The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Yayaati explaining certain important aspects of “Dharma” as he enters into a conversation with Indra at “Svarga Lokha”. Readers should remember here that we’ve stopped at a point wherein the Paandava children have come to the Hastinapura palace at the behest of the Maharishis’ advice, post Paandu’s demise. From this point, we’ve rewinded a bit and have gone back to King Yayaati attaining the “Svarga Lokha” and what happened to King Yayaati there. We’ve done this to understand certain important aspects of “Dharma” that are highlighted here. Post this, we would again continue from where we left, with regards to whether King Dhirdiraashtra is going to accept the Paandava children or not. But for now, we’ll continue with what happened between King Yayaati and Indra at the Svarga Lokha. 

As King Yayaati details about the “Dharma” that he had taught his son, he talks about two important aspects – Taking care of our parents and our Guru. This is a very important duty that all of us should perform during this lifetime. Secondly, King Yayaati explains how a leader should treat everyone equally and bring everyone to the same page, including those who are not that powerful. Just because somebody is powerless, it doesn’t mean we completely ignore or reject them. As a leader, it is very important that those people who are powerless, should also be included in key happenings in the team / kingdom or any type of administrative activities. As King Yayaati details all of this, Indra patiently listens to everything and asks a smart question here. Now Indra had opened up King Yayaati right royally and had made him comfortable. Subsequently now, Indra is slowly pulling the noose here. Indra asks thus, “Oh King Yayaati! This is a great answer! I really feel proud to be associated with such a righteous king! I’ve also heard that after relinquishing your kingdom responsibilities to your son, you went to the forest to do penance. As you were in deep penance, I was listening to many Maharishis commenting that there could be nobody on this earth who can be as good as you in doing penance! It is very difficult to get such appreciation from great Maharishis, isn’t it? But I was just wondering if there might be anybody else who is as good as you in performing penance. Do you know of anybody like this in your kingdom, or elsewhere?” 

Now here is the trap! Indra frames his question in such a way that the answer to this question becomes a “double-edged sword”! On one hand, Indra appreciates King Yayaati for what he has done. This makes King Yayaati’s ego rise up with excitement that Indra himself is appreciating him! This ego is inducing King Yayaati to proclaim that he’s the only one who is extremely good in penance and there’s nobody else to match him! However, if he gives this answer, he would enter into “self-proclamation” mode and this would exhibit his pride over himself! However, on the other hand, if King Yayaati replies in the other way that there is someone else who is better than him, he would be uttering a lie, as in reality there’s nobody who could equal him or exceed him in terms of performing penance! Telling a lie and that too to Indra himself, would be a great crime! Now what does King Yayaati do here? Which stance does he take? 

After a thought process, King Yayaati decides to take the first stance – He decides to tell the truth, which he’s accustomed to do all the time! King Yayaati never knows how to tell a lie. Hence, he replies to Indra thus, “Oh Indra! What you’ve mentioned about me now is right! There’s nobody in this world who could match me in terms of performing penance. Moreover, there’s nobody even amidst the Devas or Dhaanavas or Gandharvas or any other groups of celestial beings who is equal to me in performing penance!” As King Yayaati gives such an answer, Indra catches him red-handed! He replies to King Yayaati thus, “Oh King Yayaati! This is an absurd answer from you, and as a righteous king, I never expected such a reply from you! By saying that there’s nobody in this world who is equal to you in terms of performing penance, you’re proving to me that you are a person with a lot of headweight! You are more interested in boasting about yourself, and you’ve never done any research to find out if there’s someone better than you in performing penance! This is a big mistake that you’ve done. Since you’ve boasted about yourself, with this moment, all your “Punya-Karma” has come to an end! With this, your tenure in the “Svarga Lokha” is also over! You may now return back to the “Bhoo-Lokha” to take another birth, and if you’re able to earn “Punya-Karma”, you might become eligible again to come back to the “Svarga Lokha”!

Saying thus, Indra pushes King Yayaati upside down from the “Svarga Lokha” to the “Manushya Lokha”. As King Yayaati is about to be pushed down, he folds his hands and prays to Indra thus, “Oh Indra! I know that I’ve committed a mistake, and thank you for highlighting that for me! I know that I do not deserve to continue in the “Svarga Lokha” anymore, but I only have one small request for you – Anyways, you’re going to push me down to the earth again. While doing so, please push me to a place where there would be good people. Please do not push me to a place where there would be no “Dharma” at all! I would like to be amidst a place where there is a “Satsanga”, so that I would once again be able to focus on performing the “Punya-Karma”, and maybe penance too!” Upon hearing this from King Yayaati, Indra was happy and he accepts his request. Thus, King Yayaati starts his free-fall from the “Svarga Lokha”. 

