he felt relaxed and comforted. This act of Bhishma sounded to him as the approval to his decision to opt the war instead of compromise with Pandavas. Bhishma declared the war but you must keep in mind that Bhishma is great-grand father of Pandavas as well. For him Kauravas and Pandavas, both are equally affectionate but for a man of his caliber the truth is most affectionate. So when he blows his conch he is in fact declaring “let the righteous win”… Though bound by his promise of loyalty to the throne of Hastinapur, Bhishma is not an ignorant, biased man. He is great ascetic of his times and he knows what is going to be the outcome of this war, he understands the design of Lord Krishna and Krishna’s presence on Pandava’s side and that joy he is expressing in his roar.

Just as Bhishma blew his conch many conches, kettledrums, cymbals, drums and trumpets were sounded together from Kaurava’s side. This commotion was tremendous.

The war has symbolically begun now.. and Lord Krishna and Arjuna, seated in a grand chariot yoked with white horses, blew their celestial conches. Some of you can notice that the first one to blow conch from Pandava’s side is Krishna. This should be sufficient for everyone to understand who was leading the side of Pandava; that the Kaurava’s army was standing against a born Yogi, an Avatar.. a Celestial Master. Whenever a Master is there to protect someone one can be sure of his mercy. You should have faith in him for whatever he is deciding for you will be for your growth. Victory or defeat is transitory and immaterial here what matters the most is the choice of being on his side – the side of the enlightened one. But in your individual capacity you can not choose to be on his side, behind him for you don’t have the capacity to decipher the psyche of master, you are not capable of differentiating between an ordinary man and a master. It is the master who chooses his side. Here also in the same purpose for which Krishna has come (And his purpose he clearly tells Arjuna later in Gita – यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवतिभारत) has chosen Pandavas to become his instrument in annihilation of the wickedness and disorder from this plane. It is he He who reserves the rights of admission.

So what you can do in that wait..? You can work on yourself, purify yourself.. develop yourself to be able to receive his grace, a chance to be on His side. Needless to say that it will be only Master’s revelation which will make you understand His plan… you can NOT know it yourself. This doesn’t sound very comfortable to your ego… you think you have the capacity to identify a master, judge his deeds. I repeat none of your egoistic thinking is going to change the fact.. it is always the Master who chooses you. It is just not possible for a kindergarten kid to assess the ability of her teacher who is teaching him how to hold the pencil right and how to draw a circle. You are not more than a kindergarten kid.. it is only for your good that you empty yourself, throw away the feeling of ‘knowing all’ because only then you will be able to receive the true knowledge. A kid is able to learn because he does not questions.. because he does not judge. With this attitude keep working on yourself.. Don’t be impatient. The Master is always watching compassionately and you will have your chance to be on His side.

Krishna blew his conch, Paanchjanya, followed by Arjuna who blew his conch, Devadatta; and Bhima, the doer of formidable deeds, blew his conch, Paundra. Then a series of conches were blows by Yudhishthira (Anantvijaya), Nakul (Sughosha), Sahadeva (Manipushpaka).. Herein Krishna is hinting about the NadaYoga. The sounds of these 5 conches are corresponding to the Naada of the 5 chakras – starting from Mooladhara to Vishuddha Chakra but as I have told you right in the beginning that I will take these words spoken by Krishna exactly as they are and try understanding Gita from the perspective of a modern practical person; one who does not believe in wasting time in finding out the ultimate Truth through some Sadhana or Yoga. Therefore let me skip these codified secret Sadhanas and Yogas here…

Further The king of Kashi, the mighty archer; Shikhandi, the great warrior Dhrashtadhyumna, Virata, the invincible Saatyaki, King Drupad and sons of Draupadi; and the mighty son of Subhadra they all blew their conches. The tumultuous uproar, resounding through earth and sky tore the hearts of Kauravas.

The fear of sound is the very basic fear and that is the reason when someone is not agreeing to you or confronting you; you tend to raise your voice. This is a psychological programming of millions of years rooted in the “fear of sound”…  you can not refrain yourself from raising your voice while you are trying to rundown someone.. when you are trying to subdue someone. You are subconsciously using the power of sound to create fear in the other person. And this is also true that if the person would be weak in his heart (by virtue of impurity of his intentions or deeds) he will give up. He will surrender. In early days during wars this power of sound was used to test the intentions of the enemy. Even in some martial arts (having roots in spirituality) the practitioners are trained to growl and yell in specific way to create fear in the opponent.

Here also when Pandava’s side made a tumultuous sound the hearts of Kauravas shivered… in fact the enemy is as strong as his purity of intentions and the side he takes. Kaurava’s are on the wrong side and they deep down know it (though may not accept) and thus this uproar creator a terror in their army while the same uproar filled Pandava’s side with zeal, energy and enthusiasm for upcoming event.

Enough for today..

– Ach. Agyaatadarshan Anand Nath