Swami Gober's Bhagavad Gita Commentary: Introductory Essay - 5

Omens

Sanjaya said:

Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue between Krishna and the high-souled Arjuna, which causes the hair to stand on end.

Through the Grace of Vyasa I have heard this supreme and most secret Yoga direct from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga Himself declaring it.

O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again!

Bhagavad Gita, chap 18, ver 74-76

The Bhagavad Gita is the third chapter of the Bhishma Parva, the Book 6 in the Mahabharata. Bhishma Parva opens with a narration of events taking place on the eve of the mighty eighteen-day Kurukshetra war. Strangely though, it is not set in the battlefield or thereabouts describing the preparation of the armies and so on as one would expect, but 300 kilometers away in the now deserted palace of Hastinapura where the blind king Dhritharashtra is left alone. He has his secretary Sanjaya with him.

Most people familiar with the Bhagavad Gita know that the Gita and the description of the entire war itself, spanning several books within the epic, are presented as a conversation between Dhritharashtra and Sanjaya. The Bhagavad Gita begins with Dhritharashtra earnestly asking Sanjaya to describe him the scene at the battlefield. The first few verses of the Gita until Arjuna enters the narrative, along with the events in the preceding chapters of the Bhishma Parva, set the scene for the great dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. A knowledge of this context may help us get a better perspective on the Gita. Here I recount my version of this segment of the epic, broadly based on the original.

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(At the outset of the Bhishma Parva, Veda Vyasa, the author of Mahabharata, pays a visit to Dhritharashtra who is actually his biological son.)

Seeing then (through his inner vision) the two armies standing on the east and the west for the fierce battle that was impending, the holy Rishi Vyasa, the son of Satyavati, that foremost of all persons acquainted with the Vedas, that grandsire of the Bharatas, conversant with the past, the present, and the future, and beholding everything as if it were present before his eyes, said these words in private unto the royal son of Vichitravirya (i.e., Dhritharashtra) who was then distressed and giving way to sorrow, reflecting on the evil policy of his sons.

Vyasa said, “O king, thy sons and the other monarchs have their hour arrived. Mustered in battle they will kill one another. O Bharata, their hour having come, they will all perish. Bearing in mind the changes brought on by time, do not yield thy heart to grief. O king, if thou wish to see them fighting in battle, I will, O king, grant thee vision. Behold the battle."

Dhritharshtra said,“O sage, first don't call me 'king', okay? For once in your life, please call me son, daddy! I have never had anyone to call 'Daddy' all my life. And why do you have to speak in such pompous language always? There is no one around you know. Let's talk normally! And what do you mean if I wish to see? Of course, I wish to see! All my life I've been dying to see. Can you grant me vision? Really? I can see the world again? I can behold the battle for myself?"

“Yes, of course, son, if you wish so. But wouldn't beholding the terrible spectacle of the war be a little too distressful to you?”

“Not one bit, father! But say, you really have this power to grant vision to me? There is no risk or anything?”

“It is easy, simple, instantaneous and risk-free! That's my yogic power!” -- asserted Vyasa.

“I just can't believe this. So you had this power all the time with you, and yet you didn't grant me vision! Are you totally crazy or what?”

“Oh, oh! Son, it is not like that. True, I could have granted you vision at any time in all the long past, but I had some constraints of my own. You must forgive me. I couldn't use my power to restore your eyesight decades ago though I could have easily done so. Really it is tragic.”

Sanjaya, sitting next to them, nodded. “How sad, indeed!”

“What are you talking about, father? What do you mean by constraints? And I had to totally waste my whole life just because you had some stupid constraints? Don't you have any conscience, any compassion, towards your own son?”

“No, Dhristharashtra, my son, please try to understand. I could have granted you vision even immediately after your birth, and I knew before you were born that you would be totally blind by birth. But there were problems, let me tell you my angle of the story. You are a virtuous person, a capable man in every way except for your blindness. However, had you possessed normal vision, being the son of your father Vichitravirya's eldest wife, Ambika, you would have straightforwardly become the king of Hastinapura without any dispute. Your brother, Pandu, who was born of Ambalika, Ambika's younger sister, would have been totally sidestepped. Such is our tradition. The eldest son becomes the king unless he is apparently not fit to be a ruler, the rest of the siblings get nothing except the briefest mention in the descriptions of the royal lineage.

“However, even the king who gets to rule the land ultimately remains as nothing more than a passing name in a long list of names. Do you know, Dhritharashtra, that there were more than two dozen virtuous and capable kings who ruled Hastinapura between you and King Bharatha, and a two dozen kings before him until King Puru who founded the solar dynasty? But what happened to all of them? People hardly know any of their names! Even King Bharatha, after whom I have named the epic story that I am at present in the process of composing, really didn't have any story, he too really is just a name and nothing more.