This is a very important lesson for us here – Why should we always aspire to be amidst a “Satsanga” or an association of good people who focus on Bhakti? Bhagawan Krishna Himself explains this in the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna. We shall witness this detailing in the next episode, along with the answer to the above question! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Indra’s commencement of a conversation with King Yayaati, before he had pushed King Yayaati down to the earth. As the conversation commences, Indra asks King Yayaati some “attractive” questions so as to make him open up more. Initially, King Yayaati was hesitant to answer Indra, but however, Indra had the last laugh in making King Yayaati talk. He appreciated King Yayaati for being one of the world’s most righteous kings ever, and with these sweet words of appreciation, King Yayaati’s ego started growing. As the conversation progressed further, Indra asks King Yayaati as to what were the important lessons that he had taught Puru when he took over as a king. King Yayaati starts explaining things in a bit more detail now, as he’s completely opened up! King Yayaati explains how he had taught his children the various aspects of “Dharma” – How to talk only the truth and stand by it, how to control anger, how to be calm and composed in all whatever we do, etc. Indra is slowly listening to King Yayaati’s reply and is gradually making him fall into his trap. 

As King Yayaati continues with his reply, he talks about two important things – Performing selfless service to parents and to the Guru. This is a very important point that King Yayaati stresses as part of the “Raaja-Dharma”. At all times, we should make sure that we take care of our parents. This becomes important when our parents become aged, wherein they might not be able to help themselves in their regular chores. It is at this time they need our help. We should always remember one thing – At a time when we were babies, and when we weren’t able to take care of ourselves, it was our parents who took care of us. Now when the situation turns and when our parents aren’t able to take care of themselves because of old age, isn’t it the duty of the son or daughter to take care of them? It is very sad today to see that many of us leave our parents in some “Old age homes”, because of a silly reason that we couldn’t take care of them anymore! Isn’t this something that would hurt our parents the most? Especially during the time of old age, every parent would have the feeling of security only when their son / daughters are around them. Isn’t it our duty to give our parents that moral security and support at a time when they need it the most? Let us think and ponder over it! 

Similarly, as King Yayaati talks about the “Guru”, it is very important that we be of selfless service to our Guru. In fact, at many places in our “Sanaatana Dharma” literature, it is pointed out that the “Sishya’s” (Disciple) learning gets completed fully only if he performs whatever the Guru wants him to perform as a token of service. This is what we often refer to as the “Guru Dakshina”. If the Sishya deviates from this path, the learning does not fructify at all. We’ve witnessed in this Mahabharata text itself at one point, a few episodes ago, as to how various Sishyas were of service to their Guru, isn’t it? We should recollect that and do the needful to our Guru. 

Moreover, King Yayaati also talks about yet another important “Dharma” here – As a king (leader), it is his duty to take care of those people who are weak in terms of strength and intellect. This simply means that a king should take everybody along with him equally without any differentiation. Normally what happens is that, those people who are relatively weaker in strength or reputation would feel threatened and jealous of those who have a greater strength and a greater reputation in the society. We can see this even in today’s scenario too, isn’t it? More often than not, the so-called “minorities” in India keep raising their voices every now and then to show their presences and to convey a message that they too can be “strong enough” in the society, isn’t it? We’ve been witnessing this of late quite frequently. Especially when certain laws were revoked by the Indian parliament in recent years, a community of people made sure that they would burn India come what may, to showcase their strength and power to the world! These are the petty activities that the so-called weaker sections of the people would do, to gain attention. Thus, a leader’s responsibility is to take all people of the society in consensus while taking crucial decisions, or while implementing certain laws and enforcements. If people are raising objections, it is the duty of the leader to answer them and bring everyone on to the same plane. However, if the same people try to act smart by not paying heed to the leader’s request, strict and stern action needs to be taken on them, so that they would learn their lesson! This is exactly what King Yayaati is describing here. 

Thus, King Yayaati explains to Indra that these were the important pieces of advice that he had given to his son Puru, as he took over the kingdom. Indra listens to all these answers patiently and now the interview is going to get tougher! So far, it was all very easy and juicy for King Yayaati to explain all what he had done as a king! Now as we move into the next “Adhyaayaa”, things are going to take a drastic turn towards the worst, which King Yayaati did not expect! How did this happen? What did Indra ask next? Let us wait for the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Yayaati in a free-fall from the “Svarga Lokha”, all the way down to the “Manushya Lokha”, as Indra pushes him down. Of course, we’ve seen Indra as a very narrow-minded person, but the ground reality is that, King Yayaati’s “Punya Karma” account was coming to a close. When this happens, automatically we would be pushed down again to the earth, only to take another birth here. However, if we’re going beyond the “Svarga Lokha” and the “Naraka Lokha”, with our “Bhakti” component very strong in us, Bhagawan is going to take us to the ultimate stage called “Moksha” or “Vaikunta”, from where, we’re never going to come down again to this earth for another birth. This is what King Yayaati’s free-fall signifies, and with this background fact, let us witness the continuation of what the sages asked King Yayaati and what did he respond to them. 

