II GAM GANAPATAYE NAMAHA II
II Om namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya II
Verse 4
"Here are heroes, mighty archers, equal in battle to Bhima and Arjuna,
-Yuyudhana, Virata, and Drupada, masters of military science. "
Artha:
Even though Dhrstadyumna was a mighty warrior, he was not a very important obstacle in the face of Dronacarya's very great power in the military art. There were many others whom Duryodhana refers to as Maharathas and whom Duryodhana perceives as great stumbling blocks in the path of victory because each and every one of them was as formidable as Bhima and Arjuna. He knew the strength of Bhima and Arjuna, and thus he compared the others with them. In this verse he is referring to 3 great warriers namely Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada.
Introduction to Bhagavadgita:
Bhagavadgita means "Divine Song of God" . Out of the one hundred thousand stanzas of the great epic of India called the "Mahabharata", this great book Bhagavadgita is culled out. It contains seven hundred stanzas.
Bhagavadgita is the quintessence of Hinduism. It contains and explains all spiritual paths or Yogas that enlighten humanity with righteousness and spiritual knowledge. This is the teaching of Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjuna.
Arjuna was the mightiest warrior of the ancient time. Two warrior families called Kauravas and Pandavas were ready to fight the great Mahabha rata war. The Kauravas princes were one hundred in number and were wicked by nature. The Pandavas were five and were noble. The reason for the fight was this. The Kauravas broke their promise of sharing half of the country with Pandavas in spite of proper fulfillment of all the set conditions for their loss in a deceitful gambling arranged by the Kauravas. The Kauravas insisted that Pandavas fight the war and win the empire. The Pandava brothers were left with no choice but to wage the war.
Lord Krishna tried all means of negotiating some compromise between the families. Kauravas did not agree to part with even five villages and insisted that Pandavas must win in the war and then may own the land. In addition to that, the Kauravas had committed ma ny atrocities against the Pandava princess and had become arch enemies to the Pandavas.
Prince Arjuna was the midst of the five Pandava brothers. In the arrayed Mahabharata war, Pandavas had seven akshohini warriors, and Kauravas had eleven akshohini. Akshohini is a huge number like a million or more! Lord of the Universe Sri Krishna was on the Pandavas side as the charioteer of Arjuna and all other major teachers and great warriors were on the Kauravas side.
At the beginning of the war, when everyone is almost ready to start the war, prince Arjuna looks at his great masters who had taught him archery, all his cousins, great uncles and grand pa Bheeshma and a whole line of relatives!
With attachment to them, he forgets all the atrocities they had done to him and gets dejected at the war. He tells Lord Krishna, " I do not want to fight the war. How can I kill my own relatives? How can I kill my masters? Sacrifice is better than winning this war. I will walk away from this war. This is not for me."
This is where Lord Krishna starts the teaching of the "Bhagavadgita" to Arjuna. He says,"O Arjuna! You are talking like a pundit, the all-knowing. But you are not behaving like one. Pundits do not grieve for something that is not fit for grieving". Lord Krishna attacks Arjuna's feeble-attachment and teaches him the vast wisdom of the Bhagavadgita.
When the teaching was completely vouchsafed unto him, Arjuna surrenders to God and says: "O lord. With your grace, my attachment and ignorance are destroyed. I have regained my consciousness. Now, I do not have any doubts. I will fight as you advised me." We are all Arjunas. Lord Krishna's Bhagavadgita dispels all our doubts and blesses us with divine knowledge that guides us to lead an ennobling life in this world. This is the goal and sole purpose of human life on earth.
Then Arjuna and Pandavas win the Mahabharata war. The Gita explains all the major yogas through which one can attain God, like Sankhya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Sanyasa Yoga, Dhyana Yoga, Vignana Yoga, Abhyasa Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and many other spiritual aspects of Godhood.
Adi Shankaracharya says, "Gita-Shastra is an epitome of the essentials of the whole Vedic teaching".
Mahatma Gandhiji emphasized and imbibed the greatness of Karma Yoga in his life. "Doing one's duty in one's right; but not to the fruits thereof" , is the Gita message.
Saint Vinoba Bhave's opinion was that the word "Gita, Gita, Gita" repetition becomes "Tagi, Tagi, Tagi" , meaning "Tyagi", that is "A soul of sacrifice". Thus, Bhagavadgita mainly teaches sacrifice for the good of all human race and God's other creatures.
Verse 4 and Introduction: Contributed by Bukinakere K Nagendra.
(Verses 1 to 4 from Chapter 1 will appear with an Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita.)
Note: Please send your comments, suggestions and further addition for this verse to gitasandesha@yahoo.com