In the previous episode, we had witnessed Arjuna’s emotions changing as he sees a sea of his family members standing on either sides of the battlefield, ready to have a go at each other! Especially upon seeing the two senior-most people of the family – Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya, Arjuna starts getting jittery and his entire body starts shaking with fear! With this, Arjuna asks Bhagawan Krishna as to what is the real achievement that he is going to obtain upon killing all these people in this so-called war? Normally in a battle, we would have one side which is full of our people and the other side is usually an enemy. However, in this case, family members and close aides are on both sides, isn’t it? This is where Arjuna starts to lose his calm and composure to fight the war.
Moving on thus, Arjuna continues with his accord to Bhagawan Krishna – “Oh Bhagawan! I feel that my body is failing me upon seeing everyone around! I’m feeling that my tongue is failing me! Words aren’t coming out of my mouth! My hands are getting weaker by the minute and I fear that my “Gaandipa” is slowly falling off my hands! My shoulders are giving up! My eyes are getting sore! I’m no longer able to hold this “Gaandipa” in my hands anymore! Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I don’t think I’ll be able to fight this war! Come! Let’s call this off and go back to our respective places!” I cannot be responsible for the killing of so many people! Without anyone after this war, whom am I going to talk to? I would feel extremely lonely without any of these people in the future! Atleast I should have a few of them to call as “relatives” and “friends” isn’t it? If all these people are killed, isn’t this a massacre? What will the entire world talk of me tomorrow? The subsequent generations will say that Arjuna is solely responsible for this entire massacre of his own family members to fulfil a selfish need of conquering Hastinapura!”
“Na cha shaknon vyavastaa tum bhramatee ma me manaha!
Nakaankshe vijayam krishna na cha raajyam sukhaa ni cha!!”
Now this is a very important shloka here. Arjuna says decisively to Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Keshava! My body and mind are failing me! I’m not even able to stand properly in this battlefield! I do not want victory over my own family members! I’m ready to sacrifice the kingdom and all the luxuries that come with it! I do not want to be a reason for the demise of all these people! I do not want a kingdom which entails the massacre of so many thousands of people gathered here! Moreover, Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I’m taking as much effort as Kshatrya prince for the welfare of my people, isn’t it? However, if my own people are standing opposite to me, what is the purpose of winning this war against my near and dear ones? If at all I win over all of them and if I end up killing all or many of them, with whom am I going to rejoice this victory? There is going to be nobody in this entire kingdom! Hastinapura will be a lonely place and just a piece of barren land without any of these people! Hence, what am I going to achieve by conquering an empty piece of land sans people?”
We should understand one thing clearly here – Readers might recollect that before the armies marched towards the battlefield, Yudishtra had the same doubt – Yudishtra had asked the same question to Bhagawan Krishna as to whether he should really go for this battle and should it really take place. His concern was not victory / defeat, but upon killing so many people, what is he really going to achieve in life as a king! At this point in time, Arjuna had come down heavily on Yudishtra by saying that Duryodhana has a lot of repayments to do, for all whatever happened on that fateful day at Hastinapura courtroom. Arjuna was talking so angrily and he was emotionally charged up beyond limits and was extremely determined to take on Duryodhana on the battlefield! However, we’re seeing this same Arjuna beginning to crumble and buckling down pressure! It was the same Arjuna a few days ago who vehemently challenged Duryodhana to come and fight him down, but today, this is the same Arjuna who is declaring that he doesn’t want a fight and he doesn’t want a kingdom at all! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 