As we’ve seen earlier, King Yayaati was falling down and was on the way back to this world. As we witness this free-fall of King Yayaati, we’ve to also witness one more important aspect here – When Indra asked this question to King Yayaati, he did not ask it directly. He asked some two or three very friendly questions and then came to the point. He started a nice little conversation with King Yayaati before asking the ultimate question. Even in our case, in the marketing context of business what do we do? How do we approach a customer to sell a product? We first start a nice conversation with the customer by asking him / her as to what they do, how is their health, how is their family, etc. By doing this, we make the customer feel warm and comfortable and gradually make the customer open up with his or her needs, isn’t it? If we ask the customer directly whether he / she is interested in our product or not, more certainly than not, the customer would directly reject our offering! Thus, we can see here how a marketing executive tries to convince a customer to buy his product, isn’t it? This is exactly what Indra did to King Yayaati here. Indra assumed the role of a marketing executive and commenced a beautiful conversation with King Yayaati and made him feel comfortable! 

Of course, Indra knows that King Yayaati is an epitome of truth (“Satya-Vaakya”) and Indra knows where exactly will King Yayaati fall into the trap! He thus started with a simple conversation, “Oh King Yayaati! People in the world used to praise you for all your good deeds and “Dharma” that you’ve done to all of them! I’m indeed very impressed with all of it!” Upon hearing this from Indra, King Yayaati’s ego rose up a bit. If anybody appreciates us for something that we’ve done, what would happen to us? Our ego would go up and we would feel as if we’ve accomplished something great, isn’t it? This is exactly what King Yayaati was also feeling here as Indra appreciated him! As King Yayaati was feeling proud of himself, Indra started questioning him slowly thus, “Oh Yayaati! You had ruled the kingdom for a long time and you’re vastly experienced in the “Raaja-Dharma”, isn’t it? Now before you came to the “Svarga Lokha”, what were the things that you taught your son Puru, when he took over from you? I’m sure you must have passed on a lot of good things to him. Can you please detail them a bit for me?” 

Again, this question of Indra boosted King Yayaati’s morale a bit more, and he started to open up to Indra thus! King Yayaati gives a detailed reply to Indra, not knowing that he’s getting into a trap here! King Yayaati explains to Indra thus, “Oh Indra! I had given my son a lot of lessons on “Dharma”. I’ve educated him on how he should abide only by the truth everytime. I’ve taught him as to how he should lead a kingdom without harming any living being. I’ve taught him in detail about the Karma theory – How Bhagawan Vishnu is responsible for “accounting” all our “Paapa Karma” and “Punya Karma”. I also taught him how he should behave himself with others without getting angry. As a leader, one important characteristic is to be calm and composed, isn’t it? Hence, even if someone scolds you, you’ve to learn to avoid him and not get angry in return!” 

This is a very important lesson for all of us here – How should we keep calm all the time? We should understand one concept here – For instance, if someone is praising us and garlanding us for something that we’ve accomplished, we’ve to realize that it is our “Punya-Karma” that is coming in the form of the person who is garlanding us, and we’re enjoying the effects of the “Punya-Karma” that we’ve done. However, if someone comes and scolds us with extreme anger, how do we take that? We should understand that our “Paapa-Karma” is coming in the form of the person who is scolding us. We’ve witnessed that the “Punya Karma” and “Paapa Karma” takes the form of the person in front of us, isn’t it? How does this happen? It is none other than Bhagawan Himself who comes in the form of the “Punya Karma” or “Paapa Karma” and enters into that concerned person in front of us! We’ve to realize this fact. Especially when we’re getting scolded left and right, we’ve to realize that it is none other than Bhagawan who’s scolding us. If that is the case, will we scold Bhagawan back? Instead, we should avoid that person completely and remain muted! This is the best way to counter that person too. 

For instance, imagine we’re standing near a traffic signal on the road and someone comes and dashes on our car! What would be the immediate reaction? The person who had come and dashed upon us would immediately ask us, “Oh! Are you mad? Are you crazy? Don’t you have senses?” Now we’ve to understand why he is asking questions like these! He wants us to react with four more questions similarly with an increased anger! Only if we get angry, he would be able to abuse and insult, isn’t it? What if we do not get angry and avoid him? We should try this once atleast – We would be surprised to see that the other person would start getting insecure! Moreover, if we give an answer to him saying that “Yes! You’re right! I do not have senses and I’m mad!” Indeed, it would make him think that he started a fight with a wrong person and would run away from us! 

Thus, we can witness here that controlling anger even for a worldly reason like this yields us good results! We should remember that if we’re trying to react angrily to the person in front of us, we’re right royally falling into his trap! By controlling our instincts, atleast our blood pressure would not rise up, isn’t it? Of course, the spiritual reason is for all of us to think and understand! So for today, let us understand this point well, and let us try to practice this in our daily life! We shall wait till the next episode to witness how Indra pulled King Yayaati into the trap! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Yayaati being pushed upside down from the “Svarga Lokha” by Indra. We’ve witnessed how Indra created a trap and how King Yayaati fell into it. Indra had asked a “double-edged” question, wherein whatever answer King Yayaati would have given, it would be wrong in some way or the other. This is what we refer to as “Dharma-Sankat”. However, since King Yayaati always stood for truth and “Dharma”, he decided to give an answer to Indra’s question, even though he knew that he would get into trouble. As he expected, Indra declared that King Yayaati was self-proclaiming in nature and this is also an “Adharma”. With this, King Yayaati officially lost the rights of residing at “Svarga Lokha” any longer and thus, Indra pushed him upside down, back to the Manushya Lokha. At this time, there was a group of sages who were discussing something important, and King Yayaati was falling right at the place where these sages were discussing. 

