In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vidura’s return to Hastinapura and the subsequent storm that rakes up amongst the Duryodhana camp! Duryodhana fumes with anger and frustration yet again, who, till that point in time, was extremely relieved with Vidura’s exit from Hastinapura. Duryodhana alerts Duchaasana, Sahuni and the others and asks them to be very watchful. He is wary that Yudishtra and Co. might launch some similar operation to reclaim Indraprastha and even capture Hastinapura as well. Duryodhana is also wary that his father would yet again fall into Vidura’s trap of “Dharma”, and that, Vidura would completely “misguide” and “brainwash” his father completely to listen only to his words! With this, the insecurity feeling that Duryodhana had within him also sees a meteoric rise yet again. With all these things lingering in his mind, Duryodhana bursts out in front of Sahuni and the others and gives a “new definition” to “Dharma”. According to Duryodhana, “Dharma” is something that can be equated directly to “Victory” (Jayam), through any means possible! Even if it warrants to take the illegitimate path to win over someone, one should go ahead and do it – This is Duryodhana’s philosophy. Also, this is something that all of us have to introspect within ourselves as well in the present day context.
This is where we should think for a moment – Is the world existing with our will and wish, or is it existing according to Bhagawan’s will and wish? Of course, all of us are going to accept the fact that Bhagawan is the one who controls the entire world and all its actions. None of us are going to deny this fact. However, the irony here is that, even with this basic understanding, we still keep performing all our actions in such a way that we take credit for whatever is happening. Little do we remember in the quick of our actions that Bhagawan is the one who is guiding us at every moment. If Bhagawan thinks for a moment that the entire world should come to a standstill, it can happen within seconds isn’t it? An earthquake or a tsunami from nowhere can happen within a jiffy and lakhs of people can die within a second! Till the previous moment, we might have been thinking that we’re the kings and queens of the entire world with all our wealth and luxuries. But within the next five to ten minutes, we might just become paupers and all our wealth and luxuries would be destroyed / washed away right in front of our eyes! We’ve witnessed this many times in many places around the world, including in our own Bhaarata Desha, isn’t it?
Hence, the point here is that, we should always have the thought that Bhagawan is with us everytime in whatever we do. We should give that respect to Him and if we do that, we would automatically start following the legitimate path of “Dharma”. Of course we can compete with each other in this world, but we should never go to the extent of dumping others to score brownie points. We should always have this thought that our every action is being watched by Bhagawan and it would bounce on us again at any point in time. This is exactly what Duryodhana failed to understand here – He is under the impression that “Dharma” is something that is a mere philosophy and nothing else! He wants victory in whatever he does – No matter how he achieves his victory. Thus in this way, Duryodhana now goes into his next plot – To kill the Paandava brothers in the forest once and for all, so that Vidura’s mouth can be shut once and forever!
So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall witness how Duryodhana is going to strategise this intent. Of course, Sahuni and Karna had their say in this. What did they say? How did that impact Duryodhana? An interesting accor awaits us tomorrow! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 