Mahabharata - the message of strength

One key takeaway from Mahabharata is the message of strength. We find this display of strength everywhere except for the brief moments when mighty characters were deluded by weakness which led birth to great spiritual truths like Bhagavat Gita. This strength is reflected even in the greatest women characters. In Mahabharata man has become greater than Gods in many respects. Indra taking help of Arjuna to tame the Nivatkavachas, Arjuna fighting a dual with Lord Shiva, Karna giving away his Kavacha and Kundala to Indra, Arjuna’s great restraint in the face of temptation by Urvashi, Bheema’s wonderous feats for the sake of his brothers and for Draupadi, Salwa’s decision to fight against his nephews, Abhimanyu’s heroism and great courage in the face of imminent death, Bhishma’s adherence to celibacy in the face of gravest provocations and temptations, even the evil king Duryadhana’s courage to fight till his death, all make humans much greater than the so called gods, who repeatedly failed to show such prowess. In fact in the whole of Mahabharata there were two characters who emerged as cowards and there was one character who denigrated himself willingly. The first two were Sakuni and Jayadhratha. Sakuni did not fight much in the whole battle. He was better with dice and deception than with weapons and whenever he fought he was lost and ultimately was killed. He mostly stayed away on the rear side to avoid fighting. Jayadhratha got a boon from Lord Samkara to defeat the four Pandavas except Arjuna and he used that on the thirteenth day to his advantage. But when he heard the terrible vow of Arjuna he lost all his strength and courage and wanted to remain as much hidden as possible. Still he could not save himself. The one who denigrated himself because of his terrible anger was Aswatthama. The fall of this character proves that what anger can do to even a great soul. There was no doubt that he was a great hero, a brave fighter and yet, blind with fury he forgot his nobleness and attacked the army camp at night and killed everybody when they were fast asleep. Like a coward he used Brahmashira against an unborn foetus. So he became a vicious, mean character whom anger had resulted in creating a blind hatred that made him forget all distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong.

Although king Shantanu had drawn many a flak for his second marriage depriving Bhisma of his right to throne, it can be said that he desisted from marrying a second time for a great many years since Devavrata was entrusted to him by Ganga. It took a lot of courage and patience for the king to go on alone, esp. as a Kshatriya he could have married and have many children, He chose not to, however in his old age he fell susceptible to the temptation which changed the course of Bharata history. Probably fate had decided it but the old king was never happy by denying the rights of throne to the apparent heir Bhisma. He died broken hearted for being giving way to a momentary weakness despite his many good qualities. That sin had haunted him and ultimately caused the destruction of the entire clan. Satyavati who was a stakeholder was not a witness to the destruction but presumably she was aware of the grave implications. That’s why to make up for her father’s sin and her husband’s weakness she offered Bhisma the kingdom, which he refused.

Bhisma infact had emerged as the main tragic hero of Mahabharata and was the epitome of all the values that Bharata stood for. He had never forsaken truth, not even under the mightiest temptations of women and kingdom. He gave word to his step mother that he would protect Hastinapur and its kings under all circumstances and he did so until his death, perhaps against his own better senses. He risked fighting his own guru Parashurama for the sake of truth and disobeyed his guru’s orders of marrying Amba. He could have earned great reputation as a hero, instead many like Shishupala chose to hurl epithets like eunuch at him for his refusal to marry. Bhisma quietly bore all those insults. He was a staunch devotee of Krishna and one of the most important characters of Mahabharata to be so. Even Krishna’s own clan and own brother did not know him that well as Bhisma knew. He was devotee per excellence like the Pandavas and Vidura. That is one reason why Krishna wanted to kill him personally in the great battle, He wanted to give his devotee a deliverance from that life of misery. It took mighty courage for Bhisma to side with Duryadhana in the battle. He knew it was his only chance, of courting death. The boon of death at will that was given by his father was actually a curse. It meant that he couldn’t and wouldn’t die. So he tried his best to die, by fighting for a lost cause, by fighting for Duryadhana, by giving way to his own fate of dying in the hands of Shikhandi, Amba reborn to seek revenge. That took a lot of courage, courage to fight against righteousness, his own love for Pandavas and his constant thoughts of their welfare. In the great battle during the first 10 days while Bhisma was the leader, he never touched any of the Pandavas or their near and dear ones. The armies strictly followed the rules, of codes of conduct. No major breach was done. No major warrior was killed, there were intense fighting and Bhishma wanted to reduce the number of armymen on both sides. That was his goal. His aim was how soon he could stop the war and avert major tragedies.  And his other goal was to die, as quickly as possible, in the most heroic manner, in the hands of the person he loved, i.e Arjuna making Shikhandi as mere instrument. It took great courage for him to see the injustice meted out to the Pandavas and to Draupadi in that sabha. It took a great courage to take up weapons against the people whom he loved. Bhisma stood up heroically for Krishna against Shishupala and other kings and patiently bore the tirade of Shishupala and his many insults against him. He also patiently bore the unjust accusations of Duryodhana in the battle, except on the ninth and tenth days when he fought for death. Bed of arrows was a fitting tribute for him, as that was what he was made for. He was a true, valiant Kshatriya, a man of vast knowledge and erudition, a terrible warrior who could defeat his own guru, the greatest Bhargava Parashurama.

Next comes Abhimanyu. This child knew he was facing imminent death by violating the chakra vyuha, but he was not at all perturbed. He broke the vyuha with all his might and when he was alone inside that vast army he did not lose his nerve. Instead he fought with determination and courage, eliminated several mighty heroes including Brihadvala, the king of Koshala and Laksmana, the son of Duryadhana. Even when the Kaurava heroes adopted the most nefarious means (and Drona, the great guru was the architect of this plan and Karna and Aswathama were the executioners) of killing him together, he did not lose his courage. In that moment of fighting also repeatedly exhorting them to come and fight one to one, which fell in deaf ears. In fact this one incident makes Drona a coward, just like his son. This incident also leads to a further degradation of the character of Karna. Drona was a valiant hero but his weakness was his attraction to wealth. He was indebted to Duryadhana in more than one ways and he had to repay the debts. Under Drona’s commandership rules were violated in many ways. Under Bhisma there were struct injunctions that those on chariots will fight with people on chariots, fighters on elephants should fight with those on elephants and never would one kill a warrior who was devoid of his chariot and was without weapons. Drona willingly violated all these. He even led a tired army to fight through the night, something that would have been unthinkable under Bhisma. Drone broke all laws of morality by killing many ordinary soldiers using his divine weapons. But then, he also knew his sins, he was reminded of them repeatedly by Bhima who was not as soft to his guru as Arjuna was. Therefore knowing that the news of the death of his son was a lie Drona, after killing many using his divine weapons and being fed up with his own transgressions for the sake of wealth, gave up his life voluntarily. Yet he was an enemy to the Pandavas till his last breath as he exhorted others to fight and kill the Pandavas.