Dhritarastra is asking Sanjaya, the viveka [conscience]: Asmin Dharmakśetre tathá asmin Kurukśetre⁽¹⁾ [“On this field of dharma, on this field of the universe”] yuddhártham [“for war”] samavetáh [“gathered”] mámakáh [“my people”] arthát mámapakśiiyáh [“that is, my party”] Páńd́aváh arthát Pańd́upakśiiyáh [“the Pandavas, that is, the Pandava party”] te yuddhártham [“for war”] samavetáh [“gathered”] kim akurvata [“what are they doing?”], bho viveka kathaya [“O Sanjaya, tell me”].

What is meant here by Dharmakśetra? As has already been stated, dharmakśetra means this physical body. Dharma sádhaná [spiritual practice as expression of one’s dharma] is not possible without a physical body. People may have performed good deeds in this life and their souls may have reached a higher level, but if they happen to die before attaining liberation, their progress is thwarted, is stopped, until they receive a new life. Because, as has been mentioned, sádhaná is possible only when one has a physical body. That is why the physical body is called dharmakśetra. This point was thoroughly explained to you the other day.

I also said a few words about phonetics. The Rgvedic pronunciation of kśa is k + śa; while the Yajurvedic is k + kha. Bengali, Assamese and some other languages are guided by Yajurvedic rules. So they pronounce it ka + kha. But k + śa and k + kha (both represented in Bengali by ক্ষ) are equally correct: according to the rules of Bengali pronunciation, k + śa is incorrect, while k + kha is correct – but in Sanskrit both are recognized as correct.

The battle is going on, however, not only within the dharmakśetra, the physical body. After all, where is this dharmakśetra, this physical body? What is its location? It is located in the kurukśetra. And what exactly is the kurukśetra?

Nothing in this world is static; everything is in motion, is dynamic. Not to be in motion, not to move, is an impossibility. Even if something wants to stop moving, it will not be able to. Because motion is the sign of existence. Absence of motion implies the fallacy of non-existence. A question, however, may be raised: “Why must everything be in motion?” The answer is simply this: This universe is the Macropsychic conation of Parama Puruśa. Hence every cittáńu [ectoplasmic particle] moves exactly according to the vibration of the flow of His thought. Now, this flow of His thought moves in a rhythmic pattern of expansion and contraction through the pattern of uha and avoha. Out of this vibration does the world of matter take its shape and undergo transformation. Hence nothing in the world of flux can remain motionless, or still. Some kind or other of transformation it has to undergo. It had to move on in the past, and will have to do so in the future also. Hence, nothing is fixed in this world. Thus this world of creation is in a continuous process of forward march. The basic idea of this world of creation thus is “move on.”

If anybody in this universe wants to remain in a fixed position, that person’s desire will never be fulfilled. Because here movement is dharma, is práńa dharma.⁽²⁾ In order to ascertain if a person is alive, we first feel the person’s pulse. The beat of the pulse is the sign of life.

In the ancient Vedic age there was a great scholar, Rohit by name. Having learned a lot, he began to think: “What is the sense in my working? It makes no difference whether I live or die; everything will reach a state of total inertness in the end.” Thinking in this way, he stopped doing any work – but, we can presume, did not stop eating.

Anyone having an elementary knowledge of grammar knows that “to eat” is a verb; even “to sleep” is a verb. While Rohit was sitting like a mass of inert matter, his father (who was not known to be a man of letters) told his son: “Listen, Rohit, the fulfilment of existence lies in moving on. When people are in motion, when they labour and move ahead – to move ahead is also work – drops of sweat trickle down their cheeks. The sublime beauty that brightens their faces at that moment is indescribably unique. Even Indra the king of the gods wants to make friends with such a person, and to have that person as his companion. He thinks that he will be fortunate if he can do so. So always bear in mind that your greatness, your magnanimity, lies in your actions, in your urge to act, on your path of progress. So Caraeveti, caraeveti – ‘Move ahead, move ahead.’”

When a person is asleep, overcome with lassitude, that person’s fortune lies sleeping as well. But the fortune of someone who has awakened, awakens with him. The fortune of someone who has stood up, stands up with him. And the fortune of someone who has started to move, also moves ahead. So move ahead, move ahead.

Kalih shayáno bhavati saiṋjihánastu Dvápara;
Uttiśt́han Tretá bhavati Krtaḿ sampadyate carań.

“A person overcome with lassitude, who abstains from work and is unwilling to move, is living in Kali Yuga; one who has just awakened from slumber is in Dvápara Yuga; one who has stood up is in Tretá Yuga; and when one has started moving, then Satya Yuga has come in that person’s life.” Krta [in the shloka (couplet)] means Satya Yuga. “So move ahead, O Rohit, move ahead.”

So work you must. Those who want to abstain from work, justifying their inactivity through abtruse logical arguments, not only become overcome by materiality themselves, but do harm to society as well. Society becomes paralysed. So it is not that such people harm only themselves, they harm the entire human race as well.

So work has got to be done here in this saḿsára [world]. What is the world incessantly saying? Kuru, kuru, kuru – “Do something, do something, do something.” In Sanskrit the root verb kr, plus hi for the imperative mood, second person, and singular number, becomes kuru. Translated into Bengali it will be karo, and the corresponding imperative word in English is “Do”.

Now, the dharmakśetra, the human body, within which you have your being – where does that dharmakśetra exist? In this saḿsára. The real name of this world is kurukśetra, because it is always telling you Kuru, kuru, kuru – “Go on working and working and working. Don’t sit idle. Don’t let your existence fall under a curse due to your indolence. Move towards success through your works.” So the real name of that kśetra [field] which constant advises you in this way is kurukśetra. Kurukśetra thus stands for the manifested world around us, the saḿsára, where you exist in your physical body (which is your dharmakśetra). Now, Dhritarastra, the blind one, is asking the wise Sanjaya, the conscience: “On this kurukśetra of the world, in this dharmakśetra of the physical body, now that my party (the Dhritarastra party) and the Pandava party have assembled for battle, what will the outcome be? O all-seeing Sanjaya, O all-seeing viveka, O discriminating reason – blind am I, I cannot see. But you, O viveka, you can see. So tell me Sanjaya, once they assembled for battle, what did they do? Tell me, O Sanjaya.”

Footnotes

(1) Having quoted this shloka as it appears in the Bhagavad Giitá two days earlier (see p. 90), the author now proceeds to give a prose Sanskrit paraphrase. –Trans.

(2) See “Práńa Dharma” in A Few Problems Solved Part 6 or Prout in a Nutshell Part 6 or Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 4. –Trans.