Mahabharata characters 63 Duryodhana 2 Krishna’s magnanimity vs Duryodhna’s obstinacy

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
We are discussing about Duryodhana. And we discussed in our last session about how Duryodhana was humiliated when the Gandharvas defeated him. And then Arjuna released him from the Gandharvas’ clutches.
He resolved to commit suicide, but because of a mystical vision in which the Dhanavas told him that they will support him in the eventual war, he gave up his resolve to commit suicide. And then he decided to again galvanise his forces, make allies in preparation for the upcoming war. Now it is said about suicide that it is an act of courageous cowardice.
It is a courageous act because everyone loves their life. And to be ready to give up one’s life requires courage. But whereas it would be courageous to give up one’s life for some higher cause, for the protection of the weak, for the service of the nation, for such causes.
But when one gives up one’s life because one is frustrated with the problems of life, then that unwillingness, that chicken-heartedness in being not ready to face the problems of life, that is cowardice. That’s why suicide is an act of courageous cowardice. So Duryodhana, he wanted to give up his life because he felt that dishonour would be impossible for him to deal with.
And he felt that the pain of being dishonoured by others, when others would see him and make snide remarks at him at how he had been defeated and humiliated by his cousins, he felt that would be impossible for him to tolerate. So now this principle, everyone has a sense of honour. And the sense of honour can be used either to do honourable things, or it can be used to create more and more cover-ups while continuing to do dishonourable things.
That means that those who have a sense of honour, if they make a, they give a word, they will keep it. If they decide that this is what I will do, they will do it. Why? Because that’s the sense of honour, that I have to keep my word.
Or it can be in different ways, the sense of honour. So if a sense of honour can be used to make a person do his dharmic duty, his or her dharmic duty, that is good. And in that sense, Krishna also refers to Arjuna many times in the Bhagavad Gita as Kaunteya, Partha, Kurunandana, Bharatar and names connected with his honourable relationship and his honourable lineage.
And the idea is, oh, you come from such an illustrious lineage, act in a way worthy of that. The sense of honour in and of itself is not wrong. If that sense of honour makes us do honourable things, then that is good.
That is, so the idea is that our sense of honour should not just make us imagine ourselves to be great independent of everyone else. Our sense of honour should make us do honourable things in connection with those who are truly great, those with whom we are connected, ultimately with Krishna. So Duryodhana’s sense of honour was entirely self-centred.
He was not thinking that I will disgrace the Kuru dynasty by say, humiliating Draupadi or by dispossessing the Pandavas, cheating them through a rigged gambling match of their entire kingdom. He was not thinking that I’m dishonouring my dynasty and he was not thinking certainly that I’m doing dishonourable deeds. He was thinking only that, oh, I have been dishonoured and how will I show my face to people? So that sort of sense of dishonour is very self-centred.
Now, the point is that the sense of honour should make us do honourable things. But in the case of Duryodhana, the sense of honour, rather than making him do honourable things, what it did was, he wanted to do dishonourable things because his nature was evil. And after that he wanted to cover up, he wanted to come up with excuses with which he could cover up his evil mentality and his evil actions.
So in this case, why did he change his mind? It is not that he had a sense of transformation of the heart, oh, I have done a terrible wrong and now I have learned my lesson and now I will reform my ways. No, it was just that he thought that there are forces bigger than me who are helping me in my evil plans. And therefore, even if I am baffled, then right now it’s a temporary setback and eventually I will be successful.
So frustration in life is good if it leads to transformation. If one is doing something wrong and one is frustrated and doing something wrong, and even after that frustration, one stays determined in doing the wrong thing, then that sort of determination is not of much use. So that is determination to actually do bad karma and eventually suffer hellish reactions because of that.
So Duryodhana, he gave up his determination to commit suicide not because of any change of heart, but just because he felt that his evil scheme would become successful eventually. He did not give up his evil mentality. So his sense of honour did not make him think that I should do the honourable thing.
