59. BALARAMA :

BALARAMA, the illustrious brother of
Krishna, visited the Pandavas, in their
encampment. As Halayudha (plough
bearer), clad in blue silk, entered
majestically like a lion. Yudhishthira,
Krishna and others gave the broadshouldered
warrior a glad welcome.



Bowing to Drupada and Virata, the visitor
seated himself beside Dharmaputra.
"I have come to Kurukshetra," said he,
"learning that the descendants of Bharata
have let themselves be overwhelmed by
greed, anger and hatred and that the peace
talks have broken down and that war has
been declared."



Overcome by emotion, he paused for a
while and then continued: "Dharmaputra,
dreadful destruction is ahead. The earth is
going to is a bloody morass strewn with
mangled bodies! It is an evil destiny that
has maddened the kshatriya world to
foregather here to meet its doom. Often
have I told Krishna, 'Duryodhana is the
same to us as the Pandavas. We may not
take sides in their foolish quarrels.' He
would not listen to me. His great affection
for Dhananjaya has misled Krishna and he
is with you in this war which I see he has
approved. How can Krishna and I be in
opposite camps? For Bhima and



Duryodhana, both of them my pupils, I
have equal regard and love. How then can
I support one against the other? Nor can I
bear to see the Kauravas destroyed. I will
therefore have nothing to do with this war,
this conflagration that will consume
everything. This tragedy has made me
lose all interest in the world and so I shall
wander among holy places."



Having thus spoken against the calamitous
war, Krishna's brother left the place, his
heart laden with sorrow and his mind
seeking consolation in God.



This episode of Balarama’s, keeping out
of the Mahabharata war is illustrative of
the perplexing situations in which good
and honest men often find themselves.
Compelled to choose between two equally
justifiable, but contrary, courses of action,
the unhappy individual is caught on the
horns of a dilemma. It is only honest men
that find themselves in this predicament.



The dishonest ones of the earth have no
such problems, guided as they are solely
by their own attachments and desires, that
is, by self-interest.



Not so the great men who have renounced
all desire. Witness the great trials to
which, in the Mahabharata, Bhishma,
Vidura, Yudhishthira and Karna were put.



We read in that epic how they solved their
several difficulties. Their solutions did not
conform to a single moral pattern but
reflected their several individualities. The
conduct of each was the reaction of his
personality and character to the impact of
circumstances.



Modern critics and expositors sometimes
forget this underlying basic factor and
seek to weigh all in the same scales,
which is quite wrong. We may profit by
the way in which, in the Ramayana,
Dasaratha, Kumbhakarna, Maricha,
Bharata and Lakshmana reacted to the
difficulties with which each of them was
faced.



Likewise, Balarama's neutrality in the
Mahabharata war has a lesson. Only two
princes kept out of that war. One was
Balarama and the other was Rukma, the
ruler of Bhojakata. The story of Rukma,
whose younger sister Rukmini married
Krishna, is told in the next chapter.


Next :- 60. RUKMINI


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