As the sages see King Yayaati fall, one of them orders him thus, “Oh King Yayaati! Why are you falling down like this?” Will we ask someone who is falling down from somewhere as to why he / she is falling? 🙂 These sages were asking King Yayaati thus! We might find this a bit silly, but there is a definitive purpose behind this question. Readers should understand here that this is not a mere outward question that the sages are asking. The real meaning of this question is something that talks extensively about the depth of the “Samsaara”, and how we too are falling every day into it, without even knowing that we’re falling! Of course, in King Yayaati’s case, the sages are seeing him falling in front of their own eyes. But in our cases, we’re falling into the “Samsaara”, without even knowing that we’re falling into it. Again, all this is the outcome of the “Karma Theory”, isn’t it? If a person’s “Punya LKarma” gets exhausted, he / she descends back from the “Svarga Lokha” to the “Manushya Lokha” to take a new birth. If a person’s “Paapa Karma” gets exhausted, he / she descends back from the “Naraka Lokha”, to again come and take birth in this world. What we’re seeing with King Yayaati is of the same case here – Until his “Punya Karma” was ruling, he was also enjoying a lot in the “Svarga Lokha”. However, when his “Punya Karma” was coming to a close, Indra stepped in at the right time and made sure that King Yayaati fell back into the earth for another birth!

Thus, given the fact of the Karma Theory, can we really say that Indra is opportunistic? In the previous episode, we had mentioned that Indra was a highly opportunistic person, isn’t it? We had discussed that he doesn’t like anybody trying to surpass him in terms of name and fame in the “Svarga Lokha”. But if we look at it in the angle of the “Karma Theory”, we would understand that Indra has just done his job perfectly here! When King Yayaati’s “Punya Karma” was getting over, he would automatically lose his right to reside in the “Svarga Lokha”. Thus, as the leader of the “Svarga Lokha”, it was Indra’s duty to push King Yayaati down to the earth again, once his “Punya Karma” got over! But we might all be wondering why such a story is part of this “Mahabharata” text? What is the lesson that we can learn from this? The answer is very simple here – If we’re aspiring to ascend to the “Svarga Lokha” so as to enjoy all the pleasures and luxuries that are present there, it is only a short-term benefit. Readers might know by now that if our “Punya Karma” exceeds our “Paapa Karma”, we would ascend to the “Svarga Lokha” or “Indra Lokha” wherein we would enjoy all the benefits of our “Punya Karma” over there. However, when our “Punya Karma” comes to a close, we would again come back to this world and take another birth! 

However, this is where we’ve to think and make a decision whether we want a short-term benefit or a long-term benefit. Now what do we mean by “long-term benefit”? A situation where we never come back to this earth again is what we call “long-term benefit”! This is the stage where we attain “Moksha”, or “Vaikunta”. We should always remember that this “Moksha” stage is way beyond the “Svarga Lokha” and the “Naraka Lokha”. This is because, if we get into either of these “Lokhas”, there is always going to be a day where we would be pushed back into the earth for another birth! Of course, we would enjoy enormous luxuries there, but that is short-lived! However, if we’re going one step beyond and are aspiring for the highest “Moksha”, Bhagawan is never going to leave us forever! We’ve to take the call here – Whether to enjoy luxuries at “Svarga Lokha” or whether to enjoy Bhagawan’s divine presence at “Vaikunta”! If we reach Vaikunta, we’re never going to come back and we would hence become “Muktatmas”. This is the long-term benefit. 

Thus, it is for us to decide! So for today, let us think about these two aspects – The “Short-term” and the “Long-term” benefits and make an appropriate decision for ourselves! We shall continue with this discussion in the next episode to witness further on how King Yayaati fell down! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed until the point wherein the Paandava children along with Kunthi Devi make their way to the Hastinapura kingdom for the first time after King Paandu’s demise. We’ve witnessed that post King Paandu, the Maharishis in the forest felt that these children should go to the place where they belong to, and as Kshatrya princes, it is not appropriate for them to reside in the forest. Hence, the Maharishis took them to Hastinapura, met King Dhirdiraashtra, passed on important advice that the king should treat these children as his own. He shouldn’t create differences between his sons and his brother’s sons. Whether King Dhirdiraashtra is going to follow this advice or not, is for all of us to see from here on. But before that, we’ve also commenced a parallel story wherein King Yayaati, the ancestor of King Dhirdiraashtra as we’ve seen earlier, is attaining the “Svarga Lokha”. Indra, owing to his jealousy that King Yayaati is getting lot of importance in the Svarga Lokha, wanted to push him back to the world for another birth. Indra did not want King Yayaati to adorn the “Svarga Lokha”, as Indra felt that he was losing his importance there as the leader. 