His sense of honour simply made him think that I should, that my honour, my pristine society will be redeemed eventually by the power of the Dhanva. So let me tolerate this now. And then he went back to the kingdom and he made plans.
He thought that in the last year of the Kurus of the Pandavas exile, when they are incognito, I will somehow or the other find them. And once I find them, then I will have them detected and if I detect them, then they will have to go again into exile for 12 years. And that way I will not give the kingdom.
And with that plan only he attacked Virat and we discussed how he, when Arjuna made his appearance, he thought that I have detected him. But Bhishma said no, he has come, already one year is over and he has come out just after the end of one year. Duryodhana was incensed when Bhishma proved how his calculations were wrong.
But he thought, okay, no problem. At that time he thought, let me just, we have stronger army, we will kill the Pandavas. And he was shocked to see Arjuna single-handedly routing all his forces.
Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashwathama, everybody was routed by Arjuna. Duryodhana was finally incensed and he himself attacked, so enraged seeing his army routed. But he, Arjuna fought with such ferocity that Duryodhana was wounded over power and he had to flee.
And Arjuna and Bhoominja just laughed and that angered Duryodhana all the more, but he was just no match. And then eventually, when the peace negotiations were on the verge of failing, at that time Krishna decided to come himself as the peace messenger. Now when Krishna came as the peace messenger, at that time he decided to stay at the house of Vidura.
So before Krishna came, Duryodhana talked with the Kuru assembly and he said that we will, Keshava is going to come. Now before this, Duryodhana and Arjuna had gone to Krishna and Duryodhana had got Krishna’s Narayan Sena and Arjuna had chosen Krishna. So initially, Duryodhana had thought that sentimentality had caused Arjuna’s judgement to go haywire and he had foolishly chosen one non-combatant person over a huge army of combatants.
So he thought like that, but then later on others told him that Krishna himself would have been far more powerful because he is so resourceful, he is so clever, he is so shrewd, but he still thought that at that time Krishna had dealt with him quite warmly. So when Krishna came as the peace messenger, he said, he told his plan that we will offer him lavish gifts and we will offer him a reception and a welcome that is worthy of the world’s kings or the world’s emperor and in this way we will attract him and then if we can cause him to defect over to our side, then that will be a big blow to the Pandavas or even if he doesn’t defect over to our side, if we can just get him on our side, if this can make him favourable to us, then maybe he will not demand the kingdom and he will go back peacefully. So Dhritarashtra also consented to this plan, both of the father and son here agreed and Vidura said you will not be able to lure Keshava like this, lure Keshava like this because your intentions are not sincere, your intentions are not genuine, you want to separate Keshava from his devotees and he can never be separated from his devotees.
So Dhritarashtra had a backup plan and he said that I also have my doubts whether we can separate, whether Krishna will give up the side of the Pandavas. If that doesn’t happen, then I am planning to have him arrested. If we can have him arrested in our jail, then the odds in the battle will change dramatically.
If Krishna off the field, then the Pandavas will become weakened. When Duryodhana spoke this, there was a gasp of horror in the whole assembly. Bhishma got up in anger.
He said, oh wretched one, what are you speaking? How can you think of such a thing? He said to arrest an envoy is against all the codes of a Kshatriya. A messenger is never to be harmed and what to speak when the messenger is no ordinary person but he is Keshava who is the well-wisher of everyone. What harm has he ever done to you? How can you think of such a thing? Bhishma was so angry.
After all, he was a devotee and he couldn’t tolerate the thought of Krishna being subject to such a humiliation. He knew of course nobody could arrest Krishna but still he couldn’t tolerate it. Although you will never succeed in such a plan, but just thinking about this is sinful.
I will not even hear about this. He walked out of the assembly, stormed out in anger. Duryodhana was unfazed.
