GITA 1.11

GITA 1.11

We are now in Srirangam. The name itself is thrilling. The Lord Sri Ranganatha inside the temple is liked by all of us.

This place has many greatness. We are going to see next sloka from this place and it is our great fortune. 

Kaveri virajaseyam vaikuntam ranga mandiram |sa vasudevo rangesa: pratyaksha paramampadam ||

This is a sloka on Srirangam, which says that this place is Vaikuntam on this Earth. It is praised as Bhuloka Vaikuntam. Like Viraja river for Vaikuntam, river Kaveri flows around Srirangam, like a garland. Sri Vasudeva is gracing in Vaikuntam and He graces here  as Sri Ranganatha, in a reclining pose. We are in front of Sesharaya Mantapam.

  This has very beautiful sculptures. This is near the Eastern gate of the temple. Opposite this is the Adyayana Utsava Mantapam or 1000 Pillared Mantapam. This is like the 1000 Pillared Mantapam in Vaikuntam. Like an Emperor, the Lord graces from the Tirumamani Mantapam inside, during Vaikunta Ekadasi, for hundreds of Thousands of devotees. Sri Ranganatha was born as Sri Krishna. To dispel the worries of Arjuna, He gave us Gita. Our worries and problems will vanish if we listen to Gita or worship the Lord here. Elders used to say that by bathing in Kaveri in Srirangam, we will be blessed with many benefits. Now we will see the next sloka from here. In the last 10th sloka we found Duryodana was slightly scared, in spite of having a larger army than the Pandavas army. Kauravas had 11 akshauhini  army and Pandavas had only 7 akshauhini army. One akshauhini consisted of  21,870 elephants, 21.870 chariots, 65,610 cavalry and 109,350 infantry. That is more than 200,000 soldiers were in one akshauhini. Thus there were 2,500,000 persons on Kauravas army and about 1,500,000 persons on the Pandavas army. With such a difference, why Duryodana was scared of Pandavas army? We have to understand one truth in this. If we are righteous, we need not worry about quantity and numbers. But if we are not honest, then our education or wealth can not prevent us from getting fear. 

Sloka 11:

ayanesu ca sarvesu

yatha-bhagam avasthitah

bhismam evabhiraksantu

bhavantah sarva eva hi

Now all of you must give full support to Grandfather Bhisma, standing at your respective strategic points in the phalanx of the army.

Duryodana addresses all the army commanders on his side to protect Bheeshma by remaining in their allotted positions in the army formation and defend every point from the invasion of the enemy. Ayanesu ca sarvesu = every entry point (in the army), yata bhagam avastitah = everyone should remain in their allotted positions,  bhavantah sarva eva hi = all of you,  bhismam evabhirakshantu = should protect Bheeshma. Bheeshma is the most important to be protected. Duryodana tells all his heroes to protect Bheeshma. Is Bheeshma incapable of protecting himself? He is a mighty warrior. Still if Duryodana wants Bheeshma to be protected, we should realize that Bheeshma is the lifeline. If Duryodana can place Bheeshma in such a high pedestal, he could have heeded his advice while disrobing Draupati in the assembly and humiliating her modesty. Duryodana could have followed Bheeshma's advice and given away the Pandava's part of the Kingdom. But at that time he remained defiant. This means that Duryodana wanted Bheeshma to help him in all his actions, but he would not heed Bheeshma's advice. This is a wrong policy and so Duryodana encounters all hardships. If we regard a person with respect for his skills and wisdom, it is important that we also follow his advice. This is what we can infer from this sloka. Duryodana instructs all to remain in their positions. When we are in a queue, we have to be patient till our turn comes. There are some, who are restless in queue and try to bypass others. In games also each player is assigned a position to defend or attack. The players at the backup do not go forward, but maintain the discipline. Thus both defence and attack are important. Players in the backup should never think they have been allotted secondary positions. While the Lord is in procession on the streets, His palanquin is supported by persons in the front and persons in the back. But when photographs and video recordings are taken, normally the persons in the front only would be visible. So, the persons in the back should not protest that they are not given importance! In every administration in the World, there are assigned responsibilities for everyone and if everyone carries out his duty in the assigned position, then only the administration would function smoothly. In a firm everyone can not be general manager! It does not mean that a general manager is more important than the employees at the bottom of the hierarchy. 

Then Duryodana instructs them to guard every access point the army so that enemy army does not penetrate. In our body there are so many pores like ears, mouth, eyes, etc. Each has got an assigned function to communicate with the World. The World also recognize each individual. If we allow every thing to pass though every pore, we will get degraded. So it becomes important for us to protect every access point in our body so that only selected items enter or exit. 

In an army formation also, if any one access is weak or unprotected then entire army is put to danger. 

In our body every access point should ensure the protection of prana vayu or the life. Once their was a dispute among various organs of the body, including the prana vayu, as to who was most important. They all approached the Devas for arbitration. It was then decided that that would be considered most important, if it was not in the body, then body collapsed. Many organs like eyes, ears, etc., left but nothing happened to the body. But when prana vayu left the body collapsed and so prana vayu was adjudged as the most important. Likewise, Bheeshma was the most important in the Kaurava army and so had to be protected.    

                                                                         (continued)