Emotions can wield a powerful influence. A strong emotion is a surge of energy capable of moving a Jivatman in a direction. Depending upon its intensity it can influence the individual to experience extremes of moods, undertake unrealistic and illogical actions. It can be a powerful motivating force providing enormous energy or can deliver a crushing and debilitating blow and send one on a tail spin. The key point to note is that this surge of energy comes from the manas and usually overpowers the buddhi. Hence the origin of the emotions determines its direction and outcome. While it may be possible to see the starting stages of the emotions and direct it, it becomes literally impossible for most to turn it around unless its force is spent. Take rage or depression or extreme grief as an example, it can be very overwhelming. On the other hand, extreme love for a person can inspire the lover to move mountains and perform stupendous feats. We saw the example of Kausalya, who had her buddhi completely overpowered by shoka (grief) and only remorse followed. We saw how Ahalya was moved by passion to commit a huge blunder.
Storytime:
The Pandavas are renowned for their extreme self-control and their ability to rise above emotions. Yet we learn in Karna Parva, day 17 of the Mahabharata war, both Yudhishtra and Arjuna succumb to serious outbursts of emotions, endangering their lives. It is as usual up to Krishna to save both their lives.
Yudhishtra’s predicament: The fall of Bhishma on day 10 brought Karna to the battlefield, who had vowed not to enter it when he was still fighting. Karna brought vigor to the sagging morale of the Kaurava army, which again was demoralized by Drona’s elimination on day 15. This vacuum was immediately filled by the valorous, mighty Karna who was burning with an intense desire to kill Arjuna. His leadership carried the Kauravas for two days. On day 16, Karna escapes narrowly at the hands of Yudhishtra and Bhima, the former let him go due to his unconscious state and the latter was reminded of Arjuna’s promise to kill Karna.
Arjuna is kept strategically away by Samsaptakas to enable Karna to vigorously decimate the Pandavas. Day 17 sees a repeat of the strategy with different outcomes. The aggression in individual battles knew new heights. Karna marched unchallenged defeating many Pandava warriors like Shikandi and turned his rage upon Yudhishtra. After understanding his intent, Yudhishtra was protected by Nakula, Sahadeva and Dhristadyumna along with a full akshauhini of army. Sahadeva reduced Duryodhana to a pitiable plight thus increasing Karna’s wrath. Yudhishtra and Karna waged a terrible duel, even as Karna was reducing the supporting Panchala army. Bhima ferociously engaged with Duryodhana. In the interim there was a dreadful battle happening between Arjuna and Aswattama and the latter was reduced to a pitiable state.
Karna kept the pressure by injuring Yudhishtra, piercing his chest and destroying his chariot and the horses. Nakula and Sahadeva tried a very lopsided rescue attempt and Nakula lost his chariot and the horses. The chariotless brothers ascended Sahadeva’s chariot. It is important here to remind Karna fans that despite his promise to Kunti, Karna was keen on killing all the three, especially Yudhishtra. Shalya moved by his nephews cause, questioned the vanity of killing the weak, when vanquished. He alerted that Duryodhana was facing the brute force of Bhimasena and needed immediate rescue. To add to it, the conches of Krishnarjuna indicated that they were having some successes that need to be checked, forcing Karna to move away.
The injured and massively humiliated Yudhishtra went to the barracks to recoup. The Madri twins replenished their supplies and returned to the battlefield. Arjuna having gotten an update of the proceedings from Krishna rushed to Bhima, who shared the concern that Yudhishtra was gravely injured and possibly dead. Unable to extricate himself from the aggressive Kaurava army, he requested Arjuna to pay a visit to Yudhishtra and give him a report.
Yudhishtra was burning more from the humiliation he faced than the serious wounds he received at Karna’s hands. The gravely worried Arjuna, eager to see the well being of Yudhishtra found him on a bed, nursing serious injuries. Yudhishtra assumed that Arjuna had defeated Karna and came to give him the good news. He launched into a lengthy monologue that how Arjuna was great and the terrors of Karna, the real source of Duryodhana’s strength for decades.
Arjuna wants to kill Yudhishtra and then himself – Only Krishna saves: Arjuna revealed the reason behind his exit from the battlefield was only to personally gather the information of Yudhishtra’s well being. He spoke of the wondrous defeat he handed Aswattama. Unimpressed, Yudhishtra concluded erroneously on his observations of Arjuna not engaging in a deadly duel with Karna as his fear. It is true that whenever the encounters happened in the past seven days, Krishna strategically had kept Arjuna away or limited it to a skirmish. Yudhishtra coupled with his humiliation and the wrong conclusion of Arjuna’s fear; felt this was the end of his road. He accused Arjuna of falsely raising hopes and hence the unwanted deaths. Yudhishtra seeing no hope declared that Arjuna must become the charioteer to Krishna after handing over his famous Gandiva bow.
