GITA 1.27
Today's sloka is latter half of 29th and first half of sloka 30:
gandivam sramsate hastat
tvak caiva paridahyate
na ca saknomy avasthatum
bhramativa ca me manah
My bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling.
Today's lecture is from the Thousand Pillar Mantapam. This is the place where Raapathu (Nights Ten) or Tiruvaimozhi Tirunal festival is celebrated annually. Here, Lord Sri Namperumal listens to Tiruvaimozhi of Nammalwar, with all Alwars in attendance. This festival has been conducted for so many centuries that each pillar can tell so many stories. We will continue with Gita lecture from here.
The First Chapter details Arjuna's sorrow. In the last lecture we saw Arjuna was so much distressed to see his relatives assembled to fight, that his body trembled and face dried up. These are Natural for many persons. But what we are going to see today, is something unusual for Arjuna. Gandivam sramsate hastat = (Arjuna's bow) Gandivam slips from hand, tvak caiva paridahyate = skin is burning, na ca saknomy avasthitum = unable to stand, bhramativa ca me manah = my (Arjuna's) mind is reeling.
Arjuna continues: My bow Gandeevam is slipping and my skin is burning . I am unable to remain in this chariot and my mind is reeling. If we know who Arjuna was, we can realize how serious was his state of mind and body.The First Chapter details Arjuna's sorrow. In the last lecture we saw Arjuna was so much distressed to see his relatives assembled to fight, that his body trembled and face dried up. These are Natural for many persons. But what we are going to see today, is something unusual for Arjuna. Gandivam sramsate hastat = (Arjuna's bow) Gandivam slips from hand, tvak caiva paridahyate = skin is burning, na ca saknomy avasthitum = unable to stand, bhramativa ca me manah = my (Arjuna's) mind is reeling.
When one thinks of bow or archery, immediately the names of Sri Rama, Sri Parasurama,Bheeshma, Dronacharya, Arjuna and Karna come to mind, as they were all great archers. Such a hero feels that his bow is slipping. Gandeevam comes from the word Gand which means knot. The bow had many knots for grip and so in spite of it, with such a troubled state of mind, the bow was slipping from his hands. During his student days, Arjuna was practicing his archery skills, in the forest, in the night, with none near him. Seeing his dedication and fearlessness, his teacher Drona blessed him to become best archer on the Earth.
The bow of Arjuna is not an ordinary one . It was gifted by Soma Deva to Varuna who gifted it to Agni from whom Arjuna got it while helping Agni in burning down the Kandava forest . Normally, no warrior would that easily leave grip of his bow. In the Ramayana war, Sri Rama destroys the chariot and horses of Ravana and when Ravana stands only with a bow and arrows , Sri Rama breaks the bow and Ravana feels highly humiliated. Similarly, Sri Parashurama is humbled and He gifts away His Vishnu Dhanus to Sri Rama in acknowledgement of defeat. Arjuna has a name Savyasachi, which means he can hold the bow in either hand and fight. Such a person was unable to hold the bow.Much earlier, Drona calls his sishyas Aswattama, Duryodana , Arjuna etc. when they were boys learning archery from Drona, and asks them to aim a bird sitting on a tree. Duryodana first comes and when he was about to shoot, Drona stops and asks whether he saw the tree, Duryodana says yes, and further says he saw the bird, its feet etc. Drona asks him to keep away and asks others, one by one, what they saw when aiming. Everyone replied they saw only the bird and its feet etc. Drona asks them also to keep away and finally comes to Arjuna and asks him what he saw while aiming. Arjuna says he saw only the eye of the bird and nothing else and Drona pats him as the superior hero as he fully concentrates on the object and nothing else distracts. Such was the prowess of Arjuna.
Much before the war began, Arjuna in some context makes a vow that he might tolerate anyone if Arjuna was ridiculed but never if his Gandeevam was made fun of and he would kill such a person whoever he might be. After the war started and after a couple of days when the Pandava army was destroyed by the other side, Yudhishtra was very much annoyed and blamed Arjuna that he was not up to mark and ridiculed Gandeevam. Arjuna became very furious and as per his vow he wanted to kill his elder brother for making remarks about his bow. Sri Krishna saw this and wanting to end the feud amicably, asked Arjuna to address his elder brother with disrespect [like tum instead of aap in Hindi] and told it was equivalent to killing. This is a sookshma [subtle] Dharma that by disrespecting elders and great persons, one almost kills them.
Much before the war began, Arjuna in some context makes a vow that he might tolerate anyone if Arjuna was ridiculed but never if his Gandeevam was made fun of and he would kill such a person whoever he might be. After the war started and after a couple of days when the Pandava army was destroyed by the other side, Yudhishtra was very much annoyed and blamed Arjuna that he was not up to mark and ridiculed Gandeevam. Arjuna became very furious and as per his vow he wanted to kill his elder brother for making remarks about his bow. Sri Krishna saw this and wanting to end the feud amicably, asked Arjuna to address his elder brother with disrespect [like tum instead of aap in Hindi] and told it was equivalent to killing. This is a sookshma [subtle] Dharma that by disrespecting elders and great persons, one almost kills them.
(continued)
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