He alone can kill a Duryodhan in you
Bheem is the second brother of the Pandavas and was known for his indomitable physical power and unsatiated hunger. He was born of Kunti (Mother of the Pandavas) from the air element, as goes the story. We can say he too was Pavanputra, the synonym ascribed to Hanumanji.
Strikingly, he too had the mace as his weapon. Bheem killed Duryodhan on the 18th day of the battle of Mahabharat. During Draupadi’s humiliation by Dushasan in the Kaurav court, he ridiculed his elder brother Yudhishthir for his naivety to accept gambling expert Shakuni’s offer. Bheem was so angry that he even threatened to burn the two arms of his elder brother. However, Krishna intervened and cooled him down.
But, this is history. Bheem in Sansktrit means a person or thing whose mere thought of opposition strikes fear. What can it be in our body-mind system other than the fiery will power---(jwajwalyamaan iccha shakti). Here power refers to praan shakti, which is conditioned to commit, execute and complete a task. No physical and spiritual function is possible without the Bheem energy.
The fire alone has unsatiable hunger and it always directs upwards. Lust too is a kind of fire with an unsatiable hunger. But, it always directs downwards. The question arises, how I directly assign fire element qualities to pawanputra? This is a fact that we have been traditionally assigning the air element to Hanumanji and Bheem. However, I most humbly maintain that we have really not gone a little deeper into the terminology and the associated characteristics. Pawanputra means the element born of the air. To simplify this, it means, the descendent of the air. According to the Indian mythology, the space, the air, the fire, the water and the earth is the order of the creation. The descendent of the air is the fire and not the air. It is putra and, therefore, has the masculine gender. Agnih too is masculine in Sanskrit. Hanumanji and Bheem are always shown as having unsatiable hunger and anger. Agnih alone has this property, not the air. Then why agnih is called pawanputra? It is because without the air agnih disappears into the space—it will not be (apratyakshyam bhavishyati).
Bheem killed Duryodhan, the embodiment of lust and anger. But, Bheem first crippled him by smashing his both thighs. Will power alone can kill lust, is the principle. That is the reason why the credit of killing Duryodhan went to Bheem. He had committed to kill Duryodhan, executed and finished the task. You commit something to the fire, it flames up (executes it) and then burns it down ( finishes the task)—the basic principle behind yagya.
What is the significance of Bheem threatening to burn two arms of Yudhishthir---the repository of consciousness? The two arms of consciousness are agyan (negative knowledge) and gyan (knowledge). Without these two arms, consciousness means nothing.
Why mace is the weapon of Bheem and Hanumanji? The weapon physically represents the fire. It has a rounded top with flaming petals-like design. On impact, it reduces even the toughest of metals to powder as the fire reduces everything to ashes. In fact, the mace is materialised fire.
What is the significance of Bheem smashing Duryodhan’s thighs? Lust has two legs greed and attachment (lobh and moha). When these two are immobilised, lust converts back into will power. The last joyous words of Duryodhan to Krishna reveal that in the Gadaparva. But, what is astonishing is that Duryodhan tells the importance of disciplined lust during his dying moment. He tells Krishna, “I, with my supporters and well-wishers, will ascend to the realm I have come from (swargey—swa vargey iti swargey, get upward movement like will), but you without anything more to achieve (nihat samkalpah) will spend the whole life mulling what next to achieve. (sasuhrit saanugaschaiva swargey gantaham achyuta, yuyam nihatsamkalpah shochanto vartayishyath). Means, a legitimate lust is required to spend life happily.
Takeaway: Will power alone kills lust, nothing else does. But, you do require a disciplined lust (kaam) to carry on your life happily. You can discipline this Duryodhan by killing its inimical conveyors---greed and attachment (lobh and moha). Krishna suggests this in chapter 3, shlok 43 of the Gita.
Next: Who is Arjuna?
Vivek Sharma