Bits of life

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duty without being affected either by sorrow or happiness. O Arjuna! You too should rise above the contrary results of defeat and victory. Only then you can fight with equanimity and excel in your duty. Nothing affects you because you are free from all attachments. Keep your mind under control. Don’t be a slave of your mind. Instead you will be able to control it, and command it. Then you will be able to give up desire and other emotions like anger because these emotions which are born out of desire will ruin you, ruin your authority over your mind.

This is the difference between a rishi and an ordinary man. An ordinary man thinks of the fruits of the tree, but a rishi or a yogi thinks of the tree itself. An ordinary thinks how best he could get the fruits of the tree, but the sage thinks beyond and above the personal benefits. He thinks of the big picture. He thinks of the welfare of the nature and how best he can act to protect her and not himself. He is the wise man, he is the gnani (a wise man).”

Arjuna questions,
“If the yogi or gnani is better than the one doing duty, then why are you asking me to do my karma or action?”
“Hey kuntiputra (son of Kunti)! There are two types of people in this world. The first type is those who look into their souls and search for God. These are the gnana yogis (one who is devoted to think, philosophize). And the second variety of people get out of themselves and find God in actions. These are the karma yogis. Karma is inevitable. Those who look inside and search for god are also engaged in action.”

Arjuna raised the question,
“Hey Keshava! Why can’t I go in the path of a gnani (wise man)?”

Krishna replied,
“Do your karma or duty like a gnani or a wise man. A wise man is he who makes wise use of his senses. He looks and hears and moves as per what is wise. He never alters his path coming under the spell of his mind. He decides what to do and how. He has to do his duty for the sake of the society that he is a part of. He should work for the welfare of that society. A great becomes an example for others to follow. Look at me Partha, I don’t have to work at all, yet I am here guiding you. If I don’t attend to my duty, then I will become a bad example and people will follow the path of inaction. And that is not good for the society one lives in. So Arjuna, think of only of your duty, and your action. Do your duty and devote it to me. In the path of duty, even if it is necessary to kill, you will have to do it and be assured that it gives good fruits. It is also for the welfare of the society. If you have to kill all those people you said are dear to you, as your duty, then you will have to duty. Doing duty is much above all the other considerations. It is not a sin.”

Arjuna asks another important question.
“Why do we sin knowing it is a sin? Why are we helpless sometimes in committing sin?”
Krishna replied,
“It is because of desires and the remnants of sinful practices (vasanas) embedded in his soul. These vasanas such as desire, anger and other emotions smear on the mirror of purity of the mind and affect him. Then his thinking power gets blocked and a person commits sin. So you must clear the mirror of your mind. Don’t let go your thinking and ability to judge go to ruin. Think of your soul and not be under the influence of senses. Rise above your senses and do your duty as per your own authority on mind. I have given the message of yoga long ago to the sun god.”

Arjuna asked,
“You have given to the Sun? You were born in my age and the Sun has been shining for eons.”

Krishna replied,
“I am more ancient than the universe. You and I have taken many births. I remember them. But you can’t. I am being born again and again with the help of my own yoga Shakti. Whenever the adharma takes over dharma, I create myself to be born and defeat the adharma. I also save the lives of the righteous and destroy the evil doers. I come for the sake of the establishment of dharma.

Arjuna had another question.
“Why don’t people support dharma (righteousness)?”

Krishna replied,
“They don’t because of their own selfishness. It is because of their own desire and fascination about and possessiveness about things.”

Arjuna once again asked,
“Shouldn’t I get angry at the disrobing of Draupadi?”

Krishna replied,
“The disrobing of Draupadi is not just your personal issue. It is an issue concerning many fronts. It is also a social problem. If a society cannot protect a woman like Draupadi, who is the daughter of king of Panchala, Drupada, the daughter of fire and the wife of the warriors Pandavas, how can it protect an ordinary woman of the world? So this problem is much bigger. It is a social problem. You should concentrate on exterminating those evil powers responsible for such evil events. And those great warriors and archers, who have chosen to fight on the side of evil or adharma should be killed and not lamented upon. So Partha, get up and fight. Look at me Partha, I work without desire and without expectations of rewards. You too should do it. I contain multitudes; I am the beginning, the middle and the end. Yet I work only for dharma.”

After this dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna, we see the revelation of the vishwa rupam (universal form) of the Bhagavan. The fierce appearance of the Lord filled Arjuna with fear and he begged the lord to come back to his normal form. Lord Krishna resumed his normal form.

