If You Are A Leader, Your Success Is Not Guaranteed Unless Everyone Shares The Same Vision As You
सञ्जय उवाच ।
दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा ।
आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य राजा वचनमब्रवीत् ।। 2।।
Sañjaya uvācha
dṛiṣhṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṁ vyūḍhaṁ duryodhanastadā
āchāryamupasaṅgamya rājā vachanamabravīt ।। 2।।
Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 1- Ver. 2: Sanjaya said: When King Duryodhana saw the Pandava army in military formation; he approached his teacher Dronacharya and spoke the following words.
Explanation
Sanjaya recognized Dhritarashtra’s anxiety and wanted confirmation that the battle would take place. Sanjaya made an effort to relieve his anxiety by letting him know that the Pandava army was arranged in a battle-ready formation. He continued by informing him of his son Duryodhana’s activities on the battlefield.
Due to King Dhritarashtra’s blindness, his oldest son Duryodhana essentially governed the Hastinapur kingdom. He is characterized as being naturally harsh, egotistical, nasty, and cruel in the Mahabharata. He had a great hate for the Pandavas from his early years and seized any chance to belittle them.
He understood that in order to govern over the entire kingdom of Hastinapur without opposition, he would have to get rid of them. But from his viewpoint on the battlefield, he was surprised by the large Pandava force. He had drastically overestimated the Pandavas’ military preparation; it was much beyond his expectations.
Under the appearance of showing reverence, Duryodhana approached his mentor Dronacharya, but his true goal was to calm his own anxiety. His movement in the direction of his teacher also suggests that the Pandavas’ massive military formation frightened him and made him anxious about the outcome of the conflict.
Reflection
Duryodhana son of Dhritrashtra was the commander of the Kaurava army during the Mahabharata battle. He was a capable and powerful warrior, virtually on par with Bhima, the most powerful soldier in the Pandava army.
Duryodhana had believed since he was a young child that he, and not Yudhishtira, the elder brother of the Pandavas, was the true heir to the throne. He was very devoted to the throne, which brings us back to the idea of the preceding verse, which is that of attachment. But because he saw the Pandavas as an obstacle to the crown, which was something to which he was quite attached, he grew to dislike them.
Why did Duryodhana speak to Drona, his teacher? He started to feel frightened as soon as he observed the Pandavas’ military formation. Because most people seek advice from someone in a position of authority when they are terrified, he went to his teacher for advice.
Drona served as both a teacher and a close friend to the Pandavas and Kauravas. Drona was not related to the Kauravas by blood, in contrast to some of the other more experienced soldiers. Duryodhana also had the impression that in order to win this war, he needed to speak with Drona in order to determine his mental state.
To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.
There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, and meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There is also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.
In the next verse, we will see how Duryodhana speaks to Dronacharya to change his thinking towards Pandavas.
Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…