In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya lambasting King Dhritarashtra yet another time for his gross inaction and favouritism towards his son Duryodhana, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Kaurava clan. Now as King Dhritarashtra is mourning the demise of all his hundred sons, Sanjaya doesn’t have mercy on him – Rather he slams King Dhritarashtra by saying that this entire fiasco that unfolded at Kurukshetra was because of one person and that one person is none other than King Dhritarashtra himself. Had he paid heed to the advice of several people like Sage Vyaasa, Guru Dhronachaarya, Bhishmachaarya and Bhagawan Krishna Himself who literally begged him to give five villages to Yudishtra, such a disaster wouldn’t have unfolded! Had he mended Duryodhana’s ways after Draupati was insulted publicly in front of the entire courtroom, things would have been very different today! Saying all this, Sanjaya explains to King Dhritarashtra that atleast now he should repent for his actions, and pave the way for Yudishtra to formally take over the reigns of the unified Hastinapura kingdom.
As Sanjaya says thus, Vidura enters into the “Sabha-Mandapam” where both of them are talking. Vidura was off the scene till now, as he had gone on a “Teertha-Yatra” for all this while. As Vidura comes in, he also starts taunting King Dhritarashtra from his side. King Dhritarashtra initially welcomes Vidura and cries profusely to him over the loss of his sons in the war. Upon listening to King Dhritarashtra, Vidura commences his accord. Initially, King Dhritarashtra thought that he could find solace in Vidura’s words and Vidura would soothe him. However, what came back to King Dhritarashtra is something different – As we’ve seen earlier also, both Sanjaya and Vidura are epitomes of “Dharma”. They will never twist “Dharma” for King Dhritarashtra’s whims and fancies and try to console him by saying that he’s right. Vidura is known to talk bluntly when it comes to aspects of “Dharma” and here too, he lives up to this expectation. Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Do you remember – I’ve spoken to you on this earlier when you were unable to sleep one night – What did I tell you? If you’re unable to sleep properly, it is because you’ve deviated from the path of “Dharma” and you’ve caused misery to someone else! (We’ve witnessed a whole project on this as part of our blog series called “Vidura-Neeti”, which has eight “Adhyaayas” under the main “Udyoga Parva” just before Bhagawan Krishna visited Hastinapura as Yudishtra’s messenger) I had warned you earlier that if you did not mend your sons’ ways, you will have to meet a great disaster. You have conveniently disobeyed and discarded my words and now why are you brooding over what has happened? This disaster was completely man-made and it is solely because of you!”
As Vidura bluntly says thus, King Dhritarashtra asks him back – “Oh Vidura! How could both of you squarely put the blame on me for this? What wrong did I do? How can I be responsible for the entire fiasco that took place?” Vidura immediately replies back thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Do you even know what you’re asking me? Yes – You’re the sole responsibility for this entire fiasco and the buck stops with you only! Oh King Dhritarashtra! The entire fiasco happened because of your mind! If your mind would have been clear without any confusion, things wouldn’t have gone awry! It is only because you’ve failed to control your mind, you are in this disastrous state of affairs!” As Vidura says thus, King Dhritarashtra asks back – “Oh Vidura! How can my mind be responsible for this? It is a small entity and is not very significant as well! How do you say that this disaster was because of my mind?”
As King Dhritarashtra asks thus, Vidura explains this reasoning very beautifully. He says thus, “Oh King! The mind is the seat of power and decision-making in any human-being. The mind is the one which instructs a person to walk in a particular direction. Your mind was completely jeopardised and was overtaken by the “Putra-Vaatsalyam” (Excessive attachment towards your son). Your mind failed to differentiate between “Dharma” and “Adharma” and ultimately took the wrong path of “Adharma”. This is the biggest reason for the entire mess! Oh King Dhritarashtra! Please understand atleast now – Everything in this world which is created in this world has to be destroyed. This is the fact of the world and it’s functioning. Neither you nor me can change it. Whatever has happened, is because of Bhagawan’s “Deiva-Sankalpa”. You’ve to move on from this, and duly hand over the responsibility to Yudishtra henceforth. He has rightfully earned it at the expense of your son’s atrocities and ill-mannered behavior!” Saying thus, Vidura commences an important line of discussion wherein he is yet again going to highlight a few important aspects of “Dharma” here. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further to see what Vidura is going to talk about with King Dhritarashtra! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 