Overview
This is the third in my series of articles on Mahabharat. The series focuses on how one can better control his or her own mind to live a happier life. Before proceeding further, I would strongly recommend that the reader go through the earlier two articles. These may be found here (article 1) and here (article 2).
One way to understand the complex dynamics within a mind is presented by Yogananda.[i] He makes a compelling case on how different characters in Mahabharat personify different forces working inside the mind. This insight can then be used on how to manage these forces so as to live better lives. My previous article on this subject talked about the bad actors that degrade our lives and make spiritual progress difficult. This article talks about the good ones.
The Pandavs
Characters on the Pandav side in Mahabharat personify spiritual forces[ii] within us. These can be harnessed to make us more at peace and happy.[iii] In this article, I will mention a few key ones. The aim is to get you, the reader, interested enough in this area to explore this domain yourself. A good place to start such an exploration, as mentioned earlier, could be Yogananda’s book.
The term “Pandav” refers to the five sons of Pandu, a King of the ancient Indian kingdom called Hastinapur. In the story of Mahabharat, the Pandavs’ army went to war against their cousins, the Kauravs, who represent forces inimical to spiritual advance, and who I have talked about in my last article.
So, here are the main characters on Pandavs’ side and what I believe they represent within us.
Drishtadyumna, personifying self-awareness and introspection
The word “Drishtadyumna” appears to come from the words “Drishti”, which means “sight” in Sanskrit and “dyumna”, which means “strong”. So, this name implies a strong ability to see. In a spiritual context, that would mean both spiritual self-awareness and introspection. Rephrased, this is an ability to look within and see how the different Kaurav forces are at play, disturbing the peace of mind. This ability to look within is the foundation on which a person’s spiritual progress rests. An ability to respond to these Kauravs can only come after we harness this self-awareness to dispassionately observe and accept what is happening within. For example, recognizing desire or anger for the havoc they wreak within, no matter how justified we believe their presence is, would be a good start.[iv]Another pattern to observe could be how we indulge in motivated reasoning to pander to our desires. Yet another could be to call out dysfunctional habits and thought patterns, and how these push us into actions we would otherwise avoid. Another possibility is to observe oneself pandering to one’s own ego or vanity.
In summary, deploying Drishtadyumna means observing and honestly calling out the damage the Kaurav warriors are perpetrating within. This damage occurs at both the thought and action levels. Kauravs typically vitiate thoughts before the damage flows into actions. And it is at the thought level that their mischief needs to be stopped after Drishtadyumna calls it out. The calling-out can be both in real-time or after-the-fact. This self-awareness also extends to observing what countermoves work against Kauravs and refining these over a period of time. It can also include simply observing and recognizing the capitulation to Kaurav forces, since such observations build the determination to resist them over time.
Throughout Mahabharat’s final war, Drishtadyumna was the commander of the Pandav armies. He was the avowed enemy of Drona (entrenched habits and thought patterns that are detrimental to spiritual advance) and ultimately killed Drona.
Yudhisthir, the eldest Pandav brother
The name “Yudhisthir” appears to be based on the words “yudh” (war) and “sthir” (steady). So, the concatenated word means “one who remains steady [even] in the midst of war”.
In Mahabharat, Yudhisthir was the eldest Pandav brother. While he was a formidable warrior in his own right, his fighting prowess was not comparable to that of the key Kaurav army adversaries (Duryodhan, Karna, Bheeshma, or Drona). Yudhisthir was known to be just, spoke only the truth, and was one of the most forgiving persons ever — ready to pardon everyone except himself for transgressions. His calm, truthful presence earned him the fierce loyalty of his kingdom’s subjects as well as many kings. He was the person under whose flag God (personified by Krishna) Himself participated in the Mahabharat war. And yet, he was also the same person who gambled away his kingdom, his brothers, and even himself.
Within us, Yudhisthir represents our natural tendency to be calm. It provides the foundation upon which we can base our spiritual thoughts and actions of daily life. It is the unifying axis that attracts other spiritual forces and channels their power within. During the pulls and pushes of spiritual struggles, this force keeps one calm and focused regardless of the outcomes — just as Bhagwad Gita advises. And yet, these qualities also come bundled with the tendency to gamble with the inimical forces of desire even while knowing the exercise to be spiritually risky. This gamble can take the form of allowing oneself to indulge, thinking that one will be protected by moderation or that amends can be made later. These gambles are slippery slopes, and by pandering to desires one often progressively loses all spiritual peace (akin to Yudhisthir gambling away his kingdom [spiritual realm of peace within] as well as the freedom of his powerful brothers [especially Bheem and Arjun], who can otherwise protect him).
