Gita 01.08 – Attachment makes the absent present

And we will talk about that in future classes, thank you Hare Krishna welcome back to our discussion on the Bhagavad Gita verse by verse 1.8 bhavan bheeshmas cha karanas cha kripas cha sametim jaya asvatthamavi karanas cha saumadattis tathaiva cha now here Duryodhana started speaking about the forces on his side and he faces a dilemma by far the most powerful general on his side is Bhishma and Bhishma is also the commander of his army yet he is standing right now in front of Drona so while listing out his forces should he mention them in a hierarchy with Bhishma first as would be appropriate in normal situations given Bhishma's seniority as well as expertise but then with Drona right in front of him it might seem like a snap to Drona so he does some fast thinking on his feet and he decides that Bhishma being a Kshatriya being not just a Kshatriya but a devout pious Kshatriya gives esteem to Brahmanas and Bhishma will understand that if I mention Drona's name first that is not a statement of Drona's martial superiority rather it would be a statement made out of deference to Drona's higher position in the social hierarchy as a Brahmana and so he speaks about Drona first Bhavan, in Sanskrit there are different words for referring to the second person in English there is you but in Sanskrit there is Tvam which is a normal conversational second person reference and Bhavan is a more respectful Tu or Aap as we have in Hindi so Bhavan is more respectful so he addresses Dronacharya in respectful tones he doesn't want Drona to be agitated in any way because he has just now been reminded about Drona by Duryodhana so Bhavan, oh who are the warriors on my side now he is saying I will inform you now Drona doesn't have to be informed about his own military prowess who knows it better than himself Drona knows it, he has taught all the great Kshatriyas most of the great Kshatriyas were assembled there so he certainly is a powerful person but when he has to list, he has to list in an inclusive way so he describes Bhavan so this is, although it's Sanyatantan Brahmite although he is saying this, I am speaking this to inform you but he knows that a public conversation is not just a conversation between the conversants that when the two of them are speaking there are others also hearing and it should not appear to others that Drona is being snubbed so therefore Bhavan, then immediately after Bhishma's cha so I speak about, you are there and then Bhishma is there now interestingly, the third person that he refers to is Karna now in terms of prowess and appropriateness that is ok because it is Karna who becomes the third commander of the Kaurava army after the first two commanders fall so Bhishma falls on the 10th day he is the commander for the first eight days and then Drona falls on the 15th day then for two days, 16th and 17th, Karna is the commander so he can very well be put third in the hierarchy of power although some would put Ashwathama as equally if not more powerful and Kripa is also, who is going to be mentioned next Kripa is also very powerful, we will come to that but he mentions Karna, which is ok but the significant point over here is that Karna is not present in the battlefield when the military forces on two sides were assessed by Bhishma just before the war, on an earlier assembly in their tents, Duryodhana had asked Bhishma and Bhishma obliged at that time, Karna had boasted that he could destroy the entire Pandava army in just a short time just a matter of days, few days whereas Bhishma, Drona, they had said that it will take us about a month or so Karna said I can do it in a very short while, just a matter of days and then Bhishma had scoffed at him and he said O son of Asuta, your strength is only in your words and if words could make things come true then indeed Duryodhana would be assured of success but your words have never been translated into actions indeed every time you have fought against Partha, you have been bested and now that you have lost your Kavach and Kundal so I consider that you are by no means equal to Partha leave alone, you are never superior to him but you have become even weaker and Bhishma rates him very low now Bhishma has no agenda or malevolence against Karna but Bhishma is displeased to see Karna's inflated opinion of himself and more he is disturbed that Duryodhana is continuing his antagonism towards the Pandavas based on his faith in Karna's abilities and because Karna's abilities are not as much as they wanted to be Duryodhana's faith is going to be shattered and he feels in that sense Karna's boasting and Duryodhana's foolish believing in Karna's boasting is one of the main causes for the escalation of hostilities between the two parties if Karna had not boasted his abilities Duryodhana may well have settled for a peace pact so that's why in order to try to keep the hostilities as low as possible although of course now the war is going to take place but in order to not let either Karna or Duryodhana's head get bloated with overconfidence Bhishma downplays, downgrades, downsizes Karna he says that your abilities are nowhere even in a match of a fraction of Partha and Karna becomes so angry on hearing this that he decides, he says that as long as Bhishma is the commander I will not fight in this war because he says when a war is fought no matter which warriors contribute how much in winning the war history will record the commander as the one who won the war just like there is a cricket match there may be a special player who performs very well but then it is remembered that this was under the captaincy of this team that the team won the world cup under the captaincy of this person and the captain is immortalized that way so he said that because Bhishma has discredited me so therefore I do not want to contribute to the credit of Bhishma if I fight under him, with him as the commander and I win the war for Duryodhana then Bhishma will get the credit and because he has discredited me therefore I will not give him credit therefore I will not fight as long as Bhishma is the commander saying this, Karna walks away in a huff now Duryodhana is bemused and befuddled at this but he does a quick mental calculation he does not have any doubt about Karna's loyalty although he can understand Karna's hurt pride so he knows that he does not want Karna to be off the battlefield even for one moment but still he knows that Karna will not desert him anytime in terms of switching loyalties to the Pandavas so Karna will wait in the wings and come later when the time becomes appropriate but he thinks that if I choose Karna now and I say that I want Karna and then Bhishma leaves then Bhishma already has affection for the Pandavas so he may well go over to the side of the Pandavas and then I will lose him completely and I will have to fight against him therefore although he has far more affection for Karna and although he has much more trust in Karna's antipathy, Karna's hatred, anger towards the Pandavas which he knows that