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Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Yesterday I told you something about how Draupadi was under the physical torture of Duhshāsana, not for a few moments but for a few hours. And that assault did not stop there at all. In spite of a providential feature by virtue of which Duhshasana was unable to pull the sari, heaps and heaps of dress were there, and ultimately he became tired and withdrew. And that withdrawal was only a very transitory one. The dispute and the doubt she raised, Draupadi raised, could not be answered decisively by the assembly. But it was very clear that many people in the assembly, perhaps even the majority, did not approve of the order of things, on which basis Duryodhana, Duhshasana and the rest were claiming proprietorship over Draupadi. That was clear.
Ultimately Duryodhana came up to say that, “Okay, I shall release her provided Arjuna and party would say that Yudhishtira is not our leader and Lord.” Then Arjuna came up to say that, “Till he was staked and lost, he was our leader. Now whose leader he is, Duryodhana will have to say.” So again the dispute did not stop there. Nobody was able to give an answer. Now this is the physical torture, crisis.
Now, I would like you to think about which torture is superior or greater, is it physical torture or mental torture? Bhīshma said that, “What he is doing is absolutely wrong. What your husband did also is wrong. In spite of it, I am not able to give an answer because your husband has willingly done what he has done. Maybe he was provoked and the order was wrong. But it is upon a right that these people are doing what they do. So that right, whether it is right or not is the question I am not able to answer.” he said. So there was an absolutely indefinite situation. As I told you, this situation was resolved when there were evil omens appearing above the agnihotra place of Dhritarashtra. Then he called all of them and let them free. This is what happened.
But I would like you to think more seriously about the actual war. The war had to begin and Arjuna had his own mental torture. He was not able to find an answer. So he confesses his crisis, starts lamenting upon and he became a seeker of supreme wisdom and felicity. Normally people seek God in where? In very comfortable and leisurely environments. The Upanishads tell us about a seeker of truth saying good bye to the world and going solitarily to the sage who sits in the hermitage solitarily in the forest, and there is a dialogue between them. There is no sense of emergency, a physical or an eventful emergency is not there. Now here it is not like that. Arjuna had to fight. He said, “I will not.” Krishna said, “That is not right.” He had to agree with Krishna but he was wondering why, how. That is why he says
“I have been overpowered by a narrowness of outlook. I feel I should not fight. Krishna, you say I must fight. So there is a difference between my thinking and your thinking and obviously your thinking must be right. So there is something narrow in me. I am not able to rise to that breadth. So I am suffering. As a result of which…”
“I am not able to think about the propriety of what should be done. Therefore..”
"Then tell me what path will take me to the supreme felicity or shreyas?" So Arjuna became a seeker of the supreme truth remaining in the chariot, absolutely flabbergasted. You can become a seeker of truth in any situation! Draupadi also could have become a seeker of truth at that time. Anybody could become. Now here in the midst of war before commencing the discharge of arrows, Arjuna declares that he wants that supreme shreyas. So anywhere in the world, any time in the world, a person can seek the supreme felicity, shreyas, that is what Arjuna did.
Arujna was consoled, clarified, he decided to fight, well and good. Right at that time, Yudhishtira keeps his weapons back and he started walking straight to the opposite camp. All the brothers accompanied him and Arjuna was very suspicious. “My problem is over, what is this brother doing? Is he going to surrender before the commander-in-chief Bhīshma?” So he was about to pull him back. Krishna said, “No. Your brother will not do anything wrong. Maybe he is going to seek the blessings of Bhīshma and the others. He is not like you. So just accompany him. Keep quiet.” Yudhishtira went there with the brothers, prostrated before Bhīshma and he said, “I have come here to take your blessings for fighting.” You know what Bhīshma said?
