In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna providing His divine “Anugraha” to Yudishtra and Draupati for walking the path of “Dharma” even during tough times. Even as there was no food in the kitchen, Yudishtra and Draupati were steadfast in offering a sumptuous meal to Sage Dhurvasa. As the kitchen was completely empty, Draupati helplessly called out for Bhagawan Krishna, who rushed to help her as He had done many times in the past. As Bhagawan Krishna consumed that one small food grain of rice sticking to the vessel, the hunger of Sage Dhurvasa and his 10,000-odd disciples flew away and they started feeling over-full! This made all of them rush away from Yudishtra’s place once and for all! However, Yudishtra is still waiting for Sage Dhurvasa’s arrival so that he can offer Sage Dhurvasa the meal that he had promised earlier. Since Sage Dhurvasa isn’t seen anywhere, Sahadeva goes in search of him, only to come back empty-handed! Sage Dhurvasa had left that place once and for all! Even then, Yudishtra waits for Sage Dhurvasa’s arrival as prescribed in the “Dharma-Shaastra” – There is a stipulated time up to which it is mandatory to wait for the guest to arrive, before serving food to him / her.
Upon seeing this, Bhagawan Krishna is mighty impressed! Even though Bhagawan Krishna is testing Yudishtra and tempting him to end his wait for Sage Dhurvasa, Yudishtra is not someone who will compromise on his “Dharma” and promise! He keeps waiting! This is the gross difference between Yudishtra and all of us! If we were in Yudishtra’s spot, what we would have done? If we hear that Sage Dhurvasa had left the place, immediately we would be waiting for a chance to consume our meal, isn’t it? 🙂 In the “Dharma-Shaastra”, it is clearly mentioned that if we’ve given assurance to someone for offering food, and if that person is not turning up, we should wait for a minimum of 20 minutes. If we’re offering “Naivedhya” to Bhagawan, we’ve to wait for atleast 20 minutes to see if anybody is visiting us. If that happens, we should offer the “Prasadham” to them first, before we consuming it. These are all some noble practices prescribed by our “Sanaathana Dharma” and as ardent followers, we should make sure that we implement these practices. Of course, with the passage of time and with a lot of commitments and lack of time, we might skip a few, but this should not become an excuse to escape from practising “Dharma”. Atleast on an “Ekadashi” day in every month we should try and fast and on the next “Dvaadashi” day we should offer something to someone as a “Dhaanam” before we consume food. If that is not possible, we can always offer the “Agatthi Keerai” (Spinach) to a cow on the “Dvaadashi” day before we consume food. These are all some best practices which we should adopt in our lives. As I’ve mentioned this earlier as well, feeding a cow gives us enormous benefits for our spiritual growth and we should follow it meticulously. Even if we’re unable to do it everyday, we should atleast follow these practices once or twice every month when the “Ekadashi” and “Dvaadashi” falls. These practices would definitely bring a lot of positivity and happiness in our lives and never will these practices fail us at any time. When we go through difficult times in our lives (Which all of us will go through at different times for sure), all these benefits of our spiritual practices that we perform will manifest and protect us. We might not be able to see tangible benefits of all these practices immediately and this might demotivate us from performing them. However, we should understand here that spiritual practices will always offer long-term benefits which are intangible in nature. We should always remember this point clearly as we move on from here.
So, the important learning from this event is how Yudishtra is following the path of “Dharma” meticulously and even if Sage Dhurvasa had left, he makes sure that he waits for him as prescribed by the “Dharma Shaastra”. So for today, let us understand this important point and let us also wait along with Yudishtra for the arrival of Sage Dhurvasa. Is he really going to come back? What is Bhagawan Krishna going to do next? Stay tuned for the next episode for updates! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 