An attendant touched a burning Karanjel oil torch to the funeral pyre with his trembling hands. I was still looking around in search of Jayadratha. He was standing silently behind Duryodhana with a shawl covering his face, like women do. He had come to quench the fire in his cruel eyes and vicious mind, by witnessing his foremost enemy Arjuna entering the fire. Even seeing him from a distance, my body seethed with rage.
Suddenly the darkness of the eclipse started lifting up. The rays of the sun started streaming on the holy land of Kurukshetra like streams of water slowly running from a crack in an earthen pot! Smiling at the bleak torches on the battlefield the bright Sun god appeared on the western horizon like before. Birds started chirping and left their nests again for the forest in search of food. The loud chirping sound of the crickets stopped at once!
Putting to shame even the sound of the Panchjanya conch, a familiar voice fell on my ears, raising goose bumps on my body, “Oh Savyasachi – Partha, see there – the sun in the sky and there – the scoundrel Jayadratha on Kurukshetra! Take aim and shoot your arrow.” Pointing the index fingers of both his hands in two different directions he stood tall, like Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas! His right index finger pointed at the Sun and left index finger pointed right at Jayadratha’s throat. I promptly mounted an arrow on my Gandiva bow and shot it in the exact direction of his left index finger. It was the Chandramukha arrow with a zigzag Jidma shaft and a crescent moon-shaped blade at the tip. Taking many twists and turns and avoiding others in the path it unmistakably cut through Jayadratha’s throat. Even I didn’t understand what happened and how!
The Pandava army put Jayadratha’s corpse on the huge funeral pyre that the Kauravas had prepared for me.The fourteenth day of battle tricked everyone with the solar eclipse and ended while witnessing the funeral pyre of Jayadratha.
During his advice Srikrishna had firmly told me – ‘Keep your mind focused on me. Be my devotee. Bow only to me. I will emancipate you from every kind of sin!’
‘Don’t be afraid!’ While responding to that I had just said to him as determinedly, ‘I promise you. I will do as you say!’
I had experienced and come to understand the priceless truth of life that I was just a simple man – Nara and he was the Almighty – Narayana!
Satyaki
I am Satyaki! From the renowned Vrushni clan among the eighteen clans of Yadavas. I am the grandson of Shini and the son of Satyaka. My father Satyaka was one of the ten ministers in the Sudharma royal assembly. My grandfather Shini was a close friend of Maharaj Vasudeva.
I was lucky enough to get the rare opportunity to offer my services throughout my life to the great Yadava Lord of Dwaraka who was born in Kansa’s prison, raised in Gokul as Krishna and later attained epithets in higher order like Srikrishna, Achyuta, Vaasudeva and Bhagvan.
I was veracious by nature. It was only because of this single quality that I always got to be a part of the inner circle of Maharaja Srikrishna. I was one of his many Sakhas who were dear to his heart. Maybe the last one among them but I was certainly one of his Sakhas. I always felt proud of it.
I was as fearless as I was truthful. Today I feel that it was in the company of this great Yadava that this fearlessness was instilled in me and it kept on increasing.
One more quality that the great Yadava had noted about me was the way I destroyed my foes. I fought many battles along with the Lord of Dwaraka. I never faced failure even in a single one of those battles. I must clarify today that as my dauntless fighting was one of the reasons for success in those battles, the mere presence of the Lord of Dwaraka on the battlefield each time was also a strong reason for that.
Forthrightness was an innate quality of mine. Many of the Yadavas also had it. Balaramadada was the best example of that among the Yadavas. My disposition was much like him – short-tempered but also having the tendency to calm down quickly. There was only one difference between us. Maybe because of his seniority or due to his position of a prince, Balaramadada would quickly get furious any time. He would also cool down quickly. My rage would flare up on the battlefield. It would not abate until I had completely destroyed my enemy.
