730709 - Lecture BG 01.02-3 - London

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

730709BG-LONDON - July 09, 1973 - 24:45 Minutes

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

sañjaya uvāca

dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṁ

vyūḍhaṁ duryodhanas tadā

ācāryam upasaṅgamya

rāja vacanam abravīt

(BG 1.2)

(break)

sañjayaḥ—Sañjaya; uvāca—said; dṛṣṭvā—after seeing; tu—but; pāṇḍava-anīkam—the soldiers of the Pāṇḍavas; vyūḍham—arranged in military phalanx; duryodhanaḥ—King Duryodhana; tadā—at that time; ācāryam—the teacher; upasaṅgamya—approaching nearby; rājā—the king; vacanam—words; abravīt—spoke.

Translation: "Sañjaya said: O King, after looking over the army gathered by the sons of Pāṇḍu, King Duryodhana went to his teacher and began to speak the following words."

Prabhupāda: Hm. So Dhṛtarāṣṭra inquired from Sañjaya, kim akurvata: "After my sons and my brother's sons assembled together for fighting, what did they do?" This was the inquiry. So to encourage him . . . because Sañjaya could understand the feelings of his master that he wanted the fight, no compromise, kṣatriya spirit: "Let my sons and my brother's sons fight." That is kṣatriya spirit. "My sons are one hundred in number, and they are only five. So certainly my sons will come out victorious, and then the kingdom will be assured." That was his plan.

So Sañjaya, his secretary, could understand the feeling. Of course, at last he would inform differently: yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ (BG 18.78). At last he described, "My dear sir, you do not expect victory. It is not possible. Because the other side is Kṛṣṇa, yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ, and the fighter Arjuna, so it is beyond your expectation of victory." But in the beginning he says, "Don't be discouraged. There was no compromise. Immediately your son Duryodhana . . ." And he is addressing himself as rāja, because Dhṛtarāṣṭra would be encouraged when at least he thinks of his son becoming the king. Therefore he said rāja.

So dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkam. Duryodhana did not expect that the Pāṇḍavas would be able to accomplish military strength so nicely, because they were bereft of all sources. Their kingdom was taken away, their money was usurped, they were sent into the forest—so many tribulations. But the foolish Duryodhana did not know that above all, there was Kṛṣṇa on their side. That he could not calculate. Therefore when he saw the Pāṇḍavas are well equipped with good number of soldiers, pāṇḍavānīkam, he was little surprised, that "How they could gather so many soldiers?" So immediately, to consult the commander-in-chief, Dronācārya . . .

Dronācārya was everyone's teacher, ācārya. Ācārya means teacher. Ācāryam upasaṅgamya (BG 1.2). The military teacher. So Duryodhana, he was military teacher of the Pāṇḍavas also. When all of them were children, they were given under the instruction of Dronācārya. Dronācārya was brāhmaṇa, but he knew the military art. Therefore he was appointed teacher for all the boys, the Kaurava. So . . . but Ācārya, Dronācārya, joined with Duryodhana. Bhīṣmadeva joined with Duryodhana. None of them joined with Arjuna. Because Arjuna or Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was not king at that time. The financial control was not in their hands, and these people, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, they were on the government political power. The financial control was in their hand. So they were giving enough money for maintenance to Dronācārya and Bhīṣmadeva. So they felt obliged. Of course, they knew everything, but externally they felt obligation: "Arjuna, I am getting money from Duryodhana. So in this point of danger, if I do not join him, it does not look well. I am getting financial maintenance."

Of course, Arjuna did not ask him. Arjuna was satisfied with Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Kṛṣṇa also divided Himself, because it is family quarrel. So He said, "I cannot take part with anyone, and even if I take part, side, of any of you, I shall not fight. Directly I shall not fight. I may be on your side or that side, but I'll not fight." Still, Arjuna was satisfied. So Kṛṣṇa, in order to satisfy Arjuna, that "I shall not fight, but I shall become your charioteer. I shall drive your chariot." So in this way the battle was arranged, and when Dhṛtarāṣṭra inquired, kim akurvata sañjaya (BG 1.1), "What did they do?" he said: "Sir, don't be disappointed. There was no compromise. Immediately your son, after seeing the military arrangement of the Pāṇḍavas, he was surprised, and immediately he went to Dronācārya"—he is the commander-in-chief appointed first—'What to do?' " Rājā vacanam abravīt (BG 1.2). Then he began to speak, to inform Dronācārya. So next verse.

Pradyumna:

paśyaitāṁ pāṇḍu-putrāṇām

ācārya mahatiṁ camūm

vyūḍhāṁ drupada-putreṇa

tava śiṣyeṇa dhīmatā

(BG 1.3)

(break)

paśya—behold; etām—this; pāṇḍu-putrānām—of the sons of Pāṇḍu; ācārya—O teacher; mahatīm—great; camūm—military force; vyūḍhām—arranged; drupada-putreṇa—by the son of Drupada; tava—your; śiṣyeṇa—disciple; dhī-matā—very intelligent

Translation: "O my teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pāṇḍu, so expertly arranged by your intelligent disciple, the son of Drupada."

