SankarAcArya's bhagavad gItA bhAshya - the epic setting.

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Forwarded Gita Article 2

 

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Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vidya

SankarAcArya's bhagavad gItA bhAshya - the epic setting.

 

The gItA was taught to the Pandava prince, Arjuna, by his friend,

philosopher and guide, Lord Krishna, who was an incarnation of Lord

Narayana Himself. The setting of this teaching is the ancient

battlefield

of Kurukshetra. There is still a place in northern India called

Kurukshetra, which is generally considered the site of this ancient

battle. This geography aside, it is also interesting to note that the

teaching really addresses an internal battle that every person faces in

the course of one's life. This explains how the gItA has remained

relevant

to mankind throughout the centuries.

 

As far as the mythological battle is concerned, it will help to explain

the background briefly. The battle was between the five sons of Pandu

and

their cousins, the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra. Both sides were

collateral descendents of an ancient line of emperors, and the battle

was

essentially a decision-making process, regarding which branch of the

family was to inherit the kingdom. To understand the forces leading to

the

battle, one must go back to the common great-grandfather of both sides.

For the full story of the epic, I commend readers to the various

translations of the Mahabharata. Most of these are meant for the general

reader, but those interested in a more critical translation may read J.

A.

B. van Buitenen's multi-volume translation of the critical edition

published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

 

Santanu was the king of Hastinapura, the most powerful kingdom in the

upper reaches of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. He first married Ganga,

the

river goddess. Their son was Devavrata, who came to be called Bhishma.

This name came about because of the 'terrible' vow he took on one

occasion. The story goes that Santanu fell in love with Satyavati, the

foster daughter of the fisherman chieftain. This chieftain, however,

refused to give Satyavati in marriage to Santanu, unless he agreed to

let

her children inherit the kingdom. Seeing his father pining away,

Devavrata

made enquiries, and found out about Satyavati. So he gave the fisherman

chieftain the promise that he would step aside, and let his father's

children from Satyavati inherit the kingdom. To prevent future

complications in the line of descent, he also promised never to marry,

and

to remain celibate all his life. Thus, he tried to prevent a potential

civil war within his father's dynasty.

 

Satyavati and Santanu had two sons, named Citrangada and Vicitravirya.

Citrangada died when he was very young, and Vicitravirya inherited the

kingdom. He was married to two princesses, named Ambika and Ambalika,

but

he died without fathering any sons, and the dynastic succession was once

again in danger. Devavrata, now widely called Bhishma, on account of his

vow, declined to break his word and marry at this late stage. Satyavati

invoked the old law of levirate, according to which a brother-in-law of

a

newly widowed woman could be a biological father of her children, which

would be legally considered to be those of the dead husband. She asked

Bhishma to father sons on the newly widowed wives of Vicitravirya,

according to this law, but he again refused, because he had promised to

remain celibate all his life. He advised her to search for some highly

qualified Brahmana, who could perform this role, citing ancient

precedent

for this practice among Kshatriya families.

 

Satyavati then revealed that before she married Santanu, she had had

another son, through Parasara, a great Rishi, and a grandson of the

great

Vedic Rishi, Vasishtha. This son of Parasara and Satyavati was

Dvaipayana,

who was the same as the famous Vyasa, the redactor of the Vedas. Because

Vyasa and Vicitravirya had the same mother, they were also brothers in

one

sense. Bhishma and Satyavati felt that this Vyasa would be an apt choice

to produce sons on Vicitravirya's widows. However, Vyasa told them that

the princesses may not tolerate his matted hair and his deerskin, and

his

strange ways of the forest, which would be very alien to women who had

always been used to the comforts of a king's palace. The elder wife,

Ambika, closed her eyes in fear, when she saw Vyasa. Accordingly,

Dhritarashtra, her son, was born blind. It was an ancient custom that a

king should not have any such bodily defect, so Satyavati asked the

younger wife, Ambalika, to go to Vyasa. This princess turned pale in

fear,

and accordingly her son, Pandu, was born pale-skinned (albinic?).

Satyavati asked her daugher-in-law to go again to Vyasa, but this

princess

decked one of her servant maids in her ornaments and sent her to him.

This

maid received Vyasa cheerfully, and her son, Vidura, was born extremely

wise. Vidura acted as a minister and counsellor to the dynasty. During

the

infancy of the new children, Bhishma remained true to his word, and

acted

only as the regent, not the king.