He had long ago become desensitised to what he considered just the meaningless rants of his elders. So, he practically never paid any heed to the words of Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and of course his father, he could very easily emotionally manipulate him. So, he is just cocksure and he did not respond at all and then when Krishna came, Duryodhana and all the Kuru elders were there to welcome him right outside the palace when he came in his chariot.
And Krishna and Duryodhana, he had magnificent palaces but he had a magnificent palace for himself but out of a show of his affection for his brother Dushasan, who was actually his closest follower, Duryodhana had made for Dushasan a palace that was more opulent than his own. And he told Keshava, O Keshava, I have arranged for your residence in Dushasan’s palace and we have prepared a magnificent feast for you. Please come and have it.
So, Krishna looked grave and he said, O Duryodhana, I will not accept your hospitality unless you have satisfied me. I will be staying with Vidura and I will not be taking your food. So, Duryodhana was annoyed and he said, try to control his anger and he said, you know, we are offering you respect and by rejecting this respect, you are disrespecting us.
Why, O Keshava, are you flagrantly violating etiquette like this? So, Duryodhana said, Krishna remained grave and he said, Duryodhana, one person eats in another person’s house in two situations. One is if that person is hungry and the other is if there is affection between the two of them. He said, I am not hungry and because you are inimical to the Pandavas, therefore the affection between us has begun to starve now.
So, only when you show affection towards the Pandavas will I accept your hospitality. Duryodhana was rewarfed by this but he just maintained a straight face and Krishna departed to Vidura’s house and then the next morning, the whole assembly was waiting and in that assembly, Krishna came. When Krishna came in that assembly, Dhritarashtra, Bhishma, Drona, they all got up and they approached him.
Krishna offered his respects to the king and to the Kuru elders and then they went inside and Dhritarashtra offered him an elevated seat. At that time, Krishna looked up and he saw that there were celestial sages who had also assembled and he told Dhritarashtra, I can see here Narada, Parashurama, Kanu and many other great sages. How can any of us sit before they have been seated? Please offer them respects properly first.
Dhritarashtra immediately ordered his courtiers and then they offered respect to the sages, worshipped them, offered elevated seats and after that they offered respects to Krishna, seated him and then the auspicious mantras were chanted for invocation of good fortune and then the assembly fell silent. Everybody turned towards Krishna and Krishna said to Dhritarashtra, O king, let there be friendship between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Let no warriors be killed on either side.
I desire only peace and I have nothing more to say and Krishna became silent. Krishna’s words, although brief, were strong and meaningful and everybody became silent, pondering the import of his words. As Dhritarashtra heard his words and pondered them, Krishna decided that Dhritarashtra needed more persuasion and Krishna now adopted and then of course danda would be the war.
So this speech which Krishna gave as a peace messenger is a classic in negotiations, in confrontation negotiation resolution. Krishna tried his very best and the fact that Krishna failed does not indicate his weakness, it indicates his greatness. How is greatness? Because although he is God and he is all-powerful, he does not, he does not impose himself on anyone.
He does not force anyone to do anything. He has given us free will and with his free will, he chooses to, he gives us good advice how we should act but then after that he leaves the decision to us. So that although he has omnipotence, but he does not impose his omnipotence on others, that shows his greatness, that he respects the individuality and the free will of every soul so much that he does not transgress or crush that free will.
So actually we will look at the significance of the broader past time later but let’s go into the details and this illustrates both Krishna’s magnanimity and Duryodhana’s obstinacy. So Krishna spoke, spoke king. Initially he was speaking Dhritarashtra because Dhritarashtra is the king, officially is the king although he is only the nominal king and Duryodhana was making all the decisions and Dhritarashtra was like a puppet who was being moved, pulled by the emotional strings of attachment to Duryodhana.
But at least for the etiquette sake, it was Dhritarashtra who was sitting on the throne and Duryodhana, Duryodhana was apparently subordinate to him. So Krishna was making his address first to Duryodhana. Now Krishna spoke, oh king, the Pandavas are virtuous, they are, they treat you like their father and what better allies can you have apart from the Pandavas? You know, if you accept them back like your own sons, in fact, they deserve more of your affection than your own sons because they don’t have their father and they are under your care.
