In the previous episode, we had witnessed Yudishtra and Co. mourning over the demise of their near and dear ones. Draupati comes into the scene and bursts out crying. As a mother, she is unable to see her sons dead in front of her! Training her guns towards Yudishtra and Bhagawan Krishna, Draupati vents her frustration. She asks Yudishtra whether he is once again going to keep quiet without any action on Ashwatthama for his heinous crime, or, is he going to live up to his “Kshatrya” expectation and fight. She questions Yudishtra’s silence at crucial times like this, and recalls how he was silent for almost thirteen years against Duryodhana, when the entire Hastinapura courtroom insulted her.
As Draupati vents out thus, Yudishtra replies back to her with a lot of calmness. He seems unperturbed, neither by the demise of his sons, nor by his wife’s fuming! This is something that leaders should learn from Yudishtra – No matter whatever happens, the first and foremost quality of a leader is that he / she should keep himself / herself calm and composed. If the leader gets tensed, he / she would end up taking wrong decisions and as a result, more and more disasters would unfold. Yudishtra replies to Draupati thus, “Oh my dear Draupati! Please calm down! I understand your frustration very clearly. I’m feeling the same grief as you. However, we’ve to act according to what “Dharma” says. Oh Draupati! You know “Dharma” more than me, don’t you? If our sons, Drishtadhyumna and Shikhandi have lost their lives, please understand that their time of death has come. Of course, not everybody in this world meets death the same way as we desired. There might be times wherein death can come knocking at our doorstep through several means. For these people, death has knocked doors through the form of Ashwatthama. Oh Panchali! It is their respective “Karma” that plays a role here too. For instance, your brother Drishtadhyumna was born from the “Homa-Kundam” (Sacrificial fire) along with you – Both of you have a definitive purpose to fulfill in this world. Drishtadhyumna’s main purpose in this world is to kill Guru Dhronachaarya, and that purpose has been fulfilled. Hence, Drishtadhyumna doesn’t have any further work left in this world. Similarly, Shikhandi also had the sole agenda to kill Bhishmachaarya, and that also has been fulfilled. Thus, if you see for each and every individual, once their purpose of living in this world is fulfilled, death will definitely come knocking at the doorstep and we will not be able to avoid it!”
Saying thus, Yudishtra continues further – “Oh Draupati! Please think for a moment – Ashwatthama, Sage Kripachaarya and Krita-Varma have somehow escaped from here and made their way into the deep woods. Now, how will we go and search them? They’ve disappeared completely! Only if they come back into the scene at some point, we will be able to fight against them. Just because Ashwatthama did such a cowardly act, do you want me also to do the same, just to seek vengeance? This is not how “Dharma” works!”
From whatever Yudishtra replies to Draupati here, we can see how Yudishtra stands firmly on the path of “Dharma”, even while he faces the most acute challenge of his life! This is the clarity of thought that all of us as leaders in our own spheres should have. No matter whatever happens around us, we should never lose our focus towards “Dharma”, and who other than Yudishtra can be a prime example for this? So for today, let us understand and ponder over Yudishtra’s golden words of reply, and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further to see whether Draupati was convinced with Yudishtra’s reply or not! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 