We’re currently in a mourning phase of the Kurukshetra war – Day Thirteen wherein Abhimanyu has breathed his last. Thanks to some unethical and “Adharmic” warfare techniques spearheaded by none other than Guru Dhronachaarya himself, Abhimanyu was trapped inside the “Chakra-Vyugam” and was attacked from all four sides by the key Kaurava warriors. Towards the end, Ducchaasana’s son inflicted the killer blow on Abhimanyu’s head even before he got up to give a fight once again. This led to Abhimanyu passing away after an excellent show of strength! Thus, as Abhimanyu is dead, Yudishtra is crying inconsolably! He even goes to the extent of having a thought that he doesn’t need the kingdom anymore and also to refrain from fighting this war any further! In fact, Yudishtra also has a suicidal thought in his mind as he thinks about how Arjuna will react to this shocker. It is at this time, Sage Vyaasa suddenly makes his way into the Kurukshetra battlefield to meet Yudishtra. He provides some important words of wisdom to Yudishtra, in a bid to cheer him up and motivate him to continue his pursuit. Sage Vyaasa explains that as a great “Kshatrya” prince, Yudishtra should not shed tears like this. Rather, he should have the mindset to appreciate Abhimanyu’s contribution and move on from here. Such things happen in a battlefield and there is no point fretting over it! Just like Yudishtra has Bhagawan Krishna’s unending “Anugraha” with him at all times, Jayatrada also had Bhagawan Shiva’s “Anugraha” in the form of the boon that He had given. Thus, success and failure are part and parcel of life and Sage Veda-Vyaasa highlights this important point to Yudishtra in a bid to cheer him up!
As Sage Vyaasa says all these points, Yudishtra has an important doubt! This doubt arises from one important point that Sage Vyaasa raises here. He says, “Oh Yudishtra! Death is something which a “Kshatrya” prince should completely discard and not feel scared of. If you’re in a battlefield and fighting against an enemy, at the end of the battle only one of you can be alive, isn’t it? This is the law of the world! Hence, mourning for the death of one person doesn’t really make sense. You’ve to get up and move on. You know very well that the “Atman” and the “Deham” are two different entities. No matter Abhimanyu’s “Deham” might have been destroyed today, his “Atman” is still alive. Moreover, Abhimanyu’s great contribution should be appreciated by you and you should take pride out of it and move on further!” Now upon hearing this from Sage Vyaasa, Yudishtra asks – “Oh Sage Vyaasa! What is the meaning of “Death”? Why did Bhagawan create something called “Death” for a Jeevatma? Everytime we see this in a battlefield – Someone or the other passes away! Why are people around the person who is dead feeling very sad and why are people who are alive feeling very happy? What is the secret behind this? ”
We should remember that this conversation is happening amidst a battlefield wherein the war for the day is yet to come to a halt. Yudishtra is not asking these questions to Sage Vyaasa with a bid to learn something. He is asking these questions with extreme anger and frustration! Thus, in order to bring down Yudishtra’s anger, Sage Vyaasa is going to narrate a small story here. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! There’s a story which Sage Naarada had once narrated to King Akampana!” We might have heard this person before in some context – King Akampana was a great king and he once had a similar doubt, for which, Sage Naarada is giving an answer. Sage Vyaasa is narrating this particular story to Yudishtra to pacify him. Sage Vyaasa continues thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Once upon a time, as King Akampana was fighting a battle along with his son, a similar incident happened to him as well. In due course of the war, King Akampana had to lose his son to the enemy’s wrath. As this happens, just like how you are crying today, King Akampana too cried out with extreme grief! At this time, Sage Naarada comes in front of King Akampana and talks to him. Sage Naarada explains thus, “Oh Akampana! When Bhagawan Vishnu created this world, He had given the responsibility to create more and more Jeevatmas in this world to Bhagawan Brahma. As per Bhagawan Vishnu’s instruction, Bhagawan Brahma too starts creating several Jeevatmas in this world, but at that point in time, he forgot to create something called as “demise” or “death” to these new living beings who are taking birth! Hence, after a point in time, the population in this world started to increase manifold and there was a scarcity of place for all the living beings to live here. It is at this time, Bhagawan Brahma thinks thus – “Oh wow! We’ve only been creating everything till now. But what about destroying whatever we’ve created? Only then there will be a cycle that is created and this will ensure that there will be adequate space in this world for everyone, isn’t it? If we are only creating everything and if we’re not destroying anything, what is the point after some time?”
Thinking thus, anger builds within Bhagawan Brahma, which manifests itself into “Agni Bhagawan” (A huge ball of fire). Thus, Agni Bhagawan who comes out of Bhagawan Brahma is now starting to engulf the entire world and with this, something called “Destruction” starts for the first time! Upon seeing this, Bhagawan Shiva (Bhagawan Rudra) immediately realizes a great threat and a danger to the world’s existence and thus rushes towards Bhagawan Brahma to bring down his anger. However, Bhagawan Brahma is firm on his point, even as Bhagawan Shiva is trying to convince him to stop this mass destruction. But after a point, Bhagawan Brahma realizes that destruction should not be his role anymore and he should depute Bhagawan Shiva to do it based on certain rules and regulations. Bhagawan Brahma takes this decision because, if he continues to destroy, the entire world would be destroyed completely within seconds! This should not happen. There should be a cycle of birth and death and it should be smooth. Thus, for the first time, Bhagawan Brahma requests Bhagawan Shiva to take over the role of destruction in this world!”
So for today, let us understand this explanation of Sage Vyaasa to Yudishtra up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 