Chapter 1 Shloka 1

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सव:।

मामका: पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय।।१।।

Dhritrashtra questioned Sanjay:

Assembled at Kurukshetra, the field of dharma,

eager for battle,

what did my sons and the Pandavas do?

Arjuna’s Despondency

 Chapter 1 Shloka 1

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सव:।

मामका: पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय।।१।।

Dhritrashtra questioned Sanjay:

Assembled at Kurukshetra, the field of dharma, eager for battle, what did my sons and the Pandavas do?

The term dharma kshetra denotes:

1. The field of spiritual progress.

2. The store house of meritorious deeds.

3. The individual’s arena of action.

4. A situation full of adversity where right and wrong can be determined.

5. Where righteousness and duty can be distinguished from that which is sinful and contrary to duty.

6. An ideal environment for the practice of divine qualities.

7. The field of discrimination between shreya (ascendence towards the highest good) and preya (descendence towards ignorance and demerit).

8. Where one can distinguish between duty and that which does not constitute duty.

9. An environment where one’s life can become a devotional offering.

10. The womb of divine attributes.

11. The fertile environment in which supreme devotion is born.

12. That arena where one’s life can be offered in the Lord’s Name.

13. The venue of union and mergence with the Supreme.

Dharma kshetra is that arena of conflicting forces, that domain of mental tendencies, where a person views his internal state.

Only when confronted simultaneously by friend and foe can we:

a) watch the mind’s conflicts;

b) discern the mind’s spiritual state;

c) gauge the mind’s knowledge and its propensity to apply that knowledge in daily life;

d) become aware of our attachments and mental aberrations;

e) perceive our desires, cravings and greed;

f)  see our strength, importance and pride;

g) recognise our attachment to the body;

h) clearly watch our mind, intellect and ego;

i)  note our temper and our enmities;

j)  become conscious of our knowledge and ignorance, as also our mental trends;

k) watch the forming of negative attributes within;

l)  see the extent of our likes and dislikes;

m) perceive our arrogance and conceit;

n) observe our deceitfulness and our predisposition to behave in a manner contradictory to scriptural injunction.

It is in such a situation that a decision is taken either to adhere to a life of dharma and sanctified action or adharma, a life devoid of the spirit of yagya and contrary to the scriptures.

In this situation the righteous Arjuna was facing in the battlefield an enemy comprising of his dear and loved relatives. Accompanying him was the Supreme Master Lord Krishna, the Essence of Spirituality – the Upholder of righteousness and the Epitome of Dharma. That arena where all these powers co-exist, will necessarily be a dharma kshetra.

For a sadhak or spiritual aspirant with an extreme love for the Truth and dominated by the discriminatory faculty of the intellect, whenever such a conflicting situation arises:

a) his very life becomes a dharma kshetra.

b) his every action is enacted in that arena of dharma.

What transpires in the dharma kshetra?

It is here that the individual can learn to:

a) renounce attachment to the fruits of actions;

b) divest himself of his bodily attachments;

c) free himself from the bonds of desire and greed;

d) eradicate the idea of doership;

e) become a Sthit pragya – one who has attained stability in equanimity;

f)  become a Gunatit – one who is unaffected by others’ qualities as well as his own.

Where Lord Krishna’s divine essence reigns, that is verily the arena of dharma. An arena where a problematical situation exists and the aspirant, acquainted with the method of spiritual practice and discerning between good and bad, right and wrong, proceeds on the spiritual path.

Warning to the sadhak

Remember O sadhak, sadhana is not:

a) an escape from a situation or duty;

b) indifference to one’s duty;

c) a life bereft of responsibility.

Do not endeavour to divest yourself of duty; the Lord Himself undertook and performed all His so called ‘duties’. Sadhana is life. It is a process of imbuing one’s life with the spirit of Yagya and moulding it in the Lord’s likeness.

For the seeker, the arena of dharma lies within.

