In the previous episode, we had witnessed a very important “twist” of events, wherein an unusual fight happens between Yudishtra and Arjuna! We’ve seen that Yudishtra had abruptly left the battlefield owing to the heavy defeat and subsequent injury inflicted by Karna. Upon Yudishtra getting himself treated in the tent fending to himself all alone, Bhagawan Krishna thinks that Arjuna can assist him for a brief period and hence He brings Arjuna to the tent. Upon Arjuna’s arrival, Yudishtra assumes that Arjuna has won over Karna and starts congratulating him for the same! However, Arjuna explains that he had come here without fulfilling the mission, which makes Yudishtra angry! He starts abusing Arjuna and his “Gaandeepa” by saying that he is a total flop and should rightly pass on the “Gaandeepa” to Bhagawan Krishna, who can finish the battle with ease. Yudishtra hurls a lot of scoldings upon Arjuna that for the past seventeen days he wasn’t able to achieve anything worth saying! This irks Arjuna as he gets insulted. With this, Arjuna straightaway pulls out his sword and rushes towards Yudishtra to chop off his head!
Upon seeing this, Bhagawan Krishna is stunned! He had brought Arjuna here to help Yudishtra, but this has turned disastrous in no time! How can Yudishtra and Arjuna fight amongst each other like this? As Arjuna rushes towards Yudishtra, Bhagawan Krishna quickly pulls Arjuna back by holding his hands tight. Bhagawan Krishna gives a huge scolding to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! What is happening to you? Do you even realize the purpose for which I brought you here? I wanted you to be of help to Yudishtra, but do you even realize what you’re doing? Please stop this nonsense!” As Bhagawan says thus, He forcefully pulls Arjuna back! Arjuna replies to Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! Now that you’re instructing me to stop from proceeding further to chop Yudishtra’s head off, I’m backing out! However, I’ve made a pledge that I will chop off the head of whoever insults my “Gaandeepa”. Yudishtra has done it and his head should be rightfully chopped off. Now you’re pulling me back and by doing so, you are not allowing me to execute my pledge. I know that by killing Yudishtra, we are going to end up in a disaster. But at the same time, Yudishtra has committed a crime and he should be duly punished! You’ve to tell me a way such that Yudishtra should be protected and at the same time, my pledge should also be fulfilled. Is there any way for this to happen?”
Upon hearing this, Bhagawan Krishna gets angry once again and He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! Oh Yudishtra! Do you know why I get frustrated with all of you? You take a so-called pledge and keep revolving around it at all times, without knowing the consequences behind it. You do not have a long-term vision and a long-term thinking. As a leader if you do not possess this quality, how on earth will you succeed? I’m trying my best to lead you through in the midst of all your meaningless pledges. Oh Arjuna! Please understand one thing – Just because you’ve taken a pledge, it doesn’t mean that it can be fulfilled every time! There might be situations which may not be conducive for it. Short-term thinking will always fail you!” As Bhagawan Krishna fires a salvo upon both of them, Arjuna slowly asks back thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I understand your point. So what can be done in this case now?”
Now Bhagawan Krishna gives a beautiful suggestion here. He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! If you’ve to kill Yudishtra, it need not be physically done every time. The “Shaastras” say that if a younger brother disrespectfully addresses an elder brother, this itself signifies that the younger brother is killing the elder one. Yudishtra is your elder brother isn’t he? You have great respect towards him and are seeing him in the position of a “Guru”, aren’t you? Now do one thing – Disrespect him and talk a few words. This would signify that you’ve killed Yudishtra!” Upon hearing this, Arjuna talks a few sentences with a lot of disrespect towards Yudishtra. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You are the cause for the situation that we are in today! You played the gambling game with Duryodhana on that fateful day! You staked Draupati and played the game and because of this, Draupati was molested in public! You spoke about “Dharma” all the time when we were in the forest, however, I wonder whether you followed even a single aspect of “Dharma” yourself!”
Saying thus, Arjuna spoke several disrespectful sentences towards Yudishtra, which signifies that Arjuna has killed him. However now, there is a different problem arising! How can Arjuna insult and disrespect his elder brother? This, according to the “Shaastras” is equivalent to killing himself! Hence, Arjuna takes out his sword and proceeds to kill himself! This once again stuns Bhagawan Krishna and Yudishtra! So what is going to happen next? How is Bhagawan Krishna going to handle this new problem? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 