If you act like a father to them, they are ready to serve you and if you have at your command both warriors like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and Arjuna, Bhima, Yudhishthira, then who will be able to defeat you? You will be like the ruler of the whole world. What more can you ask for? As Krishna spoke this words, Krishna was expertly trying to awaken the dormant conscience of Dhritarashtra. These are your sons, they are your nephews, like your sons, you should protect them.
Dhritarashtra felt the effect. Duryodhana was observing, sly eyes, smirking but very slowly seeing that Krishna was expertly shifting everyone’s opinion towards his side and Dhritarashtra feeling guilty. At that time Krishna spoke, listen now as I tell the message of the Pandavas.
He says, Yudhishthira has spoken thus and this was the last word that Yudhishthira had spoken before Krishna departed. He says, O King, you are like our father, you are our elder. As per your instruction, we have kept our word of spending 13 years in the forest.
Now please keep your word and grant us our kingdom back. We are forever ready to serve you. If you find us remiss in our execution of duty, please do not hesitate to correct us.
We will try to do our duty and we request you also to follow the high path of duty. This is all meant to trigger the conscience of Dhritarashtra. And Dhritarashtra shifted uncomfortably in his throne.
Krishna now after speaking Sam, he said, he is talking about Dham, what gain? He said, O King, even if you want the kingdom, what will you gain by fighting against the Kauravas, against the Pandavas? In a war that will take place, warriors on both sides will die. And what, think what will be the pain when you hear warriors from both sides falling and dying one by one. Why do you want to cause such terrible calamity in the world? He said, if at all you want the kingdom, then the Pandavas are ready to settle for the least possible settlement.
He said, just give them five villages. I will persuade them. You persuade your son to follow the path of duty and the Pandavas always listen to me.
I will persuade them and this way we can have peace in the world. As Krishna spoke these words, Duryodhana started feeling angry. Krishna was, he felt manipulating people.
Dhritarashtra, he felt himself helpless and he said, O Keshava, I fully agree with what you say. I do not want war, but I am not my master. Please persuade my son Duryodhana.
He is obstinate and if you can persuade him to avoid war, then you will have done a very good deed. In this way, basically Dhritarashtra passed the buck. Now Krishna turned toward Duryodhana and he spoke, O Duryodhana, I speak only for your good.
I speak out of the desire for your welfare as much as you desire your welfare. Do not think that I am partial because I have come here for the good of the Kuru dynasty itself. He says, do not court war for the Pandavas.
What will you gain by such a war? He says, do not give up, do not cause the death of all these warriors for the sake of wise and do not give up virtue for the sake of profit. So do not give up virtue for the sake of profit means that the path of virtue would be return to the Pandavas that which was theirs. But if you think you will get profit by keeping their kingdom, then you are giving up virtue for the sake of profit.
Do not do that. And as Krishna spoke to Duryodhana, Duryodhana just laughed and actually it’s a very long speech that Krishna gave persuading Duryodhana in various ways. He said that actually, you know, I will act according to my own nature.
Whatever way God has made me, that is the way I will act. And who can blame me for that? How can I change that? So at that time, Bhishma spoke to Duryodhana and he said that, oh Duryodhana, actually no one can, what Keshava is speaking is for your greatest well-being. You know, with the Pandavas as your allies, you will never have any danger, but with them as enemies, you will have no shelter.
Nobody can fight Partha and Keshava when they are together. Whoever fights against them will be destroyed. Listen to Keshava.
And Duryodhana got up after Bhishma sat down. He said, I fully agree with what Krishna is saying. Partha is unmatchable in war and so is Bhima.
Fighting against them will simply mean destruction. Duryodhana could see that. Duryodhana was not even listening.