1. The dharma kshetra changes the internal view point.

2. The body provides the field wherein this ‘war’ takes place.

3. The battle is between one’s own mental tendencies.

4. When the blind intellect is lacking in discrimination, its son, the mind, begets a host of demoniac qualities.

5. The smallest spark of knowledge of Truth leads the aspirant towards divine qualities and divinity. Thus ensues the tussle between the divine and the demoniacal.

The great war of Mahabharat can be taken as an external symbol of our internal warring tendencies. The father of the Kauravas, Dhritrashtra, was blind. He may be likened to the intellect deprived of its discriminatory powers. His hundred sons signify an army of a hundred negative and dangerous tendencies within us.

The Kauravas, sons of the sightless Dhritrashtra – the blinded intellect, can be taken to denote tendencies that:

a) crave gross satiation;

b) revel in enjoyment of gross pleasures;

c) demand ego satiation and the fulfilment of pride and arrogance;

d) incline towards greed, craving and desires;

e) consider themselves most superior;

f)  believe they are the doer, sustainer, and enjoyer of all;

g) reel under the intoxicating influence of personal prowess, wealth and fame;

h) are oblivious to justice and injustice or right and wrong.

All such tendencies are born of the blind, attached intellect and are sustained by an attitude of non-discrimination. They lead the jivatma towards;

a) the path opposed to spirituality or the  preya path;

b) the ‘southward’ path of darkness;

c) rajoguna which fosters greed and desire;

d) attachment to the body and the strengthening of the tamoguna.

Arjuna and his four brothers

Arjuna with his four brothers can be likened to the five organs of knowledge or the five organs of action. They were followers of the Truth. Arjuna’s charioteer was Lord Krishna, the embodiment of Truth, of the discerning intellect the Lord Himself.

Even though the Kauravas were predominantly evil, they did their work diligently, with tremendous strength, wit and prowess. From the point of view of the world, they were impressive, but they did not possess an iota of divine attributes. Each act of theirs bespoke of desire, greed and avarice. They were never prepared to do anything for the welfare of others. Such demoniacal beings live only for their personal, selfish interest.

The Pandavas possessed the treasure of divine qualities. They were ever helpful to others. Their actions were not motivated by selfish reasons but by the attributes of Sattva, which culminated in the service of the Lord.

Some evil acts of the Kauravas towards the Pandavas

1. Administering poison to Bhima.

2. Attempting to burn the Pandavas in the house of inflammable sealing wax.

3. Fraudulently winning the game of dice against the Pandavas.

4. Divesting Draupadi of her robes in the midst of a full assembly.

5. Forcing the Pandavas to twelve years of exile and a year of dwelling incognito after cheating them again in another game of dice.

6. Repeated attempts to kill the Pandavas.

7. Usurping the kingdom of the Pandavas.

8. Indefatigable efforts by the Kauravas to humiliate the Pandavas in order to satiate their own jealousy, hatred and enmity towards them.

Attitude of the Pandavas towards the Kauravas

Despite being strong and courageous, the Pandavas repeatedly urged the Kauravas to make a peaceful settlement. Lord Krishna and Sanjay both approached the Kauravas to advise Duryodhana to heed the request of the Pandavas and to desist from war.

On behalf of the Pandavas they pleaded;

a) “Return our kingdom.

b) Give only five villages for the five brothers.

c) We will forget all your deceitful and evil acts of the past.

d) We will overlook even the insult to Draupadi.

e) We will forgive the atrocities you have perpetrated on us.

f)  Even though we can retaliate, we will humbly remain silent and live in peace with you.”

Dhritrashtra knew that the fault lay with the Kauravas. He knew that the Kauravas were unjust, evil and resorted to wrong means to achieve their ends. They were avaricious and covetous. Yet he stayed blind to all this, bound by the ties of moha or attachment to his progeny. He forgot where Truth lay and chose to keep his eyes closed. He, too, was afflicted by greed, therefore he was unable to control his eldest son, Duryodhana.

The fall of the intellect

When the intellect becomes attached to the mind, it loses sight of the Truth. It loses the ability to restrain its own mind. It becomes feeble and gets affected by the intricacies of the mind. The well being of such an individual is no longer ensured. His downfall is imminent.