Whatsoever is being said here is for you to judge, as no one else can decide this for you. You alone can judge whether Bhishm Pitamah actually broke his pledge he made to facilitate marriage of his father, and which everyone says was never broken.
This is increasingly becoming important in the growth and development of Bharat, as Hindu Samaj is now considered to be totally PASSIVE and is unable to come out of its Slavish Mentality. Did Devvrat, popularly known as Bhishm Pitamah, actually did break his pledge? We all know that to facilitate the marriage of his father Shantanu, Devvrat made two pledges, as follows:
1. I Devvrat, will never marry and undertake the vow of CELIBACY for life(अजीवन ब्रह्मचर्य )
2. I Devvrat hereby pledge that I will see in every person who would sit on the throne of Hastinapur, my father, and obey him as a dutiful son.
For accepting these difficult conditions, as part of his life, by pledge, he was called ever since, as Bhishm Pitamah. We have also been told that he obeyed these pledges till the end of his life. But that was when Hindu Samaj was slave. Maybe such things helped in keeping us passive, which was exactly what was required as slave Samaj, for which the only Dharm was Bhakti. But today the situation has changed; we must know the truth and have the courage and guts to accept it. That would also help in removing lot of passiveness in the Hindu Samaj. Understanding and accepting truth only can take the Samaj forward.
Remember, whatsoever is being said over here is for you and you alone to judge, as no one else can decide this for you. You alone can judge whether Bhishm Pitamah actually broke his pledge given to facilitate marriage of his father, and which everyone says was never broken.
Mahabharat, the world war was being intensely fought. Both sides were continuously making assessments and getting updated with ever changing war situation. There was now growing feeling in the Pandavs camp that as long as Bhishm Pitamah, Dronacharya and Karna were there, the war would not be won. To start with at least one had to be removed. Shri Krishna advised Yudhishtir to return the blessings (Aashirwad) he received from Bhishm Pitamah, now the Commander-in-Chief of Kauravs army, as they were of no use because war could not be won as long as Pitamah was there.
And Pitamah accepted that as long as he was participating in the war, war could not be won by Pandavs, and since he felt he cannot take back the blessings, he told Yudhishtir how he could be removed from the battlefield.
And during the next day battle, following the instructions of Bhishm Pitamah, Arjun, extremely critically and fatally wounded Bhishm Pitamah and ensured that he would no longer have any part in that battle.
Now the question for you to answer is that in case the commander–in-chief of an army intimated the opposition how he could be removed from the battle field, did Bhishm Pitamah broke this pledge, “I Devvrat hereby pledge that I will see in every person who would sit on the throne of Hastinapur, my father, and obey him as a dutiful son”.
You have to decide that in case the commander-in chief of an army intimates the enemy, how he could be removed, would it simply be the case of pledge being broken, or much more than that; maybe amounting to treason, some would say.
So the pledge was broken. The other question that needs an answer is did it increase the stature of Bhishm Pitamah.
In a battle fought for establishing Dharm, there could be compulsion for a person on personal level to choose the side of Adharm. But are personal compulsions/milestone sufficient to warrant destruction of Dharm which is always society centric, and in this case humanity centric? No, NEVER. And this is exactly what Bhishm Pitamah decided. And this is what we too, must follow.
Establishment of Dharm is much more important than personal satisfaction/milestones. Bhishm Pitamah stature increased immensely after this.
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Bhishm Pitamah broken his pledge..?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds erroneous !
He rather sacrificed his life to keep his words.
Shri Avunash Dixit Ji,
ReplyDeleteI have no idea, how you have made this comment, because the reason is very much given in the post itself...I''quote>
"And Pitamah accepted that as long as he was participating in the war, war could not be won by Pandavs, and since he felt he cannot take back the blessings, he told Yudhishtir how he could be removed from the battlefield.
"And during the next day battle, following the instructions of Bhishm Pitamah, Arjun, extremely critically and fatally wounded Bhishm Pitamah and ensured that he would no longer have any part in that battle."
If telling the enemy, how he(the commander-in -chief of the army)can be removed, the pledge is not broken,then I have nothing to say...