A small story from mahabharat!
Once, it so happened that Lord Krishna's charioteer, Daruka waited outside with the chariot ready.
Lord Krishna was taking an unusual amount of time to get ready that day and the charioteer became impatient. So, out of curiosity, he went inside to find out the cause of the delay and saw Lord Krishna standing in front of the mirror admiring himself & trying out different sets of crowns & jewellery.
He politely asked, “My dear Lord, tell me, why are you dressing up so much today. Where are we going?”
Lord Krishna said, “I am going to meet Duryodhana.”
Daruka was incredulous & said, “You are dressing up so much to meet Duryodhana?”
Lord Krishna smiled and said, “He cannot see my inside, he can only appreciate my outside. So how I am dressed will impress him".
Your appearance strongly influences other people's perception of your financial success, authority, trustworthiness, intelligence.
There's more truth in a ripple of water than in a clear day.
People like Duryodhan will appreciate you better, without knowing why, because people always react well to a person they like the looks of.
Krishna finally draped himself in a golden yellow silk garment and wore gold and pearl ornaments. Even the sun rose high from the ground to witness the exquisite beauty of charming Krishna.
But the charioteer had another question. He said, “You are going to Duryodhana? You should not go, he should come to you. This I cannot accept.” He continued to say, “ Look at your status and look at him! You are the Lord of the universe, omnipresent, omniscient! You should not go, let him come.”
Krishna turned back, looked at Daruka, smiled, and said,
“Darkness does not come to light, light has to go to darkness."
”The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it."
As lord Krishna rode into the streets of Hastinapur, with Vidura by his side and Krishna’s army led by Kritavarman and King Satyaki who followed Krishna’s chariot, the people showered him with flower petals and sang his praise.
Bhishma and Dronacharya gave a warm welcome to Krishna at the Palace entrance. Krishna descended from his chariot, greeted Pithamaha and Dronacharya and walked along with them to the court, followed by Vidhura, Kritavarman and Satyaki.
Duryodhana also offered Krishna a royal welcome & asked him to stay in the palace as his royal guest. But Krishna refused his invitation by saying “I have come as a messenger of peace from the Pandavas. I will only eat with Kauravas once negotiations are completed”
Lord Krishna tried to persuade Duryodhana to avoid war. Even though he knew that the war between Kauravas and Pandavas had to happen in order to establish the Dharma in the world, he tried to avert the Kurukshetra war.
But Duryodhan was a man who refused to see the light of Lord Krishna's divine presence & decided to remain in the darkness even by the side of light!
Turnings towards Krishna, he said – “O Krishna, listen to me. As a Kshatriya, it’s my duty to face the war. Even if we all die in the war, we will reach heaven for fighting bravely. Later on, after the war was over, when Dhritarashtra asked Yudhishthira about the total casualties in the battle of Mahabharata, Yudhishthira replied 1 billion, 660 million and 20,000 men have been slain.
The soil present in Kurukshetra is still red in colour. It is said that the colour is because of the blood of the soldiers. During later excavations, many iron weapons were found.
