KRESNA

The king of Dwarawati, the wisest man in the world, the incarnation of Wisnu, had been assigned by Batara Guru to become a referee in Baratayuda. (see Baratayuda and The Kingdom of Dwarawati).

The war had to be in accord with the script known as Jitapsara. The ksatrias with very strong supernatural power were not permitted to participate. Before the Baratayuda, a son of Bima, Antasena and son of Arjuna, Wisanggeni had disappeared mystically to guarantee the victory of Pendawa, upon the advice of Sang Hyang Wenang, the grand-father of Guru.

Another son of Bima, Antareja was killed after following Kresna’s advice (See The Kingdom of Amarta). He was too strong to every enemy, furthermore there was a prediction, if he took part in Baratayuda he should meet Baladewa, Kresna’s brother. Kresna knew that his brother could not match Antareja.

Baladewa was told by Kresna to meditate in a lonely place. When the war began, he should be informed. Baladewa stopped his meditation only after the Baratayuda. Kresna although an incarnation of Wisnu, wise and clever, probably he could make a mistake too. It was human, as the case of Antareja. He was trusted by Guru to act fairly and diplomatically. In fact, he was a great diplomat. .

He loved very much Arjuna, his brother-in-law, the husband of his younger sister Sembadra. The truth was Kresna and Arjuna were both the incarnation of Wisnu. In Baratayuda Kresna had advised Arjuna to do his duties as a Ksatria, to fight against his enemies, even though the enemies were his respected Gurus and relatives. It was destiny, a human-being could not stop the wish of God the Almighty. What he had to do was to carry out his duties in the best manner.

The famous advice of Kresna to Arjuna was called Bagawadgita (Gita=song; Begawad=God), the song of heaven. The only man in the world who certainly knew that Baratayuda should occur was Kresna. Anyhow he tried to mediate to avoid the conflict which should had to a terrible aftermath. As an ordinary man, Ksatria and king, he had the duty to avoid the war. He had to work-out, the destiny was in the hands of God, he won’t argue.

The Bagawadgita contained 18 chapters from Vishada Yoga to Samnyasa Yoga – Moksha. The core of its contents were:

The destiny of life.

The good should win in the fight against the bad.

The knowledge to attain a perfect life, a fight to eliminate lusts.

In Kejawen (Javanese traditional teachings). Baratayuda was every man’s war against his own evil desires. If a man could defeat these lusts, he should have a smoother way to achieve a True Life (Urip Sejati)

Suryo S. Negoro