“I was unhappy with this situation. What is the use of living a life when you don't have a story that people will talk about even ages after you have deceased? People are born and people die and they disappear into the oblivion forever, even the mightiest of kings! That is not the way it is meant to be. Kshatriyas have to strive for kirti, immortal fame, for that is the only wealth that lasts. If need be, anything can be sacrificed to achieve this fame. Gods in the heaven shower their blessings only on the shining celebrities, and not on every pathetic man walking in the street. So I had to make some sacrifices too.”

“I am not getting you at all, father. Fame and all that is fine, but how does that really concern me?”

“Isn't it all very simple? If you had normal vision, you would have been a regular king, and your son too would have been a regular king after you. The sons of Pandu (the Pandavas) would have had absolutely no share of your kingdom or any right to ask for it. It is only because you are blind that Pandu had to rule the kingdom for some time before he left for the forest. And it is only on that basis that the Pandavas ask their kingdom back, and since they realize that the situation is a little complex, they would be happy even if the kingdom is divided in two and they are given their share. Duryodhana, your son, wouldn't concede however. And thus the fight began between Kauravas and the Pandavas, which has finally led to the great war that is upon us now. And because of this battle, we will all become famous!

"For thousands of years, people of this country would be talking about us, recounting our stories, chanting our glory. It is for your sake, son, that I had to take the tragic decision of not bestowing eyesight upon you, and had to let you remain blind all your life. But now that the great Mahabharata story has happened, and its great climax -- the battle of Kurukshetra -- is imminent, there is no problem in you seeing the world. Even if I had given you the vision only a few months earlier, you could have taken control of things in such a way as to prevent this war from happening. So I couldn't take the risk. Because without a war like this, without a high-octane explosive climax, no matter how much story and drama you put into any thing, it will not really click with the masses. Only a grand climactic war and all the unspeakable violence that goes with it can really capture the rather stolid imagination of the public. Indeed, to be frank, I have manipulated this whole story of our lives at many places simply to bring events to this fantastic climax! I had to employ every cheap trick, every silly contrivance to somehow bring all the men around ready and eager to kill each other in an utterly pointless and meaningless war. And the work isn't over yet. Pandavas are not very reliable, even tomorrow morning just as the battle is about to commence, Yudhishthira or even Arjuna can see the futility of this whole war exercise and may call it off any time. My whole epic for which I have been working for nearly two hundred years now, could be instantly ruined.

"Besides me only Krishna understands the whole situation. And he is entirely sympathetic to my unique creative effort here. He has been cooperating with me for a long time now. He has done all he could to bring events to this great climactic conclusion, which would end the yuga we are living in. He has also promised me that should any untoward situations arise in the battlefield tomorrow and in the coming several days, he would take care of them personally. Indeed Krishna's chief task in the battlefield is to see that the war takes place at all events and takes place in a proper, rather choreographed manner.

“Suppose Yudhishthira or Duryodhana gets killed tomorrow, the war would be over on the first day itself. It is Krishna's duty to see that the battle drags and drags on at least for two weeks, so that I get at least three parvas of material for my great epic under construction. This is all very complex situation. I am quite tensed up about it myself. For instance, suppose Karna were to use his most potent Shakti weapon tomorrow itself, its victim Arjuna would die instantly, and the war would be over by tomorrow evening. My Mahabharata story is as good as gone! Therefore, with great difficulty and with a little help from Bhishma, we arranged it in such a way that Karna wouldn't get down into the battlefield for a good time to come. A few other things are also taken care of. Krishna has to ensure that no hero falls in the first ten days of the war, and only after that one by one starts falling in a smooth choreographed fashion. Krishna has a great and delicate responsibility on his shoulders. We can only pray and hope that things wouldn't go too much off the track.

"I hope you realize the kind of concerted effort we are all putting in this epic-making business. Your blindness, son, is one of the major sacrifices that was required to get the game going. But don't feel sad about yourself or bad about me. Think of it in a positive way, you are going to be so famous that you cannot even imagine of it now, my son!”

“Hell, I can't believe it what I am hearing!" -- exclaimed Dhritharashtra. "This is all so grotesque. This whole thing is contrived, our whole lives were manipulated by you! But why, why? If you wanted to become famous, you could have written up some big The Great Indian Novel or something and become a great celebrity. Why did you have to play with our lives so? We never asked for fame. I only wanted some peace and happiness, live a normal life and look after my subjects well. But look at the horrible horrible mess that we are in. It is all really your fault, you are to blame for everything deep down, you and that Krishna! My God! I am feeling embarrassed to even call you daddy now, and only a few moments before I was so proud of you!”

