We are at a crucial juncture during Day Twelve at Kurukshetra wherein Bhagadatta is unleashing his extreme fury on Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna. Initially it was Bhagawan Krishna who had to bare the brunt of Bhagadatta’s arrows and powerful “Asthrams”, however, the scene turns around quickly. Arjuna gets furious as Bhagawan Krishna gets attacked and in turn he launches a scathing attack on Bhagadatta in a bid to try and neutralize him. Both of them are extremely powerful warriors and a huge war breaks out between the duo. At one point, Bhagadatta realizes that mere arrows and smaller “Asthrams” are not going to serve the purpose, as he unleashes his famed “Vaishnava-Asthram”, which is the leader of all “Asthrams”. For this particular “Asthram”, Arjuna doesn’t have a solution to neutralize it and as it makes its way thick and fast towards Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna comes and stands in front of him and takes it on His divine physical form! Since Bhagawan Krishna is Bhagawan Vishnu Himself, the “Vaishnava-Asthram” loses its intensity in front of Him and thus, Arjuna is protected from the wrath of it!
Now this is one among several instances during the entire Kurukshetra war wherein Bhagawan Krishna protects Arjuna from being killed. This justifies what Bhagawan Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita, isn’t it? He’s advising Arjuna to perform his duty of fighting the war without expecting the outcome. No matter whatever might be the outcome, Bhagawan Krishna is there to protect us, isn’t it? This is exactly what happens here too. All of us know that the Paandava brothers are fighting for the sake of “Dharma” to win. They are not fighting this war for their own personal and moral victory. If “Dharma” has to win, Bhagawan Krishna will take over the outcome and He will ensure that victory for “Dharma” is assured. Having said thus, we should note here that the duty of fighting is being done by Arjuna and Co. only. Bhagawan Krishna is only facilitating the war to happen. However, when the sincere Bhakta is in any kind of danger while performing his duty, Bhagawan comes forward and takes the danger upon Himself and thereby neutralizes it! Thus, the message that Bhagawan is sending out to all of us is that, while we perform our duty, we should not worry about the dangers, hurdles and hardships that might be associated with it. Of course, dangers and hardships might come at any point, but if we perform our duty with complete surrender (“Sharanagati”) to Bhagawan and also for the sake of upholding our “Dharma”, it becomes an offering to Bhagawan and hence, He will protect and shield us from any kind of dangers that might arise during our journey. Hence, this is something that all of us need to ponder upon and instil in our minds as we perform our actions.
Moving forward thus, as the “Vaishnava-Asthram” hits Bhagawan Krishna, Sage Vyaasa beautifully explains that it got converted into a beautiful garland and clinged around His neck! Upon seeing Bhagawan Krishna taking the hit in the front, Arjuna is completely disappointed and upset. He is in tears of sorrow! As Bhagawan Krishna looks at him, Arjuna asks thus, “Oh Bhagawan! Initially at the start of the war you had taken a pledge not to lift any weapon during the entire duration of the war. However, because of my ignorance and incapability, you had to take the weapon twice in front of Bhishmachaarya and rush towards him with immense anger. Now for the third time, you’ve come in the front and taken the “Vaishnava-Asthram” upon yourself! Why is this happening? Am I incapable of handling these people by myself? Why are you making your words untrue every now and then like this? Why don’t you stick to your words?”
As Arjuna asks thus, he is extremely disappointed and feeling bad within himself. However, Bhagawan Krishna is quick to console Arjuna once again, and all this happens in the midst of an intense war! Bhagawan Krishna replies back to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! You will not understand the logic behind my actions unless and until I let out a secret to you!” So what is the secret which Bhagawan is going to let out to Arjuna? Let us understand up to this point for today and in the next episode we shall witness Bhagawan Krishna’s important narrative to reply to Arjuna’s query. Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 