In the previous episode, we had witnessed the context and the structure of the Bhagawad Gita, which is nothing but the conversation between Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna, as narrated by Sanjaya to King Dhritarashtra. This is how the structure is, and we’ve also seen that Sanjaya is narrating the excerpts of the war, incident by incident, minute by minute to King Dhritarashtra, however, one important point which we’ve to note here is that, Sanjaya starts this narrative only after ten days of war are over. This is where we should not get confused. The way in which Sanjaya is going to narrate the war will be as if he is giving live updates from the battlefield, but the reality is that, he is narrating whatever happened already.
Now moving on further, the entire narrative commences with King Dhritarashtra asking a very important question to Sanjaya. With this, we begin the “Arjuna-Vishaada Yoga” of the Bhagawad Gita (First “Adhyaayam of eighteen), with the first shloka. King Dhritarashtra asks thus:
“Dharmakshetre kurukshetre samavedaaha yuyutsavaha!
Maamakah paandavaaschaiva kim kurvata sanjaya!!”
Through the above shloka, King Dhritarashtra is asking Sanjaya thus, “Oh Sanjaya! My sons (Kauravas) along with the Paandavas went to the battlefield, didn’t they? What did they do there? What are they doing there currently?” As King Dhritarashtra asks thus, Sanjaya thinks within himself – “Oh wow! Look at what he is asking! How smart King Dhritarashtra is!” Thinking thus, Sanjaya replies, “Oh King! What kind of a question is this? What will one do on a battlefield? Obviously he would take the weapon in hand and fight, wouldn’t he? What’s the big rocket science in this? Oh King Dhritarashtra! Your question might sound very absurd if looked upon from outside. However, I understand that there’s a hidden agenda behind your question – You want to hear from me whether your sons are winning the war and whether the Paandavas are losing the war. Is it true? If you’re able to talk smartly like this, won’t I know how to talk smartly as well? Oh King Dhritarashtra! Let me tell you one thing very clearly – On whichever side Bhagawan Krishna is physically present, that side is going to taste victory! You can be rest assured of it, no matter how powerful the opponent army might be!”
This is again an encrypted answer which Sanjaya gives, and this comes as the last shloka of the Bhagawad Gita in the eighteenth “Adhyaaya”. Thus, we can see here that for the one question that King Dhritarashtra has asked just now, Sanjaya’s answer spans across eighteen chapters (“Adhyaayas”) of the Bhagawad Gita, which was narrated by Bhagawan Krishna to Arjuna! So for now, let us analyze the first shloka which we just witnessed. This is a tricky question that King Dhritarashtra is asking here, as I had mentioned earlier. When King Dhritarashtra addresses the Paandavas in this shloka, he says, “Maamakaah Paandavaaschaiva”. This literally means, “Paandavas are my sons”! But is this really true? Did King Dhritarashtra have this in his mind? If yes, this entire war wouldn’t have happened, isn’t it? 🙂 Actually, the shloka should have been structured in such a way that King Dhritarashtra inquiring about his son Duryodhana and Paandu’s son Yudishtra. So why is the shloka structured this way?
Readers should understand a very important thing here – When King Dhritarashtra addresses Yudishtra and Co. as “Paandavas”, it obviously has an inner meaning that Yudishtra is not his son! So the differentiation is quite clear here in King Dhritarashtra’s mind, which comes out indirectly through words! So, we should assume the meaning of this phrase as “What is my son Duryodhana and Paandu’s son Yudishtra doing on the battlefield?”. Instead, we should not take the meaning as “My son Yudishtra”, because the divide is evident here, isn’t it? Hence, this is a crypted question which King Dhritarashtra is asking Sanjaya and for today, let us understand this in-depth meaning of this shloka. We shall continue with this discussion further and witness what Sanjaya’s answer is going to be! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 