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Chapter 1. Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra TEXT 15 pancajanyam hrsikeso
SYNONYMS  pancajanyam--the
conchshell named Pancajanya; hrsika-isah--Hrsikesa (Krsna, the Lord
who directs the senses of the devotees); devadattam--the conchshell
named Devadatta; dhanam-jayah--Dhananjaya (Arjuna, the winner of
wealth); paundram--the conch named Paundra; dadhmau--blew;
maha-sankham--the
terrific conchshell; bhima-karma--one who performs herculean tasks;
vrka-udarah--the voracious eater (Bhima).
TRANSLATION Then, Lord
Krsna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta;
and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of Herculean tasks, blew his
terrific conchshell called Paundram.
PURPORT Lord Krsna is
referred to as Hrsikesa in this verse because He is the owner of all senses.
The living entities are part and parcel of Him, and, therefore, the senses
of the living entities are also part and parcel of His senses. The impersonalists
cannot account for the senses of the living entities, and therefore they
are always anxious to describe all living entities as sense-less, or impersonal.
The Lord, situated in the hearts of all living entities, directs their
senses. But, He directs in terms of the surrender of the living entity,
and in the case of a pure devotee He directly controls the senses. Here
on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra the Lord directly controls the transcendental
senses of Arjuna, and thus His particular name of Hrsikesa. The Lord has
different names according to His different activities. For example, His
name is Madhusudana because He killed the demon of the name Madhu; His
name is Govinda because He gives pleasure to the cows and to the senses;
His name is Vasudeva because He appeared as the son of Vasudeva; His name
is Devaki-nandana because He accepted Devaki as His mother; His name is
Yasoda-nandana because He awarded His childhood pastimes to Yasoda at Vrndavana;
His name is Partha-sarathi because He worked as charioteer of His friend
Arjuna. Similarly, His name is Hrsikesa because He gave direction to Arjuna
on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra.
Arjuna is
referred to as Dhananjaya in this verse because he helped his elder brother
in fetching wealth when it was required by the king to make expenditures
for different sacrifices. Similarly, Bhima is known as Vrkodara because
he could eat as voraciously as he could perform herculean tasks, such as
killing the demon Hidimba. So, the particular types of conchshell blown
by the different personalities on the side of the Pandavas, beginning with
the Lord's, were all very encouraging to the fighting soldiers. On the
other side there were no such credits, nor the presence of Lord Krsna,
the supreme director, nor that of the goddess of fortune. So, they were
predestined to lose the battle--and that was the message announced by the
sounds of the conchshells.
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