GITA 1.10

GITA 1.10

yada yada hi dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham

This is a sloka from Gita (4.7). 'Whenever there is decline or decay in Dharma, then I reincarnate in this earth to redeem Dharma' so says Sri Krishna.  Why should He Himself incarnate? Could He not depute someone else? When God appears in this World we call it incarnation, while we exist by birth and we cease to exist by death. God and great Alwars and Acharyas, when born in this Earth, we mention it as appearing or incarnating. And when they depart from this Earth, we call it disappearance. Thus, Sriman Narayana in Vaikuntam appeared as Sri Krishna in this World. When He appears, one of His very important quality becomes apparent. God is the repository of many good qualities like compassion, mercy, etc. Of those, one quality is sauseelyam (simplicity). A very great person moving with ease with a very poor person, is sauseelyam. God is Paramatman residing in Vaikuntam and greatest Person. If He could be born in this lowly Earth and work as a messenger for the Pandavas and as a Charioteer for Arjuna, He exhibits sauseelyam. Such a Person has gifted Gita to the mankind. 

Now, we have to see sloka 10 in Chapter 1. This sloka is also the words of Duryodana as he spoke to Drona. In the previous slokas 4, 5 and 6, Duryodana listed the warriors on the Pandavas army. Then by slokas 7, 8 and 9, he listed heroes in his army. Then in a frightened way he speaks sloka 10:

aparyaptam tad asmakam

balam bhismabhiraksitam

paryaptam tv idam etesam

balam bhimabhiraksitam

Our strength is immeasurable, and we are perfectly protected by Grandfather Bhisma, whereas the strength of the Pandavas, carefully protected by Bhima, is limited.

Duryodana tells Drona, "That army is protected by Bheema's strength. Our side is being protected by Bheeshma". Asmakam = our army, aparyaptam = not enough, balam = strength, bhismabhirakshitam = protected by Bheeshma. In spite of the fact that Duryodana's army was bigger with 11 akshaunis, he feels out of fear that it did not have enough strength. Paryaptam = enough, ty idam etesam = their army (on the other hand), balam = strength, bhimabirakshitam = protected by Bheema. Out of fear Duryodana says that his army did not have enough strength to defeat the other side and vice versa. Thus the word enough is in respect of acquiring victory. We can perceive his fear by a word in his speech. Duryodana says his army is protected by Bheeshma and opposite side is protected by Bheema. This is a wrong comparison and he should not have mentioned these names. When he mentioned Bheeshma, corresponding person on Pandavas side could be Yudhishtra, if seniority was considered. If he had considered Bheeshma as an ace archer, then he should have mentioned Arjuna on the other side. If it was based on commander, then while Bheeshma was commander for the Kaurava army, it was Dhrashtadyumna who was commander for the Pandava army. Thus in no way Bheema could be compared with Bheeshma. Then why did he mention Bheema's name? Answer to this question reveals the fear of Duryodana. Both Bheeshma and Bheema have taken separate vows. Bheeshma has vowed that under any circumstances, he would not kill any of the Pandavas. Whereas Bheema has pledged that he may let anyone else but not the 100 sons of Dhridarashtra. Thus Duryodana is worried about the vows of both these persons. That is how after mentioning Bheeshma, he mentioned the name of Bheema. 

We can interpret this sloka in another way also. Paryaptam means measurable or within limits. And aparyaptam means unlimited or immeasurable. In that case Duryodana would have meant Kaurava army's strength as immeasurable and Pandava army strength as limited. If we interpret this way, then it would appear that Duryodana was proud of his army strength. If that was so, there is no logic in mentioning Bheema's name.  But it is his fear that was brought out in comparing Bheeshma with Bheema. Bheema had pledged that he would kill all the 100 brothers of the Kauravas and with the blood of Dussasana, Duryodana's immediate younger brother, he would help Draupati tidy her hair! That is how Duryodana was in fear at the complimenting vows of Bheeshma and Bheema. Though these words were spoken addressing Drona, Duryodana desired that these words were heard by Bheeshma! Drona was not a party to either of the vows. Out of respect and fear, Duryodana did not address Bheeshma, his grand father! 

Both Duryodana and Bheema had learnt the wielding of the weapon mace, from Sri Balarama. In fact, Sri Balarama witnessed the mace fight between Duryodana and Bheema on the last day of the war. Though Duryodana had equal skill in use of mace as Bheema had, he was afraid because of his guilty conscience. Thus his guilt manifested in his fear.

In the next slokas we will see how others tried to dispel Duryodana's fear. 

                                                                                                 (continued)