Bheem, the second Pandav brother
The word “Bheem” in Sanskrit means “formidable”, “awesome”, or “terrific”. In a spiritual sense, it also means “terrible [for the enemy]”. The son of Pawan, the god of wind,[v] Bheem killed all the hundred Kaurav brothers in one-on-one combats in the Mahabharat war. He had especially adversarial relationship with Duryodhan [desire] and Dushasan [anger], both of who died in combat with him. Along with Arjun, Bheem is a central Pandav warrior within, who carries a person to spiritual victory.
Bheem represents the formidable force that yogic breath-control provides us (thus his relationship with God of Wind). Yogic breath control is a body of applied knowledge that teaches us how to harness the intertwined forces of thoughts and breath and then channelize them in a manner that preempt us from succumbing to weakness like desire and anger. As explained in my earlier article on Ramayan, we “forget” how to use this force but can be “reminded” ( read “trained”). This training is through practice of pranayama and accompanying meditation. A good place to start such a training would be with the TAME exercise. This exercise channels yogic breath control (Bheem’s power) in alignment with spiritual peace (represented by Yudhisthir). With this flow of spiritually aligned breath, the force of Bheem can neutralize any of the Kaurav brothers (the corresponding thoughts and feelings they generate in the mind) by casting them away. The “training” of Bheem comes from repeated practice of TAME to neutralize Kauravs, as described in my earlier article.
Arjun, the third Pandav brother
The word “Arjun” means “clear” or “pure” in Sanskrit. The son of the King of gods[vi], Arjun represents spiritual purity and is sometimes compared to fire. Arjun also represents the burning desire within a person to achieve perfection. In Bhagwad Gita, when Krishna (God) speaks with Arjun, the book is actually addressing the force of Arjun within a person. This energy, when directed towards tasks, drives a person to focus and work hard. Arjun has multiple names and Dhananjay (or “winner of wealth”) and Vijay (or “victory”) are two of them. Without Arjun, no sustained effort is possible – spiritual or otherwise. All success through hard work thus has this internal force behind it.[vii] This force comes with persistence and grit in the face of adversity.
In Mahabharat, Arjun was seen as the one warrior without whom the Pandavs could not successfully wage war on Kauravs. And while Bheem killed all the Kaurav brothers, it was widely accepted that Arjun could easily do so too. The Kaurav army commanders saw things similarly and some of their strategies centered on either killing Arjun or distracting him long enough to launch decisive attacks elsewhere.
When Arjun is in full flow within, a person can overcome adversities like a gale of fire can burn all that comes in front of it. Distractions and debilitating temptations are blown away. In one Mahabharat story, Drona asked his disciples to aim their arrows at the eye of a toy bird perched on a tree. When asked what they saw, each pupil came up with multitude of answers. In addition to the bird, they saw trees, trunks, stems, forest, leaves, ground, their guru and so on. When asked what he saw, Arjun replied that he could only see the eye of the toy bird. When asked to release his arrow, he hit his mark. In another Mahabharat story, Arjun realizes that if his elder brother, Bheem, can eat in complete darkness, then he (Arjun) can aim at targets in complete darkness based on his memory and sounds. So, Arjun started practicing archery (his primary weapon) at night. When his teacher, Drona, came to know of this he was so moved that he promised Arjun that he would ensure that Arjun becomes the best archer in the world. Drona thus took a special liking to Arjun and Arjun reciprocated the affection. He also diligently kept practicing what Drona taught him.
In a spiritual sense, the bow that Arjun wields represents the shoulders of a person and an upright posture is vital to strongly sustain Arjun’s force within. In meditation, Arjun’s spiritual battles within are not different from the breathing exercise of TAME. And this article explains how variations of TAME can be applied. In so doing, the breathing becomes akin to shooting arrows with inhalation pulling back the bow-string down that is strung across the shoulders (diaphragm pulling the lungs down). And, exhalation is releasing the spiritual breath into the mind’s eye between the eyebrows (reading the two hyperlinked articles on TAME here is important to understand this point). “Hitting the target” here would mean being able to focus the breathing on the spiritual eye and thus casting away (with exhaled breath) any unwelcome Kaurav-induced feeling like desire, anger, disappointment, dejection etc.
