Panchajanyam hrshikesah-chapter1

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Chapter 1. The Sound of the Conch.

 

 

 

Panchajanyam Hrishikesah- Lord Krishna sounded his conch

which was music to His followers but sounded the death knell to His

foes. The one who played the flute in Brindavan enchanting the whole

world with His music, blew His conch in Kurukshetra, stunning the

Kaurava forces into silence.

 

 

 

Panchajanya the conch of the Lord, is pranavasvarupa,

represents Omkaara, and hence synonymous with nadhabrahmam, as pranava,

the syllable OM is the source of all sound. Om ityekaksharam brahma,

Brahman the Absolute Reality synonymous with syllable OM, says the

sruti. When the Lord touched the face of the boy Dhruva with the

Panchajanya he became eloquent. Such was the power of Panchajanya.

 

 

 

At the outset of the Mahabharata war Lord Krishna blew His

conch in response to the conch blown by Bhishma, who wanted to hearten

Duryodhana as the latter was a bit jittery but not enough to make him

see sense. This scene was described to the blind king Dhritarashtra by

Sanjaya, his charioteer. Sanjaya had been invested with a divine vision

by the sage Vyasa, which enabled him to visualize the battlefield as if

on a TV screen

 

 

 

Dhrtarashtra was blind not only physically but also

psychologically .He was blind to the faults of his son Duryodhana ,

blind to the course of dharma and blind to the power of Krishna ,the

saviour of the Pandavas. The opening verse of the Bhagavatgita proves

this. Dhrtarashtra asks Sanjaya “ What did my people and the

Pandavas do in the field of Kuruksetra, the field of dharma. â€

The term my people, mamakah, shows his partiality towards his sons.

The qualifying phrase ‘ field of dharma' used by him to denote

the battlefield clearly indicates his perverted notion of dharma

implying that it is his son who has the right to inherit the kingdom

and the war fought in the dharmakshetra should be favourable to his

son. The price he paid for his blind love towards his son Duryodhana

was indeed very high , namely the total annihilation of the Kuru race.

 

The battle of Mahabharata signifies the fight between the evil and

the good impulses in man that ever goes on within. The good impulses are

fewer in number like the Pandava army while the bad impulses are

comparatively greater in number. But with divine grace good always

triumphs over the wicked. When the mind is turned towards God ,man hears

the sound of the Panchajanya , which becomes divine music that rouses

the satvik, noble, quelling the rajasic dynamic and tamasic lower

impulses.. The power of music in restraining the animal passions and

evoking finer sentiments in the listener is due to the manifestation of

divinity through music. The inner self rises in its pristine purity

above the sense experience to merge with the divine.

 

But to reach that state one has to become aware of the divinity within

and invoke the Lord , the true self of all beings. Arjuna requested Lord

Krishna to become his charioteer and the Lord consented. Similarly one

has to ask for His help to be saved from disaster. When He becomes our

sarathy as He did for Arjuna , with Parthasarathy on our side the

victory is ours.

 

The Upanishads are the cows whose milk is the Bhagavatgita , milked

by Lord Krishna for the benefit of sudheehiThe purpose of the Lord in

accepting the role of the charioteer to Arjuna was not merely to secure

him victory in the battle. He did so mainly for the benefit of mankind ,

in order to give the Gospel of wisdom , ‘ The Song of the Supreme

Self.’, Bhagavatgita. Arjuna was only a pretext to bring forth

the gift of God to humanity. This is beautifully expressed in the sloka

‘sarvopanishado gavo dhogdha gopala nandhanah ; partho tvatsah

sudhirbhoktha dhugdham gitamruta mahat ,all the Upanishads became the

cows the one who milked them being the son of a cowherd, the calf was

Partha and the milk, gitamruta and the consumers of the milk were

sudheeh the people with right thinking. who seek the wisdom of the

scriptures .Arjuna was the calf to induce the cow to give the milk.

 

The act of milking comes naturally to a cowherd. But this gopala has

put on the costume of a cowherd to delude others. Vedanta Desika calls

him mithyaagopah , a feigned cowherd. Actually the term gopalanandana

etymologically could be construed to mean the Lord , the word

‘go’ in Sanskrit has several meanings such as veda earth

etc. The gopala is the one who protects the world and the Vedas. He is

of the nature of bliss and bestows bliss on those who revel in Him. So

He is called Gopala nandana.

 

 

What is the necessity for a separate treatise ,namely ,Bhagavatgita

when the same knowledge can be had from the Upanishads directly? To

understand the Upanishads one has to undergo a rigorous discipline

involved in learning through a guru, away from the world and that is why

this portion of the vedas are called aaranyakaa, of the forest. So how

can the ordinary man acquire the wisdom to enable him to become free

from bondage of karma? For this purpose Krishna put on the mantle of

Jagatguru out of compassion and put forth Gita for all to follow. .

