11. Those eighteen days – Arjuna stops Drona – The cost of not learning from history – Mahabharata wisdom

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Hare Krishna Hare Krishna welcome to the narration of the Mahabharat war in the series on those 18 days today we come to the 11th day the day after the first major disaster happened in the battlefield that was the fall of Bhishma the next day Karna who had been waiting out as long as Bhishma had been the leader emerged eager to fight, eager to repay the debt that he felt toward Duryodhana eager to exhibit his skills and fight against Arjuna, the fight that he had been waiting for throughout his life Duryodhana approached Karna and told him oh Radheya please become my commander and lead me to victory Karna however remained thoughtful he said oh king oh Duryodhana Drona is still fighting, putting aside his affection for the Pandavas he has fought heroically for you he is a preceptor not only for you and your brothers but also for many of the warriors who are fighting for you if he is neglected and I am made the commander he will feel offended and many of his students will feel offended and they even if they don’t rise against you they will not fight wholeheartedly for you make Drona your commander Duryodhana thought about Karna’s suggestion he also knew that feeling but he felt that he was confident about Karna’s animosity toward the Pandavas he was not that confident about Drona’s but after having got the red signal from Karna he went to Drona and he offered Drona the commandership just as Indra leads the gods please lead my army with you at our head we will surely attain victory Drona stood tall on his chariot he said I am well versed in the Vedas and their auxiliaries I am well versed in the weaponry I will lead your army and I will fight against Pandu’s sons I will destroy the Panchalas and their associates and I will wreak terror in the Pandava camp however oh prince I do not think I will be able to defeat Dhristadyumna because he has been born with the destiny to kill me Duryodhana nonchalantly shrugged off that concern told Drona that we will keep Dhristadyumna away from you and he didn’t worry because already Drona and Dhristadyumna had encountered each other several times and each time Drona had been far better it was inconceivable that Dhristadyumna would actually be able to kill Drona then they summoned the sacrificial water and poured it on Drona’s head to announce him as the commander after the sanctification was done in the presence not only of Duryodhana but of the leading warriors of the Kaurava forces Drona raised his hand in benediction and he said to Duryodhana I am pleased with the honor that you have offered me Drona too had been apprehensive that he might have to fight under Karna Drona knew that Bhishma was senior in age, senior in experience and finding under Bhishma was not a problem while he had been expecting that he might have to fight under Karna when he had suddenly been awarded the commandership was pleased I would like to give you a boon what would you want he says please arrest Yudhishthir and bring him to me alive Duryodhana had been just waiting for this and he asked what was in his mind Drona’s eyes opened wide oh Duryodhana it seems Yudhishthir is such an ajat shatru such a non inimical person that even you do not desire his death will his death not end this war why is it that you want him alive do you want now to seek peace and avoid this terrible war so that all these warriors can go home alive and this bloodshed can be avoided Duryodhana had a smile on his face and he shook his head he said over the last few days I have realized that even an army of the celestials of the gods cannot defeat Arjuna and Bhima therefore I have an alternative plan if I cannot defeat them on the war field then I will defeat them the way I did earlier on the gambling board after you arrest Yudhishthir I will challenge him to another gambling match and there we will have him defeated and again sent to exile and then I will consolidate my forces even if I ask you to kill Yudhishthir and you succeed then Arjuna will be so enraged that he alone will destroy all of us hence my strategy is to outwit and defeat them on the gambling board Drona gazed at Duryodhana’s smiling face this foolish prince had learned no lesson even after the fall of Bhishma whom nobody in the universe had ever been able to defeat this prince had learned no lesson Bhishma himself time and time again told Duryodhana before the war during the war and after his own fall Pandavas led as they were by Krishna were undefeatable but Duryodhana was not ready to listen then Drona said grimly thinking within