 

In due course, Pandu became the king, although he was the younger

brother.

This was because Dhritarashtra was blind. The usual rule was one of

primogeniture, so that it became unclear whether in the future, Pandu's

sons should inherit after him, or whether the kingdom should revert back

to Dhritarashtra's line. Pandu died early, when his children were still

infants. This was the beginning of the entire conflict which lead to the

Mahabharata war. Dhritarashtra had a wife named Gandhari, who had a

hundred sons, Duryodhana, Dusshasana and others. She also had a

daughter,

named Dusshala, who later married Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu, which

lay to the west of Hastinapura.

 

Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri, who produced five children.

Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna were Kunti's children, while Nakula and

Sahadeva, the twins, were Madri's children. These five were known as the

Pandavas, or the sons of Pandu. In reality, they were all children of

Gods

- Yudhishthira was born of Dharma, the God of Law, Bhima from Vayu, the

God of Wind, Arjuna from Indra, the king of the Gods, and Nakula and

Sahadeva from the Asvin twins, the Gods of medicine. This was a result

of

a boon which Kunti had received in childhood, according to which, using

the power of a secret mantra, she could invoke any God to come to her.

The

five Pandavas had a common wife, Draupadi, the princess of Pancala. This

was a kingdom to the south-east of Hastinapura. They also had other

wives

of their own. One must particularly mention Arjuna's wife, Subhadra, who

was the younger sister of Lord Krishna. Another set of family

relationships must be mentioned here. Kunti, the elder wife of Pandu,

was

a sister of Krishna's father, so that the Pandavas and Krishna were also

cousins.

 

With so many important players in the generation after Pandu and

Dhritarashtra, the question of who would become king became quite

complicated. Pandu's eldest son, Yudhishthira, was older than

Dhritarashtra's eldest son, Duryodhana. After Pandu's death,

Dhritarashtra

became the regent of the kingdom, and Yudhishthira was designated crown

prince. If all had gone well, Yudhishthira would have inherited the

kingdom in full right, and we would have had no battle, and no

bhagavad-gItA. Very early on, the five sons of Pandu and the hundred

sons

of Dhritarashtra grew to hate one another. In particular, Duryodhana

harbored great enmity towards Bhima, the second Pandava. Duryodhana also

tried to orchestrate a fire in the Pandava palace, in order to kill the

Pandavas. However, they managed to escape, and lived incognito for a

while, at the end of which they came to Pancala anad married Draupadi,

their common wife. On returning to Hastinapura, a partition of the

kingdom

was arranged, with Yudhishthira ruling from a new capital at

Indraprastha,

while Dhritarashtra and his sons remained at Hastinapura. Soon

Yudhishthira and his four brothers established their rule from

Indraprastha, leading to further conflicts for Duryodhana and his

ninety-nine brothers. Duryodhana invited Yudhishthira to a game of dice,

in which he used loaded dice and cheated the Pandavas out of all their

possessions. Draupadi was also much insulted during this game. Finally,

ashamed at his son's behavior, Dhritarashtra returned all the

possessions

to the Pandavas, and sent them back to Indraprastha. A second challenge

for a game of dice was issued, and Duryodhana won again, aided by the

cunning and deviousness of his maternal uncle, Sakuni. As a result, the

Pandavas had to once again repair to the forest for a period of twelve

years, to be followed by a year of living incognito.

 

At the end of this thirteen year period, the Pandavas again tried to

negotiate their kingdom back, but Duryodhana was adamant in his refusal

to

accept their claim. Krishna, the cousin of the Pandavas, tried to

mediate,

but all his efforts were in vain. Duryodhana essentially maintained that

unless the Pandavas defeated him and his brothers in battle, they had no

claim to any kingdom. Each party was allied through bonds of friendship

and matrimonial ties to a number of other important and powerful

kingdoms.

Thus, preparations for a battle of epic proportions began. with the

other

kings deciding to cast in their lot with one of the two sets of cousins.

As might be expected, every one of the important fighters on each side

was

related to every one else on the other side. Fathers found themselves

fighting with sons, uncles with nephews and grandfathers with grandsons.

Among the more important people, Bhishma, the grand old man of the

dynasty, fought on the side of Duryodhana and his brothers. So did

Drona,

who had taught archery to all the princes. Krishna, the cousin of the

Pandavas, acted as a charioteer of Arjuna, as he had decided not to

fight

in this fratricidal war.

