Bhagvad Gita Chapter1 sloka 3

pasyaitam panduputramacharya mahateem chamoom
vyuddham dhrupadaputrena tava sishyena dheemata--------------3.

“Behold, master, the mighty army of the sons of Pandu arrayed for battle by your talented pupil, Dhrstadyumna, son of Drupada.”------------------ 3

21]
The first words uttered by Duryodhana are in praise of the opposing
army but perhaps at the same time spoken with pride and arrogance.
Pride and arrogance in the sense that he thinks he has a better army.

There is also a hint of taunt "Look at the army of your former student"
and in comparison "Look at the army of your disciple standing next to you".

The taunt directed at his master Drona, as he even reminds him who Dhrstadyumna is. The son of Drupada, as if Drona did not know that already.

He is inflaming the rage of his master by reminding him of his enemy Drupada and also his assassin Dhrstadyumna.
Duryodhan is thus inciting his teacher and taking advantage of his predicament to make him fight to kill the Pandavs.

Do we sometimes use others in this way?
Does your wife constantly remind you of how she was treated by your family back when she first set foot in the house?
Does your children remind you of the time you didn’t let him do what he wanted?
Didn’t Draupadi kept inflaming the minds of the Pandavs for 13 years in the forest about her treatment in the gambling Hall?

Your hatred and resentment for someone is a powerful tool for others to use against you. Are you going to let them use that tool? Will you allow yourself be subject to that bribery? How are you going to deal with such situation? Become inflamed or keep your balance.


22]
Perhaps Duryodhana simply wanted his teacher to be proud of him.
"Look this is the end result of your student Dhristudymanya"
But "Look at the end result of MY achievements"!

If you achieve in getting your promotion at work or get your Doctors
Degree or make some other achievements, would you not want your
teacher or parents to be proud of you?
Would you just rather that no one praised you?
Don't you expect some praise? A congratulations card?

If Duryodhan is simply wanting praise, is it so wrong?


23]
Is this an ego?
Perhaps someone feeling proud of their achievement is different to
ahangkar or ego of `mine is better then yours'.
But since we know the characteristics of Duryodhan we can be more certain that he is trying to rile his teacher.


24]
The words in the Gita and actions of the characters in the Gita are
interpreted differently by everyone.
I don’t claim to be a specialist on this subject. I thus use the word `Perhaps'
quite often. I hope this enables others to correct me or give their own
interpretations on the sloka.


25]
Like father like son.
Duryodhan too say “…….the mighty army of the sons of Pandu.” He too has distanced himself from any relationship he held with his uncle.

Even if we can forgive Dhrithrastra for speaking as he did, since he was the elder of the two brothers and he doesn’t have to show respect, but how can we forgive Duryodhans ill manners? Pandu is older then him and he has no respect when speaking of his Uncle.



26]
One last thought. The lesson in the art of fighting is "Know your enemies. Know
their strength and know their weaknesses"

Perhaps in this final minutes Duryodhan is reinforcing to his
soldiers and to his Guru and to all soldiers listening; the weakness
of the opposing army and then telling of the strength of their army,
thus giving them a psychological boost.
In a war it is important to keep the moral of your soldiers very high.

Similarly in life keeping moral high and giving encouragement plays
a very important role in the lives of a commander, a leader, a
teacher, your boss, a Minister, a father to his son, a coach to his
trainer, a Prime Minister to his nation, a husband to his wife and
vice versa.
Without this encouragement Duryodhans army could easily loose faith
and be frightened of the equally mighty army facing them.

He reinforces the might of his army in sloka 10.

The lesson to take away here is ENCOURAGEMENT.
A little praise to the people you touch in your lives will go a long
way to their happiness and building good relationship.

Again we will see an excellent form of encouragement from Bhisma in
sloka 12.


Kiran Parmar
3~'

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