Perception counts

It is true that perception counts and our perceptions are based on our past experiences and what we learn from them. Perceptions shape our basic nature, the choices we make, and the lives we lead. Before the war in the Mahabharat during negotiations for peace, Krishna as a last resort had revealed his viraat swaroop or cosmic form to both Dhritrashtra and Duryodhan in order to try and impress them enough to make them change their minds. He hoped that this darshan might make them take his advice more seriously.

Even in the rare moment of his momentary sight, Dhritrashtra failed to see Krishna’s miraculous capabilities. He expressed helplessness and chose to embrace his his blind love for his son over-ruling all rationality.

Duryodhan conveniently saw it as a magical act of a mayavi – a trick to perhaps scare, deceive or defeat the enemy before a war. Both father and son refused to view things from the right perspective as they were blinded by their greed for power. They wrongly perceived themselves as victims of destiny.

Later during the discourse of the Bhagwad Gita on the battlefield, Arjun had to be convinced to take up arms and fight against his hostile family in spite of having many reasons to justify his need to do so.

The Kauravas had tried to cause harm and kill him and his brothers on several occasions since their childhood. They had humiliated the Pandavas during their games of dice and even publicly attempted to disrobe their wife Draupadi. Duryodhan had refused to return their kingdom to them as promised, even after they had spent the conditional exile of 13 years incognito. When reminding him of all these incidents failed to prepare Arjun to fight against his family, Krishna showed him his true form and managed to change his perspective.

We have here the same situation and two entirely different perspectives to it; one party refusing to see the need for peace because of their greed and another who does not want war with those who are family. And the same act of Krishna, that of showing his viraat swaroop is unable to make the former see sense and the gravity of the situation; while it succeeds in convincing the latter to go against his own instincts and sensibilities to choose the path of dharma. It is not what we look at that matters; it is what and how we see it.