In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya storming into King Dhritarashtra’s chamber claiming loudly that Bhishmachaarya has fallen down from his chariot on the battlefield – Courtesy, the orchestrated plan of Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna to bring Shikhandi in the forefront! Thus, as Bhishmachaarya has taken an oath not to fight with Shikhandi, he puts down his bow and arrow and this is the point that Arjuna captures to pull down Bhishmachaarya. Explaining this, Sanjaya cries out in agony and King Dhritarashtra is getting too nervous and anxious with what is happening on the battlefield. As this incident happens, this is the tenth day of the war and it is at this time, Sanjaya commences his detailed explanation of what happened on the battlefield, starting from day one. Readers should once again understand the point here that Sanjaya is not giving a “live” update of the war to King Dhritarashtra. The entire explanation of the war commences only on the tenth day after Bhishmachaarya falls down on the ground.
Now we’ve seen that as Sanjaya laments Bhishmachaarya’s fall, King Dhritarashtra asks a series of counter questions as to why Bhishmachaarya was not protected by anybody in the Kaurava army. He even asks some pertinent questions pertaining to Duryodhana’s presence in the battlefield and enquires about the well being of his ninety-nine other sons, along with Sahuni and the others. Now, Sanjaya is going to commence an important reply, in a bid to answer King Dhritarashtra’s questions. Sanjaya replies thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Till this moment, I tried to resist myself in coming to you and updating you on what is happening on the battlefield! It’s a complete disaster in the making – A crisis which is beyond imagination! I shall narrate whatever happened earlier along with what is happening currently if you are willing to listen! Else, I shall just resist myself not to talk about it any further!”
As Sanjaya gives this crypted answer, King Dhritarashtra replies back after a mild thought. He says thus, “Oh Sanjaya! Just because you’re trying to hide certain things from me, is truth going to be hidden permanently? At some point in time, the truth will come out, isn’t it? Hence, please narrate to me the proceedings of the war right from the beginning! Please do not hide anything from me. You may feel free to tell me as and how you wish to, because I trust your words completely. I know that you will not tell me something that is not correct!” As King Dhritarashtra says thus, Sanjaya is now going to commence the long narrative of what happened right from day one of the Mahabharata war. He commences with the narration of the Bhagawad Gita by Bhagawan Krishna to Arjuna, and in fact, the shlokas that are given in this context, clearly indicates that Sanjaya is the one who is narrating the entire “Charitra” to King Dhritarashtra, which includes the Bhagawad Gita. Of course, it is also evident that Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna were the first and second persons actively involved in the conversation, but somebody has to document it and somebody has to communicate it to the world, isn’t it? Sanjaya does the first level of communication to King Dhritarashtra, and this entire thing is documented by Sage Vyaasa, as part of the “Shri Bhagawad Gita Parva” under the “Bhishma Parva” in the Mahabharata text. So, this is the sequence that all of us need to remember here.
Thus, as King Dhritarashtra laments and requests Sanjaya to explain the war proceedings from the beginning in the subsequent “Adhyaayas” under the “Shri Bhagawad Gita Parva”, Sanjaya commences his detailed accord. Now, for the next eighteen “Adhyaayas”, it is only going to be a full explanation of the “Shrimad Bhagawad Gita”, with a total of 700 shlokas. In this project, I shall take key shlokas out of these 700, to explain the in-depth meaning behind them, along with some important leadership / management lessons that we can learn from these shlokas for our today’s life. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall commence the all-important narration of the Bhagawad Gita by Sanjaya to King Dhritarashtra! Stay tuned for an auspicious beginning tomorrow! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 