“No, Dhritharashtra, my son, You are under a shock, I can understand. It would be difficult for you to think clearly at the moment. But let me tell you again, whatever I have done, I have done for the good of all of us. And beyond that for the good of the people, and of the country. In the next few days, a few million people would be slaughtered at the battlefield. But there will usually be a baby boom after such a catastrophic war, and the original population levels would be restored in two or three generations. We don't have to worry too much about it. However, if the country doesn't have its epics, for thousands of years people would have no heritage, no culture, to pass down to their children except for a little song and dance like Bharatha Natyam and Hindustani music. They will not have any heroes, they will not have a good side to cheer for and a bad side to jeer at. Son, my book is going to be an epic, a true national epic! It will bring thrill and excitement into people's lives for hundreds and thousands of years!”

“But, daddy, what I am saying is, if that is what you wanted you could have imagined up some stories, wrote a few novels, you too would have become famous, and people too would have got their heroes and villains, fun and excitement, in addition we too would have been spared, and had a chance to lead normal, meaningful lives.”

“You are mistaken, dear son. Normal lives are never meaningful, it is only abnormal lives that have some scope to create meaning. To create meaning, you have to be a part of a bigger context, but not simply a part of the context itself, you'd have to stand out from the background. It is my story that is going to make you all stand out. Don't worry that your son will be known as the arch villain. Believe me, it is much much better than not to be known at all, or play a side character in the story. Besides, heroes and villains, they are all part of the same game. As to your question, why I couldn't try to come up with some fictitious stories, I really did try my hand at that. Who wrote the Bhagavatham and the Puranas? Myself! All fables and fiction. But they are full of totally inane stories most of the time, with gods and demons constantly fighting and then God taking an avatar to help the gods and destroy the evil demons. Really nothing much happens besides such puerile nonsense. But I have noticed that the tastes of the people are getting more sophisticated as we progress toward the Kali Yuga. People want more realistic feel and newness in the stories they derive their entertainment from. Regrettably, in our day and age we simply still don't have the kind of creativity it takes to come up with such realistic stories. Moreover I don't want to concoct just any kind of story, I want to create an epic, an epic for all time! It can be stupid, it can be full of nonsense, but that wouldn't really matter, there has to be noise, action, excitement, all of epic proportions! Further, if you sit and think up stories, you can only create stories that have characters think and act in a certain fashion, which may appear logical to some extent or other within the framework of the story. Whereas epics are larger than life, they shouldn't have too much coherence, they should be full of characters that do bizarre things, and not do many other things just as bizarrely. Spontaneous quirkiness, unpredictibility, chaos! And that kind of thing you can only get in real life. Creativity cannot help much here, you need authenticity, that is what resonates deep with the masses.

“Also just think, if I didn't come up with the Mahabharata, people in this country would be stuck with Ramayana for ever, and their minds would be putrefied, mired in the morbid morass, they would become hopeless, helpless, listless; chanting 'Rama', 'Rama', until they would all become monkeys and die their miserable deaths. The Mahabharata that I am going write very soon, is going to give people a much better alternative, a new vision of life! For example, a wife can have many husbands, and a husband can have many wives, it is all about choice and freedom and breadth of thinking. Modernity is here! People would be liberated from the tyranny and tediousness of Ramayana. My Mahabharata is going to surpass and supersede any stupid Ramayana, for sure!”

Dhritharashtra gave up resistance. “Okay, daddy, okay! At least I can understand your intentions, even if I am not able to appreciate them fully yet. But I trust you. It's okay. And you had this intention all along, right? Now I get it! You deliberately intended me to be born blind, simply because you couldn't come up with a better trick to make your story happen. For my whole life, I have continuously pondered over it. Why, why, did my mother have to put her palms to her face and close her eyes while she was with you. Because that's what people say. I never could understand it. But now I know. You must have intentionally smeared some ashes on your face and disheveled all your long hairs to scare the poor woman off. What a conspiracy, that too perpetrated by one's own father!”

“No, son. No dishevelled hairs or smeared ashes when I walked into your mother's bedroom. I was perfectly decent. I am a bit surprised that even you believe in such ridiculous rumors. And how on Earth would the child be born blind simply because the mother closed her eyes at the moment of impregnation! I mean, there has to be some logic, right? How can you believe in such nonsense! Look, it was like this. As you know, your father Vichitravirya died without begetting any children. Your grandmother, Satyavati, was worried that the family could end up heirless, and the kingdom kingless. So she called me, her own son from a well-documented premarital affair, to take upon my shoulders the task of inseminating both of your mothers. I was rather young at that time, and it was in those days that I was struggling to come up with a nice concept for a realistic epic story. Slowly the idea began to take shape in me that instead of just concocting some fable and myth, which I would be doing anyway, I could initiate a real life story here! It was really a far-fetched idea, I wasn't very clear, but I thought it was clever.