Bhishma does not have any anger or antipathy towards the Pandavas but still he sticks to Bhishma and lets Karna go temporarily so Karna is not there in the battlefield because of the circumstance it's happening but still because Duryodhana and Karna had such a close friendship and because Duryodhana had fought the war with the confidence not just the hope but the confidence that Karna will kill Partha so Karna was never far from the mind of Duryodhana and that's why Duryodhana speaks mentioning Karna's name Karna, sure he is not in the battlefield, he is in the tent in the background but he is there in the mind and therefore while counting, he mentions he is also a formidable commander in our army not their temper presently but he is here in our side and then he mentions Kripacharya who is always victorious now Kripacharya had been given a blessing similar to that of Bhishma that he was almost invincible, he could not be killed and when Yudhishthira had gone before the war to ask the Kuru elders for their blessings and to ask them also that because they are so invincible, how could they be fed so at that time Kripa had enigmatically replied that I cannot be killed knowing this of Yudhishthira, go forth and attain victory now what does that mean? actually yes, don't waste your time if you attack me and try to kill me, you will not succeed but it was also widely known that Kripacharya did not have any celestial weapons so although he could not be killed he would not himself have any major power to cause some huge damage to the Pandava army and he would not in that sense although he could not be killed, he would not stand in the path of the victory of the Pandavas if they fought carefully so that's why he made this enigmatic statement I cannot be killed, go ahead and win the war now it can just be a general honorific any of which are used whenever one is referring to Kshatriyas or it can refer to the point that he is victorious over mortality in the sense that he will not be killed in war and then Ashwatthama, Vikaranastha, Ashwatthama Ashwatthama was also a formidable warrior he was the son of Drona and Drona had trained his son in practically all the tricks and tactics of war warfare and he had given him also several special weapons Narayanastra, the Agnyastra Ashwatthama fought fiercely during the battle and he fell many powerful Pandava generals and it was he who tried to avoid who tried to avenge Drona's death by sending formidable weapons like the Narayanastra and the Pandavas and the Pandavas had actually seen that enormously and irresistibly forceful assault of the divine weapon of Lord Narayan, the Narayanastra the Pandavas had to just raise their hands and bow to the Narayanastra and just bow down lie down on the ground and the Narayanastra had the nature that if anyone opposed it, the force of the Narayanastra would become double and therefore, no matter how strong a person, how strong a force is used to counter the Narayanastra, still the Narayanastra would remain more powerful and in that way, a person's screen could be actually rolled back so that means that the person who was fighting there is just no hope for them to win because even if a person has a shield or whatever the shield is used to screen or shield whatever is used to resist the weapon actually the weapon becomes stronger, double strong and in that way, it will eventually lead to destruction of any defendant the only way to avoid that, the recommended way for this was to actually bow down and that's what Krishna told the Pandavas to do and let the weapon pass away overhead without hurting anyone so Ashwathama Ashwathama was of course punished towards the end of the Vannaparva when he was arrested, handcuffed and incarcerated till he was not exactly handcuffed in the normal sense his hands and ropes were tied with ropes and he was dragged into the magistrate who wanted to forgive him but at the behest of Krishna, Arjuna decided to cut off his jewel and his top hair on the head and then thus Ashwathama was devoid of his power and mysticism and then he departed to wander in the forest for thousands of years as a curse he was sentenced to do that now interestingly, the next name that he mentions is Vikarnastha now Vikarna is one of the brothers of Duryodhana it's interesting that Duryodhana doesn't mention the brother who was closest to him, that is Dushyasana and the brother of Dushyasana also exhibited several short spells of heroism in the Mahabharata war, much more than Vikarna but again this is a game of establishing connections, preserving reputations and ensuring commitments so Duryodhana does not have any reason to doubt the commitment of Dushyasana to himself but he has a reason to doubt Vikarna's commitment because Vikarna was the only person not just the only Kaurava but the only person among the younger people who had opposed Draupadi's disrobing so he suspected Vikarna's faithfulness to him and therefore by speaking about him, mentioning his name in the same league as the foremost warriors among the Kauravas Duryodhana hoped to seal Vikarna's commitment oh Duryodhana esteems me as highly as Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Ashwathama oh then I will fight for him like that, he hoped to induce that kind of feeling within him Saumadatti now as Saumadatta was a powerful king and Saumadatti refers to his son so Saumadatti, Bhurishrava so he was a formidable Maharatha warrior and he actually defeated Satyaki on the 14th day and he devoted to Satyaki at that time Arjuna shot him and cut off his hand and eventually Saumadatti, this Bhurishrava entered into a mystic trance while sitting on a bed of arrows and departed and both Krishna and Arjuna blessed him to attain the destination of everlasting bliss so because of family affiliations he had to fight on the side of the Kauravas and again Duryodhana mentions him because he is a formidable warrior Anantyaivacha now sometimes the scriptures don't always have the same recensions recension means the way certain words are written some small variations might be there sometimes this Tathaiva is replaced with Sandhaiva Sindhaivacha Sindhaiva would refer to that would refer to the king of Sindhu that is Jayadratha so Jayadratha's name doesn't come anywhere in the first chapter not now or not even later it only comes once in the 11th chapter when Krishna says that Jayadratha will also be killed so Arjuna can rest assured and fight but this could be a hidden reference to Jayadratha but either way Tathaivacha certain cha can also refer to others so this is this is not an exhaustive list this is a representative or indicative list and by giving a list like this he wants to reassure his own forces that don't worry it's not that they alone have big commanders we also have big commanders so that is the reassurance for the general forces and for his commanders he wants to make sure that he shows that I value all of you and for those who are not named he will refer to them in a general sense in the next verse so let's discuss that in our next talk thank you.