Remember! Only Yuyudhan can save you from ‘Dron’ attacks
He is also called Satyaki, son of a powerful Yadav king Satyak and grandson of Shini of the Vrishni clan. He is greatly devoted to Krishna and learns weaponry from his guru Arjuna. Satyaki saves Yudhisthir and rescues Dhristadyumna from Dronacharya. Dron is frustrated as Satyaki neutralises all his divine weapons with the skills he learns from Arjuna. He gets tired and is shot by Dron but is saved by the Panchkumaras, sones of the Pandavas from Draupadi. Satyaki slyly kills Bhurishrava in the battle and gets ridiculed. He kills Bhurishrava’s father Somdatta too on the 15th day of the battle. Satyaki is also known as a great Ayurvid. He is an expert in shalya (surgery) and shalakya (ear, nose and throat treatment). He kills Kritvarma (another Yadav who fought for the Kauravas) intoxicated in post-Mahabharata revelry. Bhojas and Andhakas surround him and kill him and his supporter Pradyumna with their eating pots right in front of Krishna.
The Real Import
But, this is history. Yuyudhanah in Sanskrit means “execution of the will” or the power to execute the will ( yu+yudh+anah). Yu means to join will with yudh, a project, a work, a battle. How? Through anah, through inhalation and blowing exhalation which helps an ember burn into flames. Now this is a deep yogic process, which relates to breathing, especially inhalation—that energises your entire body-mind system. What does the entire process represent for a common understanding? You fill your lungs up with air and then blow it out in a systematic jet at an ember. What happens? The ember flames up. This inhalation and blowing out a retained air in a single, regular, stressless and systematic jet is also a kind of pranayam which, according to Yogis, helps strengthens your buddhi (intelligence system) and thereby execution your will. Learn the technique from a qualified yogi. Please don’t practise it without guidance.
The inhalation has a purpose and in this case exhalation too is done with a purpose. When something is done for a purpose, the execution of will is involved. Therefore, yuyudhanah means execution of will. But, how you execute your will? By just expressing the will in a systematic, channelised and well-directed way (like blowing out the air) to achieving the willed purpose. The purpose is to flame up the ember and the yudhanah helps it get done.
Its bones, blood and flesh
How to get things done is defined by the Sanskrit term Prakriya. And what Prakriya does? It helps you get a kriya (willed action = will) done. Prakriya and hence Yuyudhan is shown as the disciple of Arjuna (the will, kriya) and both are devoted to Krishna—the Power which routes through both kriya and prakriya till the task is accomplished. The root word kri is the soul of kriya and prakriya. Arjuna (kriya —the will) and Yuyudhan (prakriya —execution of will). Krishna is where all activities are completed or the force which draws all towards full, honest and truthful completion. Grammatically speaking, kri + ritah becomes Krit, that is the root word in Krishna. Since kri —-> krit, the former culminates into the latter, kriya and prakriya are shown as devoted to Krishna.
Yuyudhan and Dron
During the entire battle, Yuyudhan helps Arjuna, saves Yudhisthir and the Pandava army chief Dhrishtadyumna. Arjuna saves him from Bhurishrava once and so do Anupandavas (five sons of the Pandavas from Draupadi) when he was trapped, tired and shot by Dron. Dron, your experiential memory is one of the major obstacles in executing your will. It does disrupt the process of execution through its interfering challenging shots. The Anupandavas, Prativindhya, Shatanika, Sutasoma, Shrutasena and Shrutakarma rescue the execution of will. They all represent mental processes to counter the impact of past memory. Yuyudhan saves the anger of rightful revenge and principle consciousness from Dron attacks. That means if you follow a fool-proof procedure, it saves the energy to achieve something and also the principles of actions from the demoralising Dron (memory) shots.
Yuyudhan’s Degeneration
He kills Bhurishrava. He kills Kritvarma in the end and gets killed with Pradyumna in turn by Bhoj and Andhakas’ utensil missiles right in front of Krishna after the battle was over. Bhurishrava and Kritvarma are two obstacles to the execution of will. Bhurishrava (Bhuri + Shravas) means “the influence of what is heard about something or somebody”. If you are doing something and you have heard about how so many people have failed in that endeavour, then your execution gets affected. Therefore, it is necessary to kill Bhurishrava, the obstacle. How? Like Arjuna first rebukes him in the battlefield for trying to kill yuyudhan against the laws. This discourages Bhurishrava. He lays down his weapons. Finding this an opportune time, Yuyudhan beheads him. All criticise Yuyudhan for the act. But, the message is clear—-removing obstacle in the battle of righteousness in any way is justified and may incur you negative comments. But, it is the object that matters, not action. Kritvarma is another obstacle in the execution of will. Kritvarma (krit + varman) means “the cover that makes you believe something has been accomplished —- the false sense of achievement ‘I have done it.’ It makes you drunk and you lose your will to execute after the work is done. That is why this obstacles affects you after the battle. What should be done? Kill the false sense of achievement. What happens after that? Naturally a person falls into eating and drinking revelries. This is what is happening around. Eating and drinking revelries are represented by Bhoj (bhuj rooting meaning eating and revelling and Andhak, meaning drinking and refusing to see further. Prakriya loses its relevance after its objective is over and gets buried in revelries right in front of Krishna —-the power of culmination. The great message and principle is revealed here—-Prakriya loses its relevance after the object has been accomplished and it loses in revelries—the blinding indulgence. This means Prakriya loses itself to over indulgence. When the will is withdrawn from Prakriya, it becomes desire and gets consumed in its own fire.
Takeaway: You need a trusted process to execute your will. But, remember! Every procedure loses its relevance by overuse and needs changes with time. Have you found Yuyudhan for your project? Well, a successful executive plan has counters memory challenges, influences of what is heard and hyped and the sense of false accomplishment. Keep refreshing Yuyudhan with time, as your will can’t do without an action plan.
Next: Who are Anupandavas?
Vivek Sharma
Vivek Sharma