With this in mind, Indra starts an interesting conversation with King Yayaati as to what are some important characteristics of a righteous king and how a king should be noble in nature. Indra asks this question categorically in such a way that Yayaati would get into a trap while answering. For instance, if Yayaati had to reply that a noble king should be like him, it would become an act of pride and self-boasting. However, if Yayaati explains all these characteristics that are imbibed in someone else other than him, it would become a lie, as King Yayaati was undoubtedly the most righteous king on earth at that time. So now, King Yayaati enters into a trap here as to what answer he should give Indra.This is what we call “Dharma-Sankata”. We also use this phrase, “Dharma-Sankata” often in our daily use too, isn’t it? Thus, the “Dharma-Sankata” situation is something wherein whatever answer we might give to a question would result in a problem. There is no right answer at all for such a question. This is exactly what happened to King Yayaati too here. He now understood Indra’s trick. 

However, King Yayaati had to give an answer to Indra, isn’t it? He cannot keep quiet. Even if he wants to keep quiet, it would be like insulting Indra and that also would lead to a problem. Hence, King Yayaati was trapped in all three sides here – One is self-boasting with pride, second is truth / lie, third is insult by avoiding / bypassing Indra’s question. However, King Yayaati took a stance of truth, as he has always stood by it during his tenure as a king. He openly proclaimed thus, “Oh Indra! If someone has to be appreciated in this world as a “Saarva-Bhowma” (A righteous king), it is none other than myself! I was the person who was an embodiment of this characteristic when I was ruling the kingdom!” King Yayaati gave this answer with confidence, even after knowing the consequences for it. However, he had to give some answer by taking a stance. He cannot dilly-dally. Thus, King Yayaati explained his stance clearly to Indra. 

As King Yayaati gives such an answer, Indra was extremely happy! He was relieved that King Yayaati fell into his trap right royally and hence, it gives an opportunity to chase King Yayaati away from the “Svarga Lokha”! Thinking thus, Indra replies to King Yayaati, “Oh Yayaati! What kind of an answer is this? You’re trying to boast about yourself and please remember this – The “Svarga Lokha” is not the place for someone to boast around! If you’ve to reside here, you should first be humble and down to earth! Since you did not exhibit this basic quality, you’ve lost the right to continue residing in the “Svarga Lokha! You’ve to go back to the “Manushya Lokha”, correct yourself, mend your ways and then come back!” 

Saying thus, Indra pushes King Yayaati down to the earth upside down! As King Yayaati was pushed thus, he couldn’t fight back and resist Indra’s action. Thus, he continues his free-fall with the gravitational force of the earth! As King Yayaati falls down, there were a few Maharishis who were talking to each other at that very place. When they look up, they spot King Yayaati coming down with full speed! What are these Maharishis going to do? Are they going to stop him from falling down further? Let us witness this interesting part in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Bhagawan gives all “Jeevatmas” like us a “free hand” in choosing whichever path we’ve to take – Either the path of “Dharma” or “Adharma”. In this way, all of us are “Svatantras” (Complete Independents) in making our decision. However, Bhagawan has given us all the manuals that would help us to make an informed decision. Just like how in an organization, we require adequate data points, evidence, etc. to make the right decisions as managers and leaders, Bhagawan has also given us the data in the form of Vedas and Upanishads. Also, to augment it further, Bhagawan has also given evidences in the form of “Ithihaasas” and “Puraanas”, to illustrate how various people who followed the paths of “Dharma” / “Adharma” have succeeded / failed in their pursuit of attaining “Moksha”. Hence, it is up to us to make use of all these data points and relevant evidence to come up with an informed decision as to which path do we choose, isn’t it? 

Thus, we’ve witnessed the gross differences between Arjuna and Sishupala, even though both were cousins to Bhagawan Krishna. On one hand, Arjuna is an epitome of “Bhakti” towards Bhagawan, and on the other hand, Sishupaala is an epitome of “Adharma”. Thus, moving forward from this point, we’ve witnessed that after the demise of King Paandu, the Paandava brothers were residing along with Kunthi Devi alone in the forest. We should also remember that Maadri Devi had also ended her life, owing to the guilt that she was solely responsible for King Paandu’s demise. As months and years rolled by, the Maharishis in the forest felt that it is not proper for these princely Paandava brothers to spend their lifetime in a forest. They’re part of the royal family and they should be at a place where they belong to. Hence, the Maharishis together take the initiative to bring the Paandava children, along with Kunthi Devi to Hastinaapura. 

