Depression!

In the dead of the night, the Kaurava army looked very beautiful as the combined light of lamps reflected off their shiny armour, ornaments & weapons. Following the Kauravas’ lead, the Pandavas placed ten lamps on each chariot, seven on each elephant, two on the backs of the horses, and the foot soldiers carried a lamp in their hands. In this way both armies became distinctly visible

As fighting resumed, Duryodhana, backed by Drona, led an attack on Bhima. Bhima soon broke Duryodhana’s bow, but then, picking up another bow, the Kaurava king broke his bow. Again and again Bhima picked up one bow after another but every time Duryodhana immediately broke them. Becoming frustrated, Bhima next picked up a spear & hurled it, but the Kaurava king expertly broke it into three pieces

 

Bhima next threw a heavy mace. While Duryodhana jumped to safety, the mace smashed his chariot, horses and driver. Petrified, Kaurava king hurriedly got onto Nandaka’s chariot, but because of darkness, Bhima and other Pāndava warriors thought that he had been killed. Thus, they let out a chorus of mighty roars, and upon hearing these shouts, Maharaja Yudhisthira also thought that Duryodhana must have been slain. Because of this, the Pāndava king decided to take advantage of the situation by leading a massive attack on Drona

 

When the Pāndava warriors rushed at Drona, Karna intercepted Sahadeva & broke his bow. Sahadeva picked another bow, but before he could use it, Karna killed his horses and driver. Without chariot, Sahadeva picked up his sword & shield, but Karna killed his horses and driver. Without a chariot, Sahadeva picked up his sword & shield, but Karna immediately broke them to pieces as he held them in his hands. Sahadeva tried to retaliate by hurling a heavy mace, but Karna easily broke it into fragments as it soared thro’ air. Sahadeva next hurled a spear but when Karna foiled it, he jumped from his chariot & as last attempt, picked up one of the wheels and threw it at his adversary

 

With thousands of arrows Karna broke the wheel into small pieces & so Sahadeva continued to throw other chariot parts until there was nothing left. Sahadeva then picked up limbs of dead elephants, horses & men that were lying about. Finally, after Karna successfully deflected all these missiles with his arrows, Sahadeva lost all hope & began running away. Karna chased Sahadeva while smilingly ridiculing him, saying: My dear boy, from now on you should only attempt to fight with those who are your equals

 

After saying this Karna touched the fleeing Sahadeva with the tip of his bow & said: You can either go to Arjuna’s shelter or else return home, as you desire. Karna had remembered his promise to Kunti-devi & it was for this reason he was unwilling to kill Sahadeva. After being pierced by Karna’s sharp words, Sahadeva became very depressed at heart & thus lost all interest in continuing his life. Finally, he got onto a chariot of the Pāncāla prince Janamejaya & departed

 

When things don’t work & go downhill, the more we think about it, the more we get depressed. In troubles, we look up towards the Supreme Lord and pray to Him, to get out of the impasse we are in. Our prayers are sometimes answered and sometimes they aren’t as we want. In such situation we need to change our attitude-by not being sentimental but to become spiritual

 

We then don’t look up for some mystical divine intervention to set everything right but raise our vision from the material to spiritual, from physical to metaphysical & from the circumstantial to the transcendental

 

Arjun after listening to the wisdom of Gita from Sri Krsna said:

naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayācyuta
sthito ’smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṁ tava

 

Arjuna said: My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions

 

Do we follow Krsna’s instructions by heart & elevate? Or fall into depression :-)

#gameoflife