ARJUNA VISHADA YOGA
The Kurukshetra war was between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Pandavas included mainly the son's of Pandu and others, while Kauravas included the son's of Dhrtarashtra and others. There were so many problems which led to this war, about which shall be described later. Bhagavad Gita begins when Arjuna starts to show his delusion about the war and Krishna tries to console him with answers leading to the 18 chapters of Bhagavad Gita, as a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna.
The First chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna vishada yoga, is an explanation regarding the people involved in the war, their strengths and weaknesses and also, Arjuna lamenting over the consequences of War. This is an important chapter to begin with, as we should always know the context or situation, right from its beginning, in which it takes place. The story goes like this :
Dhrtarashtra was keen about the events of the Battlefield, even though the Kauravas outnumbered the Pandavas. He had a reasonable doubt about the outcome of the battle, as he knew that the consequences of problems that were made against the Pandavas, by his sons and uncles. Sanjaya, the minister and charioteer of Dhrtarashtra, explains all the details about the battle as such.
On seeing the Pandava army King Duryodhana - the one among 101 childrens of Dhrtarashtra, got fearful. Duryodhana is showing the army of Pandavas to Dronacharya and says that - Bhima & Arjuna were already regarded as the chiefs in Warfare but there are others equivalent to them in Pandava army, even though they are less in numbers. They are:
- Satyaki - Family member of Krishna and his teacher was Arjuna
- Virata - Father of Uttara, Arjuna's Daughter-in-Law. (Abhimanyu's Wife)
- Drupada - Father of the twins - Draupadi & Dhrstadyumna (From Yajna)
- Dhristaketu - Son of Shishupala & Dhristaketu's sister Karenumati married Nakula.
- Chekitana - Son of Dhirstaketu
- King of Kasi - Kashya
- Purujit - Son of Kuntibhoja
- Kuntibhoja - Father of Kunti, the Mother of Pandavas
- Saibya - Father of Devika, the wife of Yudhishtir
- Yudhamanyu - Son of Drupada
- Uttamauja - Another Son of Drupada
- Abhimanyu - Son of Arjuna from Subhadra
- Five Sons of Draupadi - Prativindhya, Sutasoma, Shrutakarma, Satanika, Shrutasena
Duryodhana also realizes the strength of his army & starts to gain confidence on his own. So, he mentions key persons in his army :
- Dronacharya - Second Commander in chief of Kauravas
- Bhishma - Supreme Commander of Kauravas
- Karna - Son of Kunti, but not known to anyone during Mahabharata (except Bhishma)
- Ashwatthama - Son of Drona
- Vikarna - Brother of Duryodhana
- Saumadatti or Bhurishravas - Son of Somadatta ( son of Bahlika king), all great warriors.
We could also see from the above list that Vikarna is specially mentioned although being one among the 101 Kaurava childrens. This is because Vikarna was considered a true warrior due to his skills in warfare. Vikarna was the only person from Kaurava who stood against them, when Draupadi was insulted after the game of dice, even when all the elderly people remained mum. Karna being the son of Kunti ended up on the Kaurava side as noone knew about his true identity during the war.
We could clearly see the level of Confidence that is rising in Duryodhana, through his words. His mind which was unstable before, started to be stable as he goes on realizing about his strengths and has started to trust in them. However, when he starts to mention that the army have staked their lives with himself, a suspicion rises as to his pride, also called the deadliest sin. While going through Mahabharata, we could understand that other heroes stood by the Kauravas mostly due to the respect they have for Bhishma & not to Duryodhana.
It is considered that each army shall have a powerful savior, who would help them bail out of any situation. Duryodhana considers Bhishma as the savior from their side while degrades Bhima saying indirectly that, he has no war experience. Duryodhana shows his jealousy towards Bhima as they had rivalry in between ever since their childhood. The Kauravas had hatched a lot of plans to kill Bhima, but miserably failed in it. Duryodhana also knows if he is getting killed in war, then it would be by Bhima's hands. Still, he puts all his confidence in Bhishma, the Supreme Commander and expects victory of Kaurava's.
The importance of Bhishma was that - his army included people of various races & Bhishma was the only key person who could make them fight together. So, any difficulty that Bhishma may face during the war shall result in a failure to Kauravas, as a whole. To not let this from happening, Duryodhana asks every warrior to be stationed in their respective positions & give protection to Bhishma. He also didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings through the previous line saying Bhishma is our savior, so he tries to make everyone come together for the protection of Bhishma.
Bhishma, on understanding the unstable condition of Duryodhana, inorder to cheer up his army and Duryodhana, blew his conch. This made the Kaurava's a beginning to the War, as they were the first to blow the conch. Even though Bhishma knew about the failure they might suffer as Krishna was on the other side, he had to stand for the Kauravas and make them fight together in the war. Bhishma marking a beginning to the war resulted in a boost of Confidence among the soldiers of the army. All of them, being from various races, started to make respective sounds using Conchs, Drums, Trumpets, Horns & other instruments, which resulted in an uproar, as per Sanjaya.
On hearing the conchs from Kaurava side, Sri Krishna & Arjuna also blew their conchs. Sanjaya also calls them celestial, signifying an importance to it. The chariot and white horses that Krishna & Arjuna has seated upon, is a gifted one from the Agnideva. We could also see that Krishna, Arjuna & Bhima are given special names and referred to. Krishna is referred as "Hrishikesho", Arjuna is referred as "Dhanan-jayah", Bhima is referred as "Vrikodharah", meaning, the wolf-bellied. Here, all the three persons are referred with special names and they also blew their celestial conchs spreading a high level of confidence to their supporters. Through the use of such special names their powers are being indirectly displayed.
