GITA 1.5

GITA 1.5

Many elders have praised this nectar Gita from Sri Krishna. Among the Alwars, the fourth, Sri Tirumazhisai Alwar praises Gita in one of the hymns.

sEyan aNiyan siriyan mihapperiyan

Ayan tuvaraikOnAi ninra mAyan anru

Odiya vAkkadanai kallAr ulahattil

EdilarAm meijnAnamil (71)

This is a wonderful song.The Lord is very near us, as well as very far away from us. He is easily approachable, at the same time He is Almighty. Such a great Person was born as a Cowherd in Ayarpadi (Gokulam) and was easily mingling with others. He hid all His greatness and was born simple. He was King of Dwaraka, in the western coast of India. MAyan = (Such a) Charmer, anru Odiya = on that day told (in Kurukshetra battlefield, in 700 and odd verses), vAkkadanai = that sermon (Gita), kallAr = those who did not study, ulahattil = in this world, EdhilarAm meijnAnamil = will not be able to realise even one reality. Even ordinary knowledge can not be grasped. Then, how can they understand  superior knowledge to know reality? Therefore, if Gita is understood, then unknown things will be known. If we learn so many things but not Gita, then there is no use of all we have learnt. This is what the Alwar tells in this hymn. Sri Nammalwar also tells this : "Arivinaal Kuraivilla agalnyalath avar ariya neri yellam eduthu uraiytha nirai nynathorumoorthi...". That is, againyalath avar = common people like us, should gain superior knowledge about atman and lead a life with equal view of all, neri yellam eduthu uraitha = told us all ways and means, nirai nynathorumoorthi = (the Lord) born with a (divine) body. Let us think of it. Sri Krishna could have remained in Vaikuntam itself.He could have deputed someone else to preach Gita.Or, like Vedas, He could have made Gita available. Instead of any of these, the Lord was born in this world with a beautiful body and sitting as a charioteer preached Arjuna. Therefore, we can imagine how much Sri Krishna was interested to preach Gita,Himself directly. Though it was told to Arjuna, He wanted to tell the whole world, for the common people like us. 

Now we will see what happened from the First sloka of First Chapter. After such a long introduction, everyone would be eager to listen to the Gita slokas. There are 18 Chapters in Gita. This number 18 is closely associated with Mahabharata epic. Mahabharata war was fought for 18 days. The epic is divided into 18 parvas (cantos). Gita, a part of the epic, has also 18 chapters. Let us now start the first sloka: 

dhrtarastra uvaca:

dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre

samaveta yuyutsavah /

mamakah pandavas caiva

kim akurvata sanjaya //

Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, being desirous to fight?

Dridarashtra enquires from Sanjaya. Immediately we will have a doubt. In the battlefield, how are these persons present? Gita is about conversation between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, then how Dridarashtra and Sanjaya come into the picture? Dridarashtra is the father of Duryodana and his 99 brothers. He is the elder brother of Pandu. Dridarashtra was blind and Pandu had died at young age. Pandu's sons are Pandavas. Pandu had married Kunti and they had Three children Yudhishtra, Bheema and Arjuna. Pandu had a second wife and from them two sons- Nakula and Sahadeva- were born. Dridharashtra had 100 sons, called Kauravas.Of them Duryodana was the eldest. Due to dispute over kingdom, Pandavas and Kauravas clashed in the battlefield in Kurukshetra. Earlier Yudhishtra lost in a game of gambling and lost his part of Kingdom. Duryodana tried to humiliate Draupadi's (wife of Pandavas) modesty by disrobing her, but she was rescued by Sri Krishna after her surrender. Then Pandavas were exiled for 12 years and then they remained incognito for a year; still, Duryodana refused to part with Pandava's part of the Kingdom; then Sri Krishna went as a messenger and pleaded for at least Five villages for the Pandavas; Kauravas refused to yield and that resulted in the war in Kurukshetra. 

The army of Kauravas, which was bigger was on one side and the smaller army of Pandavas was on the opposite side. Dridarashtra was not in the battlefield but in his palace. Sanjaya was his very old friend. Though blind, Dridarashtra was eager to know what was happening in the battlefield. Sanjaya was blessed by his acharya Vyasa with a divine power to 'see' the battlefield from sitting in the palace and so he assisted Dridarashtra to explain the happenings in the battlefield. Something akin to today's TV technology! Thus Sanjaya tells Dridarashtra the incidents in the battlefield, by the minute and instantly! That is how, these two persons converse in the beginning of Gita. Dridarashtra enquires and Sanjaya replies. After this first sloka, Dridarashtra never speaks again in the entire Gita preaching. But Sanjaya speaks at times to tell Dridarashtra as to what was happening in the war, in all 18 days, till the end of war. 

Let us examine the query of Dridarashtra. Yuyutsavah = with the aim of fighting, samaveta = standing together (on both sides), dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre = in the righteous place of Kurukshetra (one will follow only righteousness in Kurukshetra), mamakah = my children, pandavas caiva= and the children of Pandu, kim akurvata = what are they doing, sanjaya = O! Sanjaya (please tell). This is a general query from Dridarashtra. "Sanjaya please tell me what happened in the holy Kurukshetra, where my sons and Pandu's sons had gathered to fight each other", enquires Dridarashtra. We are amused at the question. He is asking what are they doing, who had gone with the intention of fighting out. It is like asking, what did he do in the kitchen, with the intention of eating? Why such an obvious question? It means Dridarashtra is concealing something in his mind and enquires Sanjaya. Dridarashtra knows that they were going to fight. But his concealed intention was whether his sons were victorious and Pandavas were defeated. That was his desire. But if he expressed that directly, he was afraid that he would be accused of partisanship. Here Dridarashtra was blind and that was not a real handicap, as blindness is common. Physical handicaps are not necessarily a deficiency. If God's blessings are absent only, one is really handicapped. One may put up with physical blindness; but can one lose intelligence. Here Dridarashtra suffers from such a loss. He knew very well what atrocities were committed by his sons. Still, he sides with his sons. If we do not use properly our influence to correct the mistakes committed by our desired ones, we will only be helping them to fall into hell. As a King, Dridarashtra had all power to easily rectify the blunders committed by his sons. But he did not. When he says Kurukshetra is dharmakshetra, a righteous place, he is hoping that the righteous Yudhishtra now in Kurukshetra, might have changed his mind and might be withdrawing from the battle. Surprised at the question with concealed desire, Sanjaya with both physical eyes wide open and intelligence in sharpness, wants to reply in the same coin! Let us see what and how Sanjaya answered the query.

(continued)