Subtle truth on Ahimsa: The massively infuriated Arjuna tried to raise his sword from his scabbard when Krishna challenged him to explain who he was after. Arjuna indicated Yudhishtra as his target, with his eyes. Krishna begins a lengthy monologue to chastise Arjuna, ascertaining the error in his judgement. Krishna repeatedly extolled the greatness of Yudhishtra’s stellar qualities. Krishna lauded that Ahimsa was the highest dharma and even untruth may be acceptable in certain situations. This may shock the normal person as this is happening in the middle of carnage of multiple thousands. Yet the point around the war was centered on dharma and the defense of it. To protect dharma, the war and the killings are not considered as himsa. But Arjuna’s act of rage will certainly be considered as one. Also it is definitely unrighteous to kill a person who is turned away from battle, who is running away, one who has surrendered for protection or yields himself or folds his hands or is careless and not to talk of someone so dharmic like Yudhishtra.
Arjuna claimed that the reason for his intention to kill was to his secret vow to eliminate anyone who wants to take away the Gandiva bow from him. Krishna pointed out that vow was not applicable in this context and was a foolish one in the first place. He went on to share the subtlety of Dharma that was understood by Bhishma, Yudhishtra and Vidura. Satya was the highest dharma and must be protected at all times. According to Krishna, five exceptions are granted to speak untruth – if one’s life is in danger, at the time of wedding for the sake of marriage, when involved in expressing kama rasa, when one’s property is being taken away or for saving a Brahmana. (NOTE: These are not latitude for us to exploit in the modern times, as Dharma observance has deteriorated since Krishna’s times)
Dharma is very subtle and can easily be misunderstood. To illustrate he narrated how Valaka, a hunter devoted to speaking Satya, adhering to his dharma of making a livelihood of violence, yet with none in his heart once killed a horrible predator. This animal had immense powers and was a terror to all in sight. Killing it paved the way to svarga. In contrast, there was the truth speaking ascetic Kausika. Once while practicing sadhana in the forest, he encountered many frightened villagers being chased by robbers. Unable to find them, the robbers sought directions from Kausika. Without understanding Dharma, in order to uphold Satya as the highest truth, he pointed the direction. The robbers found and killed the people and this papa led him straight to Naraka.
Krishna pointed out that Yudhishtra was fatigued, hurt by Karna and also by the burden of so many deaths. Delaying of Karna’s death only added more anguish. Certainly for this outburst, Yudhishtra did not deserve death. He also convinced that Yudhishtra will never hold Arjuna in contempt for attempted fratricide, as his understanding of Dharma was much deeper.
Arjuna wants to commit suicide: Having realized his blunder, Arjuna seeks a way out to protect his vow and also not kill his brother. Krishna suggested that Yudhishtra is both elder and worthy of every respect due to his dharma adherence. Talking to him with disrespect in singular would amount to death. Arjuna began a lengthy monologue of how Yudhishtra’s penchant for dice landed them into this situation. He also wondered why Yudhishtra was not out in the battlefield when all the others were battling for life and dharma. He spoke of the valor of the chiefs on their side and they were qualified to address him in that way, but not Yudhishtra. His harsh words were as effective as his arrows.
Burdened by the remorse of talking harshly to his brother, Arjuna continued to raise his sword to Krishna’s dismay and wanted to take out his own life. Arjuna felt heavier with guilt than he would have killed his brother. Krishna now asked Arjuna to indulge in boasting about his own deeds, which is deemed as akin to one’s own death. Arjuna who begins to understand the subtleties of Dharma acted accordingly. Krishna having saved Yudhishtra’s life from Arjuna and the latter’s, reminded that the root cause of all their misery will be eliminated with Karna’s impending death. He urged Arjuna to seek refuge under Yudhishtra’s feet.
Arjuna sought sincere apologies and swore that the day will either see the death of Karna or his own in the attempt. He spoke of words of valor that cheered Yudhishtra’s sagging morale. Under Krishna’s directions, Daruka prepped the chariot for the epic battle. Yudhishtra reiterated his love. Arjuna still needed a strong administration of wisdom from Krishna enroute which prepared him to encounter Karna. (We will analyze those later).
