In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vaishampayana explaining the four “Ga’s” to King Janame-Jaya and reminding him that these are the ones that will guarantee a “Jeevatma” to attain “Moksha” at the end of this birth itself without having to take several births henceforth. The four “Ga’s” are “Ganga”, “Gayatri”, “Govinda” and the “Gita”. As part of this Mahabharata project, we’ve had the biggest opportunity to discuss the Bhagawad Gita with the divine “Anugraha” of Bhagawan Govinda. Hence, let us utilize this opportunity to the fullest to understand deeply whatever Bhagawan Krishna has said here and let us try our bit to implement His words into practice. Of course, certain things that Bhagawan has said might be slightly tough for us to implement, but we’ve to try, isn’t it? Putting honest and sincere efforts to implement Bhagawan’s words is of paramount importance. We might not be able to implement 100% and Bhagawan Himself is not expecting that from us. However, just because of this narrative, can we merely sit without following anything that Bhagawan is saying? This cannot be, and Bhagawan will not excuse us for our laziness and escapism.
In fact, Arjuna also got entangled in the “escapism” mindset and Bhagawan criticized him for this, didn’t He? We’ve seen this at the beginning of the Bhagawad Gita in the first “Adhyaaya” itself – When Arjuna became emotional and started shedding tears, he thought that Bhagawan will comfort and soothe him with His loving and compassionate words and would eventually call off the war. However, what happened in reality was something different! Bhagawan came out hard-hitting upon Arjuna with His strong words of advice, which resulted in the birth of the important “Karma Yoga” discussion. At any cost, Bhagawan will never encourage us to escape from our duties. If we’ve taken birth in this world, we’ve to fulfil certain duties and the purpose behind our birth. Without that, there can never be an escape. If at all we try to do so, we would only end up taking several births again and again to fulfil our duties. Hence, we’ve to be very careful here and the biggest takeaway from the Bhagawad Gita is this – There can never be an escape route or a short-cut to success. One has to walk the hard path of “Dharma” and Righteousness, so as to attain success. All of us are bound by our duty and we’ve to ensure that we fulfil it by walking the path of “Karma Yoga” and “Bhakti Yoga”.
Moving on thus, Arjuna now takes the “Gaandipa” bow in his hands with a renewed rigour! Upon seeing this, everyone is happy! All of them in the battlefield have seen that Arjuna was breaking down with lack of confidence and Bhagawan Krishna has told him something to cheer him up and now he’s back with his “Gaandipa” in his hands once again! As everyone is getting ready to face the war, something strange happens once again! Yudishtra suddenly starts removing his “Kavacham” (Protective safety equipment) and putting it aside! He gets down from the chariot and starts walking towards the direction of the Kaurava army.
Upon seeing this, everyone including Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna are shell-shocked! Bhagawan Krishna thinks thus, “Oh wow! I had to chant 700 shlokas to motivate Arjuna and bring him back to form! Now what is happening to Yudishtra? Should I chant another 700 shlokas? :)” As everyone sees, Yudishtra walks towards the Kaurava army, which is now making fun of him! Duryodhana and Co. are in great laughter! So what is Yudishtra trying to do here? Is he going to surrender? Or, is he going to convey a message to the other camp? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 