You know, life is a constant fight, a fight between the evil force and the divine force, vidyá shakti and avidyá shakti. These two belligerent forces are active in the human mind. A sádhaka will encourage the divine force, and a non-sádhaka will encourage the evil force. This fight is called devásura saḿgráma. The deva party is the divine force, and the asura party is the evil force. This devásura saḿgráma has been going on since time immemorial; and that’s why spiritual practice, spiritual sádhaná, is called sádhanásamara. Sádhaná is samara. Samara means “war”, “fight”.

We get this very picture in the Giitá. In the Giitá, in the first shloka, what does it say? Dhrtaráśt́ra uváca [“Dhritarastra said”]:

Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre samavetá yuyutsavah;
Mámakáh Páńd́aváshcaeva kimakurvata Saiṋjaya?

[“O Sanjaya, now that my children and the children of Pandu have gathered on the battlefield of Dharmakśetra, of Kurukśetra, eager to fight, what is taking place?”]

“Dhritarastra said.” Who is Dhritarastra? Dhrta means [“controlling”, “controlling entity”], and ráśt́ra means “structure”, “framework”. And who does [control] your physical structure? Your mind. Because of the mind, because of the existence of the mind, the structural solidarity of a body is maintained. If the mind leaves the body, the body will decompose, dissociate; its structural solidarity will be lost. So who is Dhritarastra? He who controls the ráśt́ra, he who controls the physical body: that is, the mind. Dhrtaráśt́ra uváca means “The mind says” – “The question arose in the mind, in the human mind.” Now do you know? Dhritarastra said: “Sanjaya,”

Dharmakśetre Kurukśetre samavetá yuyutsavah;
Mámakáh Páńd́aváshcaeva kimakurvata Saiṋjaya?

Dhritarastra asked Sanjaya, “These two belligerent forces, my party and the Pandu party, have assembled on Dharmakśetra and Kurukśetra to fight against each other. And after assembling there, what did they do, Sanjaya? Tell me.”

Now, why does Dhritarastra ask Sanjaya? Because Dhritarastra cannot see. The mind cannot see; the mind is a blind force. Dhritarastra was blind. You know, Dhritarastra was blind, because the mind is blind, the mind is a blind force, the mind cannot see without the help of the conscience. The mind cannot see without the help of the viveka. The manah cannot see without the help of the viveka. The mana, the blind mind, asks the viveka (the viveka is saiṋjaya: sam + ji + al) the result of the fight between [good] and evil. Saiṋjaya means the power of discrimination. The power of discrimination between good and bad is called viveka – and this is saiṋjaya. The blind mind asks saiṋjaya – the mind asks the viveka – “My party” (that is, the party of the blind mind) “and the Pandu party – after assembling on Dharmakśetra, Kurukśetra, what did they do?”

Now, who are the members of “my party”, that is, Dhritarastra’s party? That is, who are the supporters of Dhritarastra? Who are the supporters of the blind mind? Now you know, there are ten indriyas in the human body, cakśuh, karńa, násiká, jihvá, tvak, vák, páńi, páda, páyu, and upastha. These are the ten indriyas of the human body, the ten [organs] of the human body. Five are sensory organs, and five are motor organs. Cakśuh, karńa, násiká, jihvá, tvak [eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin] – these five organs are sensory organs. And vák, páńi, páda, páyu, upastha [vocal cord, hands/arms, feet/legs, anus, genitary organ] – these five organs are motor organs. There are ten organs. And each and every organ can function in ten directions. So the agents of the mind can function in ten times ten, a hundred directions. So Dhritarastra had one hundred agents, one hundred sons. These one hundred sons were the party of Dhritarastra. They are the supporters of materialism, they are the evil force.

And Páńd́aváshcaeva. They are fighting against whom? Against the Pandavas. What is the meaning of páńd́ava? In Sanskrit [pańd́á, from the] root verb pańd́, means “spiritual knowledge, sentient knowledge”. Pańd́ita means “he who has acquired spiritual knowledge, he who has acquired sentient knowledge”. Pańd́á means “I am Brahma.” This firm determination, this stance of “I – Brahma,” this firm determination, is called pańd́á. And he who has acquired pańd́á is called pańd́ita – and he who wants to acquire this knowledge is called pańd́u – and páńd́ava means “pertaining to pańd́u”. The stages that you will have to go through in your spiritual practice are páńd́ava. In your spiritual sádhaná, you are required to exalt your kulakuńd́alinii, the “coiled serpentine”, from the múládhára cakra to the pineal gland. And in this process of exaltation, this “coiled serpentine”, this kulakuńd́alinii, will have to pass through five important plexi. These five important plexi are the múládhára cakra, the svádhiśt́hána cakra, the mańipúra cakra, the anáhata cakra, and the vishuddha cakra. These are the five plexi controlling physicality, controlling the physical world. The múládhára cakra is represented by Sahadeva, the svádhiśt́hána cakra is represented by Nakula, the mańipúra cakra is represented by Arjuna, the anáhata cakra by Bhima, and the vishuddha cakra by Yudhisthira. And above that is the site of the mind. What mind? The sentient mind. When the kulakuńd́alinii reaches here [mid-point between the eyebrows], a person attains the qualified stance, savikalpa samádhi. So to attain this stance of savikalpa, the kulakuńd́alinii, that is, the jiiva shakti, the sleeping divinity, will have to pass through these five stages. So these five stages are the Paiṋca Páńd́ava [Five Pandavas].

So on the one side this kulakuńd́alinii passing through five cakras; on the other side, the one hundred agents of Dhritarastra. They are fighting against each other. This fight is the fight of sádhaná, the sádhanásamara. And where is this fight taking place? On Dharmakśetra, Kurukśetra. What is dharmakśetra? Your physical body is dharmakśetra. Without this physical body you cannot practise dharma. After leaving this physical body, you will not be able to follow dharma, to do dharma sádhaná. So your physical body – this body – is dharmakśetra. That is, this fight is taking place within this body. And kurukśetra? Kuru means, in Sanskrit, “do” – it is the imperative mood, second person, singular number, of the root verb kr. Kuru means “do” – anujiṋá [imperative]. [And kśetra means “field”.] Kurukśetra means the field which is always saying, “Kuru, kuru, kuru… do something, do something, do something, do something!” Kśetra-kuru – “the kśetra of deeds”. So kurukśetra – this universe is Kurukśetra, this world is Kurukśetra. And your body is Dharmakśetra. And this war between the Pandavas and the Kaoravas, the one hundred Kaoravas and the five Pandavas, is taking place within this Dharmakśetra and within this vast Kurukśetra. This fight will never come to an end! In individual life, when the Pandavas win, you will attain salvation, but in collective life, such a salvation will never come, it will go on forever… In your individual life, you will do sádhaná and attain salvation. And with your spiritual force, with your intellectual force, with your physical force, you are to serve society, you are to render selfless service to suffering humanity.

–P.R. Sarkar (AKA Shrii Shrii Anandamurtii)
10 December 1964, Salem

Published in:
Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 31
Discourses on Krśńa and the Giitá [a compilation]