Gita 01.03 – The politician seeks martial dedication by emotional manipulation

He is revealing his diplomacy. Hare Krishna. Bhagavad Gita chapter 1 verse 3 पशेतां पाण्डः पुत्राणां आचार्य महतें चमों युर्हां रुपत पुत्रेणां तवशिषे नधीमताः this verse is spoken by Duryodhana the previous verse अचार्य संगम्न्यं राजा पचेनं अब्रवीत so he spoke these words there is no explicit Duryodhana vacha but there is the indication in the previous verse so Duryodhana what is he saying in this verse let's look at the translation word to word first पशेतां पाण्डः पुत्राणां he is telling Dronacharya पशेतां please see पाण्डः पुत्राणां the sons of Pandu the Pandavas आचार्य ओ तीचर you are their teacher as well as my teacher महतें चमों magnificently their phalanxes have been organized युर्हां रुपत पुत्रेणां that military formation has been organized by whom रुपत पुत्रेणां रुपत पुत्रेणां has a name रिष्चित द्यून but instead of referring to him by that name Duryodhana refers to him by his father's name and there is a reason for that the old antipathy between Drona and Duryodhana which we will discuss about तवशिषेन धीमता that enemy's son you accepted as your own disciple and you not only accepted him but you trained him and just see how expert he has become and now he's using the expertise learned from you against you what a travesty it is that's the implication Duryodhana wants to convey you thought of being soft-hearted you thought of being broad-minded and what is it that got you your own disciple has worked against you your disciple has shown his true colors as the son of your enemy by now acting as your enemy in fact by pointing out to Drupada he's saying now the father was always against you but the son has come taken training from you and has now ready to fight against you you know for every text there is subtext text is what is directly conveyed or directly stated and subtext is what is conveyed either by the choice of words or by the context in which the words are spoken or the tone with which the words are spoken so the subtext is often what conveys emotions so Duryodhana wants to seal the commitment of Drona to his side and to invoke the fire of anger in Drona by which the dampener of affection towards the Pandavas that might be there in the heart of Drona will be subdued will be countered and Drona will fight with the full power and power that he is capable of why does he need such an emergency measure Dhrishtva to Pandavani come so Dhrishtva so that was what had happened in the previous verse he saw the Pandavas forces and he saw that they were formidably aligned so now he is coming to Drona now in one sense Dronacharya can assess the military formations much better than Duryodhana because Drona has taught Duryodhana and Duryodhana although he became expert in various areas especially became expert in mace fighting he was not in any way known to be a military famous military organizer and definitely not a military organizer superior to Drona so if Duryodhana had seen how formidable was the military formation of the Pandavas then even Dronacharya has seen that so what is the point for Duryodhana to come and speak that Pashaitan so this is Pashaitan just see see Etan here of the Pandavas Panduputranam formidable formation Acharya Mahatimchamon so the praise of the Pandavas military formation is not coming out of any genuine appreciation for the Pandavas no Duryodhana has heartfelt envy for the Pandavas and he wants their destruction and he wants Drona to be a part of the destruction so he is referring to the military formation which both have seen just to draw home his point of inciting the anger of Drona so Duryodhana Drupada Putrena now on the Pandavas side Dhrishtadyumna was appointed as the commander although Arjuna was the foremost archer and Bhima was the foremost mace fighter on their side and overall during the course of the 18 days these two were the warriors who break the maximum havoc but still they decided that rather than having themselves appoint one of them appointed as the commander they decided to appoint a relatively younger Dhrishtadyumna as the commander because Dhrishtadyumna was empowered in fact he was born to be the death of Drona now Drona also knows this so that point is also there in Duryodhana's mind Drona is going to die at the hands of Drupada's son because Drupada had done an austerity by which he would get a son who would be able to kill Drona and from that fire of the sacrifice that was performed as a part of Drupada's austerity Dhrishtadyumna was born and when Dhrishtadyumna appeared he was not born as a baby from the mother's womb with amniotic fluid all around him he was born as an effulgent, powerful, fear-inducing expert warrior who just emerged from the fire and straight got onto a chariot and started exhibiting many marvelous military moves so by this Drona Ruka understood that this person is truly extraordinary and this person will become the death of Drupada as will become the death of Drona as Drupada had desired, Drupada had engaged to Brahmanyaja and Upayaja to do sacrifice so that he would get a son who would become the nemesis of his guru sometimes Dronacharya is equated as the guru of the Pandavas now if he is the guru of the Pandavas that is not so much in terms of formal initiation but that is more in terms of military guidance he is not a spiritual guru so much, he is a martial guru and he has instructed both parties, Kauravas and the Pandavas but in this case it is he, when Dhristadyumna came to learn further about arms he had got some basic knowledge from Drupada Dhristadyumna had some powerful skills which he had been born with but when he had come with Drona for training, Drona had magnanimously agreed to train him further and he had learned a lot from Drona so naturally he considered that during this war he would get the opportunity to fulfill his destiny he was born to, it's time to be able to kill Drupada so he took training from Drona itself and now he is going to fight against Drona so in the name of some principles you don't have to train your enemy that was the message that Dhristadyumna wanted to give but anyway now you have trained your enemy and see how the enemy has got you into trouble now you have to use your enemy by which you can get me out of trouble also that is also an implication of Duryodhana when he is saying this other disciples so therefore when we focus on the study of the Bhagavad Gita every word in it is significant and here what is described is that it is remarkably easy to let oneself be overcome by illusion and to lose oneself in material enjoyment it's very difficult to attain liberation ultimately now those who are actually strategic in terms of political savvy Duryodhana implies they would never have trained their enemy's son who was just trying to kill themselves but anyway you have done that now and see the consequence at least now don't repeat the error don't give up safety in the name of some sentimentality Duryodhana considers principles the principle that a teacher should teach knowledge to whoever comes if that person is qualified so he doesn't consider that sort of noble teacher sentiment to be of any value he says safety first if that person is going to kill you why did you teach him so anyway you taught him now don't let any sentiment come in the way now you must fight wholeheartedly fight fiercely so that is the implication now this is like pointing out a sore spot for a person and rubbing in the salt over there rubbing in the wound over there it is a little too harsh thing to do but by doing that Duryodhana is speaking politely but by doing this essentially he is ensuring he is trying to ensure that Drona abandons any thoughts of keeping a soft spot for the Pandavas while fighting on the war and fights wholeheartedly so therefore there is Drupada putrena Drupada is your enemy enemy's son and now he is fighting against you and moreover he is what is implied in secondary is that he is of course just trying to kill you so now is not the time for any sentimentality now just focus on safety and success so fight Drona that's what he is saying so after seeing when somebody sees that the enemy is very strong and well prepared then what does one do one ensures that one's own party is also strong and well prepared so he is saying one part of preparation is emotional preparation where one commits to the war so he is trying to get Drona to commit to the war by saying that just see your enemy's son who got training from you it's like almost like saying that he is defected against you of course not exactly like that because Dhristadyumna had never committed that he will serve Drona lifelong so now don't give in to sentimentality now keep safety in mind and say fight wholeheartedly and help me to attain victory this is the subtext so the subtext is actually although the word Acharya is used in terms of respectfulness but what has been conveyed is strong instruction and he wants to get Drona to fight wholeheartedly fight fiercely thank you.