Krishna's Mission

Despite all the vast preparations for war, Krishna resolved to make one last solemn attempt to prevent the catastrophe that would consume the whole warrior race, and he went himself to Hastināpura as an envoy of peace. The citizens thronged the streets to see the Lord; and Duryodhana, hoping to buy his favour, prepared lavish gifts and a grand feast. But Krishna passed by Duryodhana's palace and chose instead to lodge in the humble house of Vidura, and spent the night in quiet talk and in comforting Kuntī, who wept over the coming tragedy.

The next day Krishna entered the royal court, and declined Duryodhana's feast, saying famously that an envoy eats only after his mission is accomplished. And addressing the blind king Dhritarāshtra, he made a moving plea for peace, asking now not for half the kingdom, but for only five villages, one for each of the five brothers, that the whole quarrel might be settled honourably and the war averted. And Dhritarāshtra agreed with the plea, but confessed his utter helplessness over his own sons.

Then Krishna turned to Duryodhana and urged him to cast off his envy and save his race from destruction; and Bhīshma and Droṇa and Vidura all joined in pressing him to yield. But Duryodhana, furious at being rebuked before the court, declared that the Pāṇḍavas had lost their kingdom fairly at play and that he would never yield to threats, that he would not give them even so much land as could be balanced on the point of a needle.

And more than refuse, Duryodhana and his associates plotted to seize Krishna himself and bind him prisoner. And Krishna, knowing their plan, laughed, and revealed in that hall his cosmic form, the Vishvarūpa, his single body containing the whole universe, all the worlds and all beings within him, a vision of overwhelming divinity.

And the blind Dhritarāshtra, by the Lord's grace, was given sight for a moment to behold it; and having seen the Supreme thus, he begged to be made blind again, for he wished never after to look upon any lesser, worldly thing. And Krishna withdrew the vision and departed from the court, his mission of peace refused; and with its failure, the great war became a certainty that nothing could now prevent.