A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 15.5. - Swami Krishnananda.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2022. 06:00. 
Chapter 15: Krishna and Arjuna Together is Victory-5.

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In a story from the Mahabharata there was a king called Damodava. He wanted to conquer the whole world, and had no peace of mind even for a single day unless he had somebody to conquer. He went on warring with all people, and one day he found there was no one to fight with because he had overcome everybody in the world. But still he was restless: "I have nothing to conquer. This is a miserable life. I must conquer something." So he went to Brahma, the Creator, and said, "I want to conquer, but I'm feeling very unhappy because there is nothing to conquer. I have already conquered everything."

Brahma said, "What kind of man you are! There is somebody I know of. You go to him, and he will be equal to you in war."

"Eh? There is somebody still whom I have not conquered? I thought I had conquered the whole world," said Damodava.

"There is somebody whom you have not seen.–Perhaps he will be equal to you, and teach you a good lesson. Nara and Narayana are in Badrinath. Go and meet them, and you can fight with them if you like," said Brahma.

"Is it so? Then I shall see to it," he said.

Damodava went to Badrinath with a large army, and Narayana and Nara were seated in meditation with closed eyes. He made a big noise. "Hello!"

They both opened their eyes. "What is the matter with you?"

"I have come to give battle," said Damodava.

Nara replied, "This is not a place for war. Here nobody fights. This is a peaceful abode of meditation. It is a divine, holy spot. We are engaged in meditation. You have come to the wrong place. We request you to go away from here, as we do not fight anybody. This is a peaceful area."

"No, it is not like that," Damodava said. "Brahma has told that you are equal to me, and I want to fight with you. I want to wage a war."

Again Nara, the younger one, said, "This is not a place for war." But Damodava went on insisting, and he would not budge from that place. Then Nara took a blade of grass and charged it with a vehicle called Brahmastra, and let it off. One became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen. They went on multiplying. Ferocious beams of fire started darting forth and entered the eyes and every pore of the body of every soldier, every limb and every organ, so they felt they were all perishing in one second. The entire army cried, and the king also wailed.

"Oh please," Damodava said. "Please withdraw this."

Nara withdrew the whole thing and said, "In the future, don't come here. Go back. Don't be so egoistic."

Even Brahma is supposed to pay obeisance to Narayana and Nara. One day Brahma was holding assembly in his abode, and all the gods were seated there. Everyone stood up and offered prayers and salutations to Brahma. Suddenly these two entered the hall and passed through it, not recognising the presence of anybody there – not even Brahma himself. All were surprised. Brahma was seated there on the pedestal, divinities were in the audience and these two persons crossed the audience, going to the other side. The people were shocked and asked Brahma, "What is this kind of behaviour?"

Brahma said, "I will tell you who they are. The whole world cannot stand before them. They are Narayana and Nara, whose light it is that is enveloping the whole universe. No one can be regarded as superior to them, and nothing is equal to them. These are Krishna and Arjuna, who piloted the entire process of the Mahabharata battle. Wherever Krishna and Arjuna stand together in a single chariot, there shall be victory."

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This is a message for each one of us also. You are sure to have success in your walk of life if the Krishna in you and the Arjuna in you work together in this single chariot of your life. Your life is this bodily existence, this social existence, and also this cosmic existence. In these three layers, may Krishna and Arjuna work in a state of harmony. Krishna is God, Arjuna is man. Krishna is grace, Arjuna is effort. Krishna is knowledge, Arjuna is action. Krishna is the universal, Arjuna is the particular. Krishna is the macrocosm, Arjuna is the microcosm. These are certain epitaphs we may employ to describe the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna. One simply is, the other is incessantly active. In the war of the Mahabharata, every minute Arjuna was active, Sri Krishna was sitting quietly. This is the relationship between God and the human individual. Incessantly active and very much concerned with all things is the human individual. Concerned with nothing is God Almighty. He is just concerned with His existence. These two realities have to blend into a single focus of attention for the purpose of success of any kind in this world.

Here again we are coming to the question of the union of Sankhya and Yoga, the essence of Sankhya being Krishna, the essence of Yoga being Arjuna. Work and knowledge, action and understanding, the individuality of a person and the cosmicality in which it is involved should go together in a harmonious setting. Then the energy of the cosmos enters into the individual, as the power of Krishna was always within Arjuna. The energy of Arjuna, with which he lifted the Gandiva bow, arose from the personality of Krishna, who was sitting there. Like a solar orb which is giving energy to the entire space – without acting in any other way, merely by existing it is giving this energy – so by the mere existence of this super-individual essence, Arjuna wrought everything in the war. And the success went to whom? We may say that Arjuna, with his dextrous moves, conquered the Kauravas. The soldiers had won victory. But from where did the soldiers get the strength to lift their arms? The energy came from another source altogether.

In this way we have to live in this world by bringing the God element into our personality, and not excessively asserting our individuality. The Gita is a reiteration of this incumbent process in which we have to be involved every day, that we cannot miss the awareness of God for a second. Sa hanisthan maha chidhram sa ch antha jada moodatha, yan muhurtham kshanam vapi Vasudevam na chinthayeth (Pandava Gita 70). This is the Pandava Gita. That is veritable hell for you, that is mischief, and that is the source of every kind of trouble. What is 'that'? It is that moment when you forget your relationship to that Universal Reality. The moment you begin to assert yourself as an independent person, trouble has already started brewing. Therefore, the study of the Bhagavadgita is not merely an academic enlightenment or learning. It is an entry into the very system of living in the world. It is a practical practice, not merely a theory that you can learn and then give it up. This is the Bhagavadgita.

Where Krishna and Arjuna are together in one place, there is victory. Where the individual is in union with God, where you are in a state of perfect internal harmony with your great Master Supreme, you shall have every kind of blessedness.

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END.

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