Panchajanyam Hrshikesah-a lucid commentary of Bhagavatgita

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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. †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. .

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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