Understanding Krishna – applying in our lives:
Desire driven: Humans are driven by desires. Yudhishtra was under immense pressure to protect Dharma. He was certain that his only real trump card against Karna was Arjuna, though Bhima was tantalizingly close. Injury to him exacerbated his emotional condition and desperation. This was the person who was seeing subtle dharma even during the loss and abuse in the dice game. Yet, seeing the millions die on both sides, losing Bhishma and Drona to the war, he felt extreme moral burden. This continued even after the war was over. If the fall for Yudhishtra was possible, we do not even measure against him on the dharmic scale; our situation against the sway of desires and its modifications is very pitiable. Let us be wary. Arjuna, famed for his special blessings from Shiva and Krishna, through his victory over his senses, also succumbs to his attachment to Gandiva.
Disrespect of Dharmic superiors is killing: Dharma is superior to any and all personalities. An ardent follower and defender of Dharma identifies with concepts like honor and self-respect. They command respect owing to their superior conduct. By following such leaders and by emulating their example, the masses can raise their level of Dharma awareness and practice. When such a person is not respected, it translates to the disrespecting the higher ideals. Hence Dharma shastras deem disrespecting dharmic superiors like Yudhishtra as the same as killing them.
Boasting is death: This is a very common quality in today’s generation, which itches constantly to share its exploits on social media for few others to give their approval. We basically do not value our real SELF (Atman) and hence misconstrue our body, mind, intellect, our possessions, achievements are real. Due to this mix up, we constantly spend our time seeking approval from others, in other words, object referral. Contrast this one to the one who is always centered on the Atman, SELF referral. Boasting accentuates object referral. This translates us to a stronger pull towards samsara, hence has been strongly advocated a death to the wrongly identified false self (ananatman). Arjuna’s constant fault was his tendency to boast. This was explained as the real reason why he could not ascend with his body to svarga, according to Yudhishtra in response to Bhima’s question why Arjuna fell. We also see the untold miseries in his epic failure to guard the women migrating out of Dwaraka to Hastinapura. (Read more in Tyaga – the quintessential message of Sri Krishna’s life) His mind was tormented more out of his ego getting hurt due to the boasts. The same is the reason that irks his mind when Yudhishtra questions his delay and the boasts that he would finish the war in a very brief time.
Focus on the task on hand: Both Yudhishtra and Arjuna were agitated on account of Karna. Yudhishtra’s injury and loss at the hands of Karna was very humiliating. This frustration colored his judgment temporarily. Arjuna, who swore to kill Karna repeatedly, was caught in his own confusion of not being able to understand and discern Dharma. It took Krishna’s constant and repeated guidance to knock some sense into both and save their energies for the real enemy. This incident left a bad aftertaste in both their minds. To heal and cheer both, Krishna asked Arjuna to focus on making Yudhishtra’s desire to hear about Karna’s death a reality. Apologizing and getting focused on the task on hand by Arjuna was enough to uplift Yudhishtra who was able to realize that with Krishna’s guidance, Arjuna will eliminate Karna. Clarifying Arjuna’s doubts of Yudhishtra’s well being, resolving Yudhishtra’s doubts, replenishing the weapons and motivating Arjuna for the mission were key ideas behind Krishna’s role in this episode. A determined effort, based on considering the pros and cons, centered on Dharma is always bounds to give us good results.
Subtle Dharma: Arjuna, who had excellent grasp of Dharma, personally received Gita only 17 days ago, was unable to distinguish Dharma when in conflict. But for the guidance of Krishna, Arjuna would have certainly committed one or both the papas of killing his brother and/or himself. Yudhishtra, who spent his entire life in the pursuit of Dharma, spends most of Bhishma’s last few days under his feet to study Dharma. This merely highlights the point that Dharma is subtle and the more we can tune in to this intricacy the deeper our understanding gets. Krishna talks of Ahimsa amidst the Mahabharata war. The irony cannot be lost. To protect Dharma, Yudhishtra wages this war. But Arjuna tries to commit a blunder by not understanding which Dharma is the superior Dharma, especially when it is in conflict with an inferior one. Krishna had to do one of his many mini clarification sessions to constantly keep Arjuna on the path of Dharma.
Mahabharata provides many subliminal insights into raising the overall spiritual growth of our lives. Krishna repeatedly intervenes in the lives of the Pandavas for only one reason – their strong inclination to live a life of Dharma, despite their duress. We do not perceive such level of conflicts that Arjuna and Yudhishtra faced as our life is blinded by our mundanely living subnormal lives, rather than evolving by stretching us to our Dharmic potential. As we align increasingly to train our mind and lives to revolve around Dharma, our mind can pick this sublimity. It is for this reason that we must constantly seek the reference of Itihasapuranas to align our Dharmic compass. These texts are real gateways to the superlative minds of Rishis. May we strive hard to elevate our dharma quotient. May Sri Krishna guide us with the same wisdom he had provided the Pandavas. HIS feet are our sole refuge.
ॐ तत् सत