Arjuna was now a confident and a courageous man, not a man who was emotionally disturbed. He lifted his bow, the mighty Gandiva and got ready for the war. We see him now as reformed man whose mind was ready to face calamities and good news with equal poise.

Yudhishtar saw that the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna was over. Then he went to the opposite side and sought the blessings of Bhishma, Drona and Kripacharya. Each of them blessed him to be victorious. He went back and just before the war started he announced that whoever wanted to shift sides might do so now. Immediately, Vidura’s son Yuyuthsava walked over to the Pandava side much to the chagrin of Duryodhana.
The war started and the forces on each side advanced towards each other. Soldiers started dying and by the end of the day thousands died and the battlefield became red with the blood of dead soldiers, horses, elephants and warriors in the chariots.

Kunti visited Gandhari and together they lamented the very happening of war. Uttar Kumar, the son of Virata, the king of Matsya desh, died at the hands of Shalya. His parents Virata and Sudeshna lamented their son’s death while fighting for the Pandavas. Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pandavas injured Dushasana and sent him back to the camp.

On the first day of war more people died on the side of the Kauravas than on the side of the Pandavas. This had enraged Duryodhana and he blamed it on their chief of army, Bhishma. He went to the extent of saying if he had the authority he would have killed Bhishma and made Karna, his chief of army. Shakuni and others calmed him down and said that it was not in his hands to kill Bhishma because he had the boon to call for death at his own will.

On the next day, Bhishma and Arjuna were face to face aiming arrows at each other. However much as he tried Arjuna could not defeat Bhishma. On that night when they assembled in Yudhishtar’s camp, Vasudeva Krishna told them that Bhishma would stop fighting if he was faced with a woman. He suggested the name of Shikhandi to the Pandavas. They were surprised because Shikhandi was not a woman but a unach. Krishna cleared their doubt by telling them the story of Shikhandi who was Amba in one of her previous lives. It was only after much penance and trial and error and only after several lives that she finally took the form of Shikhandi, the daughter of Drupada. The reason why she went through all the suffering was to take revenge against Bhishma. The time now seemed ripe for her motive to achieve.

On that night, Arjuna went to Shikhandi tent and requested him to be with him on the next day’s war. Shikhandi agreed readily and happily, for this was the day she was waiting for.

Now it was the tenth day of the war. Arjuna and Shikhandi ride on his chariot and drew close to Bhishma’s chariot. Seeing Shikhandi on Arjuna’s chariot, Bhishma stopped aiming arrows at Arjuna and taking this opportunity, Arjuna shot his arrows and injured Bhishma almost mortally. Unable to stand Bhishma lay on the bed of arrows. Everyone from both Pandava and Kaurava sides came to pay their last respects to Bhishma.
Arjuna was full of sorrow that he had to be the cause for his grandsire’s defeat and fall. On that night he met his grandfather and cried tears of anguish and suffering and the helplessness that forced him to become the reason for Bhishma’s fall. Bhishma was not perturbed by the fact that he was standing at the gate of death. He knew he would die and he was just waiting for the end of war and he wanted to be assured that Hastinapur was safe under the rule of a good ruler.

With Bhishma’s fall, Duryodhana approached Dronacharya and asked him to be his chief of army. Dronacharya suggested the name of Karna instead of himself to be the chief in command of Hastinapur army. Karna agreed and Duryodhana was happy that finally Karna, who was his friend and a great archer, became the chief of army.
On the next day, Dronacharya made a new strategy with the Kaurava army. He had arranged the army in such a way that no enemy could enter into the midst of it. If he entered, he should also know how to get out of it. Drona alone knew it on the Kaurava side. It is one of the most difficult strategies ever practiced in war. Very few knew about this particular known as Padma vyuha, which means the army formation in the shape of a lotus.

Arjuna knew how to enter the Padma Vyuha and how to get out of it. Besides him only Abhimanyu knew it. But he did not know how to get out of the strategic formation of the army. As Arjuna was sent away to another side of the battlefield, it became Abhimanyu’s responsibility to slice through Padma Vyuha. He entered it and disturbed the formation. But he was alone fighting with the Kauravas.
When the four Pandavas tried to follow him, they were stopped by the king of Sindhu, Jayadradh. Jayadradh was the same one who tried to molest Draupadi during their exile. The Pandavas shaved off his hair and insulted him but did not kill him on the order of Dharmaraja. He went away did a penance by virtue of which he had a boon given Lord Shiva. The boon was that Jayadradh would have one day, in one battle, when he would have his revenge. This was that fateful day when Abhimanyu went alone into the Padma vyuha but could not come out of it. Taking the