Why was Gita told?

Why was Gita told?

 

By

Raja Thatha

(As told to his  grand children)

 

King Pandu the younger brother of King Drutharashtra was ruling over Hasthinapur. While King Pandu had five sons, King Drutharashtra had one hundred sons and a daughter.

 

Unfortunately King Pandu died early. Because of this all the 106 children were brought up together. Maithree asked, “Thatha, it means they need not go to school and school would come to them.” Raja Thatha replied, “That is true Maithree and that is what happened. These children were taught by a great teacher called Drona and also by another teacher called Krupa. Time passed. The sons of Drutharashtra always quarreled with the sons of Pandu. They all grew big .They all got married and had children.” Rohan replied, “Thatha, then one school would not be sufficient.”

 

Thatha replied, “That is true Rohan. But what happened was the eldest son of Drutharashtra, whose name was Duryodhana, wanted to become the king after Drutharashtra. But he was much younger than the sons of Pandu. So by deceiving them, he drove them away. Our God who was born as Lord Krishna decided to help the sons of Pandu. He went and requested Duryodhana to give at least five houses for Pandavas instead of a big country. The children chorused, “That is not fair Thatha. How can they be satisfied by five houses? If he did not give even that, he must be a very bad man.” But Duryodhana refused. So the Pandavas decided to go for a war with Duryodhana, The grandfather of Pandavas and Duryodhana as well as their teachers decided to fight for Duryodhana. This is because he was their king, On the day of the war both armies came face to face. God Krishna who was driving the chariot of Arjuna took the chariot in the middle of the armies. Suddenly Arjuna realized that he had to kill his grand father, teachers and cousins to win the war. This made him very sad. So he told God Krishna, that he will not fight. He told him that if he had to kill all of them, their children will not have father and they will suffer. “ Maithree jumped up, raised her hand and told, “I agree with Arjuna.” Rohan and Yamini also nodded their heads.

Then Krishna advised Arjuna that what he is thinking is wrong. Bad people whoever they are should be killed. If this is not done they would trouble more people. But Arjuna was not convinced. Maithree told, “Thatha I think I understand. The other day some body told me that our neighbor aunty was troubled by a robber. Suppose you simply keep quiet, these robbers will start troubling all of us.” Thatha said “Amen.” And concluded What Lord Krishna told and did to convince Arjuna is called the “Song of the God” .This is the meaning of its name “Bhagawad Gita”. This is possibly our greatest religious book. I would try to tell you what the book tells in the form of stories.