Look on! O Sanjay!
The life's battlefield is set forth,
Do be my eyes and tell me
How does it all unfold?
I, Dhritrashtra, your sightless commander,
Without my conscience by my side,
Like a blind force, blunders on,
For I know not of what is right.
My dharma is to, pleasure, seek,
And, I get many alluring beckons,
From organs - ten - that call to me,
From ten different directions.
Yet deep within, five voices rise,
The whispers of your conscience - wise.
They hold me back, they plead to me,
To free my soul from passion’s ties.
And thus a war ensues within my frame,
Desire and truth, each trying to reign,
So, Sanjay, do tell me if you can,
Who here will establish their domain?!
On 19 November 1965, Ernakulam, Shrii P.R.Sarkar, a great Indian philosopher gave this discourse : Blind Mind and Conscience which explains the starting phrase/shlok of Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta -
"Dhrtaráśt́ra uváca:
Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre samavetá yuyutsavah;
Mámakáh Páńd́aváshcaeva kimakurvata Saiṋjaya?"
[Dhritarastra said: “O Sanjaya, now that my children and the children of Pandu have gathered on the battlefield of Dharmakśetra, of Kurukśetra, eager to fight, what is taking place?”]
This shloka represents the entire import of the Giitá.
Dhrtaráśt́ra uváca – “Dhritarastra said.” Who is Dhritarastra? Ráśt́ram dhrtam yena sah Dhrtaráśt́rah – “He who holds the structural solidarity”. Ráśt́ra means “structure”, “framework” – in Hindustani, dháncá. So ráśt́ra means “structure”; and dhrta means “holder” – so he who holds, he who maintains, the structural solidarity, is “Dhrtaráśt́ra” – Ráśt́ram dhrtam yena sah Dhrtaráśt́rah. Now, who maintains the structural solidarity of the human structure? The mind. Because the mind is there, its structural solidarity is maintained. When the mind goes away, the different limbs will dissociate, it will start decomposing. So the mind, Dhritarastra, calls Sanjaya.
Now you know, mind without conscience is a blind force. Dhritarastra was blind; Dhritarastra was janmándha [born blind], Dhritarastra could not see. Blind Dhritarastra said – the blind mind said (Dhrtaráśt́ra uváca means, “The blind mind, blind human mind, mind of a non-sádhaka, mind of a non-aspirant of spirituality, said”) – Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre samávetá yuyutsavah(3) – Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre [“On the field of dharma, on the field of this universe”] yuddhártham [“for war”] samavetáh [“gathered”] mámakáh [“my people”] (mamapakśiiyáh [“my party”]) Páńd́aváshcaeva (Páńd́avá + ca [+ eva = “and the Pandavas”]) kimakurvata [“what are they doing?”]. Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre [“On the field of dharma, on the field of this universe”] yuddhártham [“for war”] samávetáh [“gathered”] mamapakśiiyáh tathá Páńd́upakśiiyáh [“my party and the Pandava party”] te kimakurvata [“what are they doing?”]. Bho Sainyaya kathaya ahaḿ shrnomi [“O Sanjaya, tell me, let me hear”].
Dharmakśetre. What is dharmakśetra? What is dharma? The root verb dhr plus the suffix man equals dharma. Dharma means “characteristic”; dharma means “property”; dharma means “natural wont”. And what is the characteristic, what is the natural wont, of a human being? To move towards the Supreme Self – to long for pleasure. To long for pleasure is the wont of each and every human being. And because He is the fountain, He is the home, He is the supreme abode of all pleasures, that’s why to long for Him is proper dharma. And dharmakśetra – one can practise dharma – where? Only when one is within this physical structure. After death one cannot practise dharma. So this human body is the dharmakśetra.
The blind mind said that within this dharmakśetra of the human body, and this kurukśetra –
In Sanskrit kuru means “do” – imperative mood, second person – “do, kuru”. Kurukśetra means the field always saying Kuru, kuru, kuru, kuru – “Oh, man, do something, do something, do something, do something.” The kśetra, the field, always saying, “Do something, you must do something, you will have to do something,” is kurukśetra. That is, this world is kurukśetra. Kurukśetra is not a town near Delhi. The entire universe is kurukśetra. Here everybody will have to do something, must do something. So it is kurukśetra. And this universe is also doing something; it is always moving. One name of this universe is jagat: gam (root verb) + kvip (suffix) = jagat; jagat means “characteristically moving”. Another name is saḿsára: the root verb sr means “to move”, so saḿsára means “moving on its own”. Everything here is moving, so it is kurukśetra – and this universe is always telling you to do something.