“I had immense faith in your uncle, Bhishma. He might not have been the king of Hastinapura but he was a king of many things, most importantly he was the king of SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fucked Up). You give him any more or less normal situation, he can make a clean mess out of it. That is why he is so highly regarded by everybody, and without him there wouldn't have been a Mahabharata. He is the one who started it all, who had the capacity, the moral authority, to get a great epic underway. And somehow I had a feeling that if the children that were going to be born to Ambika and Ambalika were to be brought up by him, they could turn into perfect addled-pates, and in one or two generations we could have a real story developing. Because for a great story like Mahabharata to happen, you need many addled-pates. Smart people can create history at the most, but not stories, not the kind of stories that people would really cherish. History too is created by morons most of the time anyway. If he had been the king, I knew your uncle would have created history, but even now I had hope that he could help in the creation of a great story. Bhishma didn't ever disappoint me, nor would he disappoint me in the battle that is about to begin. Everyone knows he would die in the hands of Shikhandi because it is preordained, and no one knows it better than himself, and yet he would go, face Shikandi at the right time and fall. He is that kind of simpleton. Just you wait and see!

“And so with great expectations and excitement, I murmured to myself, as I entered your mother's bedroom “I am coming, Valmiki!” It felt good! As I said, I was looking just normal, the way a sage should look, glowing in my usual radiance. The long beard wouldn't have really scared anybody, it may just feel like a little nuisance on occasions, at the most. So what really happened was this, your mothers, Ambika and Ambalika, didn't have any significant sexual experience before marriage, unlike my mother who has had plenty since she was roaming much in the deserted jungle populated only by the holy sages, having a whale of a time. And as I later found out, it so turns out that your father Vichitravirya, although he was nothing but a lecherous donkey, had a teeny weenie. Your mothers having become familiar only with that thought that was the way it normally is. And when Ambika eventually came to see my thing, just the sheer size of it, she got scared, horrified, petrified. In her acute fright, as the whole world knows it by now, she closed her eyes with her trembling hands. That much is true. But it is pure nonsense to say that you were born blind because she did so. Who has ever heard of such a ridiculous thing! Besides, if it had any truth, half the population of the country would be born blind since so many women tend to close their eyes while lovemaking! However, when your mother recoiled and closed the eyes in horror, it gave me an idea! I for some reason felt that if a blind child was born, it could somehow help my story. We can't leave everything in the hands of Bhishma, we should do our part to mess up things and help him. And here I had a perfect excuse too! And so through my Tapas Shakti, my supernatural power, I intended you to be born blind. And actually that is why I am so confident that I can instantly restore your vision if only you wish to, because it is I who caused your blindness in the first place.”

Vyasa paused. Dhritharashtra who had been listening to all this in total disbelief spoke out, “I forgive you, daddy, I forgive you! You had to do what you did for some reason. I suffered and I suffered, all my life, but still I am not in a position to judge you. Anyway, the world is full of blind people, and I am just one more, so maybe I didn't miss out much. But tell me, what happened with my half-mother, Ambalika, and what happened with the servant maid? Why was Pandu my brother born pale and weak, and Vidura -- born of the servant maid -- perfectly healthy and normal?”

“Thank you, son, thank you for understanding! You have a magnanimous heart. As a token of my gratitude to you for forgiving me, I will see to it that your name will be remembered forever. When my epic comes out and becomes popular, I will find out which part of it is the most popular and most adored by the people, and then will release a second edition making your name the very first word of this most revered part of my epic. That much I can do!

“So, to answer your questions, after my little session with your mother when you were conceived, I went back to my mother and your grandmother, Satyavati, and spun a little yarn. I told her that the son born to Ambika would be blind, since she closed her eyes while I was performing the sacred ritual. My mother was totally shocked. She couldn't believe it. She asked me, 'If you knew that the child would be born blind because she closed her eyes, why didn't you remove those hands off her eyes, why didn't you make her keep the eyes open?' I told her that if I did so she could have started screaming or something, or she could have fainted, and who knows what kind of children would have been born then! You don't want a king that was screaming or fainting all the time, do you? What a horror! At least blind children are much simpler to deal with, therefore I thought it was wise to allow her to keep her eyes closed.