“I am extremely delighted. Fight and have victory. If you had not come to me I would have cursed you. I am standing as a leader of Duryodhana army physically. That does not mean I disapprove of the fight or that I won’t bless you for victory. Simply because I am here to defend the cause of adharma, can Adharma win? It can never win. Let the whole world know that even when shielded by me, Drona, Kripa and the others, if the cause is wrong, the cause cannot be won.”
There are incorrigible laws and processes governing the whole universe. Human body comes much later. The law and process of Dharma had its own manifestation even before human beings and living beings came. There is a sustained process by virtue of which all the planets and heavenly bodies remain in their own respective positions and trajectories. Simply because living beings, more so human beings have sprung up on the earth, these laws and processes cannot become ineffective. So the Dharma is not merely for the human world, there is a dharma governing existence, governing everything in this universe, where there is a movement, a vibration, a biological process change or anything whatsoever, there are laws and processes, systems and procedures. Altogether it is called Dharma.
So what I have to tell you is that, “I am happy that you did not misunderstand me or misjudge me. I am very happy. Now tell me whatever you want. Fight, I will not do on your side. Anything else you want.” Then Yudhishtira says, “I want you to fight for Duryodhana as you want but mentally you wish for my welfare.”
Now I am asking you, Bhīshma and Drona having remained with them all along, now in a crucial situation they cannot change their physical sides. Now having to defend their cause physically, at the same time disagreeing with the cause itself and blessing the opponents, Yudhishtira’s, what do you think of this torment of the human mind? That is why I asked him, was the physical torture of Draupadi superior or the mental torment of Bhīshma, Drona and the rest superior? You have to find an answer for it. We may say we have excruciating pain in the body, it is only a pain. But when the body is alright and you have torment, torment, trepidation and trial assaulting the mind, a person becoming restless in the mind, almost mad, I think that is a situation which cannot be tolerated at all. Now our country says, whether it is a physical torture or a mental torment there is a way of transcending both. There is something called the way of transcendence, the way of surrender, the way of clarity, the way of impersonal and impartial neutrality. That is called the Soul or God. That is called the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the soul. There everything dissolves. My Gurudev used to say infrequently, “There is a point where contradictions meet”, I added, “And also dissolve.” There is a point where contradictions meet. In spite of disapproving Duryodhana and his cause, Bhīshma had to continue in Hastinapura, eating his food and drinking his water. So Bhīshma as well as Drona and the others confess
"Maharaja Yudhishtira, there is a celebrated statement. What is that?"
"arthasya puruṣo dāso, The human is a slave, a daasa of wealth. dāsas tu artho na kasya cit, Money is not a slave or a daasa of anyone. iti satyaṃ mahārāja, This proverb is very, very true."
"baddho 'smi arthena kauravaiḥ”. “I have been bound by, the so called money which is required for maintenance of the body and the rest of life. With that I have been bound. I was in Hastinapura. I was having my food and shelter here. And that situation continued. Even now I am eating the food given by Duryodhana. So I cannot eat from him and fight against him. It is not possible. So I will fight for him and excel in the war but I will bless you for victory.”
Then Yudhishtira asked, “It is very, very difficult to conquer you or subdue you. What should be done?”
He said, “The time has not come for me to shed my body. Come later. At the appropriate moment I will tell you.”
I would like you to think, are we the body first and last, or are we the mind, intelligence, and ego, the inner breathing first and last? If so, which assault, at what level, is really, is really unbearable? So with this unbearable situation, Bhīshma, Drona had to be on the side of Duryodhana, fight with sharp arrows and finally meet their own end. And both of them told. Drona was asked, “How to conquer you?” He said, “There is no way at all. As long as I have my bow and arrow and I am up and active, none in this world can conquer me.”
“Then what shall we do?”
“Whenever I hear something unpalatable from a reliable and determinable man, I will stop fighting.” This is what he said.
I think all of you should know this kind of a distress that is faced in human life. There cannot be a greater distress and Bhagavadgeeta is an answer and a redress and a solution for all kinds of development in this world, physical, mental, intellectual or otherwise.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.