So the blind mind asked the conscience, asked: “In this saḿsára of kurukśetra, and in this human body, dharmakśetra, who did appear, who did assemble? My party and the party of Pandu. These were the two belligerent parties. What did these two belligerent parties do?” This was the question.
The blind mind asked whom? Asked Sanjaya. What is the saiṋjaya? Just now I said that the mind is a blind force, and cannot do anything without the help of the conscience. What is the conscience? The power of discrimination. Saiṋjaya: sam + ji (root verb) + al (suffix) = saiṋjaya. Saiṋjaya means “conscience”; saiṋjaya means “power of discrimination”. The mind is a blind force; that’s why the mind asked the conscience: “What did they do? What did these two parties do? – my party and the party of Pandu.”
Now, “my party – mámakáh, mamapakśiiyáh” – said Dhritarastra, the blind mind. Now, who are the agents of the mind? The mind says “my party” – who are the soldiers, who are the agents of the mind? There are ten organs, and these ten organs are the agents of the mind; these ten organs are the agents of that blind mind. Five external organs and five internal organs: cakśuh, karńa, násiká, jihvá, tvak, vák, páńi, páda, páyu, and upastha [eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, vocal cord, hands/arms, feet/legs, anus, genitary organ]. These are the ten organs; they are agents of the blind mind. And each and every organ can function in ten directions. In Sanskrit there are ten dishas; six are called pradisha and four are called anudisha. Púrva, pashcima, uttara, dakśińa, urdhva, and adhah – these six directions are called pradisha. And iishána, váyu, agni, naerta – these four corners are called anudisha. So a total of ten dishas.
There are ten organs – ten agents of the blind mind – and each and every organ can function in ten directions. Ten times ten is equal to one hundred. The agents of the mind can function in one hundred directions. So the blind mind has one hundred agents. Dhritarastra had one hundred sons – Duryodhana, Dushasana – one hundred in number; one hundred agents of the depraved mind, the blind mind, the polluted mind.
And the opposite parties are the fighting parties of the Pandavas – Páńd́upakśiiyáh, agents of Pandu. I think it is quite clear? – agents of Pandu. And who are the agents of Pandu? In Sanskrit pańd́ is a root verb; pańd́ means “Self-realization”. Yesterday I told you the meaning of pańd́ita. He who has acquired realization is a pańd́ita; pańd́ means Self-realization. Now this Self-realization is attained by whom? By the sádhaka [spiritual aspirant]. And in the process of Self-realization one will have to exalt one’s divinity in crude form. That is, the dormant divinity is to be exalted and brought to the sahasrára cakra(4) for that Self-realization. And in this process, in this march towards the supreme goal of spirituality, it will have to pass through five stages. Just to acquire [pańd́á, absolute knowledge] one will have to pass through five stages – múládhára, svádhiśt́hána, mańipura, anáhata and vishuddha. These are the five stages, five controlling points of the five factors of this quinquelemental world. These five stages are the helpers of páńd́u;(5) they help in realizing the Supreme Self. So they are páńd́avas. The Pandavas are five in number.
So it is an internal fight – the fight between the introversial tendency and the extroversial tendency. In the extroversial tendency there are one hundred agents, and in the introversial tendency there are five friends. The fight within yourself is a fight amongst, on the one side, those five introversial friends, and on the other side, one hundred depraving elements. This fight is the fight of kurukśetra. The blind mind asks the conscience: “What was the result of that fight? O Sanjaya, O conscience, I want to know.”
So in this particular shloka the spirit of the Giitá has been properly represented. And it is the order of Bhagaván [here, Krśńa] that one will have to fight this fight with proper courage and prowess. And this prowess will make one victorious, and those depraving elements will be vanquished.
So you are all sádhakas, you are all spiritual aspirants; I will ask you to follow, to adhere to, this principle properly. Be courageous and fight properly against those depraving elements; certainly you will be victorious.
