Why does Bhishma say that he is bound by the Kauravas wealth?
Transcript
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Bhishma himself Bhishma himself says that I have to fight against the Kauravas because I am bound by their wealth there is a verse which comes like that he speaks this to Yudhishthira just before the battle starts so Yudhishthira comes to seek his blessings and he says I would love to fight for you but I cannot I am bound I am bound by their wealth he says that he says that we can’t buy wealth but wealth binds us he says a verse like that over there. So now in my understanding that statement is seen as a statement of humility and is bound is it that if Bhishma could live as a celibate while living in royalty and living with so many in royalty there are beautiful women maid servants as well as queens if he could remain a celibate in that could he not have lived as a renunciate instead of going to the forest he could have he didn’t need wealth so to say that he is bound by the wealth I don’t need the wealth at all and he could have done that generally Aishwarya is primarily needed for bhoga if one doesn’t have the desire for bhoga then to say what is attachment to Aishwarya will go down substantially so to say that Bhishma was bound by the wealth I have eaten their soil that’s why I have to fight for them that just is the expression of humility because if he felt himself so bound like that then he was not like exactly unquestioning servant time and time again he opposed Duryodhana I tried to give good advice to Duryodhana so it was not that he was definitely not like a unthinking slave or something like that that I have to be I have to be just doing whatever they tell me to do but at that particular point Bhishma has tears in his eyes and he feels how harsh is the duty of a Kshatriya that you have to fight against your loved ones so he is saying I am bound by the Kauravas wealth that’s more of an expression of humility rather than his actual motive for fighting his actual motive was so he could say there are three levels one is that the external reason that he gives I have to fight because I have taken I have lived on their wealth now actually speaking it is not even the Kauravas wealth it is his wealth because he is also part of the royal family and in fact his claim was higher he voluntarily renounced that claim although he was the eldest son so to say that it’s like say if we have a grandfather in our family and the grandfather is saying I am living on your money well okay if you had earned the money that’s a different thing but if the grandfather has only passed down the money to you then for the grandfather to say that I am living on your money is completely inappropriate so it’s just an expression of humility at that time so that could be one external reason which he gives the internal, another level is of reason could be that he feels he is bound by his word to always stay by the side of the Kuru ruler and the innermost reason would be that that is how Krishna inspires him to act at that particular time yeah because he had taken yeah because he had taken a vow when his father wanted to marry Satyavati at that time he told that Satyavati’s father said that but what you will become the king he said no I will not become the king he said you may renounce the kingdom but your children will want it he said no I will never have children and I will I will myself act as a protector of whoever is the king at that time he had taken that vow