As the Maharishis bring the Paandava children to the Hastinapura kingdom, they go straightaway to meet King Dhirdiraashtra. At this juncture, the Maharishis give King Dhirdiraashtra and important piece of advice thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! These children are none other than your brother, Paandu’s children. Hence, ideally speaking, they should be the successors of the Hastinapura kingdom. However, since you’re an efficient and capable ruler, the Hastinapura kingdom is in safe hands for now. Hence, from now onwards, these children will also reside in the Hastinapura palace only. You should make sure that you treat them on par with your sons and not entail any sort of differences between them.” Saying thus, the Maharishis left the palace. This is one part of the story, and let us leave this at this point for now. 

Meanwhile, we shall rewind ourselves to a past incident now. I should have narrated this earlier, but that wasn’t a context for this point to be witnessed. We shall witness it today. Readers might remember how King Yayaati had enjoyed his youthful days for a thousand years, thanks to Puru, who donated his youthfulness to his father. We’ve witnessed how Yadu had denied his father’s wish and eventually lost the opportunity to rule the kingdom. This is also one reason why Bhagawan Krishna was born in the Yadu community. Eventually after a thousand years, King Yayaati had lost interest in being young and subsequently retires to the forest to do penance. As time came, King Yayaati attained the “Svarga Lokha”, and because of all the good deeds that he had done, he obtained a great position in the “Svarga Lokha”. 

Upon seeing this King Yayaati enjoying so much of luxuries and pleasures in the “Svarga Lokha”, Indra, the leader of the “Svarga Lokha” got extremely jealous of King Yayaati! He somehow wanted to put an end to King Yayaati’s enjoyments in the “Svarga Lokha” and push him down to the earth surface once again. Readers might be able to understand here how narrow-minded Indra was! 🙂 Normally, if someone is trying to get better than him with any form of leadership or luxuries, Indra wouldn’t be able to stand it even for a single minute. He would go to any extent to pull them down, so that his position is safe and secure! We might think that the “Devas” are good people, but they do have their narrow-minded attitudes at times too! Similarly here, Indra is feeling jealous of King Yayaati’s growing popularity in the “Svarga Lokha”, and becomes insecure about his own position and importance. Hence, Indra devises a plan to somehow push Yayaati down to the earth once again. 

Accordingly one day, Indra starts a conversation with Yayaati thus, Oh Yayaati! The entire world knows how great a king you were in the “Bhoo-Lokha”! So, I would like to learn a few things from you. Can you please highlight to me as to what are the various characteristics of a good and a righteous king? Can you narrate the important qualities of a noble person?” As Indra asks thus, King Yayaati was more than glad to answer him. He did not know Indra’s intention behind asking such questions. King Yayaati was tuned and accustomed to talk only the truth. He did not know how to give “smart” answers and get away! So what did King Yayaati reply to Indra? Let us wait till the next episode to find out who succeeded at the end of the conversation and what are the salient points discussed! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed a detailed background behind Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna and how they shared a unique relationship with each other. We’ve witnessed that the Arjuna-Bhagawan Krishna combo was none other than the “Nara-Narayana” combo of the Bhadrinatha Kshetra. Just like how Nara was the disciple of Bhagawan Narayana at the Bhadrinatha Kshetra, their “Guru-Sishya” relationship continued in this incarnation also. This is why we see Arjuna extremely devoted to Bhagawan Krishna and in turn, Bhagawan Krishna too had a special affinity towards Arjuna. We’re going to witness at a later stage as to how Bhagawan Krishna was even going to be prepared to be Arjuna’s charioteer during the Kurukshetra war. If Bhagawan (“Paramatma”) has to reduce His level to mee the level of Arjuna (“Jeevatma”, this talks volumes about the bonding that both of them shared. However, we should also understand here that just because Arjuna and the Paandava brothers were cousins to Bhagawan Krishna, He was always by their side and they were “Bhaktas” of the highest level. Sishupaala was also Bhagawan Krishna’s cousin, and all of us know which “Maarga” (Path) did Sishupaala take. He took every ounce of opportunity to abuse Bhagawan Krishna at various stages, and finally Bhagawan Krishna had to kill Sishupaala for all what “Adharma” he committed. 

Thus, an important learning for all of us here is that, no matter whether we might be closely related or not to Bhagawan, all that is important for Him is whether we walk the path of “Dharma” or not. In fact, there are a few instances wherein Bhagawan Krishna had to tame Arjuna and Co. too, when they deviated from their path of “Dharma”. We shall witness these instances too when the apt context comes. Hence, it is not that, Arjuna also followed the path of “Dharma” everytime. Arjuna too deviated. But what is the difference between Arjuna and Sishupaala? When Bhagawan Krishna advised the right path of “Dharma”, Arjuna obeyed Bhagawan Krishna’s words and realized his mistake. However, in the case of Sishupaala, he failed to pay heed to Bhagawan Krishna’s words and continued his path towards “Adharma” – Only to be finally killed! Thus, the difference is very clear here – One followed “Dharma” and Bhagawan Krishna’s advice and emerged victorious, and the other rebelled against “Dharma” and Bhagawan Krishna’s advice and ultimately ended up in a big mess! Thus, we can witness clearly here that by merely being relations to Bhagawan, nothing is going to happen. At the end of the day, what is important is whether we’re following Bhagawan Krishna’s words of “Dharma” or not. 

