Gita 1.09 – Duryodhana’s slip of tongue leads to speaking truth unintentionally

 

Audio Link 1: Gita 01.09 Duryodhana’s slip of tongue leads to his speaking the truth unintentionally – The Spiritual Scientist

 

anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā

mad-arthe tyakta-jīvitāḥ

nānā-śastra-praharaṇāḥ

sarve yuddha-viśāradāḥ

 

Word-For-Word:

anye — others; ca — also; bahavaḥ — in great numbers; śūrāḥ — heroes; mat-arthe — for my sake; tyakta-jīvitāḥ — prepared to risk life; nānā — many; śastra — weapons; praharaṇāḥ — equipped with; sarve — all of them; yuddha-viśāradāḥ — experienced in military science.

 

Translation:

There are many other heroes who are prepared to lay down their lives for my sake. All of them are well equipped with different kinds of weapons, and all are experienced in military science.

 

Explanation:

 

In this verse, Duryodhana continues assessing the forces on both sides. While considering those supporting him, he states:

“anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā: there are many others who are heroes, who are heroic.

mad-arthe tyakta-jīvitāḥ: They are ready to lay down their lives for me.

nānā-śastra-praharaṇāḥ: They are experts in different weapons.

sarve yuddha-viśāradāḥ: All of them are expert in fighting.”

 

Duryodhana lists warriors inclusively. Many others are heroic, expert in various weapons, and experienced in warfare. Each line describes a characteristic: they are expert, experienced, and courageous. Their courage is evident in their readiness to fight to the point of death, indicating total dedication to their cause. They will fight with commitment, regardless of the outcome.

 

Duryodhana recognizes that there is no easy path ahead. War is fought in the trenches and is harsh, demanding, ugly, and cruel. These warriors’ readiness to endure such hardship for him highlights their experience, expertise, courage, and dedication. These qualities are laudable in a warrior and can significantly impact the outcome of a war.

 

It’s interesting that “mad-arthe tyakta-jīvitāḥ” translates to “For my sake (mad-arthe), they are ready to lay down their lives (tyakta-jīvitāḥ).” Duryodhana intends to convey this in the future tense, but it comes out in the past tense: “For my sake, they have laid down their lives.” This unintentional shift in tense can be seen as a Freudian slip of the tongue.

 

Normally, a slip of the tongue causes us to say things we didn’t intend to. Sometimes, this results in falsehood or inaccuracy. However, if we were trying to conceal something, an unintentional slip might reveal what we intended to hide. Rather than leading to incorrect speech, a slip of the tongue can result in an unintended truth coming out.

 

When considering the nature of a statement and the intention behind it, we can categorize statements into four types: intentional truth, intentional untruth, unintentional truth, and unintentional untruth.

 

Among these four categories, it’s important to recognize that there is no consistent relationship between our intention and our expression. The nature of what we say and what we intend to say can vary. If we intend to speak the truth and do so, it is intentional truth. If we intend to lie and do so, it is intentional untruth. These are straightforward situations where our intention matches our statement.

 

However, a slip of the tongue occurs when we accidentally say something we didn’t mean to. This can result in either unintentional truth or unintentional untruth.

 

Here, Duryodhana’s slip of the tongue unintentionally reveals a truth. His laudatory and self-congratulatory tone emphasizes that these warriors are so dedicated to him that they are ready to lay down their life for him. Although Duryodhana’s words are not divine, the Bhagavad Gita is a divine text, and by divine arrangement, he ends up speaking the truth. Those who fought for Duryodhana essentially committed to their own death. Being against Kṛṣṇa and dharma means courting death. The Pandavas, on the side of dharma, were destined for success, which eventually happened.

 

Kṛṣṇa later shows in verses 11.33-34 that by his arrangement, the opponents are already killed (“mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva: By previous arrangement, they have been killed”). This destiny orchestrates Duryodhana’s tongue to unintentionally speak the truth about the fate of his warriors.

 

Thank you.