Possibly because of these qualities an amusing fact had manifested in my life. It all happened during the time of constructing the royal city of Indraprastha for the Pandavas in Khandavavana. During that period, I had to travel frequently with the Lord from Dwaraka to Khandavavana with a caravan of chariots and craftsmen. During that time, many of Arjuna’s virtues had touched my heart. That is why one day, though I was his senior in age I implored Arjuna, joining both my palms, “Oh valiant Partha, though you are younger than me please initiate me as your humble disciple in warfare and archery!” He couldn’t believe me initially. He said to me, “Oh long-armed, mighty commander of the Yadavas, are you making fun of me? I know that there are only two valiant warriors with knee-long arms among all of the Yadavas, Kauravas and Pandavas – our Krishna is the first one and you are the second one. Oh Mahaskandha – Maharathi, I am so much younger than you. How can I teach you anything?”
He spoke with humility that befitted him. But I was quite desperate to learn warfare and archery from only him.
Forgetting my seniority for the sake of learning I pleaded earnestly with appropriate modesty. He also kept my respect by accepting my request. I became Arjuna’s initiated disciple. That is why I quickly learned many of the arrow-shooting techniques from him who easily handled the Gandiva bow. Still, as an experienced commander of the Yadavas, I was well aware of the fact that only five warriors in Aaryavarta were the masters of Dhanurveda with all its intricacies – the first was Grandsire Bhishma, the second was Aacharya Drona, third Karna – the king of Anga, fourth Arjuna, and fifth, our Lord of Dwaraka! Was he the fifth one or the first one? He had already proved himself by fulfilling the condition of piercing the fish-eye in the Swayamwar ceremony of Lakshmanaadevi. And indeed, what if he had entered the battle of Kurukshetra brandishing his weapons - bow and arrow?
Just as I became the humble disciple of Arjuna, in Dwaraka I was already the disciple of the great Yadav Srikrishna for learning Astravidya. Krishnadeva and Arjuna were already a pair of guru and disciple. So, that means in the entire Aaryavarta I was the only person who was a disciple of both Krishna and Arjuna. But as Arjuna was younger to me he would address me using an honorific! Krishnadeva casually called me ‘Satyaki’. In other words, as guru and disciple the three of us were clearly bound in an emotional triangular relationship. I insist that our lives should be looked at from that point of view.
Only Uddhavadeva got to see the emotional life of the Lord of Dwaraka in depth. His most beloved Sakha Arjuna got to witness his entire life. What did I see? As a combative commander, I witnessed his ingenious heroic mind with expertise in warfare and his incomparable Kshatriya splendour. The greatest specialty that I noted about his mind was that he fought each of his
wars ultimately for the betterment of mankind. It was not
merely for the desire to achieve acclaim as a matchless,
valiant commander. If it was for that, he would never have participated in the Great War of Bharata unarmed. In his entire life, he never claimed any right over any royal throne. And yet why did he compel innumerable kings to fight vehemently against each other for both Kauravas and Pandavas who claimed such a right?
Whenever such questions rose in my mind I strongly remembered the first night of the dark fortnight of Margashirsha on Kurukshetra when he expressed his thoughts in front of all Pandava warriors.
That night the warriors such as commander Dhrishtadyumna, the five Pandavas, Drupada, Virata, Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha, Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, Iravana, and I, all of whom belonged to two-three generations had gathered in the Pandava camp. I could never forget a single word that the Lord of Dwaraka spoke in that night addressing all of us. In the light of the burning torches he once ran his keen gaze over all the mighty warriors whom he had summoned in his capacious pavilion and spoke in solemn and reflective wor
ds, “I know that war cannot be the ultimate truth. A war neither solves any problems, nor answers any questions. On the contrary,
there is a danger of the society becoming degraded. The cultural foundation of a nation’s civilization may get uprooted. The dreams that mankind harboured for generations could
be destroyed. Then why am I going to ignite the great Yajna
of Death itself in which lakhs of warriors will sacrifice their lives?
“Why am I doing all this? For what purpose? Only to punish Duryodhana, Dushasana and Karna who dishonoured Draupadi’s pure, spotless character? To make selfish Dhritarashtra’s blind eyes see the blazing truth? If that was my only intent my job was easy. Was it impossible for me to teach a lesson to each one of them separately and destroy them? Then why am I initiating this thrilling great yajna?
“The question of the future of entire human race is in front of me! The question of ultimate, perpetual Truth! The ultimate, everlasting, never-changing truth in this world is Chaitanya – lustrous, immortal energy! Nobody can ever experience it while living in one’s opulent royal palace!