"I could quickly cover it up thus, I also told her that not much is lost, there is yet a scheduled session with Ambalika, and asked her to warn Ambalika not keep her eyes closed, or swoon, or scream, just stay steady and tight for a while. Only, she got too tight! Don't know how the news spreads around, even before I entered her room, she was pale with fright. I tried to reassure her with my smile and warm presence. It somewhat worked, but as soon as she too saw the monster that was about to impale her, she fell into stupor and her face was drained of all blood. That was not a problem though, because women normally become pale during lovemaking because all the blood in the head rushes elsewhere to places where the action is, while for men their heads are still usually active, thinking and imagining most of the time. So I didn't worry about it much. But Ambalika was repressing everything so much, she became very rigid, almost frigid, I had to do a lot of work on her to bring the ritual to fruition. She was very tired and sickly by the end of it, which is what gave me the idea, if this child turned out to be weak – a dumb uncle, a blind nephew and another sickly nephew, a whole kingdom – a great story could be in making here! So I intended Pandu to be born weak, and spun the yarn to my mother once again. She was deeply saddened to see that things were not working out. I too was sad to see her sad, but I was working for a greater cause, so had to harden my heart.

“The next day I was about to depart, when my mother told that one of the palace's favorite maids also didn't have any children, and perhaps I could be of some service there too if I didn't mind. Of course I never minded doing a little social work, so I had a little romp with this girl. Oh boy, she was something! She was perfectly at home with extra large sizes, and we simply had great fun for a little while. Too bad I had to leave her at that. During my last moments with her, I did exclaim something like “Nuts, this is crazy!” After that, when it was over and I was taking farewell, I wondered, how would it be if this child were to be born… well! But I didn't give it any further thought because I was in such a good mood at that time. Vidura's mother was really terrific in bed, and that's what saved Vidura! So there you have it, the whole story behind the screen, all the facts.”

Dhritarashtra heaved a heavy sigh. “A big flashback indeed! By now I am getting used to the strangeness of it all. I have many more questions for you too, daddy. But not now, let's get down to business. It is past nine now, it is going to dawn in less than ten hours, a great war would commence, the greatest war that this land has ever witnessed. I really feel like watching it. So you are sure about this, right? No complications and such things? Plain and simple?

“You just have to ask for it.”

Dhritharashtra though was hesitating. He had a doubt. “But tell me, daddy, how would I watch the match? I mean the show... sorry the battle. Where would I sit? Say, on a plain of 20 square kilometers, 4 million soldiers and warriors have gathered. It is a massive operation. If I stand on the very circumference and watch, really I would get to see nothing. Also, if people notice me, the news would spread and it would disrupt the proceedings. So I think getting eyes to watch the battle would be useless at this point.”

“That didn't occur to me at all! But it's true, even if you have eyes, there is no way to watch the war. How strange! Too much of social service all these past several decades made me a little slow-witted, I guess. But never mind. I have another idea, how about I give you the power which would let you see whatever you want through your inner vision, just like I do? You can just sit here and have the view of the entire battlefield, you can focus on any particular location you wish to, you can move around, pan and zoom as you wish. I think you will get the hang of it very easily, really.”

Sanjaya who had been mostly a silent witness to this conversation so far was really excited at this prospect. Quickly recovering from all the consternation he himself faced in the last one hour or so, he said to Vyasa, “O great sage, there wouldn't be any problem in that. I think that would be really terrific.” He turned to the King and expressed his excitement, “Wouldn't you want to have something like that, O mighty Dhritharashtra?”

Dhritharashtra pondered for a while, drooping his head. Presently, he raised his face and said sternly, “No. You people don't seem to have much common sense. Daddy, you can give me the power alright. You have all these great yogic powers with you but you don't seem to know much simpler things. Do you know that only less than 30% of the process of vision happens in the eyes, and the rest of it happens inside the brain, the visual cortex and all that? The brain needs to very skillfully interpret the enormous amount data that is being fed to it through the eyes and other senses, whether outer or inner. Visual perception is an extremely complex thing, an elaborate symphony of coordination between the eye and the brain. That is why newborn babies are totally blind the first three months of their life even though they may have fully developed eyes. It takes months and years of training for a child to learn the see the world rightly, just in the physical sense. I was born blind, and if you grant me any kind of vision, physical or clairvoyant, it would take weeks for me to get over the initial confusion and learn to perceive the world rightly. By that time the war would be over, this is not the right time to experiment with such things. Do you people understand me?”

It took a little time for Vyasa to grasp this side of this things. But he didn't take much time to reply. “Again I didn't think of it! These days there seem to be so many things escaping my mind totally. Anyways, what do you suggest that we do now? Shall we simply leave it at this? Frankly speaking, I feel rather guilty about you, you know, my son. I would really feel a little relieved by doing some favor to you, if only you would give me a chance.”

