We’re amidst an important turn of events wherein the gambling game (Dyutam) is gaining momentum and heat. It is slowly starting to favour Duryodhana and Co. – Courtesy, Sahuni’s vicious methodology of rolling the dice. Yudishtra is on a continuous losing streak as he has now lost his entire kingdom of Indraprastha, along with his servants, his ministers, key administrators, elephants, horses, army cavalry, gold and other important treasury. Now he is left with nothing more with regards to his kingdom and wealth to stake and play. As Duryodhana is pressurising Yudishtra and luring him to continue playing further, Yudishtra looks around himself, only to find his four brothers standing! As he was about to stake his four brothers and play the game further, Vidura intervenes and thunders amidst the entire courtroom with his emotional appeal! He explains how this “Dyutham” game has already started to push Hastinapura and Duryodhana into a huge disaster and even now it is not too late – If this game is stopped right away, many lives could be saved and the Hastinapura kingdom wouldn’t lose its prosperity and good leadership. He urges King Dhridiraashtra to act immediately and put an end to this nonsense that is taking place.
From Vidura’s accord, what we’ve to understand is that, if “Dharma” is under a huge threat, we’ve to put “Dharma” first in our priority list, rather than people. This is where King Dhridiraashtra is making a mistake – He’s putting his son on top priority and doesn’t care about the fact that “Dharma” is compromised. However, Vidura is putting his best foot forward to make King Dhridiraashtra understand this – At a time when other senior people in the courtroom like Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya and Sage Kripachaarya chose to remain silent, even though they knew that Duryodhana is walking the path of disaster! Thus, Vidura is the only man with enormous courage to stand up and talk for “Dharma”. He now tries to make King Dhridiraashtra understand this fact in a different way. He now invokes the “Atman” and the “Deham” concepts to explain his point.
Vidura continues thus, “Oh King Dhridiraashtra! Please look at this – There is a clear difference between the “Atman” and the “Deham” isn’t it? The “Atman” is a permanent entity and the “Deham” is a temporary entity and is subject to destruction in the near future! Your son is going behind money, wealth, property, luxuries, kingdom, etc. which are all subject to destruction at some day or the other. All these things pertain to the “Deha-Soukhyam”. Whereas, he is missing the “Atma-Soukhyam” by going behind the useless “Deha-Soukhyam”. Even now it is not too late. Please mend your son’s ways and turn his focus towards the “Atma-Soukhyam” which is the permanent entity and which ultimately takes us to “Moksha”. Going behind “Deha-Soukhyam” will only induce you to commit more and more sinful activities, which would ultimately take us towards the “Naraka-Lokha”! Oh King Dhridiraashra! While you’re able to see the victory of Duryodhana at this moment with regards to the kingdom, luxuries, etc., I’m seeing the long-term downfall of Duryodhana because he’s winning this illegal game today! You’re not able to differentiate between “Dharma” and “Adharma” at this stage, because you’re blinded by your son’s temporary victory! Please understand – The path of “Dharma” is treacherous and ambiguous. It might be difficult to traverse initially. But in the long term, “Dharma” would give you the ultimate happiness! Whereas, the path of “Adharma” might be very lucrative in the beginning, but ultimately it would lead you into a huge disaster! Hence, King Dhridiraashtra! Please wake up from your slumber and stop this from happening further!”
In fact, this is a big problem with “Dharma” – It will always be hidden and would seem to be very difficult to follow. This is Bhagawan’s trick for all of us. He would always ensure that “Dharma” is hidden inside like a treasure! It is we who have to take the proactive step forward to realize this, and explore the path of “Dharma” with our sense of “Discrimination”. Of course, Bhagawan has given us the path of “Dharma” (Hidden), but He has also gifted us with a sensible mind (Sixth sense) with which we can find out the path. Thus, whose responsibility is it to find out the right path and follow it? The onus is ours, isn’t it? This is exactly what Vidura is trying to explain here – Following the path of “Dharma” might be difficult and the happiness might be hidden. However, if we meticulously take efforts and try to follow it, we would definitely obtain unending happiness and satisfaction!
Here, we might ask a question – Why is Bhagawan Krishna not intervening at this crucial juncture and talking to King Dhridiraashtra and Duryodhana? Bhagawan could have directly done the talking and perhaps both of them might have listened to Bhagawan’s words, isn’t it? If we ask this question to Bhagawan Krishna, what would be His reply? He would immediately tell us thus: “Oh! This is why I had sent Vidura to talk on behalf of me! Vidura is an embodiment of “Dharma” and a “Mahatma”, isn’t it? Everytime, it is not necessary for me to come and intervene! At appropriate times, I would send key people (Mahatmas) to try and advise you in the right way! This is where I had sent Vidura! Sadly, nobody listened to Vidura’s words, and it is whose problem?”
Thus, the important point that all of us should understand from today’s accord is that, we should always listen to and obey the words of “Mahatmas” and “Sadhgurus”, because they are the direct messengers of Bhagawan. In other words, Bhagawan has sent them to us, so that we would get an opportunity to understand “Dharma”. It is not necessary that Bhagawan would always keep coming and going from Vaikunta every now and then. If He does so, nobody would give any sort of respect to Him, isn’t it? Only if He incarnates rarely once in a Yuga, we would also give some sort of a respect to Bhagawan! 🙂 However, just because Bhagawan doesn’t incarnate often, does that mean that “Dharma” would come to a standstill? Not at all! Thus, in order to ensure that “Dharma” is alive and has to be propagated, Bhagawan sends some important “Gurus” and “Mahatmas” time and again, so that ordinary people like us are enlightened with the significance of “Dharma” and we try and make atleast some baby steps to follow it. So for today, let us understand the importance of what Vidura is saying here, and in the next episode, we shall witness whether King Dhridiraashtra and Duryodhana are going to accept Vidura’s words and stop the game at this point! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 