himself that he had a duty to perform although Drona knew that Duryodhana was foolish but still he was the commander of that prince’s army he said I will do my best to arrest Yudhishthira but you must keep Arjuna aside if Arjuna intervenes then it will be impossible indeed Arjuna cannot be defeated by anyone in the universe although he is my student he is far younger than me and he has also performed austerities by which he has got an array of formidable weapons known only to the gods if he comes in the way even I will not be able to stop him Duryodhana smiled and he said loudly so that all the commanders could hear all the warriors assembled could hear he still suspected maybe Drona might not fight wholeheartedly because of his affection for the Pandavas so he wanted to hold Drona to his promise and he said oh warriors fight wholeheartedly for our new commander the great Acharya Drona has promised that he will arrest Yudhishthira when he is determined who can stop him let us all assist him and keep Arjuna away from him and he will bring victory for us all the warriors cheered soon the news reached the side of the Pandavas Yudhishthira heard it he immediately called Arjuna and he said oh Arjuna you should not leave by my side otherwise Duryodhana’s evil plan will succeed Arjuna said gravely but confidently he said oh brother have no apprehension the sun may stop shining, the stars may fall from the sky, the oceans may dry up but the Kauravas will never succeed in their evil design to arrest you, I will be there to stop them then soon the war began in dead earnest and like Bhishma in the previous days Drona tore through the Kaurava, to the Pandava forces and he seemed like Yamraj the god of death with his destruction causing stuff the Pandava forces just couldn’t stop him, couldn’t face him at all although they fought gallantly they were still slaughtered by Drona’s attack those warriors who came to confront him were soon destroyed Dhrishtadyumna tried to challenge Drona along with Abhimanyu and the Upapandavas the sons of the Pandavas Drona scornfully neglected them and continued attacking they attacked severely and Drona attacked them and other warriors intervened from the Kaurava side and Drona was free again to wreak havoc on the Pandava ranks Apanchala’s prince Kumar came forward to challenge Drona.
Now Drona and Drupada had a long rivalry and it went back to the early days for various reasons and Drona had resolved that he would destroy the Panchala forces. So Kumar fought heroically everybody was surprised to see him holding his own against the great preceptor he shot several arrows which pierced through Drona’s defences and wounded him. Drona blazed forth in anger and taking some powerful darts he aimed them at Kumar’s vital organs and although Kumar fought back heroically Drona’s arrows were unstoppable, uncounterable unbearable and soon Kumar fell dead Other Panchala princes Vyagradatta and others and Simha Sena joined in the battle to hold Drona back.
They both fought heroically but both of them were in no time sent to the same destination as Kumar by Drona Seeing Drona’s prowess terror was struck in the Pandava forces who could withstand him who could fight against the preceptor when he was in this mood and he was came very close to Yudhishthir and Kaurava warriors started cheering Yudhishthir is captured and the Pandavas were fighting Pandava warriors were fighting to stop stop Drona from reaching Yudhishthir were mowed down by Drona Yudhishthir himself fought but he was no match in archery to his preceptor. Yudhishthir’s arrow was broken his armor was broken his charioteer was wounded his chariot was destroyed within a few moments Drona would fulfill his promise and Yudhishthir would be arrested completely altering the course of the war the Pandavas cries of alarm reached Arjuna’s ears Arjuna had been fighting in another area of the battlefield the Kauravas had tried to keep him engaged over there but as soon as Arjuna heard about Yudhishthir’s plight he charged through the Kaurava forces toward the battle between Yudhishthir and Drona Duryodhana sent countless forces to stop Arjuna but Arjuna used all his prowess and destroyed whoever stood in between nobody could stop Arjuna as he charged to protect his brother and his king and as Drona was about to swoop in for the final kill not here kill in the sense of destroying but a kill in the sense of metaphorically finishing the mission capturing Yudhishthir Arjuna’s chariot charged in between with thunderous speed and noise and power and Drona was thwarted Drona used his full ability, full force to attack Arjuna but Arjuna’s loving concern for Yudhishthir and anger at those who were