Prabhupāda: So—intelligent. This Drupada . . . the son of Drupada, he was meant for killing Dronācārya. Drupada Mahārāja was not in good terms with Dronācārya. So he performed a yajña to get a son who could kill Dronācārya. That son is this Draupada. So Dronācārya knew that "Drupada Mahārāja has got his son. In future he would kill me." Still, when he was offered to become his disciple, to learn military art, he accepted, "Yes." That means the brāhmaṇas were so liberal. "When he is coming as my disciple, never mind he would kill me in future. That doesn't matter. But I must give him teaching." Therefore this word is used, dhīmatā, "very intelligent." "He has learned the military science from you just to kill you." Dhīmatā, tava śiṣyeṇa. "Your disciple, he has arranged." This is the pointing out, so that he may be angry: "This rascal has learned from me and he wants to kill me?"

But no. Duty is duty. After all, everyone will die; nobody will exist. So nobody should be afraid of death. This is Vedic civilization. Death is inevitable. "As sure as death." Who can avoid death? So, being afraid of death, we should not deviate from our duties, real duty. That is Vedic civilization. So Duryodhana wanted to point out that, "This boy, your disciple, he . . . it is fixed up that he's meant for killing you, and he has arranged nicely military phalanx just to defeat you. And he has learned this art from you." Therefore he is using this word, dhīmatā.

Dhī, dhī means intelligence. Dhīmat-śabda. Dhīmat. Dhī means intelligence, and mat means "one who possesses." Asty arthe matup-pratyaya. When one possesses something, in this sense, this pratyaya . . . in Sanskrit there are pratyayas. So matup pratyaya. So matup. From matup, it comes to mat. Sanskrit language means it is so reformed that each and every word has significance. Not that like your English language, "B-U-TP-U-T but, P-U-T put." No, not like that. If you say "B-U-T but," you must say, "P-U-T pat." But no, you change—B-U-T but, P-U-T put. Why? This kind of change cannot be allowed in Sanskrit language. If the "u" means "ah," just like "B-U-T but," then it must always mean like that, no change.

So dhīmatā. Dhī means intelligence. Dhī means intelligence. So one who has got intelligence. Every word is used with full meaning. Sanskrit language is so nice. Therefore it is called Sanskrit. Sanskrit, saṁskṛta. Saṁskṛta means reform. And the alphabets are called devanāgarī. Devanāgarī means these alphabets . . . just like in Europe the roman letters are used, similarly, in the upper planetary system these alphabets are used, devanāgarī, used in the cities of the demigods. And the language is called Sanskrit, "most reformed." And Sanskrit is the mother of all languages.

Even in this planet, the Latin is also derived from Sanskrit. Just like the "maternal," the matṛ-śabda; "paternal," pitṛ-śabda. So dhīmatā. So here the writer is Vyāsadeva. So every word is selected, either in Bhagavad-gītā or in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the Purāṇas, all writings of . . . Mahābhārata, each and every word is used just like weighing in the balance. There should be . . . so many words should be in the beginning, so many words should be in the end. And not whimsically. That cannot be allowed. That is called saṁskṛta sāhitya, literary. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu when he was hearing Keśava Kāśmīrī, as soon as there was little discrepancy, bhavānī-bhartā, immediately He criticized and defeated him. Sanskrit language is so nice.

Paśyaitāṁ pāṇḍu-putrāṇām ācārya: "My dear teacher, just see how many military soldiers are standing there on behalf of the Pāṇḍavas, and they have been arranged by your disciple, who is meant for killing you. So just remember." That means, "You become more strong, that this boy and the other party may not kill you." But Duryodhana does not know that the death does not depend on military strength or bodily strength. When death will come, nobody can check. Death is God. When Kṛṣṇa desires that, "This man should be killed now," or "He must die now," nobody can check. Rākhe kṛṣṇa mare ke mare kṛṣṇa rākhe ke. If Kṛṣṇa desires to kill somebody, nobody can give him protection—no power. And if He wants to save somebody, nobody can kill him. This is Kṛṣṇa's protection.

Therefore this big, big commander-in-chief Dronācārya and Bhīṣmadeva, Karṇa, they were very, very big, powerful commanders. Arjuna was nothing before them. Arjuna was just like . . . Parīkṣit Mahārāja compared that, "My grandfather was just like an ordinary fish, and these soldiers, these commanders, just like timiṅgala." Timiṅgala, there is a fish—we get information from Vedic literature—very big fish. They swallow up the whales. Timi. Timi means whale fish. And timiṅgala means . . . just like small fish are swallowed up like this. So just imagine how big such fish is. So these commanders, Karṇa, Dronācārya and Bhīṣma, were compared with the timiṅgala. And Arjuna, although very powerful, he was compared with timi. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja admitted that, "It was not possible for my grandfather to win over the battle before these big, big commanders. It is only by the grace of Kṛṣṇa he was saved."

So the conclusion is if Kṛṣṇa saves, nobody can kill; and if Kṛṣṇa wants to kill, nobody can save. Therefore our conclusion should be that we should always be under the protection of Kṛṣṇa. Avaśya rakṣibe kṛṣṇa. This is śaraṇāgati. Śaraṇāgati, surrender. Surrender means that, "I am surrendering to Kṛṣṇa with full faith that He is quite competent and able to give me protection." This is called surrender.

Not that hesitation: "Oh, I will surrender to Kṛṣṇa, and in case of danger, He may not be able to give me protection." That is not surrender. With full faith: "Yes, Kṛṣṇa is so powerful, Kṛṣṇa is so great, that I am surrendering to Kṛṣṇa from this day: 'From this day . . . Kṛṣṇa, I was wandering throughout the universe life after life, without knowing my relationship with You. Now, today, I surrender unto You. Kindly accept me and engage me in Your service.' " This is called surrender.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)