Excitement and Lack Of Teamwork – In Gita Verse 1.13 After that, the conch shells, drums, bugles, trumpets and horns were all suddenly sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous.
This verse conveys two things – Excitement and Lack Of Teamwork.
Excitement: As soon as Bhīṣma, the grandsire blew his conch shell, the Kaurava army also started beating the drums, blowing bugles, trumpets and horns all suddenly. It says it suddenly started. The combined sound was tumultuous and a confused noise. It represents excitement, eagerness.
Excitement is a sort of anxiety, anxiety is a sort of excitement. If you are after excitement you cannot be meditative, you cannot move to a subjective world, you cannot move inwards, because there you will be alone and there is no excitement. Excitement needs the other.
Even before the war started they were excited, which is an indication that they are not focused on what they have. Their focus was on others. Like the Hare, after challenging the Tortoise the Hare was so excited that he even forgot that right now he was in a running competition with the Tortoise. It thought that the Tortoise was very slow and he could rest. He rested and what happened – he lost. With all the capacity to win he still lost the race.
As I have mentioned in my blog Bhagavad Gita Verse 1.7, – objective world is a reflection of our subjective world. All the simultaneous sudden sound made by the Kaurava army was tumultuous. It was not harmonious. This tumultuous sound by Kauravas conveyed that they are not focused on their resources. Their whole focus was on others, they were excited. This doesn’t mean that you should not look at others and their arrangements. We must be watchful towards the objective world but not get stuck there. Get all the possible and maximum information regarding others, objective world and then look at your resources and plan, don’t become unconscious at any time.
Another reason for their excitement was that they had got an opportunity to exhibit their bravery, talent, weapons etc. Everyone in Kauravas’ team was ready for their individual victory. Like in scientific experiments the expected result is also required to be taken as a resource. Unless we learn to take victory as a resource we cannot connect ourselves with our subjectivity. Learn to wait and go inside, connect yourself with your subjectivity. Take victory also as a circumstance given by the universe. Every circumstance brings new challenges and new assignments. Don’t get excited about it. Focus on this moment; what can be delivered? How can I become a participant? Immediately you will notice in the midst of the world you calm down.
Man has infinite capacities but is utterly unaware of them.
He has tremendous treasures but they have completely gone into his unconscious, he is no more conscious of them. From the very childhood we are made to look outside, our eyes are trained to look outside. Gradually we forget how to look within.
Connection with Subjectivity is the beginning of looking inwards; don’t be against the outside, but just to live on the outside is to live a very mediocre life, is to live a very prosaic life. Unless one starts diving deep into one’s own subjectivity, the poetry does not arise, the song does not happen, life remains danceless; the juices do not flow.
And once you start looking in, it is not going against the world. In fact your eyes become so rich with the inner flavour that when you look outside, the outside is also transformed because your approach is transformed. Then the world is no more just the world; it is no more just matter. It becomes divine, it is God. But first God has to be known within, from your subjectivity, only then he can be known without.
Lack Of Teamwork: For Duryodhana his team was special but not unique. As Duryodhana was proclaiming from the beginning that we have strength, victorious people with us, sophisticated weapons, etc. These words made the team excited about it. All this was available to them but in their personal capacity. Not as team strength. By making everyone special he created a rift within the team. Everyone was special, not unique.
Difference between a special person and a unique person – a special person is out of comparison. They are different from other persons, they feel that they are extraordinary, while a unique person knows that they are simply unique, as they are without any comparison. Unique person is connected with everyone as he knows that everything in existence is incomplete, imperfect.
Everyone of us may have seen a concert and a solo performance. Even though the musicians are the same, when they give a performance as a solo it is different compared to performing in a concert.
In Duryodhana’s team everyone was excellent as a solo but there was no teamwork. No one was really concerned how as a team they could fight the war. As everyone was special they needed to exhibit their speciality. All of them were excited and were proud of their individual expertise. When all together they started beating their drums, bugles, trumpets and horns it all suddenly sounded, and the combined sound was tumultuous. This gave the message that they are lacking teamwork.
To Duryodhana, even experienced people like Bhishma or Dronacharya couldn’t say that we were lacking teamwork. Before the war started their spirit was dead in their living body. For Duryodhana his will was of paramount importance.
Tags: Excitement and Lack Of Teamwork
