In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vidura and Sanjaya lambasting King Dhritarashtra over his idea of gifting Bhagawan Krishna with an enormous number of items as He arrives. The agenda behind King Dhritarashtra’s idea of gifting Bhagawan Krishna with expensive items is not really to welcome Him with a devotional heart, but to somehow pull Bhagawan Krishna towards Duryodhana’s side with a wicked intention. This agenda is clearly understood by both Sanjaya and Vidura, who then explain what is real “Bhakti” to King Dhritarashtra. When we welcome Bhagawan into our homes too, this is applicable. Now that we’re in the process of celebrating Krishna Janmashtami all over our Bhaarata Desham, this is something that all of us should understand – Bhagawan Krishna’s heart melts for our tears that flow from our eyes as we touch His lotus feet with complete surrender, and not with the gifts that we give him with a business-like mind! This is exactly what we should understand as ardent followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”.
As King Dhritarashtra listens to all these words of wisdom from Vidura and Sanjaya, he once again doesn’t want to relent so easily. King Dhritarashtra replies back thus, “Oh Vidura! I have another idea – Let us not give all these jewels, ornaments, etc. to Bhagawan Krishna. Let me give around 50 villages from Hastinapura to Bhagawan Krishna, and with this, He would be satisfied, won’t He? Ultimately, I want to show to Bhagawan Krishna that I’m ready to give Him anything so that my son Duryodhana is safe and secure!” As King Dhritarashtra says thus, Vidura doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry! He replies back slowly thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! I really came to know today that not only are your external eyes are blind, but your inner eyes within your heart and conscience are also blind! Now what did you say? You are willing to give 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna, aren’t you? If you give just 5 villages to Yudishtra and the Paandavas, Bhagawan Krishna is never even going to talk about war and loss of lives! You are clearly deviating from the core problem that is in hand, and are willing to satisfy someone with a bribe! Are you understanding your main issue now? You are not ready to treat Yudishtra as your own son, in an equal stature as you treat Duryodhana, and this is where all the problems start! You are unwilling to address this problem, and instead, you are only trying to complicate the issue further and further! Oh King Dhritarashtra! What are you going to achieve by giving 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna? I’m reiterating my point again and again – Bhagawan Krishna is not someone who gets carried away by material pleasures of this world. All He needs is your ardent Bhakti and Sharanagati. He wants you and your son Duryodhana to follow the path of “Dharma”. If you do this simple thing, you don’t need to fear anything in life! However, you’re unwilling to do this!”
Now this is the problem not only with King Dhritarashtra, but also with all of us today! When we confront a problem in our life, we’re only willing to take “shortcuts” to success, and are not prepared to slog and face the problem head-on! This is exactly what King Dhritarashtra is also doing here! Instead of addressing the problem with Yudishtra straightaway by giving just 5 villages and settling the issue once and for all, he is thinking of bribing Bhagawan Krishna with 50 villages! While the requirement to resolve the problem permanently is just 5 villages, King Dhritarashtra is ready to bribe 50 of them! This is how bribery dances to the tunes of people and is becoming the order of the day in the Kali Yuga. Bhagawan is illustrating all these kinds of instances to us to make us understand that the world is going to be very tough in this Kali Yuga and as ardent “Bhaktas” and followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, we should be very careful not to fall into such traps! If we do so, our focus from “Dharma” would deviate and we would fall off track from obtaining Bhagawan’s divine “Anugraha”!
So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 