Episode # 1270 – “Escapism” from our duty doesn’t give success – Rishi Kumaras advise Yudishtra!!!

In the previous episode, we witnessed the real meaning of the term “Sharanagati”, by busting a few myths. This comes at a time wherein the Rishi Kumaras are trying their best to motivate Yudishtra to continue ruling the Hastinapura kingdom, rather than renouncing everything and going to the forest to perform “Tapas”. As mentioned by the Rishi Kumaras, Yudishtra renouncing everything and going to the forest is not considered to be “Sharanagati” just because he had exhibited it towards Bhagawan by words. In other words, exhibiting “Sharanagati” and merely doing nothing after that only accounts for escapism from performing our duties. Rather, the very act of “Sharanagati” should result in an attitude change. Our “Kartruthva Buddhi” (“I” attitude) should shun away with “Sharanagati”. The attitude that we are instruments in the divine hands of Bhagawan is real “Sharanagati”. With this attitude, we should continue performing all our duties – Not for our own benefit, but for the welfare of the world. We should perform our duties with the intention that Bhagawan has given us the orders and we’re obeying His words with our actions. 

This is exactly what the Rishi Kumaras are advising Yudishtra to do. Rather than ruling the Hastinapura kingdom for experiencing luxuries on the personal front, Yudishtra should rule the kingdom for the welfare of the country, as per the “Kshatrya Dharma”, which is Bhagawan’s instruction. We can clearly see the difference in attitude here. Hence, the point here is that, Yudishtra should come back to Hastinapura and perform the “Dharma Raajya”. This is a very important point even for our day-to-day life as well. I’m sure many of our readers would be doctors, engineers, students, professors, academicians, lawyers, other professionals from various walks of life, etc. As we’re performing our duties according to the requirements of our respective professions, we should never think of running away from it. Of course, there would be several challenges that we might have to face through our professional journey. But that does not mean that we would run away from what we are doing, just because we are encountering problems. We should have the guts and will power to stand up and face the problems. This is the law of this world. Nothing in this world is easy to obtain. For instance, students who clear the medical or engineering entrance examinations, those becoming successful doctors, engineers, etc. or those who are clearing the Chartered Accountancy examinations have not tasted success overnight. We are witnessing this every passing day, aren’t we? They put meticulous effort for years together and only then do they taste the success. Had they run away at any point in time because of encountering challenges and problems, will we have such people today in this world? 

In fact, we can witness a small anecdote to highlight this point in the Mahabharata story itself. We talk extremely high about Abhimanyu (Arjuna’s son). We’ve witnessed Abhimayu’s valiant efforts during the Kurukshetra war for several episodes! He was the sole person who entered into the “Chakra-Vyuga” and nobody followed him. Did he buckle down? He was surrounded by enemies from all directions and everybody attacked him at one go! Did he give up till the last moment? Even during his last breath, Abhimanyu passed away by trying to attack his enemies around him. We’ve seen the heart-wrenching happenings earlier. Abhimanyu had taken a pledge very strongly that he would rather die in the battlefield while fighting, rather than running away like a coward! It was the same with Karna as well. Till the last moment, Karna fought valiantly against Arjuna, even though he knew that Arjuna cannot be defeated, given Bhagawan Krishna’s presence near him. This is the determination that we’re talking about here. 

Whereas, on the other hand, there is Balarama, who was the incarnation of Bhagawan Aadisesha himself. When he learnt that the Kurukshetra war was inevitable, Balarama fled the scene by giving an excuse that he was going on a “Teertha Yatra”! Balarama did not want to be in a place wherein two of his best students (Duryodhana and Bheemasena) are up against each other. He was in an ethical dilemma as to which side he would take. Rather than resolving the ethical dilemma and standing by the side of “Dharma”, Balarama ran away from that place! This is why when Balarama came back during the final marquee clash between Bheemasena and Duryodhana, Bhagawan Krishna never encouraged him. When Balarama sought to argue over Duryodhana’s defeat, Bhagawan Krishna straightaway told Balarama on his face that he has become ineligible to comment on the proceedings of the Kurukshetra, for the primary reason that he had not participated and contributed. Without making a contribution, what is the point in commenting on what is “Dharma” and “Adharma”? Hence we can see here that even though Balarama has a high reputation behind his name, he lost his recognition in front of Bhagawan Krishna and the others because of his escapism. 

So for today, let us understand up to this point, as this is a very important message for all of us through this conversation between Yudisthra and the Rishi Kumaras. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