Moving further thus, there is one more point that needs to be highlighted here, when it comes to Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna. We’ve spoken about the “Guru-Sishya” relationship between the two of them, isn’t it? The way in which Bhagawan Krishna approached Arjuna as a “Guru” requires a lot to be talked about. In fact, this is a gross difference between the “Yugas”. If we look at the “Tretha Yuga”, Bhagawan Rama (“Paramatma”) went along with Sage Vishwamitra (“Jeevatma”), obeyed each and every word of his and learnt a lot of important lessons. Here, we can see that the “Paramatma” is going in search of the “Jeevatma” for obtaining wisdom. However, if we now turn towards the “Dvaapara Yuga”, Bhagawan Krishna (“Paramatma”) goes along with Arjuna (“Jeevatma”) to teach him wisdom (Bhagawad Gita). Now we can see that the situation has turned upside down when we compare the two “Yugas”, isn’t it? During the “Dvaapara Yuga”, we can witness here that the “Paramatma” is coming down to the level of the “Jeevatma” to make him understand things. This is the way how things change with the passage of “Yugas”. 

If we’ve to consider the present “Kali Yuga”, the hard fact is that nobody is going to listen to anybody! 🙂 We would take this as a joke, but this is the truth of the “Kali Yuga”. Of course, Bhagawan hasn’t incarnated as yet and hence, we do not know as to how “Jeevatmas” like us would react when we see “Paramatma” in person! But forget the “Paramatma” – Are we ready to accept the words of our “Guru” and follow them in our lives? Many times, the answer is “No”! This is where we’ve to work on. If someone is advising us on the path of “Dharma”, we should be ready to pay heed to their words and implement them in our lives. It is for this reason that we’re having this blog titled “The Indian Dharma” – To highlight various points of “Dharma” that our ancestors and Bhagawan Himself have touched upon and followed themselves. Hence, we should use this as an opportunity to mend our ways and follow the path of “Dharma”. This is where, Bhagawan treats all “Jeevatmas” as “Svatantras” (Those who are given a free hand to take appropriate decisions for life). We are free to choose the path whatever we would wish to. Bhagawan doesn’t interfere in any of our decisions. If we follow the path of “Dharma” voluntarily, Bhagawan is always there to help us and handhold us to “Moksha”. However, if it is otherwise, we’ve to be prepared to face the music. Thus, the decision is completely in our hands! 

So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and let us wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the simultaneous incarnation of Bhagawan Krishna, along with the Paandavas and Kauravas. As the five Paandava brothers and the hundred Kaurava brothers take birth, it is precisely at the same time did Bhagawan Vishnu decided to incarnate as the divine son of Devaki and Vasudeva as part of the Yaadava clan. We’ve seen how Yadu had lost his opportunity to rule the kingdom of the Yaadavas, and Bhagawan Vishnu took it upon Himself to incarnate as Bhagawan Krishna to uplift the entire Yaadava community. At the same time, Bhagawan Krishna also played a pivotal role in the lives of the Paandava brothers, as we’ve witnessed that the Paandavas were cousins to Bhagawan Krishna. We’ve seen that Prutha (Kunthi Devi) and Vasudeva were sisters and thus, the relationship between Bhagawan Krishna and the Paandavas is visible for all of us to understand. However, in the last episode, we had asked an important question towards the end – Although we say that the Paandavas are cousins to Bhagawan Krishna, why was Bhagawan more inclined towards Arjuna than the other four brothers. Let us witness the answer to this question in today’s episode. 

If we’ve to trace back to the past a little bit, Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna are actually incarnations of “Narayana” and “Nara” who form the main deities of the divine Badrinatha Kshetra amidst the Himalayas. We can worship this Badrinatha Kshetra even today and it forms one amongst the 108 Divya Desas of Bhagawan Vishnu. The main deity of Badrinatha Kshetra is Bhagawan Narayana, and His closest disciple was none other than Nara (Meaning, a normal human being). Nara wanted to learn all the aspects of the Vedas, Upanishads, and the nuances of life, and with this, he wanted to be under Bhagawan Narayana directly. Bhagawan Narayana too accepted Nara as His own disciple and blessed Nara with all the requisite knowledge. It is this same “Nara-Narayana” combination that has incarnated here as Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna! This is why we witness the close nexus between the two. Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna share a “Guru-Sishya” relationship, more than being biological cousins. This is the reason why Bhagawan Krishna chose Arjuna amidst the battlefield to educate him on the Bhagawad Gita. 

