In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of a huge altercation that is happening between Sage Kripachaarya and Karna. While Karna boasts about his “infinite” capabilities, Sage Kripachaarya “fact checks” him with his previous failures against one person called Arjuna. As this happens, Karna gets extremely angry and utters a few unwarranted words against Sage Kripachaarya, which are quite abusive in nature. Upon seeing this, Ashwatthama (Guru Dhronachaarya’s son) gets angry at Karna and ends up lavishing praise upon Arjuna, in a bid to show Karna his place! This irks Karna even more and now moving forward from here, a huge fight breaks out between these two people! While Ashwatthama takes his weapon in hand and rushes forward, Karna is in no mood to relent. He also gets ready to take Ashwatthama down! Thus, a huge in-fighting breaks out within the Kaurava camp, and readers should remember that all these “war of words” and “war of action” is happening right in the middle of the battlefield at Kurukshetra, even while the battle between the Kauravas and Paandavas is going on during the night of the fourteenth day.
As both Karna and Ashwatthama are about to attack each other in a deadly manner, Duryodhana makes a timely intervention. As Ashwatthama is about to launch his attack on Karna, Duryodhana comes in the middle of both of them and says thus, “Oh Ashwatthama! Oh Karna! Please stop this! Please remember that both of you are on my side. Our common enemy is the Paandava camp. The enemy is not within ourselves. Please realize that if we are ending up fighting within each other, we are in no position to defeat Yudishtra. Oh Ashwatthama! Oh Karna! Please remember – Our target is Yudishtra. If we have internal issues, we shall sort them out later. But now let us focus on the war! Oh Ashwatthama! My friend Karna is firmly on my side and is eager to fight the battle right from day one. However, due to Bhishmachaarya’s pledge, Karna was not able to enter the battlefield till the end of the tenth day. It is only after that, he has got an opportunity to showcase his talent. Oh Ashwatthama! Please understand – I’m fighting this war with great support from you, Karna, Guru Dhronachaarya, Sage Kripachaarya, Sahuni and King Shalya. If there is an infighting within all of you, how am I going to win this war against Yudishtra?”
We should note one important point here from what Duryodhana says – He is telling Ashwatthama and Karna that only because of the support lended by all the above-mentioned people, he is fighting this war. He’s not fighting this war alone. Rather, he does not believe in “Dharma” or Bhagawan Krishna’s words. Every time, Duryodhana thinks that it is only because of his effort and intellect, things are happening. He thinks that he can win this war with just the human resources that he has. However, little does he realize that “Dharma” is not by his side! Whereas, on the other hand, Yudishtra being an epitome of “Dharma” seeks advice from Bhagawan Krishna every now and then. Even if Bhagawan Krishna says tomorrow that this war should be stopped, Yudishtra will not fire a single arrow extra! This is because Yudishtra knows that whatever Bhagawan Krishna tells him will be as per the rules and regulations of “Dharma”! Moreover, Yudishtra also knows that fighting this war is part of his “Dharma” and it is only because of this, he is on the Kurukshetra battlefield. Whereas, Duryodhana is fighting this same war for “his victory” and to see Yudishtra suffer!
So, given the two contrasting cases, who will feel happy at the end of the war? If Duryodhana wins this war by any chance, can we be assured that he would be happy with this result? When Duryodhana won the gambling game and sent Yudishtra to the forest for thirteen years, he had the entire kingdom of Hastinapura and Indraprastha to rule. But was he happy? The answer is a big “No”! Why? He internally knows that this victory that he had obtained, is against the “Dharma” and this may backfire at him at any point in time! This is the reason why Duryodhana was constantly spying on Yudishtra for the entire duration of the thirteen years! Whereas on the other hand, even after Yudishtra facing an embarrassing defeat in the gambling game, was Yudishtra sad for the next twelve years? The answer is “No”! This is because Yudishtra stood by his “Dharma” and did not have any worries behind him whatsoever. Rather than brooding over what had happened, Yudishtra spent his time in the forest productively by talking to various Maharishis and by learning a lot more aspects of “Dharma” from them. Moreover, he was also confident that Bhagawan Krishna is with him at all times and had the unending faith that Bhagawan Krishna would protect him and his brothers at all times! Thus, if we have “Dharma” by our side, automatically we will have happiness by our side at all times. Whereas, if we are going by the path of “Adharma” and are tasting success in the illegal way, we might be temporarily happy for sometime, but in the longer run, this happiness will not sustain! We will be engrossed into some or the other worries and fear because we internally know that we’ve cheated someone and risen up!
So for today, the message is clear – If we’ve to win through the path of “Dharma”, happiness becomes permanent. Whereas, if the victory is through the path of “Adharma”, just like how Duryodhana was in constant pressure, we will also be sinking into worries and fear, even though we might have won! So let us understand and ponder over this point for today, and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion forward! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 