In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Duryodhana fell right royally into Sahuni’s trap of making him play the gambling game, which is going to be completely against the “Raaja-Dharma” and is going to drastically bring down the reputation of the Hastinapura Kingdom. Sahuni was completely instrumental behind this, and we’ve seen in the previous episode, how Sahuni used Duryodhana to drive his agenda of destroying the entire Hastinapura kingdom for the injustice that his sister had to undergo. We’ve seen how Gaandhaari was forced to marry the blind King Dhridiraashtra and how Sahuni took a resolve to destroy the entire clan of Hastinapura. Of course, he did not adopt a direct warfare technique to drive his agenda, but took an indirect route for the same. The moment he saw Duryodhana bursting with anger and frustration against Yudishtra and Co., Sahuni saw this as the greatest opportunity to drive his agenda through Duryodhana’s anger.
This is where we’ve to be extremely careful – If someone is approaching us in an extremely friendly nature to lend a shoulder during times of our frustration, we’ve to be careful not to trust that person blindly. Of course, there might be good people who would genuinely try and help us out, but there might be others who would prey on our weakness! This is where we’ve to use our discrimination. We’ve to analyze why this person is coming close to us, and what he / she is going to gain out of this sudden bonhomie. Duryodhana failed to do this analysis and we’re going to witness from now, how he encountered a huge downfall gradually with severe repercussions for going behind the crooked Sahuni.
Moving on thus, we shall witness what Sahuni replied to Duryodhana’s question that we saw yesterday. Duryodhana had asked Sahuni to suggest an “illegal” way to counter Yudishtra’s phenomenal growth and to somehow bring him down. As Duryodhana asks thus, Sahuni does some thinking and slowly replies thus, “Oh Duryodhana! After a lot of thinking and analysis, I feel the following – The only way to counter Yudishtra is via the game of gambling! As far as I know, Yudishtra is extremely interested in playing the gambling game, but he doesn’t know how to play it smartly and win. Because of his keen interest, if we call Yudishtra for the game, he would never refuse. He would definitely come. Because he likes to play the game, he would definitely play it. However, because he doesn’t have that astuteness in him, he would not be able to win the game!” This is exactly what Sahuni says to Duryodhana, and this is the first time that Sahuni is bringing forward the proposal of the gambling game in front of Duryodhana!
Sahuni continues further thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Let him come for the game. You bet whatever you want to, and he would accept. I shall roll the dice on behalf of you and with this, I’m sure that you would win. Thus, with every move that you make, you can grab all his wealth and kingdom slowly, and at the end, he will be left behind as a popper! With this, you can claim victory without even an arrow fired!” As Duryodhana hears this absorbing accord of Sahuni, he is now feeling like jumping up and down with joy! The plan is made! Duryodhana feels satisfied as if he has heard a full accord of the Vedas and Upanishads from a reputed “Guru”! The words of Sahuni make Duryodhana extremely happy, and Sahuni sees the glow on Duryodhana’s face! It was as if Duryodhana has obtained the “Brahma-Gnyaana” (Supreme Knowledge of the Brahman)!
As Duryodhana was rejoicing, Sahuni was smart enough to put a rider here – He continued thus, “Oh Duryodhana! All the plans look very good – But on paper! The game of gambling is something that is against “Raaja-Dharma”. Because of this, your father might object! He might be a stumbling block, preventing us from executing our plan. Bhishmachaarya and Dhronachaarya too might object. How are you going to handle these people and convince them to accept this proposal of ours?” This made Duryodhana think! So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall wait till the next episode to understand how Duryodhana is going to handle these people, including King Dhridiraashtra and how he’s going to convince them for the game! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 