“For that, each cell in one’s body needs to know it thoroughly and get used to the idea that death follows life just like night follows the day. Mind, body and brain, everything needs to be purely self-reliant. Then one doesn’t need to be told the truth, nor get convinced by others. It automatically manifests in each body. Emancipation or ultimate self-realization is not something that can be received in alms.
“One’s hunger cannot be satisfied by others eating the food. One’s thirst doesn’t get quenched when others drink water. Just like that only the advice from someone can never emancipate one. It won’t happen! Wherever there is Life there is a strong urge of manifestation; yearning for emancipation. It may not be apparent but it continuously keeps working silently from within. Life means expression! Sometimes the human race needs to witness the cataclysmic form of this expression because it becomes greedy beyond the knowledge in books, sane advice and moralistic principles. It develops fondness for rest and inactivity. It gets smeared with blind selfishness. It doesn’t even have time to look at the subtle things going on beyond the visible material world. At that time, it needs to be stopped at some point! And for that purpose, there is no other most effective option but war. The Great War that is going to begin tomorrow is for this! Only for this!”
That night a question arose in my mind strongly, ‘When did I meet the Lord of Dwaraka for the first time?’ I started tracking the answer. And I got more and more amazed as the story of his life unfolded in front of me.
I saw him closely for the first time at the time of Kansa’s execution. At that time, I was sitting near Yadava commander Anadhrishti as an upcoming young Yadava. For me the way young Balaramadada and he had finished off the mighty elephant Kuvalayapida itself was amazing. I witnessed his then young form gradually evolving like the rising sun right in front of me.
It was then that I was impressed by his deep study of animal life. The animals that were mainly used in wars were elephants, horses and camels. Later, after he returned from the aashrama of Aacharya Sandipani, I heard him talk about these three animals with thorough knowledge. Krishnadeva himself convinced me in various ways that though the elephant looks huge and dumb he is a very intelligent animal. While taming an elephant, spiked iron clips are to be attached to its front legs. While attaching those clips the mahout should never stand within the range of the elephant’s trunk. If by mistake he does that, the elephant, enraged by the pain due to the clips, directly picks up the mahout in the clasp of his trunk and thrashes him violently like a washer-man pounds clothes. An elephant is very sensitive to the pain in his feet as he bears the mighty weight of his body on his legs. That is why a strong thorn of Kikar piercing his foot gives him enormous pain. He never forgets the mahout who gently pulls out such a thorn from his foot.
From time to time he had actually shared his own Ashwagita with Daruka, the royal charioteer of the Yadavas. Daruka had always considered himself as the fifth horse of his Garudadhwaja chariot. Daruka was indeed the fifth radiant, vigilant, rapid horse of the Garudadhwaja chariot of Krishnadeva. The other four horses had milky white complexion. Daruka’s heart was pure white like a crystal.
The camel, the third animal used in wars, was originally from the desert. We Yadavas of Mathura and Dwaraka didn’t have much experience with the camels. It was the Lord of Dwaraka who gave us that experience. Just as he had thoroughly studied the speed of elephants and their nature he had also studied the speed of camels and their nature. To make the humped and tall camel sit down it needs to be taught some symbolic words. Only if it hears those words it prepares its mind and sits down. Otherwise it can keep standing for hours.
I could never forget one warfare-related tip about camels that he gave me – considering the oblique and swaying gait of the camel, camel troops should be used when facing troops shooting zigzag-moving Jidma arrows. Later, with practice, the camel itself dodges the arrows and keeps walking forward.
I still vividly remember the days of Jarasandha’s armed attacks on Mathura! After I was appointed the co-commander of Anadhrishti the first thing I had to face was the truth of war. Not just once or twice, these attacks took place seventeen times. During that period Krishnadeva had given me the responsibility to guard the western gate of the royal city of Mathura. There was a reason for that. Mathura was located directly on the western side of the royal city of Girivraja of Emperor Jarasandha. Therefore, his assaults on Mathura should have fallen on the eastern gate of Mathura first. But that was not possible due to a geographic reason. Yamuna had surrounded Mathura in a crescent moon shape. The eastern bed of Yamuna was not convenient for the enemy ships to enter. That convenience was there on the western side. That is why I was appointed the commander for the protection of this main gate for years and years.