Dhritharashtra acknowledged his biological father's contriteness. “Well then maybe you can stay here with me for the next couple of weeks and give me a live commentary of what is happening on the battlefield. That could be a little comforting, as well as entertaining and illuminating.”

Vyasa however couldn't accept the proposal. “Oh no, Dhritharashtra my son, I have to get busy in versifying this whole war episode for my epic, it is a very tedious procedure to work on all those complex meters and rhymes. I can't sit talking with you people for long. But we can do one thing, I can bestow remote viewing power unto Sanjaya here, and he can narrate to you the whole war as it happens. What do you say?”

Sanjaya eagerly jumped at the idea. “That would be really fantastic, sire! Can you do it now, right away? Because the war is going to start in hardly a few hours, I would need a little time to orient myself to the new power, wouldn't I?”

Vyasa thought for a minute. “Yes, Sanjaya, orientation is an important thing. Actually, now that I think of it, you would need a little practice to learn to handle it as expertly as you should, or it might get you into trouble. For example, you need to be able to focus sharply for proper viewing, and for audio you need to strictly limit your range, or else you could hear the whole battlefield at once and such overload could blow up the fuses in your mind. Also, this power would give you the capacity to look into the minds of the people, and if you didn't know how to focus, all the thoughts and feelings, the fear, the pain, the confusion, of all the people in the battlefield could flood into your mind all at once, and you can imagine what would happen! The grey matter inside your head could literally explode! Even if I granted you the power right now, you would need at least a week to practice slowly step by step and get ready for the real thing. We don't have that much time of course.”

Sanjaya felt horrified and also dejected at the same time. He was speechless for quite some time. And then plaintively asked the sage, “So is there no way to go about it, sire?”

“I have an idea,” said the sage. And turning to Dhritharashtra, he remarked with a self-approbative smile, “See, son, I too can think and come up with ideas some times!”

Sanjaya saw a ray of hope in Vyasa's confident expression. “What is the idea then, sire?”

Dhritharashtra though was very skeptical and preempted Vyasa's speech. “No, don't do anything with Sanjaya now, daddy. All these things are very risky operations, and have to be conducted under strict supervision. There is no time for such things now. How about you materialize a magic mirror, a television-like box? There would be several channels, each of which is focused on a particular section of the battlefield, we can keep switching the channels and get the entire picture of the battlefield. That would be very convenient, no risk whatsoever unless this thing were to explode in our face or something!”

“Oh, son, that kind of technology I am still working on it. If only I didn't have to spend so much time on this massive epic masterpiece, I could have invented the television by now perhaps. Sometimes I wonder whether I made the right choice, I should have really focused on inventing the television, instead of getting myself and all of us into this epic circus. If only we had a television, we could have a Vedic channel, a Mahabharata channel, a Purana channel, a Ved Vyasa biography channel, a social service channel, and whatever we wanted, it would have been really fabulous! Pity really that we don't have the television! Though there are so many sages in our forests who should be doing research into these kinds of this, they mostly get occupied elsewhere! Be that as it may, the war is going to be upon us in a little while, this is not the time for such musings and regrets. What I propose to do now is this. I will bestow upon Sanjaya the remote-viewing power and thought-reading power, but not these alone. He will also have the power to astrally project himself to whichever place he wants within a circumference of 600 kilometers of his physical body. This way he can go to the battlefield, move around and watch it for himself by being present there, focusing only on his immediate surroundings. This way the process would be very simplified, wouldn't require much training either. Sanjaya can come back to the palace at night and describe the war happenings to you the whole night.”

Sanjaya was again extremely delighted. Vyasa turned to Sanjaya and asked him, “What do you say, Sanjaya?”

Sanjaya got up, approached the sage and kneeled down. With uncontainable enthusiasm, he pleaded the sage, “I can't just wait any more, sire, make me all-seeing and all roaming right now.”

Then the sage Vyasa took some holy water from his kamandala and said to Sanjaya, “Close your eyes Sanjaya, I will smear the water upon your eyes. You will go unconscious, shut down for a while, and when your system reboots, you will have great and amazing powers with you.” So saying, Vyasa solemnly touched the eyes of Sanjaya, upon which Sanjaya fainted. It seemed like some great power was passing from Vyasa to Sanjaya. Vyasa himself went into a semi trance-like stage and uttered these solemn words to Dhritarashtra, “This Sanjaya, O king, will describe the battle to thee. Nothing in the whole battle will be beyond this one's eyes. Endued, O king, with celestial vision, Sanjaya will narrate the battle to thee. He will have knowledge of everything. Manifest or concealed, (happening) by day or by night, even that which is thought of in the mind, Sanjaya shall know everything. Weapons will not cut him and exertion will not fatigue him. This son of Gavalgani will come out of the battle with life. As regards myself, O bull of Bharata's race, the fame of these Kurus, as also of all the Pandavas, I will spread. Do not grieve. This is destiny, O tiger among men. It behoveth thee not to give way to grief. It is not capable of being prevented. As regards victory, it is there where righteousness is.”

