Yadhavabhyudhaya-Chapter22

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Chapter22- The dhigvijaya- the conquest

 

Krishna called the allies of yadhavas and told them that they should march against those who shun the path of dharma. He gave a lecture on dharma and the duty of those who uphold it.

 

In the night called indiscrimination the Lord has given a lamp called neethi sasthra which helps one to avoid stepping into the mire of adharma and it serves as the hand of the Lord to rescue those who go down.

 

The advice of the wicked is like an upturned umbrella which will not protect from the rain of calamities.

To walk along the beaten track of the good is to avoid pitfalls, said Krishna and told them to march into the world to conquer all except Kouravas and Pandavas (because Krishna had other plans for them!)

 

Krishna advised them to discard false ego, dhurahankara, which destroys all good conduct and is contrary to the world and sasthra. Here the KavithArkika simha says through the words of Krishna that the dhurahankara is the life force of the pAshandamatha, the schools of Philosophy that are against the vedas, meaning Buddhism and Jainism, because they cling to their concepts with obstinacy and arrogance.

 

Krishna cautioned them to be careful of arrogance born out of ego as the one who is at the cliff-top is wary of falling down.

The body, mind and intellect are like three kinds of friends to be handled properly.

This has reference to the words suhrd, mithra and banDhu mentioned in the Gita. Suhrd is one who has friendship without reason and out of goodness of heart. Mithra is the one who is friendly with a purpose and banDhu is the relation who is friendly because of the relation ship. There are three ways to impress a friend, by welcoming him from a distance, by opening your heart to him and by gifts depending on which kind of friend he is.

 

Krishna further said that to believe those who are easily excitable and not have faith in those who love you, both are like thorns in your path to prosperity and to be uprooted

The prosperity itself is like a cobra which can be worn on the body when the poison is taken out. Like the manthra to remove the poison there are five limbs to establish the seven aspects of the kingdom to bring prosperity.

The five limbs mentioned here are, sahAya, assistance, sADhanopAya, means of ensuring success, dhesakAla vibhAga, right apportioning of time and place, viptthipratheekAra, antidote for calamities and siddhi, success. The seven aspects of a kingdom are, The king, ministers, country, fort, treasury, army and allies.

 

pramAdhasapthakam thyakthva prayujyopAyasapthakam

angasapthaka sampatthya jayatha dhveepasapthakam

(Yad.22.29)

 

Krishna told them to give up seven ills, employ the seven means, acquiring the seven limbs of the kingdom overpower the seven islands.

 

The seven ills- Hunting, dice, women, drink, harsh speech, character assassination and cruel punishment'

The seven means- sama, peace, dhana, gift, bhedha, creating rift dhanda, punishment, mAdeluding, upekshA, indifference and indhrajAla, magic.

The seven limbs of kingdom has been mentioned earlier.

The seven dhveepas – jambu, plaksha,SAlmali,kuSa, krouncha,SAkha and pushkara.

To conquer and rule the earth first one has to win his internal enemies namely, kama krodha etc. Next they need six kinds of strength, heriditary, from servants, army, that given by friend, and by enemy's enemy. But the most important one is the inner strength without which nothing is of any use.

 

The life is like movable tree. The childhood is the sprouts, the youth is the flower and the sanathana dharma is the fruit. The life ebbs away whether you are awake or sleeping. So one should amass immutable wealth in the form of spiritual discipline.

 

So long Desika has been handing out the treasures from the neethi sasthra and dharma sasthra. Now Krishna concludes his advice and starts talking about his generals like Sathyaki.

 

Krishna compares Sathyaki to his sword Nandhaka. Like the sword Sathyaki pleases him and the similarities mentioned between them are,

parivAreNa sampannah – Sathyaki is surrounded by his men and the sword is also covered with the scabbard.

thyakthakoSah kAryathah- gives away the treasures when necessary and the sword leaves its scabbard when needed.

Sathrujith- winning the enemy.

 

All of them drank thirstily the words, sarasvathee, of Krishna, which was SruthisoursbhA, fragrant of the Vedas, priyahithA , sweet as well as beneficial and pariSuddhA, pure.

 

Then Sathyaki started with his army like a second Krishna for the Dhikvijaya. He subdued the regions of Gujarath, Persia, Mathyadhesa and the adjacent ones, and fought the yavanas. Thus conquering all the plaes in the west he advance towards northwest and won over the regions of Sind, kamboja and Kashmir. Then he over powered the Himalayan region and advanced to Nepal and conquered Bengal and the regions in the east won over Kalinga and through Andhra which surrendered he went to Tamilnadu. Entering into Kanchi and was impressed by it which resembled Svethadhveepa, at the centre of the milky ocea, seeing the devotees of Narayana there. Then he went to the chola and pandya kingdoms and enjoyed the sanctity there. Kerala and Ceylon and all the regions surrendered to the rule of Krishna and sathyaki returned to Dvaraka victorious.