In the previous episode, we had witnessed Dhaaruka, Bhagawan Krishna’s charioteer hurring towards Dwaaraka city to evacuate the remaining people who were still living there. Dhaaruka undertook this assignment on the urgent instructions given by Bhagawan Krishna and he hurries his way to Dwaaraka. He brings out all the women and children who were there and takes them all the way to Indraprastha wherein Arjuna and the Paandavas were ruling the kingdom. Dhaaruka explains the scenario to Arjuna and entrusts all the women and children under Arjuna’s protection. In due course, we’ve also witnessed that as Dhaaruka drives away all people from Dwaaraka city, the sea starts slowly engulfing the entire land. As we sometimes see in the movies, as Dhaaruka’s chariot moves swiftly across the streets of Dwaaraka, the ocean waters follow him. This happens until Dhaaruka moves out of the city. Once all of them leave, Dwaaraka was totally destroyed by the ocean waters, and Bhagawan Krishna knew that this would happen. This is why He made sure that all the people are moved away before this happens.
Moving on thus, as Dhaaruka is driving all of them towards Indraprastha, he traverses through the entire north-western stretches of the country, through the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. On the way, there were many thieves who blocked their way. As Arjuna was accompanying them through the way, he tried to attack the thieves with his “Gaandeepa” (Bow). However, he was so powerless suddenly that he wasn’t even able to lift his famed bow in his hands! Even if he had lifted his bow somehow, he wasn’t able to mount the arrow in it and shoot at the thieves! He felt so powerless that all the thieves were running away with all the ornaments, gold, etc. that these women were wearing. The entire wealth got stolen by, and Arjuna stood there helplessly! All of us know that Arjuna was once able to defeat the invincible Bhishmacharya and Guru Dhronacharya with his extraordinary skills of employing the bow and arrow, but now, this same Arjuna was not able to defeat these 10-11 thieves who were just like ants in front of a huge elephant!
After Arjuna was rendered powerless thus, he was so unhappy with what happened. In fact, more than being unhappy, he was ashamed that he couldn’t protect these women and children from afterall these petty thieves. As Arjuna is coming with his head down in shame and frustration, Sage Veda Vyaasa comes opposite to him. Sage Vyaasa asks Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! I’ve never seen you this dull! What happened? Why are you speechless and crying? Is everything fine with you?” As Sage Vyasa asks thus, Arjuna narrates what had just happened and how he was rendered so powerless all of a sudden! It is then, Sage Vyaasa reveals the truth – “Oh Arjuna! Didn’t you realize? Bhagawan Krishna has already left for Vaikunta! He is no more in this world! As He left, your powers and strength have also come down! It is only when Bhagawan was alive in this world, did you have all the strength and stamina. Now that He has left, all your powers have been taken away by Him! So, it is time for all of you, including Yudishtra to make your way towards the Svarga Lokha. Please search for the ways and means to do the same, as early as possible!”
Saying thus, Sage Vyaasa continues further, “Oh Arjuna! Please realize that with the descent of Bhagawan Krishna, the Dwaapara Yuga has come to an end. Now the treacherous Kali Yuga has began and this is also one reason why all your powers have been neutralized. All your strength was valid only during the previous Yuga, and not for this Kali Yuga. Here, people are going to be different and the nature of the world is going to undergo a phenomenal transformation – From bad to worse!”
Upon hearing this from Sage Vyaasa, Arjuna did not understand what was going on! He has never seen such a transition before in all his life. He asks Sage Vyaasa to explain in a bit more detail as to how different is this Kali Yuga going to be from the previous Dwaapara Yuga and the Tretha Yuga. It is only then, Sage Vyaasa is going to give a detailed description of how the Kali Yuga is going to be – This is an extremely important section of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana and all of us can relate to many instances that are happening in the today’s scenario as well. It is quite amazing to see that our Maharishis have had such a long foresight that they’ve exactly predicted how this entire Kali Yuga would pan out to be! Of course, we are still at the early stages of the Kali Yuga and there’s a lot more to come!
So for today, let us stop at this point and let us wait till the next episode to have the detailed accord of how this Kali Yuga is going to be! Stay tuned for this interesting episode! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 