Bhakti-Yoga!

 

As Alayudha approached Ghatotkaca, Bhima came to his son’s aid & drove away Alayudha’s army. Still the Rāksasa fought so heroically that Bhima soon became greatly afflicted. Seeing this, his army rallied but Alayudha broke Bhima’s bow & killed his horses and driver

 

After getting down from his chariot, Bhima hurled a mace, but Alayudha counteracted it with its own. A fierce hand to hand duel then ensued, and as they continued battling one another, Bhima & Alayudha wielded broken chariot wheels, yokes & whatever else they could find lying around

 

Sri Krsna instructed Ghatotkaca to help Bhima. After leaving aside Karna, he rushed at Alayudha. This left Karna free to slaughter the Pāncāla warriors, however, and so, upon Ghatotkaca’s arrival, Bhima left off fighting with Alayudha so that he could check Karna

 

Sātyaki, Nakula & Sahadev had also been engaged in slaughtering Alayudha’s army & they also left off fighting with the Rāksasā so that they could fight with Karna. Alayudha struck Ghatotkaca on the head with a parigha weapon, making him sit down dazed upon his chariot. After quickly recovering, Ghatotkaca hurled a giant mace that completely smashed Alayudha’s chariot, horses and driver

 

The Rāksasā jumped to safety & from ground created showers of blood, stones & weapons, as well as other illusions. Ghatotkaca easily dispelled these, and at last the two Rāksasās rushed at one another in a fit of rage. When they met, Ghatotkaca & Alayudha grabbed each other by the hair, but since Bhima’s son was stronger, he managed to pick up his adversary over his head. After whirling around, Ghatotkaca dashed him onto the ground & quickly cut off his head. Bhima’s son let out a terrible roar, as did other Pāndava warriors. Then, as previously he rushed at Duryodhana & threw the severed head at his feet

 

Meanwhile, Karna was routing Pāndava & Pāncāla armies & so Ghatotkaca once again attacked him with great anger. In the battle that followed, Karna & Ghatotkaca showered their arrows upon one another with equal skill. Finally seeing that he could not gain an advantage in this way, Ghatotkaca hurled a fierce spear that killed Karna’s horses & driver

 

Ghatotkaca then made himself invisible. Everyone expected him to reappear at any moment to kill Karna. Hoping to protect himself, Karna incessantly released torrents of arrows so that the entire sky soon became filled with them. Then a blazing mass of red clouds was suddenly seen overhead, and from those clouds came showers of weapons, including cakras & thunderbolts

 

Karna tried to smash these weapons with his arrows, but this time he was unsuccessful & so there was a great massacre of the Kaurava army. Then, as the oppressed Kaurava warriors gazed into the sky, they saw innumerable fierce Rāksasās. Having blazing mouths & sharp teeth, they hurled showers of spears & other weapons upon them so that they were pierced & crushed on all sides. At last, the surviving Kaurava soldiers fled from battle and so Karna was left alone amidst the shower of weapons

 

One has to fight his own battles. Others can help but we must chart our own response. Before we fight the battle outside, we win or lose in our thoughts. We sometimes undermine the scary power of our thoughts. We can see that Arjun, on whom thousands of soldiers & million of citizens had pinned their hopes, a warrior who had trained lifelong for the battle of Mahabharata, a warrior whom the best of opponents had never defeated till then-such a warrior was defeated without a single arrow being shot? He was defeated with his thoughts

 

We too have to fight various difficult situations. If we let our negativity overwhelm us, we lose the battle in our thoughts. To prevent such inner defeat, we need to win our inner war & mold our thoughts positively

 

Gita’s wisdom equips us with an empowering self-understanding who we are, part & parcel of Supreme Lord. He is our Supreme well-wisher & he orchestrates everything in our life for our ultimate well-being. When we connect with him, that divine connection calms & clarifies our thinking

 

Let’s connect with Krsna thro’ Bhakti-Yoga!

Thoughts? #gameoflife