A question that contains the answer within itself raises
questions about the question. For example, suppose someone asks, “After the
diners sat down at the restaurant table for dinner, what did they do?” “What a
dumb question!” we might say, “Obviously, they ate.”
But suppose we heard such a question as a part of a learned
conversation. That would make us wonder whether something else is afoot. Maybe
the questioner knows that there’s a bomb placed under the table and wants to
know whether it exploded or was defused. Thus, a self-answering question points
to factors beyond the self-evident.
The extraneous factor – the bomb under the table – is
dharma.
Such a question begins the Bhagavad-gita (01.01), wherein
Dhritarashtra asks: “After the Kauravas and Pandavas assembled for fighting,
what did they do?” The extraneous factor – the bomb under the table – is
dharma, as is hinted in the question’s first word: dharma-kshetre (at the place
of dharma). Knowing that the Kauravas are adharmic, whereas the Pandavas are
dharmic, Dhritarashtra is apprehensive that thoughts of dharma, aroused by the
vibrations at the dharmic place, may adversely affect his sons’ intentions and
prospects. Through the question, he implicitly enquires whether any such thing
happened.
That’s what did happen, but in a way different from
Dhritarashtra’s apprehension. Duryodhana was too self-centered to bother about
dharma, but the dread that the imminent fratricide was adharmic overwhelmed
Arjuna. To allay his concerns, Krishna spoke the Gita, analyzing the various
levels of dharma and establishing the supreme dharma of pure devotion. Thus,
the Gita’s narration demonstrates the import of its first word – at the place
of dharma manifested the divine message of dharma from the lips of the divine.
Understanding this message induced such a resolute
determination in Arjuna that, as the Gita’s last verse (18.78) prophesies, the
determination itself, being harmonized with the divine will, assured supreme
success.
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