Deep silence prevailed in the palace hall. Vyasa recovered from his trance. He and Dhritharashtra were waiting for Sanjaya to get up with his magnificent new psychic powers. They waited a little more time. Then the sage said, “Son, it seems like Sanjaya might take a while to come to, because I have given him all kinds of powers at once. Let's wait half an hour more see. But no harm will come upon him, that much I can assure you. In the meantime, I will use my own divine perception to give you a feel of the atmosphere on this dire night that is grimly waiting upon the sun of war to rise. I can already feel a thick ominous presence all around us. Let me try to look into it deeply and paint a picture for you.”

“Yes, you do that, daddy. Give me some feel, it would be interesting.”

“Okay then I will concentrate and go into trance. Try not to interrupt me, and do so only you have to.”

Sage Vyasa solemnly closed his eyes and meditated. Presently, he uttered these words “Great will the slaughter be, O monarch, in this battle. I see here also (numerous) omens indicative of terror. Hawks and vultures, and crows and herons, together with cranes, are alighting on the tops of trees and gathering in flocks. These birds, delighted at the prospect of battle, are looking down (on the field) before them. Carnivorous beasts will feed on the flesh of elephants and steeds. Fierce herons, foreboding terror, and uttering merciless cries, are wheeling across the center towards the southern region.

“In both the twilights, prior and posterior to the battles that would happen each day, I behold, O Bharata, the sun during his rising and setting to be covered by headless trunks. Tri-coloured clouds with their extremities white and red and necks black, charged with lightning, and resembling maces (in figure) envelope the sun in both twilights. All this forbodes fear. On even the fifteenth night of the lighted-fortnight in (the month of) Kartika, the moon, divested of splendor, has become invisible, or of the hue of fire, the firmament being of the hue of the lotus. Many heroic lords of earth, kings and princes, endued with great bravery and possessed of arms resembling maces, will be slain and sleep lying down on the earth.”

There was a long gap in which Vyasa was still in trance, but did not speak anything. Dhritharashtra waited in silence, bearing a grim expression. Suddenly Vyasa was jolted from his introverted state of mind. He had an expression of grave perplexity on his face. “Dhiratarashtra, something strange is going to happen. All these dark forebodings I am seeing are not just about the war and the bloodshed that is going to take place. Something much more sinister is going to occur, and very soon, just a matter of hours.”

“What are you saying, father?” asked Dhritarashtra.

Vyasa again closed his eyes. He slipped into trance in a moment. “I notice in the sky during night time the fierce cries of battling boars and cats. The images of gods and goddesses sometimes laugh, sometimes tremble, and sometimes again these vomit blood through their mouths and sometimes they sweat and sometimes fall down. O monarch! drums, without being beaten, give sounds, and the great cars of Kshatriyas move without (being drawn by) animals yoked to them. Kokilas, wood-peckers, jaws, water-cocks, parrots, crows, and peacocks, utter terrible cries. At sun-rise flights of insects, by hundreds, are seen. In both twilights, the cardinal quarters seem to be ablaze, and the clouds, O Bharata, shower dust and flesh. The planet Sani, O king, appeareth afflicting (the constellation) Rohini. The sign of the deer in the Moon hath deviated from its usual position. A great terror is indicated. Even though the sky is cloudless, a terrible roar is heard there. The animals are all weeping and their tears are falling fast."

Vyasa rested for a while, and opened his eyes. He seemed very agitated, Dhritarashtra too grew concerned. Vyasa expressed his puzzlement. “Son, now I am convinced. Something terrible terrible very terrible is going to happen the very first thing tomorrow morning. The horrible thing that is going to happen tomorrow is going to impact this land for centuries and millennia to come. It is not this war, there is something else. I can feel it very much, but am not able to see it. Such an absolute sense of doom and gloom, it is not just about the war, that much I am certain. It is as if Satan himself is going to land on the earth tomorrow, and posing as God he will turn men into asses and make them worship him and sing his praises. This evil god will spread a false spirituality; men and women for thousands of years to come will fall for his devious nonsensical teachings and think they are the ultimate truth. How sad! How evil!"