Sometimes some people, they feel, oh, this person is going to speak the same thing again and again, same old tape that person is going to repeat. So what happens when that person starts speaking, some people just turn off their switch, turn off their mental switch and they start thinking of something else, either to mute that person or at least cover their ears to not hear it. When Duryodhana saw that Duryodhana was not even listening, Duryodhana got exhausted, lost patience.
What is the use of speaking to you? I will not speak anything more. Now Vidura got up and Vidura also knew that Duryodhana was not going to listen, but he wanted to show his solidarity for Krishna and he also wanted to make sure that he did whatever was possible in promoting the cause of Krishna and if possible persuade Duryodhana. So he told, oh, Duryodhana, I do not lament for you.
He says, I lament for your parents because having you only as their protector, they are going to soon wander shelterless in this earth. You and all your brothers will soon be killed when they fight war against the Pandavas. By this time, Duryodhana had started getting angry and now Krishna spoke and Krishna said, oh, Duryodhana, so some had been done, some was that, you know, be friendly, live friendly.
If you really want the kingdom, at least give five you can have the full kingdom. Otherwise, he said, oh, Duryodhana, don’t you remember the power of Arjuna? At Khandava, the gods, the Gandharvas, the Yakshas, the Nagas, the Asuras, all of them were defeated by Arjuna. Actually, in that war against the, at Khandava, Arjuna had been fighting on three fronts.
One front was, there were the Nagas and the Asuras in the forest who were to be burned by Agni and when the Agni started burning the forest, they started fleeing and when they were fleeing, Arjuna was attacking them also and at the same time, Indra was showering rains from above. So as he was sharing rains from above, Arjuna had made, by shooting an endless stream of arrows perfectly positioned, he had made an umbrella of arrows and he stopped the rains from coming down. So he was making sure that that umbrella stayed intact and it protected the forest from the onslaught of Indra’s showers and on top, the gods were attacking.
So there was Indra, there was Chandra, there was Surya, there was Vayu, there was Agni, all these gods were there and Arjuna was fighting with all of them. So from above there were Gandharvas and Devatas and then below there was also Asuras and Nagas and Arjuna had fought with all of them and single-handedly he had defeated them. So Krishna told him that Arjuna has defeated all of them together.
How do you expect to be able to fight against him and survive? And if that you think is far away, now remember what happened to you at Virata itself. All your maharathas were there and still you could not fight and win against them. So do not go to disaster, O Arjuna.
Make peace. Only then will you live. Otherwise, you will be destroyed.
Krishna spoke this word. Duryodhana got enraged and he started speaking. His insolence comes out over himself.
He got up and he spoke. He said that, okay, sure you claim to act as my well-wisher. I want to speak, claiming to speak for my well-being but you always find fault with me.
Not only you, everyone in this assembly finds fault with me. But even after doing great introspection, I feel that I have committed no fault. The Pandavas were not forced to gamble.
They gambled of their own will and they lost everything and even after they had been given everything back, they agreed for another gambling match knowing the conditions which were there and then they were again defeated. Now what wrong have I committed? My duty as a Kshatriya is to fight and I will protect what is mine. Long ago when I was a child, by mistake the kingdom was given to the Pandavas and now that mistake has been corrected and it will not be repeated.
He said, how can I as a honourable Kshatriya, just because of fear of war with somebody, give up the kingdom? He said, I will fight and I have got such forces with me that the Pandavas will not be able to stand in front of me. So Krishna had spoken, oh Duryodhana, how can you take shelter of the likes of Shakuni, Dushyasana and Karna instead of befriending your own cousins? So this had incensed Duryodhana and he wanted to express his affection for his allies and so he said, now with their strength I will be able to defeat all of them. Duryodhana thus expressed his brazen insolence in the assembly, countering it as if the height of the insolence was, he said, I don’t see any fault in myself.
I have done no wrong. So how Krishna responded to this insolence of Arjuna, of Duryodhana and what happened thereafter, we’ll discuss in our next session.