Then, All the mighty warriors of Pandava army, out of excitement, blew their respective conchs. Not in any shloka, it is seen that Pandavas heart is getting hurt due to the conchs of Kauravas but the opposite is seen here. This signifies the fact that the side of Krishna is inevitably facing victory while the Kaurava army, without Krishna is going towards doom. Our hero, Arjuna, is also seen being glorified by Sanjaya saying about the flag in his chariot as Arjuna's chariot had the flag of Hanuman. This indirectly shows the victory of Pandava's.
Arjuna, ready for the war, asks Krishna to place his chariot in between the two armies so that he could observe his enemies in the war. Even though Krishna is regarded as God, he obeys the commands of Arjuna as he is the charioteer. Arjuna describes that the people on the side of evil-minded Duryodhana are equivalent as Duryodhana & he wants to see all of them. Krishna placed the chariot in the middle of battle field and asks Arjuna to watch the Kauravas stationed on the battle field and being the knower of all things, Krishna knew that Arjuna's mind is about to go unstable.
Arjuna, seeing all the people standing against him, got sad by the sight of his uncles, teachers, uncles, sons and even friends against him, whom he might have to kill in the battle for the victory of Pandava. He starts to feel light-headed, being numb and to shiver. All this happens at a time when he needs to be the person giving the required energy and confidence to others on his side. Arjuna has fallen into a deep dilemma out of his mercy towards all the kinsmen arrayed against him in war. His Bow, Gandiva, started to slip from his hand, which is a bad sign for a Kshatriya like Arjuna, who has engaged in so many wars and has shown his excellence in it. His skin burns, mind spins or whirls and he is no longer able to stand perfectly.
Arjuna is seen to be telling about omens and evils, which wise men don't consider to be true. It shows that the fear of killing his own kinsmen, has deluded him into thinking like an ordinary person. Even after all the bad deeds performed by the Kauravas towards the Pandavas, resulting the beginning of this battle, Arjuna still concludes that he can't see any good in killing them and that he doesn't desire any victory or kingdom and for those who are important to us in our lives, the very people are standing against, to die in the war. The teachers, uncles, sons, nephews, grand-uncles, great grand-uncles, fathers-in-law and other close relatives for whom we desire to achieve in our lives other than for self, all are standing against as foe. This is a tough stage for Arjuna, who is a respectful and obedient person of all time.
He lost all his interest in war for his rightful land and says that even if it means his own death with the hands of Kaurava's, he isn't interested to kill them through any means and considers the killing of Kaurava's a sin for them. The explanations given by Arjuna supporting his arguments are never ending. Arjuna's condition is an example to Confirmation bias, as he is trying to convince his claim by using information's or words while denying all together the irrationality or logical issues of his claim.
Arjuna indirectly refers to the greedy deeds performed by the Kaurava's and also the treason they performed in the game of dice. He says - even if Kaurava's did all this out of their greed, Why can't us, being intellect and knowing about the consequences of the war, avoid it for the greater good of the family and the race?. By destroying a family, its traditions that were followed since long-ages start to disappear. The remaining members start to be wicked and their behavior turns immoral.
The condition of the ordinary people due to the war is also described. The wicked or immoral people who have attained place in the kingdom shall be corrupt or behave immorally to the women, resulting in a creed or race of such wicked being born into the kingdom. The ordinary people shall suffer a lot of problems and wickedness shall prevail over the whole nation resulting in loss of welfare for the people.
He then connects the consequences to the ascendants of the family, that the mix of blood due to corrupt women, as mentioned above, shall result in the Sraadha offerings going worthless. As such offerings made by wicked men shall be not through correct lineage of the race. The traditions are brought into each family by using various caste system, as per Hinduism. These traditions are then being followed by each of the generations and passed on to the younger generations or descendants. So, as per Hinduism, caste and traditions are One and they cannot be separated. Arjuna tries to keep up with this system of not destroying such caste and traditions saying that the evils in the society resulting from mix of wickedness and immoral activities, shall result in a world filled with grief and such a situation won't be good for his family or other ordinary people of his kingdom.
Later, he tries to connect his statements with afterlife and says that those people who lost the traditions of family, shall dwell in hell without a return. The confirmation bias as explained before, is seen to be continued here also.
Arjuna is in a great dilemma about the war and its consequences. Even though he doesn't show any doubts regarding their victory, he is constantly being fearful about "What after the victory?". This is the last attempt made by Arjuna to try and put an end to the war. Still, Krishna remained silent. Arjuna is seen to become like a coward here, crying out about the sins he is going to make, even though they aren't. All this happens at a time when bravery is needed. He says that due to the lust for throne and enjoyment, they themselves are going to war with their own kinsmen.
As per the rules of Mahabharata war, killing an unarmed persons is unlawful. So, Arjuna says that, it would be better if the sons of Dhrtarashtra killed him when he was unarmed, which shall bind them for punishment as per the rules of war. It also has an indirect meaning that, armed Arjuna cannot be killed by the Dhrtarashtra's sons. Having spoken all his claims and thrown his bow and arrow, confused Arjuna sat by his chariot.
By this shloka having spoken by Sanjaya, Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna Vishada yoga, is over.
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