`

Bhagavatgita is the guide book of man in the path of evolution. The goal

of human life is to realize his true self. Whichever route a man takes ,

materially or spiritually the destination is the same. The desire for

evolution is instinctive in all creatures ,as proved by the

Darwin’s theory. Even a man who aspires for success in his

worldly pursuits will be helped by the study of the Gita as the

principles underlined therein are applicable in everyday life. In fact

the management techniques and the psychological concepts that have

gathered worldwide popularity now , are nothing but the principles

underlined in the Gita sans the devotional and spiritual aspects of it.

A musician can evolve into a maestro , a student can develop into a

scholar , an artist can blossom into a master , by assimilating the

truths declared by Lord Krishna in the Gita.

 

 

 

 

In order to expound the discourse of the Gita Lord Krishna

deliberately created a confusion in the mind of Arjuna that made him

say “ I will not fight.†The fact that he was going to

fight his own kith and kin was already known to him and there is no

reason as to why he should develop a guilty conscience for doing so. It

was the divine will that made him act so. Arjuna’s state of mind

can be compared to that of anyone who stands at the brink of the

greatest moment of his life. It may be the first lecture of a speaker or

the first important examination of a student or the first interview

or even the eve of one’s marriage ! It is natural that one

feels apprehensive at such a moment, not necessarily because of fear

but due to anxiety over the outcome of his venture. Success will crown

only the man who is calm and relaxed , with no anxiety about the

result. This can be achieved only through the wisdom of the Gita.

 

 

 

When Arjuna asked Krishna to move his chariot between the array of

the two armies Krishna deliberately drove to the place where Bhishma and

Drona were standing and not where Duryodhana was with his brothers,

as Arjuna expected. If it were so, Arjuna would have had no hesitation

to fight. But facing his elders he realized that to win the battle he

had to fight against his revered guru and beloved grandfather. This

upset him. Not being able to face this unavoidable situation he resorted

to escapism saying that he had no heart to kill his own kith and kin. He

reeled out arguments seemingly valid to support his decision all of

which Krishna totally dismisses later as being irrelevent.He pointed out

to Krishna the futility of winning the war after destroying one’s

own relatives. He said that he did not want to enjoy even the kingdom of

heaven by doing so, leave alone enjoying the kingdom on earth. He

elaborated on the evil effects of destroying the family like destruction

of tradition , virtue. As a result, the one who was instrumental for

doing so would go to hell. Arjuna ends his discourse by saying that he

will not fight. He seemed to have been so overwhelmed by pity and

sorrow that he said gandeevam sramsathe hasthaath. .His great bow

slipped from his hand and he was covered with sweat all over. Such was

the condition of the great hero not out of fear but due to misplaced

compassion and anxiety at the crucial moment of his life.

 

..

 

Arjuna exhausted himself and seemed to be at crossroads and said

“ I am utterly confused please tell me what is good for

me.†He uses the word shreyas. So long he had been talking

about what was preyas to him, what he wanted to do. .Now he was asking

what he should do. Then and then only the Lord started talking .In our

life too we go on telling the lord what to do and never ask Him what we

should do. When we do ask He starts telling us what to do .Similarly

when Arjuna said sishyastheham shaadhimaam thwaam prapannam, I am your

desciple I surrender to you, only then Krishna starts giving him the

advice because advice given unasked will not be taken well!

 

Arjuna’s arguments were blown into shreds by Krishna who says

kuthasthwaam kashmalamidham vishame samupasthitham 'wherefrom did you

get this nonsensical ideas at the most inopportune moment?' Krishna

dismisses all the seemingly lofty arguments of Arjuna as being

unaryajushtam ignoble, aswargyam that which shuts the gates of heaven

for you , akeerthikaram disgraceful for a hero like you He calls it

klaibyam unmanliness. Then comes the real reason for Arjuna’s

mental conflict. He says “How can I fight Bhishma and Drona on

the battle field as they are worthy of my reverence? Finally he

surrenders to the Lord by saying sishyastheham.

 

Now starts the real discourse of Bhagavatgita. Krishna says

asochyaananvasochasthwam prajnaavadhaamschabhashase‘You are

grieving over those who need not be grieved about.’ What Krishna

means here is that Bhishma and Drona had no compunction to fight

against their own grandson and pupil respectively, not because they were

heartless but because they had no confusion about their duty,

svadharma like Arjuna. Further Krishna says that Arjuna had tried to

conceal his confusion under his arguments as though they were words of

wisdom prajnaavadhaamscha bhaashase. The arguments of Arjuna are

ridiculed by Krishna because if he were really wise panditha he would

not have worried over life and death. .Then Krishna starts giving Arjuna

the divine wisdom.

 

Nathwevaamham jathunaasam nathvam neme naradhipaah states Krishna, '

there was never a time when you, I, and all these men in front ceased to

be nor will there be a time when we all will cease to be. This is the

answer to the question who am I. You are not what you think you are ,

says the Lord .The anxiety about living and dying comes only through

identifying yourself with the body. Death is not the end of you but it

is only a change of circumstance. You are not overly worried about

changing from boyhood to youth or to old age which you consider a

natural occurrence. So too death is only natural change about which you

need not worry.

 

Then Krishna goes on to talk about what is real and what is

transient.