Sanjaya continues to inform Dhritharashtra what Duryodana is haranguing / pleading with Drona. Duryodana is intent on defeating the Pandava forces by hook or by crook. He has not realised that for every hook of his, Krishna has a more effective hook. He is under the delusion that he is up against Arjuna. The fact is that he is pitted against Krishna, the invincible. Earlier we discussed the metaphorical interpretation of Sanjaya's ability to see what is invisible to others. There is also an episode to continue the non-metaphorical narrative.
Vyasa offers to provide his son, Dhritharashtra the Divya Dhrishti (Divine Vision) to enable him to see what is happening in the battlefield. The son spontaneously rejects the offer but requests that it be provided to Sanjaya. Why is it that the blind Dhritharashtra does not want to see the battle? If he was confident about his son's victory, he would have seized the divine opportunity. Did something tell him that things would not go his son's way? The father's scepticism was matched by the son's anxiety. Yet, they would continue the war. Such is the misleading power of greed and spite.
Could Vyasa not persuade his son to advise his son to give up the suicidal path? There is a clue available in the literal meaning of the word , Vyasa. Vyasa means 'classifier' or 'divider' or analyst. He classified the Vedas in to 4 parts and thus earned the name Veda Vyasa. For good decisions, one has to analyse and then synthesise to arrive at an optimal solution. Vyasa could only analyse and then leave the decision to the other party.
Vyasa is gifted with Divya Dhrishti permanently. (He is also immortal, a Chiranjeevi.) He could also provide this gift to others, but for only a limited time. Is it not ironic that a person endowed with such a grand vision fathered a son who was born blind? (This gives rise to a Tamil proverb, "A teacher's son is a fool",)
Divya Dhristi can also see what is happening in people's minds, the present and also the past events. Thus Vyasa was able to bring before him the past events so that he could chronicle them correctly.
Dhritharashtra's wife, Gandhari, blindfolded herself after her marriage as she did not want to witness what her husband could not see. If Dhritharashtra had accepted the Divine Vision, Gandhari would have removed her blindfold and she too would have been told about the carnage involving the deaths of their sons, then and there. Did the husband want to protect the wife from this worst tragedy that could ever visit a mother?
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