In the previous episode, we had witnessed Duryodhana lashing out at Sahuni and the others upon learning Yudishtra’s meteoric rise in such a short span of time. Duryodhana somehow wants to regain the “lost” portion of the Hastinapura kingdom and sits down to discuss with his uncle, Sahuni, the ways and means of achieving that. However, initially to Duryodhana’s dismay, Sahuni tries to demotivate Duryodhana even more by discouraging him to go for this pursuit. This infuriates Duryodhana even more and thus, Duryodhana bursts out in anger. He’s now ready to try any means to bring Yudishtra down – Both legal and illegal. This is what Sahuni was waiting for. By initially discouraging Duryodhana and infuriating him, Sahuni wanted Duryodhana to go to that extent of doing illegal things which are against the “Raaja-Dharma”. This is what Bhagawan Krishna is going to explain in detail, under the title called “Asura-Svabhaavam”. In the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagawad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna clearly explains how people would go about abducting others’ wealth, bringing about others’ downfall through illegal ways and means, etc. which are grossly against what the Vedas and Upanishads explain in our Sanaatana Dharma. Bhagawan Krishna explains that if a person doesn’t agree to the fact that whatever the Vedas teach is “Dharma”, and if the person comes to the conclusion that whatever he / she does is “Dharma”, accounts to the “Asura-Svabhaavam”.
Many of us have this problem today as well. It is not only Duryodhana who did this. Duryodhana was just an example of someone who had the “Asura-Svabhaavam”, however, many of us have this tendency deep within us in some form or the other. For instance, how many of us would like to be ill-treated by others and not open our mouths to oppose such things? If we’re abused by someone, immediately our ego would rise up and we would only tend to give it back with interest to the person who is abusing us, isn’t it? If we’re doing this, it simply means that the “I” / “Me” attitude within us is overpowering us. This is exactly what Duryodhana is doing here too – He has a clear-cut plan in his mind as he talks this to Sahuni. He knows that no wars can now stop Yudishtra from rising further up. This is exactly where Sahuni tries to capitalise! Now what Sahuni is going to say is very interesting and is going to teach us an important lesson here. Sahuni says thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Why are you having the grudge that everybody is against you? I’m there with you, isn’t it? Why do you worry that Bhagawan Krishna is siding towards the Paandavas? Just like how Bhagawan Krishna is helping Yudishtra, I’m by your side to help you out! I know how to protect you, just like how Bhagawan Krishna is trying to protect the Paandavas. Moreover, you have your best friend, Karna by your side. We can pull Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya towards our side easily and make them fight for you. All of us know the strength of Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya, don’t we? If both of them stand against the Paandavas, even Arjuna cannot take them down!”
As Sahuni explains to Duryodhana thus, he continues further: “Oh Duryodhana! Even though we might have all these people by our side, I really doubt whether we can still win a war against the likes of Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna, Bheemasena, etc. If we go into a war, there is no guarantee of a victory. Anything might happen at any point in time! Even if we manage to win the war, this might only trigger more wars with them and they might emerge stronger than us at some point. Hence, going for a war and claiming Indraprastha is not a permanent solution to this problem. Hence, we’ve to think of another way to capture them!” Now this is where, Sahuni lays the trap for Duryodhana. If we analyze this reply of Sahuni carefully, we might slowly understand that Sahuni is not trying to help Duryodhana come out of the problem. He is only trying to push Duryodhana deeper into the route to destruction. For instance, if we have a fever and when we go to a doctor for treatment, what should the doctor do? He / she should ideally give some medicines to cure the fever. Instead, if the doctor says that we should go back and eat ten cups of ice-cream, have a cold water shower, switch on the air conditioner and sleep, what is the doctor trying to do here? Is the doctor trying to cure the fever, or is he trying to amplify the problem? This is exactly what Sahuni is doing to Duryodhana. Rather than suggesting a medication for the cure, Sahuni is trying to amplify the problem further and thus, trying to push Duryodhana into a vicious trap!
We might wonder why Sahuni is doing such things to Duryodhana? Is he doing this intentionally or unintentionally? There is an important thing that we’ve to understand behind Sahuni’s such actions. Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 