To guard Mathura I had to be vigilant by frequently sailing on the crescent-shaped Yamuna from the western gate to the eastern gate. Sometimes, during such trips Krisnadeva also accompanied me. During our discussions at such times he would tell me many subtleties of warfare. Never let your enemy loose on the battlefield because he is defeated. A pugnacious warrior’s heart never gets defeated. He can prepare himself and attack again. Therefore, you must chase him even after defeating him. Keeping this in mind I had chased Jarasandha for a long distance during his last assault. While sailing on the waters of the Yamuna I could strongly feel the abundant love for Yamuna in his heart. He would be in a really good mood during those trips. He would talk a lot about Yamuna and about the Jala principle in general. He would say, “In this same Yamuna Balaramdada and I used to play a lot in Gokul. Dada and I even turned its flow towards the farming land of Yadavas with hoes so that the future generations of Yadavas could be nourished on her life-giving waters. Satyaki, remember, Jala is the principle from which life comes into existence and ultimately merges in to it.” Hearing his speech that was full of profound meaning, eventually I came to realize that he himself was a ‘Jalapurusha’. Right after his birth he had travelled on the waters in Gokul and in Mathura he lived near the banks of the Yamuna. The city of Dwaraka that he had erected was surrounded by water. It was his vision that lakhs of Yadavas should be blessed with the bountiful Jala principle. That is why he had developed Dwaraka into a well-planned harbour.
As a commander, I experienced the deep-rooted Jalapurusha in him during the seventeenth and last mighty attack of Jarasandha. At that time, he had annihilated Jarasandha’s two powerful commanders Hansa and Dimbhaka. For that he had taken advantage of the bountiful Yamuna.
The great Yadava would always say to me, “Satyaki, you have recognized me correctly as a Jalapurusha! There are two more like me in Kuru’s Hastinapura – just as you have knee-long arms like me they have knee-long arms too! Can you guess who they are?”
Grandsire Bhishma’s name would immediately come to mind as he was the son of Ganga. He was also a disciple of Bhagvan Parashurama who had
offered the Sudarshan chakra to Krisnadeva. Bhagvan Parashurama had offered an Astra called Praswapaa to grandsire along with initiation. I would say, “It is clear that one of them is grandsire – the son of Ganga. Who could be the second one? I can’t guess.” When I would look at him with my wrinkled forehead he would smile mischievously as usual and say, “You will come to know at the right time”. That right time came too late in my life.
Just as he loved Yamuna and the water bodies he also loved the trees, vines and the forests. He deeply regretted the fact that the rich forest of Mount Gomanta was burnt for the safe escape from Jarasandha’s siege in the South. He felt remorse throughout his life that a magnificent forest like Khandavavana had to be set ablaze to erect the well-planned royal city of Indraprastha for the Pandavas.
His feet bore chakra symbols. He had travelled all over the Bharatavarsha from Mathura to Dwaraka, Dwaraka to Indraprastha, Pragjyotishapura, Dwaraka to Kundinpura, and Karvir, Sauvira to Jagannathpuri.
While travelling with him throughout Bharatavarsha as a commander I noticed many of his qualities. The most notable was his altruistic nature. For instance, he never desired for the royal throne of Dwaraka. The mission of his life was to emancipate masses from the unrestrained tyrannical rule of the unjust and arrogant emperors. While working towards that end it would have been easily possible for him to seize the defeated kingdoms but he never did it.
In the beginning, he had eradicated the unjust and uncontrollable king Shrugala of Karvir. For that he had projected the Sudarshan chakra for the first time. But he did not claim any right over the royal throne of Karvir. In Shrugala’s place he appointed his son Shakradeva. At that time, I had strongly realized his uniqueness. He won the hearts of thousands of citizens there because of his actions.
Many great visionaries end up making a mistake in one aspect. They abolish the old, worn out and stagnant thoughts but they go wrong while giving new and life-giving values. Just as Krishnadeva took me under his wings as a young Yadava of the new generation he took Shrugala’s son Shakradeva also. It was the mission of Krishnadeva’s life to determinedly remove everything that was old, stagnated and inferior. His biggest specialty that impressed me was that he always encouraged and inspired the prowess of the new generation.
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 78
