What’s inside can’t be hidden for long
The first verse of the Bhagavad Gita reveals this principle.
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukshetra, desiring to fight, what did they do? (1.1)
The blind king Dhritarashtra declared he loved the sons of his older brother Pandu, known as Pandavas, as much as he cared for his sons. However, his actions proved otherwise. When his son Duryodhana schemed to snatch the throne from his cousins- the rightful heir to the throne, Dhritarashtra quietly approved.
Dhritarashtra nursed deep envy against Pandavas. Therefore whatever evil plots that Duryodhana and his brothers (known as Kauravas) plotted against them, he tacitly supported. Outwardly though, he appreciated his nephews and pretended he was unaware about Duryodhana’s wicked ways.
Many years of intrigue and politics led to a power struggle, and conflict seemed inevitable.
As the armies readied for a fratricidal war, Dhritarashtra’s anxiety grew. He knew he was guilty, and his sons had perpetrated a series of unpardonable crimes against the saintly Pandavas. Now Mr. Time knocked on the door of his conscience. Dhritarashtra desperately asked his secretary Sanjaya about what’s happening on the battlefield. Sanjaya was blessed with a divine- television type- vision- he could see the battle events from the king’s palace. He narrated how the armies had positioned themselves, and the battle would commence at any moment.
At this time, unable to conceal his true nature, Dhritarashtra blurted out, “Tell me Sanjaya, what’s happening between my sons and the Pandavas?”
His outburst merely exposed his partial mindset- ‘my sons’ and ‘Pandavas’ meant he saw them as separate- contrary to his decades of bonhomie towards them. And as long as the Bhagavad Gita is studied on this planet- since the last five thousand years according to many calculations, and for an indefinite future, Dhritarashtra’s prejudice stays uncovered. Decades of cover-up lay bare in an instant!
The first of the seven hundred verses of the Gita thus begins on an alerting note- better get your scruples upright. What you think, feel, speak and do- is it all congruent or messed up?
To be continued…
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