In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dhridiraashtra giving instructions to Vidura to call Yudishtra and Co. for playing the game of gambling (Dyutham) versus Duryodhana and Sahuni. As Vidura heard these orders from King Dhridiraashtra, he was confused upon two accounts – Firstly, this was one of the first instances wherein King Dhridiraashtra made a decision on his own, without even consulting Vidura once. Secondly, since “Dyutham” is something that is against “Raaja-Dharma”, Vidura was sure that King Dhridiraashtra wouldn’t have taken this decision on his own. Vidura smelt some conspiracy that was going on behind King Dhridiraashtra, which, unfortunately he’s failing to understand. On the pretext of avoiding a major disaster from happening, Vidura lets out a warning to King Dhridiraaashtra that this “Dyutham” game is not to be played amidst the centre of courtrooms of kings, and it is something that brings down the name and fame of kings. However, by the time Vidura came and gave his advice, things were too late! King Dhridiraashtra had already made up his mind to go ahead with the game.
In return, King Dhridiraashtra replied angrily to Vidura by saying that he always supports the Paandava brothers and is only concerned about their cause. King Dhridiraashtra also alleged that Vidura never supported the cause of his son Duryodhana at any point in time. However, as we’ve witnessed yesterday, the case was actually the opposite – Vidura was always concerned about the welfare of Duryodhana and tried his best to correct him from the path of “Adharma” to “Dharma”. However, things never worked in Vidura’s way until the last moment. This is where we’ve to learn an important lesson – If “Dharmatmas” say something, we’ve to just close our mouths and follow whatever they say. This is because, we might not know where there would be problems and backfiring happening. Due to our state of living and all the luxuries that we experience in life, we might get carried away by all of them and would not be able to understand where we might have a downfall. Hence, it is always better to listen to people who are suffering on the ground and understand what is going on. This is where we always keep saying that we’ve to have ourselves “grounded” at all times. Only if we’re grounded, we would understand what is going on around us and how we should protect ourselves. This is exactly where King Dhridiraashtra went wrong. Every step that they took, was leading them towards a huge disaster. However, when Vidura highlighted them and advised them to take a step back, the father-son duo failed to understand Vidura’s words of wisdom.
Thus, readers must understand one important thing here – It is not wrong that we make mistakes in life. All of us make mistakes at various fronts and at various instances. However, if some experienced people show us the right path, we should have that maturity to accept it and move on as per their advice, rather than cross-questioning them and being arrogant. If we do this, there is always a chance for all of us to correct our mistakes and perfect ourselves, which is what Bhagawan expects us to do. The opportunity to correct ourselves might come from various fronts. Bhagawan wouldn’t come in person to correct us everytime. He would send the right people at the right time, or would create the right opportunities at the right time so that we correct our path. If we fail to grab these opportunities, whose fault is it at the end of the day? In the case of Duryodhana too, he had ample opportunities to resurrect his ways – He had Vidura by the side of him who lent able words of wisdom at every instance. Duryodhana discarded Vidura completely! Moreover, Duryodhana had able brothers in the form of Yudishtra and Co. who were genuinely concerned about his welfare, even though Duryodhana thought otherwise. In other words, Yudishtra and the Paandavas were affectionate and treated Duryodhana as their own brother, however, Duryodhana was only jealous and arrogant about Yudishtra’s rise. Over and above, Bhagawan Krishna Himself was there amidst all these people isn’t it? Who else would we require other than Bhagawan? Arjuna made full use of Bhagawan Krishna’s wisdom and divinity to progress in life, whereas, Duryodhana never even considered Bhagawan Krishna as an entity in his family. He only saw Bhagawan Krishna in an opportunistic way to win wars and to abduct all his army.
Hence, opportunities are plenty for all of us to mend our ways, however, the real question here is whether we’re utilising the opportunities in the genuine way or not. This is the secret behind “Dharma”, which many of us fail to understand throughout our lives. Thus, Vidura is advising King Dhridiraashtra not to go ahead with the “Dyutham” game as it can bring about great disasters moving forward. However, King Dhridiraashtra was firm in his decision. He replies to Vidura thus, “Oh Vidura! Let anything happen at Hastinapura, irrespective of success or disaster! I’m not bothered! I feel that this is the only way through which my son Duryodhana can attain success and peace of mind. Hence, if Duryodhana is feeling happy about it, let it happen. I wouldn’t stand in between. Hence, Vidura! Please go and execute the orders that I’ve issued – Please go to Indraprastha and invite the Paandavas to come to Hastinapura for the game!”
Pained deeply at heart, Vidura concludes that this is the decisive step towards disaster and it is too late for him to advise King Dhridiraashtra anymore! Vidura decides to go with the flow and starts from Hastinapura to Indraprastha. So for today, let us understand until this point and in the next episode we shall continue this discussion forward! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 