endangering him was such that neither Drona nor any of the forces assisting him could stop as Arjuna countered all of Drona’s attacks and pushed Drona back Arjuna also destroyed all the soldiers who were assisting Drona and seeing the force and ferocity of Arjuna’s attack the Kaurava attack was thwarted Kaurava advance toward Yudhishthir soon became a retreat and it seemed as if it would become a rout despite having their commander at their helm the Kaurava army was not able to withstand Arjuna’s attack seeing his army getting getting routed and seeing that the sun was nearing the horizon Drona blew his conch to indicate the end of that day’s hostilities Drona returned back dejected he had wanted to keep his vow he was after all an honourable person an honourable brahmana and he had given his word he told Duryodhana oh prince I had told you that if Arjuna comes in between I will not be able to arrest Yudhishthir Drona said oh warriors he told his other warriors sir this is our plight so Susharma the king of the Trigartas came forward he said that Arjuna has humiliated us many times in the past we will I along with my brothers and my relatives and my entire army will challenge Arjuna tomorrow and draw him away we will keep engaging with him till our deaths and Drona will have the course clear to arrest Yudhishthir on hearing this declaration by Susharma Duryodhana smiled yes it is unlikely that Susharma would be able to stop Arjuna or would even survive Arjuna’s attack but if he could hold Arjuna up long enough for Drona to arrest Yudhishthir then his battle would be won the next day they tried the same thing but again Arjuna not only countered Susharma but also came back to save Yudhishthir Krishna was there by Arjuna’s side and Krishna alerted Arjuna the danger when it became imminent that Yudhishthir would be captured and Arjuna thundered back again to the rescue and again Yudhranacharya was dejected so that evening this happened in the twelfth evening but the principle remains the same what had happened in the eleventh also happened in the twelfth Duryodhana ranted at Drona you had promised me that you will arrest Yudhishthir why have you not done so Drona said oh prince can you not see the wounds that I am bearing for your sake I have tried my best we humans can only endeavor but the result is determined not by our endeavor alone it is determined by destiny and the lord of destiny stands on the chariot of Arjuna how then can we win this is the lesson which Duryodhana never learned we all when we study histories like the Mahabharata or even our normal histories we are meant to learn from history learn from the people of the past the things that should be done and things that should not be done now things not just in terms of the technological developments that we have which we have built over the past generations but the moral choices that we make the ethical decisions that we make if we don’t learn from history then what happens we become lessons from history Duryodhana’s every single plan to arrest the Pandavas to thwart the Pandavas had itself been thwarted not only had the Pandavas not been defeated or destroyed through each adversity each atrocity that Duryodhana caused on the Pandavas inflicted on them through it the Pandavas suffered for some time but then they emerged stronger when Bhima was burnt when Duryodhana was attempted to be poisoned Bhima went to the Varuna, the water god and got celestial nectar by which he emerged stronger when the Pandavas had to flee into the forest when the Varanavat fire was burnt Varanavat palace was burnt they suffered austerities in the forest but then they emerged with an alliance with Drupada they had married Drupadi the Pandavas suffered terribly in the exile but there in Arjuna gained celestial weapons, ascended to the heavens and they emerged stronger. Here also time and time again all of Duryodhana’s plans had been thwarted but unfortunately never beyond so if we are too attached to what we want we are just not able to see the reality of things around us and Duryodhana is a lesson in obstinacy in self-destructive adamance sticking to one’s own ideas without considering the costs and thus paying a far unbearable unconscionable cost that all the warriors who have died till now and who will die in the Kurukshetra war all died because of Duryodhana’s attachment his irrational envy of the Pandavas and his own greed so those who don’t learn the lessons of history themselves become lessons for history.
Duryodhana did not learn the consequences of his adamance and thus he himself becomes a lesson for us all of us about how stupid obstinacy is and how destructive its consequences are. Thank you