And Duryodhana said
that he would wipe the existence of the Pandavas from the face of the
earth as he refused to allow even a small part of the kingdom which
the latter rightfully deserved as the heirs of Pandu , the late brother of the
King and the father of the five Pandavas
, of which Arjuna was one . Such obstinacy on the part of prince Duryodhna
brought the nation close to a war between the cousins. And while the wise in
the court advised the king against wilfulness of Duryodhna and the
undesirability of a war, the King’s fondness of his son had the better of the
wise counsel that he received. Dhritrashtra was a king blind at birth and
depended on Sanjay who had the divine attribute to see events of distant places
sitting by the side of the blind king in Hastinapur, the capitol of the
Kingdom. And though the majority of the wise in the King’s court felt that the
Pandavas were being treated unjustly, the King’s bondage with his son made
bigger his blindness. Sanjay’s
sympathies also lay with the victimized Pandu Princes.
Duryodhna over convinced of the might of his army wanted to
thrust a war on the Pandavas , which he eventually did and now the two armies
were face to face at Kurukshetra. The kauravas’ eagle shaped formation with the
mightiest of warriors now stood before a smaller army of the Pandavas and both Arjuna
and Duryodhana appeared visibly disturbed on the eve of this war. Duryodhana went close to the commander in
chief of his army, Bhishm and started heaping praise on the attributes of the
great warriors on his side, with a view to cover his weakness that arose from
guilt and fear of the matching might of the Pandavas . His conduct bore
similarity with a person entering a darkroom whistling to fight his fear. Arjuna
too was disturbed and asked his friend, guide and charioteer in this war
Krishna, to take the chariot between the two forces. Once the chariot had
arrived there, Arjuna became philosophical and started losing interest in the
objective that had brought the two armies face to face. And now his
justifications for giving the Kauravas a walkover commenced. He saw the
impending war as an exercise in futility. He saw no reason for killing his own
kin for the sake of the lost kingdom. He had tremendous affection and respect
for his grand uncle Bhishm and his teacher Dronacharya who were fighting war on
the side of the Kauravas with their individual identities fully merged with the
army they represented and though the two had great love for Arjuna their
allegiance to the army of which they were a part now was greater than such. The
stance of the two armies on the battle field was principled and had no scope
for individual considerations. And while Duryodhana embarrassingly continued
illuminating the suns in his army as a measure to reinforce his confidence,
emotions had now assumed charge of Arjuna who threw his bough and started
citing ethical reasons for not going to war. Krishna the incarnate who was
serving as his charioteer on the battlefield maintained a stoic silence
sometimes interrupted by a smile and did not respond till the time Arjuna was
totally exhausted. Arjuna’s personality, it appeared was completely
disorganized and required wise organization but that was possible only when he
was ready for such. When days before the war, Krishna who was at home with both
Duryodhana and Arjun, offered them a choice between his army and himself,
Duryodhan opted for his army while Arjuna preferred him. Hence while Duryodhan
sought backing of Krishna’s mighty army Arjuna sought guidance of his wisdom. The
illogic of Arjuna’s contentions been exhausted, he now knelt before his
charioteer as a disciple would before guru and a believer before God in
complete submission for guidance in conflict.
Krishna now took charge of Arjuna as the mind in such tests
assumes charge of the senses and itself submits to buddhi . Krishna now started
his reenunciation of the ancient knowledge that organized individuals, families,
societies, nations and humankind. He brought to Arjuna the knowledge of the
ancient art known to the rishis and the sages, the art to become masters of
situations than to become their slaves. Gita was now being retold in the
context of the great battle of Mahabharata. And as Krishna progressed with his
discourse, Arjuna’s countenance lit up with confidence and as it reached its
conclusion Arjuna was a transformed man, battle ready.
With the sounding of
the first conch shell which the commander of the Kauravas, the great and wise
Bhishm blew the Mahabharata had begun and the Kauravas by doing so had become
the aggressors. Krishna by revealing the Gita to Arjuna had succeeded in
restoring the true attributes of this warrior who was now leading the war and
would eventually, despite the smallness of his army, marshal such to victory in
the epic war.
It was not the last
time that Gita had guided a warrior to victory, in modern times another Arjuna
, the half clad fakir , the Mahatma , the great soul Gandhi’s faith on the
guidance of Gita eventually forced the sun to set upon the
British empire . Gita is a great book for the humans as it deals with the
senses, mind, reason and atman and how such team up to take command of or
submit to a situation and its following is not an exclusive domain of any faith,
it teaches the Dharma of a human. Those that understand it rise to great heights. Narendra Modi , it appears owes a lot to this
book as he presents copies to world leaders. His rise from a state of obscurity
to international relevance has to do much with Gita only that some of his
followers; it appears have not found reason to go properly into the teachings
of this great book. Some who read this book half heartedly find wrong contexts
for its use. Godse was one of them and he assassinated the great soul, the Mahatma,
Gandhi. Democracies also have lessons to take from Gita , varying ideologies have
the right to be pursued and propagated , in the end it is the sovereign, the people who decide which ideology they
would follow and the leaders they would accept.
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