Blindness!

As Krpā begged Duryodhana to make peace with Pāndavās, he said-how will Bhima agree to forgo his vow to kill me, along with all my brothers? How could the Pāndavās, Krsna & Subhadra be expected to forget the killing of Abhimanyu? How could Krsna forgive the offenses I committed when He came to Hastinapur as an envoy?

 

My dear Krpā, even if I were to beg for peace, the Pāndavās would never believe my words, since I had formerly cheated them while playing dice. Besides, I have become accustomed to having unrivalled sovereignty over the earth. How could I remain satisfied being Maharāj Yudhisthira’s subordinate, humbly following him in the shadows? For all these reasons I will never be able to surrender to Sri Krsna & Yudhisthira

 

My dear Brāhmana, I have already performed numerous sacrifices, I have given away vast amount of wealth in charity to the brāhmanās, and I have enjoyed everything possible for a human being to enjoy. Let me now die upon the battlefield & attain exalted destination in the heavenly planets. He is no hero who dies a miserable death at home, afflicted by diseases, old age & invalidity, and surrounded by his family members! After making so many warriors lay down their lives for my sake, how could I now act in such a cowardly way, just to save my life? What kingdom could I possibly enjoy now, being bereft of my brothers & friends?

 

After hearing Duryodhana’s noble words, all the Kaurav warriors praised him very highly & worshipped him with great respect. Thereafter the assembled kings urged Duryodhana to install a new, commander-in-chief & so the Kaurava king got down from his chariot & approached Asvattāma

 

Duryodhana said: My dear Asvattāma, you are the son of my guru & so I shall leave it to you to select our new leader

 

Asvattāma chose Salya & so all the Kaurava warriors joyfully went & surrounded the King of Madrakas. Duryodhana approached Salya on foot & with folded hands he very humbly begged to take charge of his army

 

Salya immediately accepted the post & declared: O King! You can place your full faith in me, for I am greater than Krsna & Arjun combined! Rest assure that I will soon vanquish the Pāndavās

 

After the installation of heroic Salya, everyone forgot about the loss of Karna. Considering the Pāndavās to be already vanquished, Kaurava warriors slept soundly & happily that night

 

Even if we know that we are at the wrong side, we still deceive ourselves into believing that what we are doing is justified. We have an amazing and alarming capacity for self-deception. Bhagvad Gita explains the illusory force called Māya – which distracts and distorts our vision. Due to the effect of this illusory energy, we cannot see the spiritual reality, even though we are spiritual beings

 

Duryodhana just cannot see the reality and made errors time again & self-deceived himself. He just can’t see either by conscious decision or by subconscious preference. His attachments made him blind

 

We too have attachments that we passively consent to, letting them blind us. The more we recognize & reject the blindness we have accepted and start seeing the things we can see through education & contemplation, the more we can commit ourselves to spiritual practices that can eventually cure our spiritual blindness and enable us to see spiritual realities, such as the indestructible soul & the infallible Lord, of whom the soul is an eternal loving part. It is this vision and the life of love that brings our hearts the ultimate fulfilment

 

The more we strive to see the things we can see at present, the more we will be able to see the things we currently can’t see. The more we fight against our chosen blindness, the more we will be freed from our imposed blindness

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife

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