Gita 01.19 – Kauravas’ bravado battered and shattered by Pandavas’ bravery

The Gita 1.19 So the sound that was proclaimed the vibrations that emanated from the blowing of conch shells by the Pandava warriors Dhartharastranam it's a common tradition or a common convention in the scriptures to refer to sons from their father's name perspective so a generic name for describing the Kauravas was Dhartharastranam So Gau showed Dhartharastranam so the sound of the Pandavas blowing the conch shell what was its impact on the Dhartharastras Hridayani Vyadharayat it shattered the hearts of the Dhartharastras now the word Hriday the word heart is used in multiple senses generally there are two main senses one of course is the biological heart which is actually very rarely referred to in the spiritual literature when we say that somebody's heart was broken it is not that the biological heart gets fragmented into pieces there when we use that even in common parlance we refer to as the heart metaphorically we don't refer to the biological heart but we refer to the heart as the seed of emotions so our emotions are centered in our heart and when we hold certain emotions as very dear to us in our heart and when those emotions are frustrated are wrecked are disappointed in a excruciating terrible way then we say we are heart broken so if we love someone very much and that person disappoints us betrays us then we feel our heart is shattered so Hridayani Vyadharayat so here what was the cause of the shattering of the Kauravas heart that actually they were confident that they would be able to win the war Hridayana in fact had been so confident of his superior numbers and his superior allies he felt that not only do I have 11 Akshahonis but I also have warriors like Bhishma, Drona one nice Karna Shalya Bhurishya Balika and my victory is certain that's what he had felt so he was so filled with over confidence that he actually felt that there will not be much of a match only we will so easily win and there will be no fun if we win easily therefore I want at least some fight and he was expecting not just a victory but he was expecting in his arrogance one sided match which they would just romp home to victory and in order to have some sort of fight he said some sort of competition should be there so he thought of inciting the Pandavas and so he sent Unnuka the son of Shakuni with a extremely provocative message where he practically incited all the Pandavas reminding them of the humiliations that they had gone through and saying that I caused all this humiliation to you so you are no match to me and basically his goal was to incite the Pandavas to fight and the Pandavas did get incited very much so that part of his plan worked right but the foundational assumption of his plan that the Pandavas were no match to him that proved to be disastrously wrong and the indication of the wrongness of his over confidence came when he heard the Pandavas blowing their conch shells the blowing of the conch shells indicates the extent of the fighting spirit of the warriors and their spirit and their courage and it all comes out sometimes say a cricket match is going on and if one's team is just being whipped then the body language also starts telling that so say the batsmen have been batting for a long time and both batsmen have scored centuries and both batsmen have scored double centuries and the bowlers and the fielders are just tired completely not knowing how to make a break through so then the body language becomes defeatist on the other hand sometimes the body language is very confident and almost victorious so the body language of the players of the opposite team or of one team affects the morale of the opponent team also so the batsmen comes out marching confidently then that sobers up the opposite team so like that here the Pandavas have been putting on a very bold front but then first only right at the beginning of the war as I described in the second verse Dushtva the Pandava came and when he saw the fighting posture the fighting balances the way they had been arranged he realized that oh these Pandavas are going to be more than a handful so first he saw the arrangement and now the Kauravas heard the spirit of the Pandavas as was expressed through the blowing of their conch shells and this also created apprehension now it was not just apprehension actually it was much stronger than that overconfidence that we will be able to win that was shattered and they started doubting whether if they have warriors of this caliber arranged with such expertise and energized with such confidence will we be able to even match them so their morale started crumbling and that is described through their hearts were shattered so when the Kauravas blew their conch shell that time also the noise was described as there was tumultuous noise but despite the tumultuous noise comes over here had come in 1.13 tumulo it is like the English word tumultuous basically a huge sound came about so the magnitude of the sound as huge is conveyed for both the Pandavas and the Kauravas blowing of conch shells but the loudness of the sound did not affect the Pandavas there is no description given but here the loudness of that sound is accompanied if you read the description of that tumulo abhirunadhen and it is described for the so that sound seemed to pervade all of space right from the bottom of the earth to the top of the sky a similar pervasion will be indicated when the Vishwaroopa is revealed by Krishna to Arjuna so so Arjuna says that that your form is pervading all of space in front of me and is touching the sky so like that blowing of the conches of the Pandavas or warriors pervaded all of space and it felt as if there was no other sound only over there that was the sound which filled every direction and it shattered the hearts of the cowherd boys so in the initial war of postures of pre pre battle actions both the armies tried to wear down the others morale or try to bring down others morale by posturing confidently so the Pandavas were trying to strike a confident dismissive posture but they were beaten in their own game by the Pandavas whose whose expert military formation and whose spirited blowing of conches shattered the hearts of the Pandavas shattered the hearts of the cowherd boys so those who fight against the lord even if they make a big bravado they try to delude the world with their bluff and bravado beneath that they are insubstantial their hearts are empty unfulfilled with their craving and their need for love being misdirected and distorted so those who are devoted to the lord they are always confident in their relationship with the lord, in their service to the lord and that inner confidence eventually will manifest as the outer victory. Shri Prabhupada when he was all alone in America still he was confident and many of Prabhupada's disciples described that he was effulgent and he his face always had a victorious look with him he was always victorious in his service to Krishna because he was always serving Krishna irrespective of whether that service manifested as external results or not and eventually glorious external results also manifested so the confidence of the Pandavas and the shattering of the confidence of the cowherd boys is depicted in this verse.