In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya lamenting to Duryodhana as to why he is on the side of “Adharma”, even though he has enormous “Gnyaanam” (Knowledge and foresightedness). This is where we’ve to learn an important lesson – It is not enough if we have requisite knowledge on “Bhakti”, “Dharma”, “Artha”, “Moksha”, etc. We should have the “Vairagya” and “Dhairyam” to implement them and put Bhagawan’s words into practice. This is like writing the word “chocolate” on a piece of paper and trying to taste it. Can we experience the sweetness of a chocolate by merely seeing it on a paper? We can enjoy the sweetness of it only by consuming it in real, can’t we? Just having the knowledge that the chocolate will taste sweet is not going to help us in any way! Similarly, here too, knowing for a fact that following the path of “Dharma” will lead us to the ultimate “Moksha” doesn’t help beyond a point. Of course, this knowledge is important and I’m not denying it. This knowledge should however take us to the next step of implementation and if this implementation is not there, having the knowledge is a mere waste. This is exactly what happened to Bhishmachaarya too. Even though he knew that Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna are the “Nara-Narayana” combine and they are going to destroy the entire “Kuru Vamsa”, he could not help himself being on the path of “Dharma”.
So all these conversations happen at the end of Day four wherein Duryodhana is under fear, perhaps for the first time after losing fourteen of his brothers to Bheemasena’s raw muscle power. For this, Bhishmachaarya is consoling Duryodhana, but in a way that he wouldn’t like – Bhishmachaarya says that even if Duryodhana tries his best, he is not going to win this war. After all these conversations on one side, the fifth day of the war proceedings begin the next morning. Sage Vyaasa beautifully explains this inch by inch. The Kauravas form the “Makhara Vyugam”. We might know that “Makharam” means fish. The Kaurava army is in the formation of a fish and in return, the Paandava army forms the “Sena Vyugam”, which is in the form of an eagle / vulture.
Day five of the Kurukshetra war begins with the marquee event wherein Bheemasena is in direct confrontation with Bhishmachaarya. This is perhaps the first time that both of them come in front of each other. During the previous days we’ve seen Bhishmachaarya fighting with Arjuna repeatedly and Bheemasena and Duryodhana fighting with each other repeatedly. Two rounds of battle are already over within the two duos. Now it is time for Bhishmachaarya to take on Bheemasena! A huge war breaks out between the two, as both of them are invincible in nature. Upon seeing the intense clash between the two, Duryodhana jumps in and joins hands with Bhishmachaarya to take down Bheemasena. At one stage, it was as if Bheemasena is going to single handedly kill Bhishmachaarya, and at a crucial juncture, Duryodhana intervenes and takes Bhishmachaarya away from that place. Meanwhile, a small “Round three” of fight ensues between Duryodhana and Bheemasena, but this doesn’t last long. Both of them part away from each other after a brief encounter.
Meanwhile on the other side, there is a huge battle between Guru Dhronachaarya and Saatyaki. Again, both of them are extremely powerful and a fierce battle ensues. This goes on for a while as Bhishmachaarya keeps watching from the other end. He doesn’t want to intervene because he feels that Guru Dhronachaarya is at his best! However, both of them aren’t able to understand how to defeat each other and once again, the battle ends in a draw! As this happens, Bhishmachaarya thinks thus, “Oh! If the war goes on like this, nobody is going to win and it is only resulting in the death of countless numbers of soldiers and elephants. Hence, rather than having one-on-one fights like this, let us do a “Sankula Yuddham”, wherein there is no rule that one should fight only with a few!”
In other words, “Sankula Yuddham” means anybody can pick up a fight with anybody in the rival camp, instead of a pre-fixed plan that one person will target only one or two specific people in the other camp. So how is this change in plan going to work? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 