Chapter 1 Shloka 12

तस्य संजनयन्हर्षं कुरुवृद्ध: पितामह:।

सिंहनादं विनद्योच्चै: शंखं दध्मौ प्रतापवान्।।१२।।

The Revered Grandsire of the Kauravas, Bhishma Pitamah,

blew his conch with a formidable sound

like the roar of a lion,

delighting Duryodhana’s heart.

Chapter 1 Shloka 12

तस्य संजनयन्हर्षं कुरुवृद्ध: पितामह:।

सिंहनादं विनद्योच्चै: शंखं दध्मौ प्रतापवान्।।१२।।

The Revered Grandsire of the Kauravas, Bhishma Pitamah, blew his conch with a formidable sound like the roar of a lion, delighting Duryodhana’s heart.

Bhishma blew his conch with a reverberating roar:

a) to abolish Duryodhana’s distress;

b) to fill Duryodhana’s heart with courage;

c) to make Duryodhana joyous and to reassure him, Bhishma declared war.

Why do great souls thus ‘sell’ themselves?

Why did Bhishma support Duryodhana?

We, too, sell our loyalties in a similar manner.

1. Because we have enjoyed someone’s hospitality, we support our hosts.

2. We support the wrong even when we are afraid of worldly disapproval.

3. Promises previously given prevent us from withdrawing support to the wrongdoers.

4. It is inconvenient to change our stand, so we side the wrong.

5. One’s reluctance to break a long-standing relationship makes one support the false.

6. A false sense of duty sometimes persuades one to take a wrong stand.

7. Due to one’s strong likes, dislikes and attachments one supports the immoral and incurs sin.

8. It becomes difficult to forsake the evil one has supported all one’s life.

Thus Bhishma Pitamah resorted to erroneous reasoning and supported the unjust:

a) forsaking even Krishna;

b) deserting Dharmaraj (the sovereign of justice i.e. Yudhishtir);

c) thus he renounced the support of Truth and joined hands with the evil doers;

d) he defended deceit and fraud in his defence of the greedy and arrogant Duryodhana;

e) he deserted the path of dharma and took the path of injustice.

Reasons for forsaking justice

1. We are afraid of aggressive people.

2. We are afraid of our own sins and the exposure of our own weaknesses.

3. We are afraid of any harm to ourselves.

4. We are afraid of death.

5. We are afraid of taking on any trouble.

Thus a person gives excuses in order to prove himself blameless. He justifies his intentions as pure. He takes the support of illusory arguments to prove himself to be just and fair. He leans on a false sense of duty and fallacious principles or on a misplaced sense of loyalty. Thus he treads the path of his ‘likes’ rather than the course of righteousness.

Sadhana

Little one, you must understand that one’s duty is not towards mankind but towards the Lord. Similarly, our love too must flow towards the Lord.

Those who love the Lord:

a) will necessarily love the Lord’s attributes;

b) will seek to imbibe those qualities;

c) will disseminate mercy and compassion even as they seek it from the Lord;

d) will eradicate enmity, greed and desire from their hearts;

e) will pray for the strength to be humble but will not expect humility or subjugation from the other;

f)  will be forgiving.

Such people love the Truth and their every endeavour is directed towards their duty to that Truth. They love the qualities of sincerity, compassion, renunciation, detachment, selfless endeavour, forgiveness and justice and recognise their duty towards these divine traits.

Try to understand this again: the duty of a seeker does not lie with other human beings but towards upholding the very concept and practice of duty. If one views duty in relationship to other human beings, one gets enmeshed in considerations of one’s relationship with them, of their importance or insignificance, whether they are good or bad.

He who loves justice, is loyal to justice even if he annoys his near and dear ones in the process. He pays no heed to any loss to himself personally – he continues to serve the cause of justice. If his close relations are unjust to anyone, that lover of justice and Truth will always side the aggrieved party, even at the risk of upsetting his own kith and kin and having to bear their abuses. Such an elevated sadhak and the devotee who is established in the Supreme, endures smilingly the ensuing inevitable rush of temper. They tolerate everything silently, because their intrinsic love for compassion, forgiveness and other divine qualities transcends all. These attributes become such an inherent ingredient of their nature, that they pay no heed to any injustice or injury done to them personally. Their compassion and forgiveness encompasses even their detractors.

Bhishma Pitamah knew only too well where justice and Truth lay; even so he supported Duryodhana, the unjust one. This was his blunder.

The view point of a sadhak

The sadhak should understand Dhritrashtra to represent the blind intellect and Bhishma Pitamah, the epitome of illusory justifications – which one indulges in to absolve oneself from not supporting the right and the just. Duryodhana is the mind, immured in the darkness of tamas, wherein only likes and dislikes predominate. Dronacharya is the attached mind which is easily aroused by past enmities and which utilises knowledge wrongly for the fulfilment of its own desires and greed.

The duty of a sadhak

The sadhak must:

a) Increase his love for the Lord and imbibe divine qualities.

b) Prove the efficacy of these qualities in daily life.

c) Fulfil his duties whilst practising these qualities.

d) Give proof of the renunciation of greed and desires in his everyday dealings.

e) Practice forgiveness towards those who deceive and cheat him.

f)  Practice tolerance of insult or indignity and yet embrace that very critic with love.

g) Desist from dissociating himself from what he does not like, but try to understand and accept it.

h) Be loyal to the Lord and His qualities and not to individuals.

This is love for the Truth. This is the method to follow the Truth. This is the essence of tapas. This is the foundation of yagya in action. This is homage to the Lord.