 

With this setting in the background, the bhagavad-gItA begins. Arjuna,

who

had resolved to fight till the last breath, and win back the kingdom,

asks

Krishna to drive him to the center of the battlefield, so that he may

survey the armies on both sides. Suddenly, Arjuna is gripped with fear

and

self-loathing and grows despondent over the ultimate pointlessness of it

all. He sees no good that can come out of this war, and asks Krishna how

he could possibly fight against Bhishma and Drona, people who are worthy

of his reverence.

 

In addressing this sudden doubt of Arjuna, his cousin and charioteer

Krishna, reveals the remarkable teaching of the gItA. As it turns out,

Krishna is not an ordinary human being, and is an incarnation of the

Lord

Narayana. As such, he is much more than a cousin, and much more than a

charioteer. In the course of the teaching, as we shall see, Krishna

reveals the Universal Form, filling Arjuna with wonder and awe. This

narration of Krishna's is itself embedded within the narration of a

minister named Sanjaya to the old Dhrirashtra. As the latter was blind,

and could not take part in the war, Vyasa gives the gift of divine

vision

to Sanjaya, who then narrates all the events of the war, beginning with

the gItA, to the end of the eighteenth day, when Duryodhana and all his

army has been killed, except for three people. On the Pandava side, the

only survivors are the five Pandavas themselves.

 

Various kinds of allegorical connections have been drawn from the epic

story, by various scholars and teachers. Academic scholars, for example,

see a model of the Indian social organization, based on the four varnas,

represented in the qualities of the five Pandavas. From a more practical

perspective, and this will be of more interest to readers here, the five

Pandavas are usually said to represent the five senses. Krishna, the

charioteer, is the Atman, who holds the reins and guides them

throughout.

Without the light of the Atman, the senses are lost, just as the

Pandavas

are lost without the help and guidance of Krishna. The hundred cousins

on

the opposite side, Duryodhana and the others, represent various kinds of

negative tendencies and qualities, which constantly threaten to

overpower

the five senses. With the help of the indestructible Atman, the Pandavas

win the battle. The Mahabharata war is not only an ancient mythological

war, it is also an internal war that each human being fights in the

course

of transmigratory existence. The bhagavad gItA, which is the teaching of

the Lord Krishna, given at the onset of this war, teaches one how to

face

this war with equanimity and forbearance. It is meant not only for

Arjuna,

who once prepared for battle, suddenly grows despondent and is prepared

to

walk away. While the Lord teaches Arjuna how to prepare himself,

mentally,

emotionally, spiritually and psychologically for the war of the

Mahabharata, the bhagavad gItA has corresponding lessons for all human

beings.

 

While this teaching is universal, it is also simultaneously geared for

each individual. Krishna recognizes that there are many kinds of

diseases,

each of which requires a different kind of medicine at different times

along the way. Therefore, the gItA teaches according to the concept of

adhikAra, i.e. the eligibility of each aspirant. Since it contains

teachings for all gradations of adhikArins, its thought is difficult to

follow. It seems to contradict in one place what it says in another.

This

has lead to all sorts of opinions about the origins and development of

the

text. This is not the place to go into these opinions in any detail.

Suffice it to say that the text clearly has a unitary purpose, and is

deliberately designed so as to have its different pieces and threads to

fit in snugly together, to form a beautiful mosaic, as it were. This is

made expressly clear in SankarAcArya's commentary on the text, where the

connection of each verse to the next is explained, and various other

cross-chapter references are mentioned and elaborated.

 

In the next posting in this series, the introductory chapter of

SankarAcArya's bhAshya will be discussed, where the great commentator

situates the teaching of the gItA within the age-old Indian parameters

of

pravRtti and nivRtti dharmas. In the process, he also explains the

sphere

of application of karma, and the sphere of application of jnAna, and how

the latter can not and should not be falsely combined with the former.

Each has its own distinct use for man. Specifically, karma can be done

after an acknowledgement of the superiority of jnAna, in the spirit of

desireless action (nishkAmya karma) or as an offering to the Lord. When

it

comes to describing the real nature of the Atman, the state of

liberation,

it is only jnAna that reigns supreme, and neither expects, nor needs any

support from karma. The posting after the next will cover the first

chapter of the gItA briefly, and take up the commentary as it begins in

the second chapter.

 

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Vidyasankar