In the Mahabharat war, Arjun was the only Pandav warrior who could indefinitely hold back the most powerful Kaurav army commanders (Bheeshma [ego], Drona [habits], and Karna [motivated reasoning] ) from sweeping all in front of them.[viii] No other Pandav warrior could last long in front of these Kaurav super-warriors. In the end, Bheeshma and Karna were brought down by Arjun.[ix]
Also, in the war, Krishna (or God himself) was Arjun’s chariot driver. So, even though Krishna did not take up arms, His guidance of Arjun, picking the battles he should fight, moving away from the ones he should tactically stay away from, and the occasional scolding of Arjun (e.g. when he was not fighting Bheeshma [ego] with full force) are crucial when a spiritual struggle rages within. In his book, Yogananda suggests that this guidance can come from within through the intuition that develops as a person advances spiritually.[x]
Abhimanyu, the widely beloved son of Arjun
The word “abhi” in Sanskrit means “directed towards” and it has connotations of intensity and fearlessness. And, the word “manyu” means “spirit” and “sacrifice”. So, the word “Abhimanyu” means directing force [of meditative breath] intensely within [towards the spiritual eye].[xi]
The force of Abhimanyu gets deployed within when a person practices intense TAME meditation. The word “intense” does not mean long duration. And, it does not mean that any part of the body (or the mind) is placed under any tension or stress. The meditation intensity comes from mentally placing all that one has (including the self) as a sacrifice on the outgoing TAME breath that is directed to the mind’s eye. In my interpretation of Indian spiritual texts, this symbolizes the surrender of the self to God. This surrender of the self is what brings intensity to the meditation and when done right, no Kaurav force (weaknesses like desire or anger) can withstand this spiritual onslaught of Abhimanyu within. All negatives that a mind can possibly throw up simply get blown away. However, sustaining this intense meditation is difficult and a combination of Kaurav warriors within typically come back to reassert control once the meditation is over. Nonetheless, a new mental skill is gained, and each intense TAME session keeps gravely weakening the Kaurav side.
Abhimanyu was the son of Arjun and Krishna’s sister, Subhadra. He was not trained by Drona but by Krishna. In the Mahabharat war, Abhimanyu led the charge for Pandavs on a day when Kauravs had drawn Arjun into a battle away from the main theatre. Arjun’s absence presented an opportunity for the Kauravs and Drona used a formation called “Chakra-vyuh” to try and win the war on this day.[xii] Absent Arjun (along with his charioteer Krishna), no one in the Pandav army knew how to counter the most powerful attack that Drona [habits and entrenched thought patterns] could launch. That is, no one except Abhimanyu. But Abhimanyu’s knowledge of countering this formation was incomplete.[xiii] The other four Pandav brothers and their troops thus planned to remain in close proximity and protect Abhimanyu as he spearheaded the counterattack. However, when Abhimanyu entered the Kaurav army formation, a ring of enemy soldiers was closed behind him and he was left alone. Undeterred, Abhimanyu single-handedly launched an attack that was unprecedented in its breadth and intensity. He soon destroyed swathes of the Kaurav army. When Kaurav generals saw the carnage Abhimanyu was causing, they sent their best fighters to counter him. Each fighter was beaten back or killed with a ferocity that compelled Kauravs to regroup and rethink their strategy. On seeing Abhimanyu fight, Drona had realised that Abhimanyu could single-handedly finish the war if he was not stopped. It became clear to Kauravs that they could not win against Abhimanyu by following the rules of war they had agreed to in the beginning. They broke the rules and surrounded Abhimanyu and attacked him from all sides. As he lost one weapon after another, Abhimanyu continued to fight regardless. In the end when he had no weapon left, he pulled out the wheel of his broken chariot and used that as a weapon even as the attacks on him continued unabated. As Abhimanyu improvised and continued to battle, he bought Pandavs precious time and prevented the Kaurav army formation from attacking the Pandav army and winning the war.
Ultimately, Abhimanyu was overcome and felled by the Kauravs. But the Kaurav army suffered huge loses on a day they were confident of victory. Abhimanyu had brought them much closer to defeat. And the worst was yet to come for Kauravs. The most beloved of the Pandav princes and the one who Pandavs hoped would one day be king was brought down by Kauravs in brazen disregard not just of rules of war but of all decency. Pandavs were filled with a resolve that was not there with them before. The next day a determined Arjun wreaked havoc on Kauravs and destroyed a majority of their remaining army. Kauravs’ contemptuous disregard of the rules of war also filled Pandavs with the readiness to break the rules too— something they then did to bring down Drona, Karna, and then Duryodhan.[xiv]
Once unlocked, the power of intense TAME meditation is similarly decisive in one’s spiritual progress. A person then has at his command a “warrior” that can bring down any mental weakness with a level of ease that is as astounding as it is effective. An important insight here is that intense TAME could also be used to protect us from the most potent attacks habits and debilitating thought patterns can muster.
Finally, one needs to remember that Abhimanyu’s teacher was not Drona (habit), but Krishna (God). So, while practice does improve the meditation technique that Abhimanyu symbolizes, the art of performing intense TAME is learnt from within as one repeatedly practices TAME with determination and tries to intertwine his whole being with his exhaled breath as sacrifice.[xv]
Ghatoskatch, the son of Bheem
This name comes from Sanskrit words, “ghantam” (meaning a pot, and also means a temple bell) and “utkach” (means both “hairless” and “full blown”). Ghatoskatch was Bheem and Hidimba’s[xvi] son. He was bald with a head in the round shape of a pot. Ghatoskatch was deployed most effectively by Pandavs on the 14th day of war. This was when the Kauravs violated the rules of engagement and continued fighting into the night. Ghatoskatch’s entry into the war at night resulted in immediate and significant losses for the Kaurav army. Most of the powerful Kaurav warriors fled from the battlefield and the ones who remained found it difficult to hold back Ghatoskatch.
The activated force of Ghatoskatch within a spiritually faltering person can shock him back into a spiritual mindset of dispassion and detachment. This is akin to the sound of a temple bell that can have a similarly cleansing impact on the minds of people who grow up praying in Indian temples (people who have heard bells from churches may be able to relate to this effect). This effect is likely to happen at night because a spiritual person is most likely to be less focused at night[xvii] while the abilities of Ghatoskatch becomes a lot more potent at that time.
In my view, Ghatoskatch represents the practice of TAME performed at night, when the mindset of a person is very different from that in the day. After sunset, the practice of TAME also provides a different experience and impact. This experience further changes in the night, when a person performs TAME while lying in bed. This meditation can sometimes happen spontaneously. TAME may also be done deliberately, as a response to not being able to sleep or when a person wakes up at night and does not fall asleep immediately. And, it may be in early hours of morning, while in bed, when the sun is still not up yet.
When done right, TAME at night can be incredibly effective. At times, it may appear far more effective to do TAME at night than during daytime.[xviii] This is the equivalent of deploying Ghatoskatch, as Pandavs did, at night and being taken aback by how effective he is.
Ultimately, Ghatoskatch was killed by Karna using the infallible weapon Karna was saving to slay Arjun.[xix] In this way, Ghatoskatch saved Arjun from sure death and Pandavs from defeat.
Closing note
It may appear strange to use the same technique (TAME) to mimic different Pandav warriors. This idea is not very different from thoughts expressed in my earlier article wherein I have talked about how the TAME technique may be used to do seemingly different things within the mind. As it turns out, being spiritual using a breathing technique is quite simple. It needs a person to be able to do just one thing. And, she can practice it with very breath. The most complicated it gets is performing variations in that breathing routine based on the challenges (read: active Kaurav warriors) one senses within.
It must be emphasized here that simple does not equal easy. The mind keeps springing back to its old ways. It is not natural for a person to keep transcending the “normal state” of the mind with a disciplined meditative technique. An otherwise determined person will keep “forgetting” that he has a mental tool that could have made his day much better. This means that the mind will keep moving out of its peaceful TAME state and will engage with tasks and people as it used to earlier. And the person would not even notice. Practice and perseverance are thus key. Spiritual advance takes time to get started and then progresses slowly and unsteadily.[xx] The biggest obstacles lie within. There will be frustrating times when it would seem to go nowhere. There would also be times when a person would be inclined to skip, suspend, or even stop routines like daily meditation. On the brighter side, progress becomes visible early. For example, one can feel the benefits flowing from a good meditation session. Sticking to the routine on the difficult days also appears to be quickly rewarded through such things as a better frame of mind and a higher level of happiness.
Finally, the aim should not be just to have a better day but to strive for ongoing spiritual advance. Stopping at some point in the hope of striking a balance between the Pandavs and Kauravs is a mistake. And it can take some time before one realizes how this gives the Kaurav side a significant boost. Not pushing forward does not freeze the spiritual conflict; it is a recipe for spiritual retreat. The Kauravs do not pause because the Pandavs do. If one does make this mistake and realizes it, the best thing is not to regret but to continue where he left off with renewed determination.
Footnotes
[i] See: God talks with Arjuna by Yogananda Paramahansa. While there is much that I have learnt from Yogananda’s book, my articles on interpreting Mahabharat characters have variations from his writings as I also draw upon my own experience. In my view, Yogananda’s writings do not get as much as they should into the practical implications that flow from his insights on Mahabharat characters. Nonetheless, Yogananda’s book is unparalleled in it’s scope and elegance in interpreting Bhagwad Gita and I highly recommend it. The reader should also be aware that I am only focusing on a small set of Mahabharat characters here so as to keep things simple, insightful, and actionable.
[ii] Spiritual forces within us make our minds more at peace and thereby make us happier than we would otherwise be. For more on this see this article.
[iii] According to ancient Indian texts, being at peace goes hand-in-hand with being truly happy. As mentioned earlier in my writing, being at peace means that a person is no longer dependent upon anything or anyone to make her happy. She is happy, regardless of what’s happening in the world. The opposite of this is a mind that is craving for one thing or another and thus finds neither peace nor lasting happiness. What this second person may see as happiness would be a momentary flash in the sands of time and he would keep waiting for more such flashes to believe that he is again happy.
[iv] As I have discussed elsewhere in my writings, such a recognition of the perniciousness of desire should be based on a person’s own dispassionate assessment and not because someone else is saying so. Such a self-assessment would need strong powers of self-observation to follow the full cycle of desire (thus the importance of Drishtadyumna). Such a cycle could start from seeing desire arise as a want for something, the way it progresses to become a stronger force that then starts dominating thoughts or actions, the result of the dynamic over a period of time (not just what happens as an outcome of the specific desire but also the prevalence of many, many desires within and how they disturb the peace of mind).
[v] According to ancient Indian texts, there is Supreme God and then there are His administrators who can be likened to angles in the Bible. These “administrators” take care of different aspects of God’s creation. Lord of the wind is one such god.
[vi] As mentioned earlier, in ancient Indian texts, a multitude of gods serve as administrators in service of Supreme God. These gods are akin to angles. Arjun is the son of the the King of these gods. This king, Indra, is also one of the administrators.
[vii] Of course, when Arjun is not directed spiritually, the hard work and persistence from this energy can be directed in a wrong direction. One of the stories of Mahabharat illustrate this when Drona asks Pandavs to defeat King Drupad and make him captive. In Yogananda’s book, he interprets the character of Drupad as “dispassion”. Drupad was also the father of Drishtadyumna.
[viii] Even Drishtadyumna was not able to kill Drona in a fair fight. He did so when Drona had been deceived into thinking his son had died. Drona then put down his weapons and closed his eyes in meditation to try and find this son through his mental prowess. Drishtadyumna decapitated Drona at this point. The story suggests that actions flowing from habits [Drona] need to be immobilised for some time in order to reflect on whether they really make us happy (Drona’s son has been interpreted as deep, subconscious desire by Yogananda). Only through such introspection, immobilisation, and possible self-deception is it possible to finish off bad habits.
[ix] Bheeshma was not killed but incapacitated by hundreds of arrows and could not fight thereafter.
[x] This “spiritual advance” comes automatically when one tries to follow spiritual actions and routines encouraged in Bhagwad Gita.
[xi] For more on the “spiritual eye”, please refer the first and second articles on TAME.
[xii] In spiritual terms, this strategy is the equivalent of trapping a person into a circular pattern of habits and thought patterns to block all spiritual advance. In the absence of an iron-will to break out of these [Arjun], this counter-attack by Kauravs can stop all spiritual advance for an indefinite period. An example of such an outcome could be that the person moves away from spiritual routines and builds new ones that are not spiritual. Another example could be to fall into a laziness trap of not following spiritual practices or routines, even as the person knows that this is inimical to happiness.
[xiii] Abhimanyu could break into a Chakra-vyuh formation but did not know how to break out. This is the equivalent of a person knowing how to start TAME meditation, but not knowing how to sustain that state beyond the session (given that such a meditative state would be a central target for all the spiritual weaknesses of the mind).
[xiv] Duryodhan had ordered that Abhimanyu be killed in any way possible, regardless of the rules of war. Drona had planned how this would be done and Karna was instrumental in executing the plan.
[xv] Near its end, Bhagwad Gita advises the reader to surrender to God. I believe this is akin to the use of intense TAME.
[xvi] Hidimba was a demoness and one of Bheem’s wives.
[xvii] This flagging of focus in the evening and night can present a tempting opportunity to Kaurav forces within to press forward.
[xviii] One must not think that TAME at night can substitute normal day-time practice of meditation. TAME becomes effective at night only after it is well-practiced during daytime.
[xix] Karna had not been able to use this weapon against Arjun since Krishna had not let Arjun’s chariot come before Karna till this day.
[xx] This is another way in which the reality inside us mimics the long-winding story of Pandavs in Mahabharat.
