सञ्जय उवाच ।
दृष्ट्वा तु पाण्डवानीकं व्यूढं दुर्योधनस्तदा ।
आचार्यमुपसङ्गम्य राजा वचनमब्रवीत् ।। 2।।
sañjaya uvācha
dṛiṣhṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkaṁ vyūḍhaṁ duryodhanastadā
āchāryamupasaṅgamya rājā vachanamabravīt
sanjayaḥ uvācha—Sanjay said; dṛiṣhṭvā—on observing; tu—but; pāṇḍava-anīkam—the Pandava army; vyūḍham—standing in a military formation; duryodhanaḥ—King Duryodhan; tadā—then; āchāryam—teacher; upasaṅgamya—approached; rājā—the king; vachanam—words; abravīt—spoke
Translation:
Sanjaya said: On seeing the Pāndava army arrayed for battle, King Duryodhana went to his teacher and spoke these words:
Commentary:
Dhrishtadyumna, the son of King Drupada was the commander of the Pandava army. He arranged the army in a special formation known as Vajra Vyuha in the science of war. Duryodhana might have approached Dronacharya for the purpose of asking him to arrange his own army in a more powerful formation.
Duryodhana was a king possessing overall command of the entire army. Drona was one of the commanders. How does it happen that the king, instead of asking the commander to meet him, should himself approach him personally? This doubt may be cleared by considering the following points.
1. Duryodhana might have been struck with fear when he saw the enemy-army and heroes like Bhima and Arjuna. Fear, of course, is not an auspicious sign.
2. Drona was a commander and should have been at the post of duty from whence he should not be disturbed at that time.
3. Drona was a teacher, learned and old, and it was the duty of Duryodhana to show him respect.
4. The purpose of Duryodhana was to win the favour of Drona for achieving his own selfish object of winning the war against his cousins, who were also the disciples of Drona.
It should be noted that Duryodhana, like Arjuna, later saw the armies on both sides. But what a difference in attitude! Duryodhana never had any qualms of conscience, nor any feeling of pity for those who would be destroyed on both sides, nor the supreme question of what is Dharma under these circumstances, nor any reconsideration of his attitude which would naturally arise in the heart of an evolved being. Arjuna was far superior to Duryodhana as a man, and so his reaction was entirely different, and the divine message of the Gita was offered to him.