Praise!

 

Duryodhana with celestial armour given by Drona, proceeded to where Arjun stayed, followed by 1000 elephants, 100000 horse soldiers & innumerable chariot warriors

 

At noon, Pāndava army attacked Drona who was stationed at the head of Kaurava army. Dhrishtadyumna led Pāndava forces & while confronting Drona he succeeded in dividing Kaurava army into 3 parts so that a great massacre took place. Drona flared up like a raging fire & began consuming Pāndava warriors in retaliation. At this time no one dared come before him

 

Bhima fought Jalasandha, Yudhisthira with Krtavarmā, Sātyaki with Dushasana, Sanjaya with Cekitāna & Sakuni became so hard-pressed while fighting with Nakula and Sahadev, that he fled to Drona’s shelter. Dhrishtadyumna rushed to check Drona. In the fierce duel that followed, great warriors were killed on both sides. The two then came so close that as Drona’s white horses mixed with Dhrista’s red ones, they appeared like clouds surcharged with lightening

 

Dhrishta quickly put down his bow, picked his sword & shield and jumped onto Drona’s chariot. Bow in hand, Drona was prepared for this & so Dhrishta avoided him by jumping down & remounting his chariot. Drona then shattered Dhrista’s shield to pieces, broke his sword & killed his horses with driver. Next, Drona took out a fierce arrow to kill Dhrista, but Sātyaki broke it before it was released. Pāncāla warriors then launched sudden attack on Drona. In the heat of battle, Dhrista was taken away on another chariot

 

Hectic duel took place between Drona & Sātyaki as each showered 1000’s of arrows upon the other. Indeed, all other warriors stopped fighting to watch this wonderful contest, surrounding two commanders as spectators. Sātyaki broke Drona’s bow & when the Preceptor quickly picked another, he cut it to pieces as well. Indeed again & again (total 16 times) Sātyaki broke Drona’s bow. Although Drona was highly enraged, he mentally applauded his adversary thinking: This warrior is on same level as Bhisma, Kārtaviryārjun & Parasurām

 

Finally, becoming frustrated in his attempts, Drona began invoking celestial weapons, but Sātyaki countered all. At that time the 4 Pāndavās (not Arjun) & their allies suddenly rushed at Drona to help Sātyaki & so Dushasana led 1000’s of Kaurava warriors in a counter assault

 

Meanwhile, as this very fierce battle took place in afternoon, Arjun continued towards Jayadratha. After many hours of intense combat, however, Arjun’s 4 white horses became very tired, hungry, thirsty, as well as wounded by innumerable arrows. Knowing this, Vinda & Anuvinda attacked Krsna, Arjun & the horses with innumerable arrows. Arjun broke bows of both Avanti kings & when they picked up two more, he broke them as well. Arjun quickly killed the brothers’ horses & drivers and at last cut-off Vinda’s head

 

This enraged Anuvinda & he got down from his chariot. He raised a mace & struck Krsna on the forehead. But Krsna didn’t even flinch & Arjun then killed Anuvinda. Followers of Avanti king rushed at Arjun to take revenge, but they all perished like flies falling into fire

 

Real praise for a warrior comes from the mouth of his adversary. When we acknowledge the strength of our foes, we in fact are self-calibrating our strengths with respect to other and preparing ourselves better to fight. One who has humility to acknowledge other’s strength, is better positioned for a proper response. False ego misappropriates humility & causes our downfall

 

By being vigilant & absorbing ourselves in the Supreme Transcendental reality Krsna, we can be on higher intelligence in not falling prey to false ego

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife