Eventhough
Lord Krishna was with the Pandavas
through thick and thin, it was the
unique good fortune of Arjuna to
have had the Lord inseparably with
Him throughout the Kurukshetra war. In the battlefield, after imparting the Karmayoga
(Gita, Ch.3) the Lord tells Arjuna
"
Since you are at once my
devotee and friend, I have imparted
this ancient and the best yoga to you which
is
a secret and hence should be well guarded".
D̙ ̙ t%
O: H: ٜt̍: *
H%Ͳ
L Zt tzu̘̘
**
(Gita 4\3)
Because
Arjuna was very dear to the Lord, He not only expounded the great Divine message of the Gita, the very essence
of the Upanishads,
but also made Arjuna perceive
His Vishwarupa. In the words of
the Lord "This Supreme Divine
Form ,which is at the same time
effulgent, the first of everything
and endless (as you had witnesed)
was shown to you by My powers of
yoga and by My grace and has not
been seen by any one other than
you.
̙ t̥`ʍz ̜ zϨt̘t̙Ot *
t`̙
̫̘ͥ̍̍t̘̆ ̍ tz
ܥʘ **
(Gita 11/47)
Many
instances portraying the ideal bond
that existed between the Lord and
Arjuna can be found in several places
in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata
Purana.Sanjaya testified to this
great and unique
friendship to Dhritarashtra
when he came back after visiting
the Pandavas. He said that such
was the friendship between the Lord
and Arjuna that there was no secret
or privacy between them. In another
context, when the Lord went
to the forest to meet the
Pandavas,
Krishna told Arjuna "
You are mine, similarly I am yours.
My friends are your friends. Whoever
shows enmity to you he is my enemy
too; whoever stands by you also stands by me."
̘ t t̷̥
zՙ̲t̥ t *
̲t
ͮ ͮ ̲t̘̍
̘̍ **
(Mahabharata, Vanaparva
12\45)
The
very Duryodhana, Pandava's arch
enemy himself acknowledged the special
affection that existed between the
Lord and Arjuna. He said "Krishna
will sacrifice even the
celestial
world for the sake of Arjuna. In
the same way, Arjuna will not hesitate
even
to part with his life for
the sake of the Lord".
Fs ̍g̙̲y
OʡF͏ t`t *
ty
y: Fsy s̍͏
͜t`t **
(Mahabharata,
Sabhaparva 52\32,33)
In
the war Bhishma was annihilating
the Pandava forces . Nine days were
over after the war started. That
night Udhishtira expressed his anxiety
and sought the advice of the Lord as to what should be
done under these circumstances.
The Lord consoled Udhishtira and
told that either He or Arjuna single-handed could
slay Bhishma if
Udhishtira commanded. "Your
brother is my friend, relative and
disciple. You know the great bond
between Myself and Arjuna. I shall
not hesitate to cut off my flesh
for the sake of Arjuna Similarly,
Arjuna will sacrifice even his life
for my sake ; there is a vow that
each would stand by the other"
said the Lord.
t̥ t ̘
L ɖ̍ ̭ͨ D Z *
ɲ̍tFt
z̲͘ ̟Oٍy ̷Տt
**
D
Z͏ ̜Q tFt `ͥt
t`t *
D
: ̘̙̲tt t̜ ̜̜
**
(Mahabharata,
Bhishma Parva 107/33,34)
This
clearly brings out the intensity
of friendship between the Lord and
Arjuna.
The chief of the celestials, Indra had
presented Karna the unfailing sakti missile with the condition that anyone on
whom this was aimed would sure meet his end, but this should be used only once.
Karna had kept it to be hurled at Arjuna. Duryodhana and others in the Kaurava
camp were prodding Karna to destroy Arjuna with that missile. But when Karna
met Arjuna in the battlefield, the charioteer of Arjuna who was none other than
the Lord cast His Maya on Karna so that he would forget to use the missile
against Arjuna. In the meanwhile, Gatotkacha, son of Bheemasena was destroying
the Kaurava forces with vengence. Frightened at this, Duryodhana and
others urged Karna to destroy Gatotkacha
with the sakti missile, as otherwise,
none would be left behind in their army. This compelled Karna to use
that missile against Gatotkacha, with the result he was killed. At this, though
the Pandavas were steeped in sorrow , the Lord alone was happy because this way
Arjuna had been saved. Such a great bond existed between the Lord and Arjuna.
So
far Arjuna was considering the Supreme
Lord as his playmate and companion
only because Krishna was with the
Pandavas constantly and was their
messenger, servant and Arjuna's
charioteer. The great devotee Lilasuka
provides a picturesque account of
the
saulabhya of the Lord in
his work, Krishnakarnamrutam saying
that He with half-bare body
with the stick used for driving
the horses, stuck on His headgear,
with the reins firmly held between
His teeth, daily bathed the horses
of the chariot of Arjuna with water
held in His palms, at the same time
soothing the itching of these horses
by scratching gently with His nails.
L-͍̙͘t-Fsn
sn-̍z̫-
̍z-͗ͭfg͡y: ̙͗: *
+t
ͥtt-Ow-tw-͍̯t-͡-
-z̍-ͥ̌t-Ѩ-zFՏs̜ͨ:
**
(Krishnakarnamrutam 2/47)
Only
on seeing the Divine Form, Arjuna
felt a great remorse and was astonished
at the easy accessibility of the
Lord. Seeking the Lord's pardon,
Arjuna said that since he had not known the Lord's greatness,
glory and Universal Lordship,
he had perpetrated many wrongs
by word or deed, thinking Krishna to be merely his friend.
Lt t ̗
zH Fs z
Lt *
+`̍t
ͷ̍ t̥z ̙ zts̙
͏ **
[̷̥̲yʘ̲tFt%Ͳ
̷̜̙̲̗ͥ̍`̍ *
DF%y̥̏Zt
tt̘K ttK̘̙ t̷̘̘̏
**
(Gita 11/
41,42)
After
the war, when the time for Arjuna
for alighting from the chariot came,
the Lord asked Arjuna to alight
first and He got down thereafter..
Arjuna thinking he was the master,
asked the Lord that why this peculiar
advice as it was customary for the
servant to alight first and then
help the master to do so. The Lord
replied that since the chariot had
borne the brunt of various deadly
weapons, if He had alighted first,
Arjuna would have been killed as
the chariot would have become ablaze.
Accordingly, after the Lord got
down from the chariot after Arjuna
, it went into flames. This way
also the Lord saved Arjuna's life.
Since the Lord could not stand separation
from his dear friend, Arjuna, He ascended to Vaikunta earlier to the swargarohana
of the Pandavas . After ascending
to heaven, Udhishtira with divine
body reached Vaikunta where the
Lord was shining in His resplendent
form. There, the various divya astras
and weapons in their celestial bodies
were serving the
Lord. Among them, Udhishtira
saw Arjuna also serving the Lord
, the unique privilege which even
great yogis and sages yearned for.
This
goes to prove that if one studies
the Gita and recites it with unfailing
faith such a person will have the
divine grace as that enjoyed by
Arjuna. In fact, the Lord and Arjuna
were the very embodyment of the
nara-narayana incarnation.
