In the previous episode, we had witnessed a turning point wherein King Dhridiraashtra is slowly getting carried away by the “Putra-Vaatsalya”, thanks to Duryodhana’s emotional “victim card”! Duryodhana was dead against King Dhridiraashtra consulting with Vidura to give the “go-ahead” for the gambling game to take place. He shed tears and gave an emotionally damaging statement that King Dhridiraashtra and Vidura would be happy upon seeing Duryodhana dying in the hands of Yudishtra and Co. very soon! This changed King Dhridiraashtra completely and forever! Thus, from this day onwards, whatever decisions King Dhridiraashtra made were not according to the neutral “Raaja-Dharma”, but always in favour of his son Duryodhana. He still had the option of stopping the gambling game from happening, but he did not exercise his assertion. He knew that this gambing game was going to lead to a disaster, but his “Putra-Vatsalya” blinded him completely. Thus, Vidura was called and King Dhridiraashtra dictated the order to call Yudishtra for the gambling game at Hastinapura.
As Vidura heard this, he was confused! Many questions were running in his mind. Composing himself thus, Vidura asked King Dhridiraashtra: “Oh King! What is the sudden need for such a game to take place? Isn’t gambling an act against “Raaja-Dharma”? Why should we go for this? Somehow my intuition says that if we go ahead with this plan, it is going to lead us to a great disaster! Kindly let us stop this at the budding stage itself. Someone is fuelling this from behind and I think you’re being misled completely!” As Vidura opines thus, King Dhridiraashtra got angry! Duryodhana’s words of emotional blackmail were “working wonders” here! King Dhridiraashtra replies thus, “Oh Vidura! Why are you always talking against my son’s interests? What is your problem? You would never like it if my son Duryodhana is happy, isn’t it?” As King Dhridiraashtra replies thus, Vidura is pained at heart very deeply! He replies again to King Dhridiraashtra: “Oh Great King! You’re mistaking my intent time and again – I’m only thinking of Duryodhana’s welfare! You’re thinking that I’m always favouring the Paandavas. No! It’s not the case! Yudishtra has “Dharma” by his side, and his “Dharma” would save him from all obstacles. But Duryodhana is not walking the path of “Dharma” and this is my biggest concern at the moment! I’m trying to save your son Duryodhana from destruction! Please understand this! Moreover, by supporting your son Duryodhana for the path of “Adharma” that he is taking, a huge sharp knife is hanging close to your head! I only want to remove that knife and make sure that it doesn’t hurt you!”
We should understand one thing very clearly here – At the outset, it might sound as if Vidura is talking in favor of the Paandavas everytime. But that is not correct. Vidura is only trying to resurrect the Kauravas and King Dhridiraashtra from the path of “Adharma” to the path of “Dharma”. To be very upfront, Vidura is actually talking in favor of Duryodhana and Co. and not in favor of Yudishtra. His only concern is that, in the long-term, Duryodhana should succeed. His only worry was that Duryodhana was trying to take short-cuts to succeed, which is extremely dangerous and can be disastrous for his future. However, none of them, including King Dhridiraashtra and Duryodhana themselves understood this good intent of Vidura! Everytime when Vidura was sharing his opinion, both of them took it in a way that he was favouring the Paandavas, which was the biggest mistake they made! As we know, Vidura is an epitome of “Dharma” and he does not know how to speak “sugary language”. He is very straightforward and blunt in his words and opinions, which irked King Dhridiraashtra and Duryodhana everytime! This is not the first time that these two are getting irritated. This trend is going to continue till the very end!
So for today, let us understand Vidura’s opinion and intent in detail. Now the ball is in King Dhridiraashtra’s court – Should he pay heed to Vidura’s words or should he go ahead with Duryodhana’s plan? What is King Dhridiraashtra’s final decision? Let’s wait eagerly till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 