In the previous episode, we had concluded the detailed accord of Sage Markandeya to Yudishtra as part of the “Rama-Upaakhyana Parva” wherein he narrates the entire Ramayana story and highlights how much of suffering Mother Sita had to endure during her “Vana-Vaasa” time with Bhagawan Rama. Even though the onus was on Bhagawan Rama for the fourteen-year-exile, Mother Sita took it upon herself to cooperate with Bhagawan Rama, only to face a disaster for herself! Stressing upon this point, Sage Markandeya asks a simple question to Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Do you think Draupati had even undergone a miniscule amount of suffering as compared to what Mother Sita had to endure? Mother Sita, even though being an incarnation of Goddess Mahalakshmi had to endure these things. Hence, suffering can come to anybody at any point in time and please move on with things, rather than brooding too much over them!”
Moving on further from here, we now get into the next Parva called “Pathivrata-Maahaatmiya Parva”, wherein there is a reference to a woman by name “Savitri”. Many of us might have heard of “Satyavaan & Savitri” and how Savitri was an epitome of the “Pathivrata Dharma”, just like how Mother Sita was. Of course, this “Charitra” might be known to everyone and I’m not going into much of detail into it at this point. However, the important point that Sage Markandeya drives home to Yudishtra is this – “Oh Yudishtra! You’re talking of how Draupati is suffering because of you, aren’t you? Now look at how Savitri literally waged a war to bring her husband back to life from the cusp of death! Here, Draupati is only worrying about herself and she expects all of them around her to feel pity for her! However, Savitri was not like that. She endured suffering for her husband, just like how Mother Sita did for Bhagawan Rama. These women were selfless in their service to their husbands!”
Narrating all these events, Sage Markandeya establishes the fact that Draupati has not really endured any big difficulty at all till now! If we’re part of the “Samsaara”, we’re bound to endure certain suffering from time to time. We should not worry about those sufferings and should keep moving on with life, rather than brooding over them every passing day. This is the maturity that all of us should inculcate within ourselves. Thus, the lesson that we learn from the “Rama-Upaakhyaana Parva” and this “Pathivrata-Maahaatmya Parva” is that, no matter how much suffering we’ve to endure, we should never panic. Our faith towards Bhagawan should only increase by all these, and we should be steadfast towards our spiritual path. Ultimately, we should never compromise on this, just because we’re enduring some suffering. Many of us get into this trap – Just because we’re suffering, can we get into a mode wherein we would do something that is a blatant “Adharma” and blame it on what we’re undergoing right now? This is absolutely wrong and we shouldn’t be doing such things! No matter whatever we’ve to undergo and endure, we’ve to always stick by our “Dharma” and should never deviate from it. Of course, saying this is very easy and implementation is tough, but this should not be an excuse for us to be complacent, isn’t it? Hence, for today, let us understand these points clearly and let us ensure that we follow the path of “Dharma” no matter whatever happens around us! We shall wait till the next episode to continue with the next “Parva” in the Mahabharata text! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 