THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

VII. 3. The Greatness of the Individual353©te_ip Tva' n .ivZyiNt svŠ ye_viSqta" p[TynIkwzu yo/a" --tSmaÑvmuiÒZ# yxo l.Sv ijTva x]Un( .u;(+v raJy' sm*×m( -myWvWte inhta" puvRmev inimÒma]' .v sVysaicn( --“I am Time who waste and destroy the peoples; lo, I havearisen in my might, I am here to swallow up the nations. Evenwithout thee all they shall not be, the men of war who standarrayed in the opposing squadrons. Therefore do thou arise andget thee great glory, conquer thy foes and enjoy a great and wealthyempire. For these, they were slain even before and it is I whohave slain them; be the occasion only, O Savyasachin.”It is not as the slow process of Time that Sri Krishna manifestsHimself; it is as the Zeitgeist consummating in a momentthe work carefully prepared for decades that He appearsto Arjuna. All have been moving inevitably towards the catastropheof Kurukshetra. Men did not know it; those whowould have done everything possible to avert the calamity,helped its coming by their action or inaction; those who hada glimpse of it strove in vain to stop the wheels of Fate; SriKrishna Himself as the niØkÀma karmayogin who does Hisduty without regard to results, went on that hopeless embassyto Hastinapura; but the Zeitgeist overbore all. It was onlyafterwards that men saw how like rivers speeding towards thesea, like moths winging towards the lighted flame, all thatsplendid, powerful and arrogant Indian world with its clans ofkings and its weapons and its chariots and its gigantic armieswere rushing towards the open mouths of the Destroyer to belost in His mighty jaws, to be mangled between His gnashing1kÀlo'smi lokakØayakÐt pravÐddho lokÀn samÀhartumiha pravÐttaÕÐte'pi tvÀÌ na bhaviØyanti sarve ye'vasthitÀÕ pratyanÈkeØu yodhÀÕ.tasmÀttvamuttiØÒha yaÙo labhasva jitvÀ ÙatrÓn bhuÛkØva rÀjyaÌ samÐddhammayaivaite nihatÀÕ pÓrvameva nimittamÀtraÌ bhava savyasÀcin.