In the previous episode, we had witnessed the Paandava brothers mourning over Ghatodgaja’s unfortunate demise. We had seen that Karna had employed the “Shakti-Aayudham” on Ghatodgaja, who bore it on his chest and sacrificed his life for the welfare of his fathers, especially Arjuna. Initially, Karna’s plan was to employ this “Shakti Aayudham” upon Arjuna and this was the only key weapon that he was having with him. As Karna was boasting about the same to Duryodhana and Co. amidst the battlefield, Bhagawan Krishna spinned a ploy to send Ghatodgaja and wreak havoc amidst the Kaurava camp, which in turn forced Karna to employ the “Shakti Aayudham” upon Ghatodgaja instead of Arjuna! With this, Bhagawan Krishna is extremely happy and relieved that Arjuna’s life is protected, even though the sadness of losing Ghatodgaja for this is underlying in His heart! However, Ghatodgaja has done his job to perfection! He has achieved what he had to achieve! Thus, as Arjuna asks Bhagawan Krishna the reason for his smile and happiness even as everyone else is mourning Ghatodgaja’s demise, Bhagawan Krishna explains His thought process beautifully!
Now we’ve to understand a deeper meaning to the laughter that Bhagawan Krishna is having here. We’ve seen yesterday that Bhagawan Krishna had put Ghatodgaja in the front, in order to protect Arjuna from Karna. Even during the earlier days when Karna was in the battlefield right from day eleven, Bhagawan Krishna never took Arjuna to Karna’s vicinity even for a few minutes. Of course there were a few altercations here and there but even before the intensity picked up, Bhagawan Krishna smartly drove Arjuna away from that scene, ruling out the possibility of Karna employing the “Shakti-Aayudham” upon Arjuna. All this was happening without Arjuna’s knowledge and in fact, ever since Karna entered the battlefield on the eleventh day, Bhagawan Krishna had His heart in His mouth! It was a tense 4-5 day-period for Bhagawan Krishna to ensure that Karna does not come near Arjuna at any cost!
So we might wonder here – Why didn’t Bhagawan Krishna reveal His strategy to Arjuna earlier? Why did He keep it as a secret within Himself? In other words, Bhagawan Krishna could have told Arjuna that He is trying to pull Arjuna away from Karna for the time being because of this reason, isn’t it? Why did Bhagawan refrain from doing so? If He had done so, Arjuna would have been the first person to gang up against Karna on the very same day! As Arjuna is a great “Kshatrya” warrior, he would not be scared about anything that comes upon him. He will want to face it head-on, however, he would end up being killed! If Bhagawan Krishna would have revealed His strategy to Arjuna, his ego would have been hurt. It would seem as if Arjuna is getting scared of Karna and is moving away from him every time. Hence, to avoid this situation, Bhagawan Krishna maintained it within Himself by not revealing it to Arjuna.
This is where we’ve to understand one thing clearly – Whenever Bhagawan is trying to protect us, it is not necessary that He would reveal His strategy to us. There are certain things that might happen in our life, which we might not be able to “connect the dots” very easily. However, if we look back at our life events after a while, we would slowly get to understand how certain incidents had to take place, which served as a protection from a great danger! Many times, we go to a “Mahatma” or a “Guru” or even to Bhagawan Himself and pray that all our wishes should be fulfilled immediately then and there! Of course, I’m not saying that we should not ask Bhagawan to fulfil our wishes and prayers. We have every right to do so. However, we should be clear that it is not a guarantee that Bhagawan will fulfil everything in that moment itself! There might be certain things that would take time. Perhaps, if our wish is fulfilled at that moment itself, we might enter into a greater danger and hence, Bhagawan might slightly postpone it to a later time. We might not know it at that moment, but we will start criticising Bhagawan for not listening to us at all! Bhagawan knows what to give us at what time, doesn’t He?
Hence, the point here is that, as ardent Bhaktas, we should develop patience and perseverance, when we go to Bhagawan for something. We should have firm faith in Bhagawan that He is definitely listening to us and will respond to us at the appropriate time. This is exactly what Bhagawan did in the case of Arjuna as well. While Arjuna was urging to meet Karna in the battlefield and take him head-on, Bhagawan Krishna decided to play the waiting game. For Bhagawan, Arjuna’s life is more precious than his ego and urge. Had Bhagawan satisfied Arjuna’s ego at that point of time, Arjuna would have been killed, wouldn’t he? Such is the case with all of us as well. So for today, let us understand this important point and let us try to develop patience and maturity while we approach Bhagawan for something. We shall continue this discussion in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 