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49.TAKING COUNSEL
Balarama did not relish an
armed conflict among scions of the same
family and rightly held that war would
lead only to disaster.
The poet puts an eternal truth in
Balarama's mouth.
Satyaki, the Yadava warrior, who heard
Balarama speak thus, could not contain
himself. He rose in anger and spoke
indignantly:
"Balarama's words do not strike me as in
the least degree just. One can, if skilful
enough, make out a plausible plea for any
case, but not all the skill in the world can
convert wrong into right or injustice into
justice. I must protest against Balarama's
stand, which fills me with disgust. Do we
not see in one and the same tree, one
branch bowed with fruit and another
sticking out gaunt and useless? So, of
these brothers, Krishna speaks words that
breathe the spirit of dharma while
Balarama's attitude is unworthy. And if
you grant what cannot be doubted that the
Kauravas cheated Yudhishthira of his
share of the kingdom, why then, allowing
them to keep it is as unjust as confirming
a thief in the possession of his booty!
Anyone, who finds fault with
Dharmaputra, does so in cowardly fear of
Duryodhana, not for any sound reason. O
princes, forgive my harsh speech. Not of
his own volition but because the Kauravas
pressed and invited him to do so, did the
novice and unwilling Dharmaputra play
with a dishonest gambler that game so
fraught with disaster. Why should he bow
and supplicate before Duryodhana, now
that he has fulfilled his pledges?
Yudhishthira is not a mendicant and need
not beg. He has kept his word and so have
his brothers twelve years in exile in the
forest and twelve months there after in
disguise according to their pledge. And
yet, Duryodhana and his associates, most
shamelessly and dishonestly, question the
performance. I shall defeat these impudent
villains in battle and they shall either seek
Yudhishthira's pardon or meet their doom.
How can a righteous war be wrong in any
case?
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