In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna motivating Yudishtra and Co. to start preparing for the inevitable and an impending war with Duryodhana to retrieve Indraprastha from him. Accordingly thus, Yudishtra and the others start planning out their army and we’ve witnessed details of the same at a broader level. The entire army is a 7-Akshauhini army with each key person in Yudishtra’s cabinet bringing in one “Akshauhini” of his army inside. Subsequently, even though Yudishtra is the leader for the entire group, a “Senapathi” needs to be nominated, and as per Bhagawan Krishna’s suggestion, Drishtadhyumna takes over as the “Senapathi” (Leader of the entire army on the battlefield). Thus, the leadership as far as the army is concerned is decided and now it is time to get into action in terms of further preparation.
Now, as mentioned earlier, it is time for action. Leaders of each “Akshauhini” collect all their army men, horses, elephants, weapons, etc. and assemble at the entrance of the Viraata Desha. Thus, within a short span of time, all the seven “Akshauhinis” of the Paandava army are ready. Now, it is time for Yudishtra to give the instruction for the army to start its journey towards the battlefield. Meanwhile, the core team comprising of Yudishtra and his four brothers, along with Bhagawan Krishna, Saatyaki, and the others once again convene a meeting to decide on the exact location where the battle will take place. Amongst all the places that are discussed, “Kurukshetra” for the first time, is selected by Bhagawan Krishna in consent with all the others for the battle to occur. All of us know this place called Kurukshetra, don’t we? This place can still be worshipped today, which is approximately 50-60 kilometres away from Delhi, which is the national capital of our Bhaarata Desha.
Thus, as the place gets decided, it is now time for Yudishtra to call the orders! All of them take their respective positions, including Bhagawan Krishna, who decides to play the role of a charioteer to Arjuna! As we’ve mentioned earlier, the Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna duo is nothing but the Nara-Narayana duo of the Bhadrinatha Kshetra, and these two can never be separated from each other. Hence, of all the five brothers in the Paandava camp, Bhagawan Krishna wants to be closely associated with Arjuna, due to this long-standing bonding between the two. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna decides to help Arjuna in all ways possible by reducing His level to a mere charioteer! We can see here how Bhagawan reduces His level and serves His ardent devotees. All of us know that Bhagawan Krishna is the mighty king of Dwaraka and if He has to come to this level, we can also understand the level of devotion that Arjuna has towards Bhagawan. Moreover, we’ve witnessed in our earlier episodes that Bhagawan Krishna had assured Arjuna that He would always be by Arjuna’s side at all times, especially during the war, however, He would not take part in the fight and would not lift any weapon. Now, by becoming Arjuna’s charioteer, Bhagawan Krishna honours His assurance that He had given to Arjuna!
So for today, let us understand up to this point and we’re now witnessing that the Paandava army is ready for action! We shall continue this discussion forward in the upcoming episode as well to understand what is happening on the other side! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 