Gita 01.19 The Pandavas win the mental battle before the physical battle

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 1.19 saghosho dhartarastrana hrudayani vedaryat nabhasya prathivim jayva tumulo abhinuna dayan here Krishna is continuing the Bhagavad Gita is continuing the description of the setting where the war is taking place and this verse describes the effect of the Pandavas blowing their conches saghosho dhartarastrana that blowing of the conches what was the effect on dhartarastrana the soldiers on the side of dhritarashtra it's interesting the usage of this name because this whole conversation is directed towards dhritarashtra so it is Krishna Sanjaya is indirectly telling this is what happened to your people your sons and those who were assisting them so ghosho that ghosho that sound which was made by the conches blown by the various Pandava warriors hrudayani vedaryat it shattered the hearts of the Kauravas up to the sky and down to the earth the sound was tumulutous from the sky down to the earth the tumulus sound resounded everywhere now the word tumulo was used earlier also when the Kauravas blew their conches that was mentioned in text 13 sahasaiva abhyanyanta sahabdastumulo bhavat so there is a loud sound that is mentioned there also a tumultous sound the word tumulo is a cognate of the word tumultous in English so the sound is mentioned as tumultous but the magnitude of the tumult is indicated more emphatically in this section for the Pandavas in terms of the how far it spread and how much it affected so how far it spread was it spread right up to the sky all the way from the sky down to the earth everywhere that sound resonated and further it shattered the hearts of the Kauravas now we may get a question how could Sanjay see anyone's heart Sanjay is even with his mystic powers he can observe what is happening on the battlefield is he able to observe what is happening in the hearts of people actually he could have that mystic power also but more important than that is the point that he was able to recognize by their expressions itself there are times when we are shaken, we are jittery but we try to conceal our fear and there are times when we are just not able to conceal it and there are times when we feel no fear that means the emotion is present but the expression is concealed the emotion is present and the expression is attempted to be concealed but the sharp observers can see it and third is the emotion is present and it is seen it is evident for everyone to see so in this case it was like that what was it like it was like the overall declaration of war by the Pandavas in terms of the beginning of hostilities to their growing of conscience that just had a disheartening effect on the morale of the Kauravas it is described initially itself Duryodhana he had come with such a swagger thinking this is a done deal my forces are simply going to crush the Pandavas but when he saw their military formation that itself disturbed him it alarmed him so much that he approached Duryodhana and started talking with him so just the expression and the formation of the armies indicated that the Pandavas were there to win and Pandavas were going to fight fiercely ferociously but now when they blew their conscience their intention became even more clear and again that fierce intention also shattered the Pandavas the Kauravas rather in general while fighting in a war as important as the actual war is equally if not more important is the morale of the fighters if sometimes players say there is a cricket match and players may sometimes play what is called mining games to try to get the upper hand over their opponents so somebody asked a question are you feeling is there a lot of pressure yes I am sure my opponent is feeling a lot of pressure because I have crushed him in the past and I am going to crush him tomorrow also now this confidence can at one level anger the opponent but angering alone is not enough becoming angry is not enough even we get angry still that anger has to be channeled properly then one can fight well if the anger makes one impulsive and rash that can become a problem also so in the mind games before in the mental battle before the physical battle the Pandavas clearly come out as winners by their military formation by their by their sonic proclamation by blowing by blowing their conscious they demoralize they shake alarm and demoralize the Kauravas over confidence is often a recipe for disaster and Duryodhana had been marked by impudence arrogance and over confidence and right in the beginning of the battlefield itself the consequence of that was becoming apparent so in the first chapter itself there is a precursor there is a foreshadowing of what is going to happen at the end although in between there is a dramatic twist in which the exact opposite happens where it is Arjuna who loses his morale it is Arjuna who says I can't fight but Arjuna too soon recovers his morale and becomes ready to fight by hearing Krishna Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.