Learn To Defend – In Gita Verse 1.10 Our strength is immeasurable, and we are perfectly protected by Grandfather Bhīṣma, whereas the strength of the Pāṇḍavas, carefully protected by Bhīma, is limited.
Duryodhana’s words were coming from what power he had. Not from the resources he has. For him his power is more important.
What he said was very correct that Bhima is very carefully protecting, means Pandavas were totally alert with their little resources and using it very carefully. He also said that he has immeasurable strength and is perfectly protected by Bhishma. No doubt Bhishma’s strength is immeasurable, but it was without freedom. As this war was led by Duryodhana and not by Bhishma, the approach is different. In my earlier blog Bhagavad Gita Verse 1.8, I had explained how things change when leadership and approach change.
I will put this differently. All of you are aware of Martial Art. What is the foundation of any Martial Art – not to be aggressive and attacking on others. That is on a physical level. When you are not aggressive and attacking others, the same energy will move towards yourself, inside you, it will become defensive. Your energy will be utilised only to defend yourself. To defend ourselves we need very little energy. This will save a lot of our energy, which you can use for different purposes. This is not in words. Many of you might have seen the Martial Art person giving a demonstration of breaking a pile of bricks without hurting himself. What he is demonstrating is not how much strength he has but his action conveys that – when we use our energy to defend ourselves we don’t get hurt. With the same principle, if we move towards our subjectivity we will not be hurt on an emotional and mental level, we will not be stuck in the objective world.
In Buddhism they practise Martial Art. Not for protecting themselves from the objective world but when you are using the energy for defending yourself the direction of the energy changes from objective world to subjective world. As the direction of energy changes it becomes easy for them to live in an objective world without its influence on them. Means their action, which is for the objective world, is coming from a subjective world. As the physical body is not hurt when you are defending yourself the same way you cannot be affected by the turbulence of the objective world when your energy is moved towards your subjectivity.
Recollect the moment when you spoke only required words to convey your message. That moment how much calmness you felt. No one can disturb you. You can focus on what you want to convey. Other people will also listen to you. What happens at that time is you are using only required energy for the objective world. So there is huge energy available for your subjective world. As there is a huge amount of energy available for your subjective world immediately you will connect with your godliness. Our body is a blessing and is a part of our parents and our soul is blessing and is part of the universe. As soon as you are connected with your subjectivity you are connected with the universe. You become the universe itself. It’s so vast that nothing can disturb you.
If you go into your subjectivity deeply, you will see that the whole universe is part of you, part of your body. For example, if the sun were to cease this very moment, your body would not continue to exist. It would not exist if there were no oceans, it would not exist if there was no atmosphere. Your body is just a part, a constantly changing part of the universe. When the sun rises, something rises in you. When the sun sets, something sets in you. When there is a moon, you are different. When there is no moon, you are different. Your body is in constant, dynamic relationship with the whole.
When you are stuck in an objective world, recollect how much energy you have for yourself. You feel exhausted, drained and left with hardly any energy. You feel that you don’t have any energy for yourself, you will slip into ego and exhibit what you have. People who know that they have, they will not brag about it. Why we feel silent when we are connected with our subjectivity and can focus on the present moment because at that time we are connected with the universe and the universe is not noisy it is silent.
Duryodhana is busy in exhibiting his power. He is using his time to compare how much more he has than Pandava. In the process he misses one of the important things that he is using his time for, exhibiting his power and not using his time on how to manage that power/strength. While Pandavas were utilising their time on how to manage their power/strength.
All of us are aware of the story of Hare and Tortoise.The Hare was proud and confident of himself. Tortoise was calm and consistent in his work. What happened when the Hare challenged the Tortoise.The Hare lost the race.
Our arrogance and pride will not allow us to focus on our present moment and what are our resources, strength and how to manage it. Tortoise with his slow and steady speed could win the race because it knew his resources and also did not focus on the Hare’s strength, while the Hare’s focus was on the weakness and comparison of his speed with the Tortoise he became confident that with his speed he could easily defeat the Tortoise. That confidence caused him to lose the race.
So as Duryodhana, because he was busy counting his strength and not managing it he lost the war.
Tags: Learn To Defend
