vyÄsÄdyair Ä«Å›varehÄjñaiḥ
kṛṣṇenÄdbhuta-karmaṇÄ
prabodhito 'pÄ«tihÄsair
nÄbudhyata Å›ucÄrpitaḥ
vyÄsa-Ädyaiḥ - by great sages headed by VyÄsa; Ä«Å›vara - the almighty God; Ä«hÄ - by the will of; jñaiḥ - by the learned; kṛṣṇena - by Kṛṣṇa Himself; adbhuta-karmaá¹‡Ä - by one who performs all superhuman work; prabodhitaḥ - being solaced; api - although; itihÄsaiḥ - by evidences from the histories; na - not; abudhyata - satisfied; Å›ucÄ arpitaḥ - distressed.
The pious King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira was mortified because of the mass massacre of human beings in the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, especially on his account. Duryodhana was there on the throne, and he was doing well in his administration, and in one sense there was no need of fighting. But on the principle of justice Yudhiá¹£á¹hira was to replace him. The whole clique of politics centered around this point, and all the kings and residents of the whole world became involved in this fight between the rival brothers. Lord Kṛṣṇa was also there on the side of King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira. It is said in the MahÄbhÄrata, Ä€di-parva (2.25) that 640,000,000 men were killed in the eighteen days of the Battle of Kuruká¹£etra, and some hundreds of thousands were missing. Practically this was the greatest battle in the world within five thousand years.
This mass killing simply to enthrone MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira was too mortifying, so he tried to be convinced with evidences from histories by great sages like VyÄsa and the Lord Himself that the fight was just because the cause was just. But MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira would not be satisfied, even though he was instructed by the greatest personalities of the time. Kṛṣṇa is designated herein as the performer of superhuman actions, but in this particular instance neither He nor VyÄsa could convince King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira. Does it mean that He failed to be a superhuman actor? No, certainly not. The interpretation is that the Lord as Ä«Å›vara, or the Supersoul in the hearts of both King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira and VyÄsa, performed still more superhuman action because the Lord desired it. As Supersoul of King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira, He did not allow the King to be convinced by the words of VyÄsa and others, including Himself, because He desired that the King hear instructions from the dying BhÄ«á¹£madeva, who was another great devotee of the Lord. The Lord wanted that at the last stage of his material existence the great warrior BhÄ«á¹£madeva see Him personally and see his beloved grandchildren, King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira, etc., now situated on the throne, and thus pass away very peacefully. BhÄ«á¹£madeva was not at all satisfied to fight against the PÄṇá¸avas, who were his beloved fatherless grandchildren. But the ká¹£atriyas are also very stern people, and therefore he was obliged to take the side of Duryodhana because he was maintained at the expense of Duryodhana. Besides this, the Lord also desired that King Yudhiá¹£á¹hira be pacified by the words of BhÄ«á¹£madeva so that the world could see that BhÄ«á¹£madeva excelled all in knowledge, including the Lord Himself.