"How strange!" -- remarked Dhritharashtra. "And I thought you had it all planned! What is this thing that is going to happen in a few hours from now?"

Vyasa was himself in the dark. "Really somebody built a psychic wall around this event, so that even I am not able to look into it. Who has that kind of power on this earth, except for Krishna? Does he know about this thing? Has he himself something to do with this thing? I can only wonder. Something..."

Vyasa suddenly stopped talking. Meanwhile Sanjaya slowly rose from his trance. But he was in a zombie-like condition, he sat up on the floor, his eyes closed, and started uttering these things in a droning voice as if one possessed:

"Asses are taking births in kine (cows).

"Women quick with child, and even those that are not so, are giving birth to monsters.

"Carnivorous beasts, mingling with (carnivorous) birds, are feeding together. Ill-omened beasts, some having three horns, some with four eyes, some with five legs, some with two sexual organs, some with two heads, some with two tails, some having fierce teeth, are being born, and with mouths wide open are uttering unholy cries."

A pause.

Vyasa whispered to Dhritarashtra, "See this is what I mean, a very unholy thing is going to happen, you see, a righteous battle fought in the name of righteousness is not such an unholy thing at all."

Sanjaya was continuing. "Horses with three legs, furnished with crests, having four teeth, and endued with horns, are also being born. The mare is bringing forth the cow-calf and the bitch is bringing forth jackals and cocks, and antelopes and parrots are all uttering inauspicious cries.

"Lotuses of different kinds and lilies are growing on trees.

"Strong winds are blowing fiercely and the dust ceaseth not.

"The earth is frequently trembling, and Rahu approacheth towards the sun. The white planet (Ketu) stayeth, having passed beyond the constellation Chitra. The constellation Dhruva, blazing fiercely, wheeleth towards the right. Both the Moon and the Sun are afflicting Rohini."

Again, Vyasa quickly whispered to Dhritharashtra, "The first few hours of tomorrow morning are the most inauspicious hours of this whole yuga, astrologically!"

Sanjaya went on. “They that are the best of creatures in the worlds and upon whom depends the universe, viz., kine (cows), when milked after the calves have their suck, yield only blood. Animals and birds on all sides, with mouths blazing like fire, uttering fierce cries, and displaying these evil omens, are foreboding terrible consequences.

"A (fierce) bird with but one wing, one eye, and one leg, hovering over the sky in the night, screameth frightfully in wrath, as if for making the hearers vomit blood. All the quarters of the earth, being overwhelmed by showers of dust, look inauspicious. Fierce clouds, portentous of danger, drop bloody showers during the night. Rahu of fierce deeds is also afflicting the constellation Kirtika. Rough winds, portending fierce danger, are constantly blowing.

"The great rivers are flowing in opposite directions. The waters of rivers have become full of men's vomit and so many other gooey substances. The wells, foaming up, are bellowing like bulls. Meteors, effulgent like Indra's thunder-bolt, fall with loud hisses. When this night passeth away, evil consequences will begin to overtake this land.

"The earth drinks the vomit of thousands of sages. It is nausea, nausea everywhere. From the mountains of Kailasa and Mandara and Himavat thousands of explosions are heard and thousands of summits are tumbling down. All the glory of this land will crumble into dust.

"Fierce winds charged with pointed pebbles are blowing, crushing mighty trees. In villages and towns trees, ordinary and sacred, are falling down, crushed by mighty winds and struck by lightning. The (sacrificial) fire, when Brahmanas pour libations on it, becomes blue, or red, or yellow. Its flames bend towards the left, yielding a bad scent, accompanied by loud reports. Touch, smell, and taste have become what they were not. Drums and cymbals are throwing off showers of coal-dust. And from the tops of tall trees all around, crows, wheeling in circles from the left, are uttering fierce cries. All of them again are uttering frightful cries of pakka, pakka. Vicious elephants, trembling all over, are running hither and thither, urinating and ejecting excreta. Mess, mess, everywhere on this land for thousands of years to come. The horses are all melancholy. The vital spirit of this land is going to be vitiated and poisoned. It is gloom, gloom, gloom..."

And Sanjaya fell back into unconsciousness.

Vyasa said to Dhritharasthra. "His system needs one more reboot. This time he will wake up perfectly in his senses, in full possession of his amazing new powers, don't worry!"

Vyasa resumed. "Just a few more hours, evil and untruth will overtake this land. A false god would spread his false doctrine, I can see only that much. But where will this happen, how is this related to the war, I have no idea!'

Dhritarashtra spoke nothing.

------

Of course we all know what happened on that fateful morning, even as the sun was barely rising. The Holy Bhagavad Gita!