Words!

 

Drona managed to release an arrow that broke Dhrishtadyumna’s bow. Without wavering, Dhrishta picked up another bow & deeply pierced Dronācharya in the chest. Still, the preceptor managed to break his opponent’s bow. As the Pāncāla prince proceeded to hurl varieties of weapons, Drona cut them all to pieces. Finally, even though he had only a club and sword remaining, Dhrishta rushed at Drona with abandon. When the two warriors’ chariots collided, the horses became entangled

 

At this tense moment Dhrishta reached for his mace, but just as he was about to hurl it, Drona cut it to pieces with his arrows. Finally, as a last resort, Dhrishta picked up his sword and shield and proceeded to dart here & there, sometimes jumping onto Drona’s chariot & sometimes coming back to his own by climbing over the horses

 

Because Dhrishtadyumna maneuvered so rapidly, Drona did not get the opportunity to strike him with his arrows. Finally, the Preceptor hurled a spear that killed Dhrishtadyumna’s horses, thus disentangling his own. Dhrishta sprang at Drona while magnificently brandishing his sword. Still, with a thousand arrows, the Preceptor quickly cut his assailant’s sword & shield to pieces. Then, desiring to kill his disciple, Drona fixed a powerful arrow upon his bowstring. However, Sātyaki broke it by releasing ten arrows

 

Maharāj Yudhisthira organised massive attack upon Drona & so the Preceptor left off fighting with Dhrishta to meet the onrushing warriors. At that time Drona saw many inauspicious omens & his left eye and left hand began twitching. While remembering the words of Sapta-rsis and seeing how Dhrishta was still eager for battle, Drona finally decided to lay down his life on the battlefield

 

Drona had already killed 24000 warriors during the first one-third of the day & during the fierce battle that took place as the Pāndava army attacked him, he killed 100000 more. At last, with the intention of exterminating the remainder of the Pāndava army, Drona thought of invoking his Brahmāstra

 

In the meantime, Bhima had taken Dhrishta on his chariot & urged him to kill Drona without further delay. Then, when Dhrishta saw the impending danger of Drona’s Brahmāstra, he invoked his own Brahmāstra too that the two weapons came together & neutralized one another

 

As Dhrishta continued showering arrows, Bhima managed to grab hold of Drona’s chariot & harshly said: O Preceptor, if wretched Brahmanās like you would have stuck to their own occupation, which is centred around non-violence, this great slaughter of kshatriyas would never had happened. Why are you still fighting? The only person you have to live for was your dear son, Asvattāma, and he is now dead

 

Hearing this, Drona emphatically cast aside his bow & declared to Duryodhana: O King, you and your other commanders must now take up the burden of fighting, for I have laid aside my weapons for good!

 

After painfully crying out, Oh My son Asvattāma! Drona sat on the floor of his chariot in a yoga posture. Taking this to be a golden opportunity, Dhrishtadyumna quickly threw aside his bow, grabbed his sword and proceeded to severe Drona’s head from his body

 

Words hurt! What some people consider as friendly banter, others consider it to be torture. Different people perceive things differently.

 

Sometimes someone may torture someone, even humiliate them & may think of it as having some fun. They may think of it as a friendly banter, especially if it is emotional or verbal. But other might experience it to be unbearable, intolerable, that might spiral off a violent reaction in them, either towards themselves, where they may even think of ending their own lives, or towards the other person, where they may react destructively wanting to eliminate the other person

 

Thus, it is extremely important to understand how our actions are impacting others & how words can hurt or soothe

 

Thoughts! #gameoflife