HARVESTING AND PULLING THE WEEDS

By mutual agreement of both parties, rules were set for the battle in the
Mahabharata. But with the falling of Bhishma, they were broken. Abhimanyu’s
murder was a heinous one. He fought valiantly but was killed in the most
treacherous manner by six great warriors, against all rules.



Life can be very challenging for those who are very dharmik. And in today’s
day and age, when dharma and adharma are at constant loggerheads, it is
difficult to determine what step one may take. The Pandavas shared this
dilemma too – to fight or to fly to off to the Himalayas. Sound minds think
of renunciation. The weak think of retaliation. But the greatest test falls
in the path of the duty-bound with sound minds – to do the needful or to do
what’s right. ‘Doing the needful’ may be a compromise on their personal
value and ‘doing what’s right’ may add to community value.



The Pandavas made their choice. And in ‘doing the needful’, apparently they
broke more rules than the adharmik. A fair count of who broke more rules
reveals that the duty bound did so. But the purpose was to catch the
offenders at the right time. We may observe the Police sometimes. In their
attempt to catch criminals immediately, they forego the traffic rules
themselves. Similarly, under the guidance of Krishna, the Pandavas breached
more rules than the Kauravas to establish appropriate governance in
Hastinapura. Doesn’t it take a thorn to remove a thorn? Don’t we use poison
itself as anti-venom?



Pandavas fought against their own principles to establish higher values.
They fought the ideals of those who had become individualistic, only
believing in ‘me and my dharma’.  They fought both, the adharmik and the
dharmik, but for universal dharma. It was tough but right; Non-idealistic
but right; Wrong but right.