Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita- Part 2: Post-5: Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday 23, Aug 2024, 06:40.
Article
Scriptures
Introduction to the Bhagavadgita: Part 2.
POST-5.
Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on March 17th, 1974)

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The beginning of the Bhagavadgita is thus an atmosphere of tension, conflict, and a coming together of two apparently irreconcilable forces. Dhritarashtra appears in the very beginning of the Bhagavadgita. He was born blind, as I mentioned. Here, when we go into the significant profundity that seems to be hidden in the message of the Gita, we also see that here is a spiritual message for us behind the historical context. The field of the Mahabharata is not merely outside, it is also inside. The Mahabharata epic is a book of life as a whole; it is not merely a narrative of an event that took place. The narrative is only an occasion for Vyasa to interpret the philosophy of life. The entire philosophy and the psychology and the practical techniques of human conduct have all been beautifully incorporated into the verses of the Mahabharata by the mighty Vyasa.

The blind king Dhritarashtra had a proud son called Duryodhana. This is to speak historically as recorded in the Mahabharata. But the Mahabharata is not merely a history, it is also a psychology, and it is also a text of deep yogic mysticism. It is a magnificent record of a spiritual message to mankind. As we saw last time, it incorporates into its body the message of the Vedas and the Upanishads. Bhāratham panchamo veda: The Mahabharata is called the fifth Veda. Sometimes people have gone even to the extent of saying that the Mahabharata is weightier than even the four Vedas on account of its vastness and depth and the comprehensiveness of its approach.

Now, from another angle of vision, if we look into this context of the beginning of the Bhagavadgita gospel, we see Dhritarashtra speaking out his conscience to Sanjaya, which represents the eye of wisdom, understanding and discrimination, together with the entry of the proud Duryodhana into the field of battle.

The pride of man is an outcome of his ignorance. We are not proud because of our knowledge. The epic very rightly portrays Dhritarashtra as born blind. From the very beginning, he could not see things. He could not know the truth of anything in the world; he could only listen to what was told to him. And he bred a hundred children led by the central principle of the ego, which would not listen to the advice of anyone. “What I say alone is right” or perhaps “might alone is right” was the doctrine of Duryodhana, the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra, as avidya cannot beget anything other than ahamkara. Dhritarashtra represents avidya, closed eyes; he cannot see anything, from the very beginning itself. And what is avidya? To mistake the wrong for the right, which it was that Dhritarashtra did right from the very beginning. He was told what was the proper thing for him to do, and he seemed to have understood it, but finally he would again follow the old beaten track chalked out to him by his own son Duryodhana.

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Continued

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