In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya’s concluding accord on the four different “Yugas” and how “Dharma” has been followed in each of these. Of course, as Sanjaya is talking this, it is the “Dvaapara Yuga” which is in place, and shortly after that, the “Kali Yuga” is going to commence. So, Sanjaya explains how “Dharma” diminished grossly during the “Dvaapara Yuga” and how it is going to diminish even further in the upcoming “Kali Yuga”. We ourselves are the best judges to ascertain how “Dharma” is deteriorating in the current “Kali Yuga”, and we do not require a Sanjaya to explain this any further! 🙂 Moving on thus, we now enter into the next “Upa-Parva” under the main “Bhishma Parva”, which is nothing but the “Bhoomi Parva”. Here, King Dhritarashtra is asking specific details about our Mother Earth, it’s size, composition, etc. for which, Sanjaya is going to give a very important reply, but a short one here. We shall now commence Sanjaya’s answer in this episode.
As King Dhritarashtra asks this question, Sanjaya replies thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! As I had mentioned earlier, the world has several “Lokhas” above and below it. However, the one on which we are living is called as the “Jambu-Dveepam”. Apart from this “Jambu Dveepam”, there are other “Dveepams” as well, such as “Shaaka Dveepam”, “Kusha Dveepam”, “Shaalmali Dveepam”, “Plaksha Dveepam” and “Krauncha Dveepam”. This “Jambu Dveepam” upon which we are residing is almost 1 Lakh “Yojanas” big in size. Surrounding this massive “Jambu Dveepam”, is the ocean of water, which is another 1 Lakh Yojanas in size. Similarly, the other “Dveepams” are exponentially larger than this “Jambu Dveepam” and are surrounded by various kinds of oceans such as milk, curd, ghee, alcohol and pure water. Thus, in the middle of everything, we are located inside this “Jambu Dveepam”. Inside this “Jamba Dveepam” is the Bhaarata-Varsham and inside this Bhaarata-Varsham is the “Bharata-Kandam”. We are currently living in this “Bharata-Kandam”, which is what we term as the land of “Sanaatana Dharma”. Thus, for each of these “Dveepams” that we discussed earlier, there are different planets associated with each of them and their sources of food, water, etc. are from the oceans that surround these “Dveepams”!”
As Sanjaya gives a detailed explanation of this sorts, King Dhritarashtra listens to it very carefully. Of course, I’ve not covered all the details of what Sanjaya has mentioned, but we’ve kept it to a brief. For more details, we may have a separate discussion on this topic at a later stage, because it is a very exhaustive one for discussion. If we go into that, we might lose the continuity of the Mahabharata story and the leadership / management part of it, and hence, I’m reserving these geological details for another day. Now as we move further, we enter into the most important “Upa-Parva” of this “Bhishma Parva” – Perhaps one of the key “Upa-Parvas” in the entire Mahabharata text, which has enormous significance – “Shri Bhagawad Gita Parva”! Now we’ve to be very careful to understand a twist in the story – We might be thinking that Sanjaya has started narrating the minute-by-minute proceedings of the Kurukshetra war to King Dhritarashtra, isn’t it? But the actual fact is something different – Sanjaya starts narrating the war proceedings, 10 days after the war has commenced! This might be a rude shocker for all of us, isn’t it? So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, I shall narrate the reason behind this shocker and we shall see how the shlokas begin in the Bhagawad Gita Parva! Stay tuned for important updates! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 