In the previous episode, we had commenced with the proceedings of Day Fifteen of the Kurukshetra war wherein all the warriors were back on their feet after a long night of fighting. They had rested for a while on their chariots themselves on the battlefield, and after daybreak, the fight continued further. Now as Duryodhana comes up with a weird plan to somehow “sideline” Guru Dhronachaarya, the latter becomes extremely aggressive right from the beginning of the fifteenth day morning. His onslaught knows no bounds as he is taking the fight to an entirely different level altogether. This sends shockwaves and shivers amidst the Paandava camp. In the morning session itself, two important people from the Paandava camp have been killed – Firstly King Drupada, with whom Guru Dhronachaarya had a feud for ages now, and King Virat, who had given refuge to Yudishtra and Co. during their “Agnyaatavasam” time.
Moving on further thus, as chaos reigns amidst the Paandava camp, Arjuna enters into the scene with a blistering counterattack! A huge fight breaks out between Guru Dhronachaarya and Arjuna and it continues with great intensity for a long time. However, both of them could not win over each other, yet again! However, to avenge Guru Dhronachaarya’s assault over King Drupada and King Virat, Arjuna unleashes his fury to kill several of Duryodhana’s brothers on the spot! Now as this happens, Guru Dhronachaarya is going to do an important act of “Adharma”, which is something that we are going to witness in a short while from now. But before that, Arjuna is asking Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I don’t think we’ll be able to stop Guru Dhronachaarya’s aggression today, as he is fighting like never before! I’ve seen Guru Dhronachaarya’s intensity on a battlefield, but today he seems to be in an unprecedented form! If this continues for a while, our camp will be destroyed in no time! So what do we do here? How do we counter Guru Dhronachaarya’s renewed aggression?” This question from Arjuna is very important and it makes Bhagawan Krishna think for a while. He replies to Arjuna after a few minutes thus, “Oh Arjuna! Let us do one thing – Do you remember Guru Dhronachaarya’s words of assurance to Yudishtra during the start of the war on Day One? He had said to Yudishtra that nobody can win over him in a direct confrontation. However, if he has to put down his weapons, he should listen to the news that someone very dear to him has died, and this news should come from a trustable person, who is also near and dear to him. Now, our target should be Ashwatthama. He is Guru Dhronachaarya’s son. If Ashwatthama is killed in the war, Guru Dhronachaarya will be shocked! This news of Ashwatthama’s death should go via Yudishtra to him. We know that Yudishtra is very near and dear to Guru Dhronachaarya and hence, if Yudishtra conveys this to him, Guru Dhronachaarya will put down his weapons and you can kill him!”
Upon hearing this from Bhagawan Krishna, Arjuna is shocked! He immediately replies thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I’m not coming for this game! I cannot kill someone who doesn’t have weapons in his hand. This is against the “Raaja-Dharma”. I shall never do this. Oh Bhagawan! You’re asking me to do something unethical here! How come you’re saying such things? I’m sure even Yudishtra wouldn’t accept this idea!” As Arjuna replies quickly without thinking anything, Bhagawan heaves a huge sigh! Now He has to explain to Arjuna once again the whole “Sookshama” of the Karna Yoga! He had done this earlier during the Bhagawad Gita sessions, but now it seems that He has to do it yet again! 🙂 However, Bhagawan Krishna keeps it very short. He explains to Arjuna that this is an inevitable thing that has to be done, and there’s no other option left. If Guru Dhronachaarya has to be neutralized, we’ve to “connect the dots” and do as per his own words only. When he himself has clearly outlined the strategy of being defeated, what more does Arjuna want? It’s better to follow it rather than raising questions. Moreover, if “Dharma” has to be protected, there might be certain situations wherein we’ve to go out of the way and do a few things. The question here is not fighting and winning over Guru Dhronachaarya as per the path of “Dharma”. The bigger purpose here is to protect the “Dharma” of the entire world! If Guru Dhronachaarya is not killed today, he is going to pose a great danger in restoring “Dharma” in this world. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna clearly outlines to Arjuna that the bigger picture is more important at this stage, rather than looking into the path through which we’re achieving the purpose!
Explaining to Arjuna thus, Bhagawan Krishna looks at Bheemasena on and off. He knows that Arjuna is not convinced with His explanation and there’s not much time left to once again convince Arjuna right now. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna decides that He has to look at other options beyond Arjuna. Thus, He narrows down on Bheemasena to do the job! So what is Bheemasena and Bhagawan Krishna going to do? How are they going to strategize against Guru Dhronachaarya? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 