Chapter23-Mahabharatha war
In this chapter Desika traces the circumstances that led to the mahabharatha war and describes the role of
The Pandavas were supposed to be the Indras of the earlier kalpas. They resorted to
To those who know Him in reality the Lord is the dearest and they are dearest to Him and the wise man is the Lord Himself. Thus Pandavas were dear to
thahASrayAh thathpraNiDheyakrthyAh
thenAiva nAThena sadhA sanAThAh.
(Yad.23.3)
Then Dhuryodhana, instructed by Sakuni, am long with his brother Dhussasana and Karna who had enmity with Arjuna, disgraced Droupadhi in the court of kings, after enslaving her under the pretext of winning her in the game of dice and she, finding her husbands helpless to protect her cried for help to Krishna who protected her by giving her heaps and heaps of silks to guard her honour.
After the thirteen years of exile Pandavas wishing to gain their kingdom which was deceitfully taken away from them through the playing of dice, surrendered to
Sa thAdhrSeem Adhriyatha thrihAmA
preshyakriyAm preshitha dhevabrndhah
nanu prabhooNAm nirapekshabhoomnAm
prasADhanam bhakthajane guNathvam
(Yad.23.12)
The Lord who has all the devas as his servants and has the three supreme abodes, namely, Vaikunta, Ksheerasagara and the Bhoomandala, wished to go as a messenger for His devotees. To the great who do not depend on anything else for their glory, to be bhakthaparAdheena, serving the needs of their devotees , becomes the greatest ornament. This attribute of the Lord is praised by the wise even more than His powers of creation, sustenance and annihilation because, says Desika, `nAThochitham nnthrushu pArathanthryam,' it is fitting for the soulabhya of the Lord to be ready to do the bidding of His devotees.
This act of going as a messenger is not in any way demeaning to the Lord says Desika because He is known to take birth for the protection of the devotees, even though He is birth-less. `ajanmanhjanmabhrthasya Soureh swAmithva samvAdhi babhoova dhouthyam.'
Khadhyothavath dharSitha khanjadheeptheen
prajnAdhrSo bhoomobhrthah sabhAyAm
prApthodhayo bhAnuriva thriDhAmA
praccchAdhayAmAsa kuroon svaDhAmnA
(Yad.23.13)
The influence of the presence of
Dhuryodhana got angry at the words of
Ulookale bhakthaguNe cha baddham
gunotthare gopavaDhoosthnecha
iyeshabanDhum jagathekabanDhum
dhuryoDhano dhusthyajamrthyupASah
(Yad.23.18)
The Lord allowed Himself to be bound in the mortar out of love for His devotees and he was bound by the love of the gopis.(bound by their gunas as with guna ?a rope) How could and with what DhuryoDhana could bind him as he was devoid of gunas ? He actually wished ti bind himself without release with the ropes of death.
Desika describes the act of
narAmSajushtena Dhananjayena
raThee bhvan sAraThirAthmanAcha
DhanurbhrthAthothrabrthAcha bheje
Prthakthvam aikyam cha yaThA pramANam
To Arjuna, who was a part of
raThADhirooDam cha raTham cha rakshan
yaThArThatho dharsayathi sma yanthA
thrayyanthachinthA nirapeksham eeSah
thatthAdhrsam thatthvam vibhAgam Adhyam
This sloka illustrates the thatthvathraya of Visishtadhvaitha philosophy, namely, EeSvara, the Lord, jeeva, the sentient beings and jagath, the insentient Universe.
One is reminded by this sloka of the text in Katopanishad, ` AthmAnam raThinam viddhi Sareeram raThameva thu
Buddhim thu sAraThim viddhi manah pragrahmeva cha
IndhriyANi hayAnyAhuh vishayAh theshu gocharAn (kato.1.3/4)
It means that the body is the chariot and the jeeva is the one traveling in it and intellect is the charioteer, the mind is the reins, the indhriyas are the horses and the sense objects are the distractions on the path. As long as the reins are in hands of the charioteer the horses behave well and take the o passenger to his destination. For this the intellect should be established in the Lord and this is what is signified by the Parthasarthy role of the Lord.
The next sloka mentions the chariot as a portrayal of the PraNava.
purasThithe gopthari visvahethou
paSchAth avasThAyini thathpravarthye
ananyayogAth sa aTho babhAra
prADheethavedhyAm praNavapravrtthim
(Yad.23.23)
The moment
This sloka hints at the words which Krishna was going to utter later in his discourse of Gita that he has killed the enemies and Arjuna is only a pretext, `mamaivaithe nihathAh poorvameva nimitthamAthram bhava savyasAchin,' (BG.11.33) which is vouchsafed by Sanjaya at the end of the discourse.
Yahra yogeSvarah Krishnah yathrapArTho DhanurDharh
Thathra sreeh vijayo bhoothih dhruvAneehih mathirmama
(BG.18.78)
Wherever there is
Desika then mentions the sudden despondency of Arjuna and
abhanjaneeyAm paradharmasatthAm
anaSvareem bhArathasooryadheepthim
Vidhuh SrutheenAm anaghAm vayasyAM
geethAm asmmooDajanAvigeethAm
Gita , the everlasting brilliance of the Sun called Mahabharatha and the faultless companion of the Vedas is the irrefutable essence of self realization and valued by the wise .
Then Desika refers to the virAtroopa of the Lord which Arjuna saw with his divine eyes endowed by Krishna, and seeing all the universe and the devas in the cosmic form of the Lord he realised that the Supreme Self is the only agent of all action and the Kouravas were seen by him as already annihilated.
Then the war started and Arjuna freed from his delusion fought valiantly aided by
The Desika briefly describes the various events of the war, like
Krishna made good the vow of Arjuna also that he will cut off the head of Jayadhratha who was instrumental in the killing of Abhimanyu before sunset ,failing which he will jump into the fire, by causing the sunset before its time which made Jayadhratha come out of his hiding and was killed.(Krishna removed the chakra by which he hid the Sun to make Jayadhratha come out thinking it was night fall.)
All the eighteen akshouhini of the Kouava army were destroyed and Desika wonders that it was like the pralayaleela of the Lord before the time. It was like the fall of puppets on a string being pulled by the one who holds the string. Thus Arjuna crossed the great ocean of the war like that of samsara with the help of the Supreme Lord.
Then Desika mentions about the protection
The bed of arrows supplied to Bhishma by Arjuna was like a yogasana for the great soul.
Then
After causing the exposition on dharma by Bhishma Krishna returned to Dvaraka.
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