In the previous episode, we had witnessed the tour group making its way to the “Gandha-Maadhana Parva” and as Yudishtra and Co. climb up the mountains, Draupati falls unconscious. However, when they come across a lotus flower with a thousand petals and with the strong beautiful odour that it is emitting, Draupati comes back to her senses. However, Draupati now has a desire – She wants to get several more of this flower and make a garland of it to wear upon her. As she makes this request to her husbands, Bheemasena comes forward and takes the initiative to go and search for these flowers and their whereabouts. Setting off thus, Bheemasena follows the direction from which the odour of this flower is strongly getting emitted. This is the northern direction and Bheemasena sets off! He goes on and on by means of walking, jumping, running, etc. and goes deep into the mountains! Even as he’s travelling a lot, he is unable to trace even a single flower of the same type!
As Bheemasena goes on and on further, he tries to look into different gardens, trees, plants, shrubs, etc. and is getting attacked by all the owners of those respective plants and gardens. He defeats anyone and everyone who comes in front of him and continues his search. Crossing all these hurdles, Bheemasena still goes further and further northwards and covers a great deal of distance! If he goes a few kilometres up northwards, he would reach Kuberapuri, which is the abode of “Kubera Bhagawan”, who is in-charge of all the wealth. It is actually from this Kuberapuri that this flower has come! There is a divine forest named “Sougandhika”. It is from this forest that the lotus flower had come. As Bheemasena is a “Manushya” (Normal Human Being), he is not supposed to enter into Kuberapuri. This place is only meant for celestial beings. We should remember that already Arjuna had transcended to the “Svarga Lokha” of Indra, and he he hasn’t come back yet. Now if Bheemasena also goes to the “Amaanushya Lokhas”, things are going to get difficult for the others in the world. Of course, Bheemasena is going there with only a good intention of finding out the lotus flower, and not to destroy anyone there. However, since a normal human being is not supposed to enter inside the Kuberapuri, he had to somehow be stopped! Thus, to stop Bheemasena from proceeding further, there is one person who is about to stop him. This person is none other than Hanuman himself!
We might wonder from where did Hanuman come here all of a sudden! Hanuman was living during Bhagawan Rama’s Dvaapara Yuga, didn’t he? But how is he still alive after thousands and thousands of years? This is where we’ve to understand that Hanuman is a “Chiranjeevi”, which means that he doesn’t have something called “death” in his life! He is continuously chanting the divine name of Bhagawan Rama and is still alive, even in the Kali Yuga as well! Of course, there are unconfirmed reports that Hanuman is still visible at some place in this world even today. Hence, Hanuman is someone who lives at all times. Moreover, we should also understand here that when the Kurukshetra war happens, Hanuman was present in the flag that was swaying over Arjuna’s chariot. Of course, we know that Bhagawan Krishna drove Arjuna’s chariot, but Hanuman was also ably assisting Bhagawan Krishna in all ways, because Hanuman knows that it is his same Bhagawan Rama who had incarnated as Bhagawan Krishna in the subsequent Yuga.
Coming back to this event thus, in order to prevent Bheemasena from proceeding further, Hanuman takes a huge form and lies down flat on the way! Upon coming closer, Bheemasena sees something huge in front of him as an obstacle for him to proceed further. Initially, Bheemasena did not know that it was Hanuman who was lying there. In fact, readers must also understand one more thing here – Both Hanuman and Bheemasena are “Vaayu-Putras” or sons of Vaayu Bhagawan! Thus, Bheemasena and Hanuman are brothers in a way! However, upon seeing a huge form in front of him, Bheemasena did not understand who this was! However, Hanuman understands that it was none other than his brother Bheemasena who had arrived there! 🙂 Hence, he stiffens himself and makes sure that Bheemasena doesn’t cross over him! Upon seeing this, Bheemasena is also thoughtful as to how to cross over and continue his journey! Now this is going to be a very interesting story from here on, and for today we shall understand up to this point. In the next episode, we’re going to see an interesting conversation between both of them and also a few attempts by Bheemasena to defeat Hanuman. But was Bheemasena successful in doing so? Let us wait till tomorrow to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 