Q: What is Dharma Sankata?
Let us continue the contemplation on the conflict in the following dharma. It is called dharma sankata.
All of us know what dharma is, actually. Deep inside, we know what dharma is. The concept of dharma is that I should not do something to others that should not be done to me. I don’t like anybody hurting me, naturally, I should not hurt anybody else. Similarly, I don’t want to kill anybody because I don’t want to be killed. So, it is mutual respect. Live and let live is one aspect of dharma.
Dharma becomes a prescribed set of actions, depending on your role in life. Whether you are a student or a householder or a retired or a monk, brahmachari, gruhastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa. So, different prescribed duties are there to ensure that there is an order maintained in society. Otherwise, there will be disorder.
Similarly, depending on which role you take, brahmana, kshatriya, vysya, shudra, teacher, warrior, administrator, politician, businessman or a worker. Certain acts have do’s and don’ts are there, what you call karthavya, so that it upholds the dignity of that position, which you are holding.
Arjuna had a conflict. He was a kshatriya, a warrior. In the Warfield, the opponents are all his relatives. His guru, the spiritual Master, one who taught him archery, is also in the opposite camp. In the war, if he fights, he is fighting against his spiritual teacher, guru/master which is actually adharma. He is going to kill his relatives, which is going to be adharma. Whereas, as a kshatriya, he has to uphold dharma and fight against injustice.
So, there is a conflict at 2 levels. Conflict of his responsibility as a warrior/kshatriya and conflict of killing his guru, which is actually adharma. Now, how does he resolve this? Arjuna gets totally confused, and he surrenders to Krishna. The whole of Bhagavad Gita is teaching of Krishna on how to follow dharma, in spite of conflicts. These conflicts are called dharma sankata. Sri Krishna resolves dharma sankata of Arjuna through Bhagavad Gita.
There is another conflict that comes for Dharmaraja in the war. Dronacharya, the guru of all pandavas, has to be killed. For killing Dronacharya, it is not easy. He is the master, real master of archery. And all the pandavas have learnt archery from him. So, it is not easy to kill him. So, Sri Krishna wants to cause confusion in the mind of Dronacharya and make him depressed, so that he can be killed.
Sri Krishna goes and tells Dharmaraja, to announce that Ashwatthama is dead. Ashwatthama is the son of Dronacharya. Dharmaraja says “No! I can’t say that because Ashwatthama is not dead. Ashwatthama is one of the immortals”. Sri Krishna says “Tell Ashwatthama is dead so that Dronacharya loses his mental balance. Gets depressed. If it comes from the mouth of Dharmaraja , Dronacharya will believe it. If it comes from the mouth of anybody, Dronacharya will not believe”.
Dharmaraja is supposed to be the embodiment of truth. If he says untruth also, people will believe it. But Dharmaraja is not ready to tell. Then what Sri Krishna does is that he asks Bheema to kill one elephant called Ashwatthama and makes Dharmaraja announce that the elephant called Ashwatthama is dead.
Dharmaraja announces “Ashwatthama hatha kunjaraha” which means Ashwatthama elephant is dead. ‘Hatha kunjaraha’ means, an elephant is dead. Sri Krishna blows the conch when the kunjaraha word is spoken. So that Ashwatthama hatha ha, is heard, that means Ashwatthama is dead. Dharmaraja told the truth only because an elephant called Ashwatthama is killed. Dronacharya hearing this, suddenly feels bad. He gets depressed. He forgets that his son is immortal. In that depression, Drishtadyumna, a warrior from pandavas side, goes and kills Dronacharya.
Here, you see the conflict of Dharmaraja. Dharmaraja never told untruth in his life. But then, the moment he told Ashwatthama hatha kunjaraha, the elephant called Ashwatthama is dead, immediately he gets depressed. It is said that Dharmaraja was so truthful, that his feet never touched the ground. He was always floating. It is not literally. It is like he feels so light. The moment he told Ashwatthama hatha kunjaraha, his feet touched the ground, meaning he felt heavy.
Look at this. It is very strange. He told the truth only. He told “Ashwatthama hatha kunjaraha”, but he knew the intention of saying, hatha kunjaraha, is to kill Dronacharya. For this sin, Dharmaraja had to visit hell for 15 minutes, because of the sin of telling a lie. In reality, he told the truth. So, these are the conflicts.
Now, let us analyze the conflict of Arjuna. Arjuna’s conflict is that his relatives and his guru versus a war, which is against injustice. His duties for his relatives and guru, versus duty for the country, duty for the justice. Which of these should be upheld? Sri Krishna gave clarity that it is the duty for the country, duty for justice, which is higher dharma when compared to lower dharma of relatives. When there is a conflict between higher dharma and lower dharma, higher dharma has to be followed. That’s what Arjuna followed.
It is something like this. A judge is sitting for a judgement. His son has become a criminal. Now, the judge cannot be partial just because his son is a criminal. A judge has to go as per the law book. Similarly, your duty should take precedence over your relatives. That’s what Krishna taught Arjuna.
Let us take the conflict of Dharmaraja, which is very strange. Dharmaraja followed the principle of truthfulness throughout his life, for his purification or upliftment. Whereas, Dronacharya had to be killed in the overall interest of the conflict, in the overall interest of dharma. So, his personal dharma vs overall good. Which is higher dharma? Sri Krishna said overall dharma has to be followed. That’s why, whatever Dharmaraja said, though he felt, he was telling an untruth and if had felt that he was telling the truth in the overall interest then he would not have encountered a sin. That is how, there is a conflict in life, higher dharma vs lower dharma. We should always follow the higher dharma. This conflict keeps coming to us in various aspects of our life: family life, personal life, professional life. Always follow the higher dharma. Don’t get trapped by the lower. This is Dharma sankata.
Pranams
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