Well knit Team...........

aparyāptaḿ tad asmākaḿ
balaḿ bhīṣmābhirakṣitam
paryāptaḿ tv idam eteṣāḿ
balaḿ bhīmābhirakṣitam

-         slogan 10, Chap 1 – Bhagavad Gita

word by word translation:

aparyāptam — immeasurable; tat — that; asmākam — of ours; balam — strength; bhīṣma — by Grandfather Bhīṣma; abhirakṣitam — perfectly protected; paryāptam — limited; tu — but; idam — all this; eteṣām — of the Pāṇḍavas; balam — strength; bhīma — by Bhīma; abhirakṣitam — carefully protected.

That’s Duryodhana brattling about the size of his army vis a vis Pandava’s.

Mere size, or magnitude of Gauvrava’s army by itself wasn’t its clinching factor despite its being led by none other than the grandsire Bhisma himself. What lacks is the cohesiveness, co-ordination and team spirit.

Whereas the Pandava’s, though limited in its size, was well focused, trim with complete team spirit.

May we take a detour to listen to a story?

An erudite Swamiji was invited to deliver spiritual discourse in a village temple.   Swamiji, preparing well left for the village to deliver the lecture.  His was night journey by a train to reach the village on the appointed day to deliver the lecture.

The mode of transportation between station and guest house those days was by a cart ride drawn by a horse.  The cart wala reached the station in time to receive Swamiji.

Suddenly there was heavy downpour and the rain did not abate during whole of the day.  No body except the cart wala  turned up to listen to Swamiji.  The organizers had no other go but to cancel the program.  Disappointed over the turn of the events, Swamiji requested the Cart wala to take him back to station so that he can catch the return train and leave for his town.

Cart wala said, “Swamiji I rear about 30 horses.  If for some reason or other one single horse is not able to set out, I make sure that I leave enough fodder for that horse. And then only I leave for my work.”

Taken aback to hear it from this poor Cart wala, Swami said, “Ok I will deliver my lecture, even if you only are the only one single member of the audience present here.’

Then Swamiji went about talking for about 45 minutes non-stop.  His talk traversed over disciplines like philosophy, astronomy, mantra, tantra et al.

After completing the lecture, Swamiji looked up the cart wala and asked, “How was my lecture?”

The Cart wala said, “Swamji, I don’t understand anything.  I know only one thing.  When I leave that single horse not able to set out, I just leave only enough and sufficient fodder for that single horse.  I don’t give away more than what that single horse could digest.”

No matter how big a size of an army, howsoever a great Grandsire to lead it, as long as it fails cohesiveness and lacks the team spirit and focus, it will not serve its purpose.