Even otherwise, at various instances in the Mahabharata text, we’re going to witness how Bhagawan Krishna guided Arjuna whenever he faced hurdles, and it is important to also know that Arjuna followed Bhagawan Krishna’s advice word by word, without any blemish. This is also important isn’t it? Bhagawan can give all the advice, but it is upto us to follow whatever Bhagawan says, or reject it totally! Arjuna took it upon himself to make sure that he follows whatever Bhagawan Krishna asked him to do. If he had to fight the war, he was ready to fight the war, even though the enemy camp was full of his own relatives, including his own Guru. Dhronachaarya. This was Arjuna’s dedication towards Bhagawan Krishna. In fact, we’re going to witness a stage in the Mahabharata during the war wherein Bhagawan Krishna Himself declares to the world that life for Him would be extremely difficult if Arjuna wasn’t there with Him! If Bhagawan has to mention a “Jeevatma” and feel that His life had no meaning without the presence of that “Jeevatma”, we can witness how much of an impact that Arjuna made in Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation! Thus, this is the nexus between Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna, who were cousin brothers to each other! 

We might wonder here – Maybe Bhagawan Krishna was close to the Paandavas only because He was related to them! Perhaps, if we’re Bhagawan’s relatives in some way, Bhagawan would automatically become closely associated with us! Is this true? The answer is “No”! There is a classical example of being a rebel to Bhagawan, even though Bhagawan was his cousin! This example is none other than Sishupala! Readers should understand here that Sishupala was also Bhagawan Krishna’s cousin, but even then, Sishupala was a Raakshasa and he revolted against Bhagawan Krishna, only to be killed by Him! We’re going to witness this at a later stage. Thus, here’s a cousin who did not want to follow Bhagawan’s footsteps! We can thus understand here that just by merely being related to Bhagawan biologically, it is not a guarantee that one would be an ardent “Bhakta” towards Bhagawan! 

So for today, let us understand these two important points and let us wait till the next episode to continue the discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed a tragic and a shocking event in the life of the Paandava brothers wherein erstwhile King Paandu had passed away, owing to trying and getting into a union with his wife, Maadri Devi. On a rainy day when both King Paandu and Maadri Devi were roaming around amidst the dense forest, King Paandu was attracted towards Maadri Devi’s beauty and hence tried to get into a union with her. Although Maadri Devi tried stopping him and despite reminding him of the curse that he had obtained from Sage Kindama, King Paandu was in no mood to relent. As fate would have had it, King Paandu was immediately killed at the very moment he tried to get into a union with Maadri Devi. Shell-shocked by this, Maadri Devi cried aloud and with this, Kunthi Devi along with the five Paandava brothers rushed to the spot, only to find King Paandu dead! Unable to bare the guilt of “being responsible” for King Paandu’s death, Maadri Devi too finished off herself then and there, thus leaving the five children alone with Kunthi Devi. This was the first rude shock that the five children had in their lives, seeing their father’s demise at such a tender age. 

As this happened, the last rituals of King Paandu were performed by Yudishtra, the eldest of the five brothers, along with the assistance of Kunthi Devi and the others around. Months and years rolled by, and the five children along with Kunthi Devi continued to reside in the forest, away from the kingdom. However, as time progressed, the Maharishis in the forest felt that it is not going to be right for these young princes to be loitering around in the forest, and that, they should immediately go to Hastinapura kingdom, since they had the due right to be the successor of their father, King Paandu. Thus, paying heed to the Maharishis’ advice, the Paandavas (Three Kaunteyas and two Maadreyas) along with Kunthi Devi made their way to the Hastinapura kingdom. This is one side of the story. 

So we shall leave this story at this point and till now, readers should remember that we’ve been witnessing the family lineage of Puru. We’ve seen two important people as part of the “Chandra Vamsa” namely Yadu and Puru. All what we’ve seen till now with Paandu, Dhirdiraashtra, Paandavas, Duryodhana, etc. are part of the “Puru-Vamsa”. Now we’ve to witness what happened to Yadu, isn’t it? It should be remembered that Yadu should have ideally been the successor of his father, however, since Yadu wasn’t ready to donate his youthfulness to his father when he desired for it, his father denied Yadu the opportunity of becoming the next king. It was handed over to Puru, and from there, we witnessed the birth of King Shantanu, and the rest of them. Now, Yadu had children and these people were also called “Vrishnis” or “Yaadavas”. It is in this clan that Bhagawan Krishna incarnate, and this is the reason why Bhagawan Krishna has a divine name called “Yaadava”. In other words, Bhagawan Krishna is referred to as “Yaadava”, because he was born as part of the family lineage of Yadu. 

As we’ve witnessed here, even though the Yaadavas were having the right to rule the kingdom, they were denied and the entire clan was insulted. Thus, one of the important purposes of Bhagawan Krishna’s birth is to uplift the Yaadava clan and make them regain their lost respect and opportunity to rule. If we look at the Bhagawad Gita, at many places Arjuna would refer Bhagawan Krishna as “Vaarshneya”. This is because Bhagawan Krishna was born in the clan of the Vrishnis. Thus, “Vaarshneya” is also another divine name of Bhagawan Krishna. In turn, at many places in the Bhagawad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna would refer to Arjuna as “Kaunteya” or “Paartha”. This is because, Arjuna was the son of Kunthi Devi (Kauntheya), who is otherwise known as Prutha (Paartha). We’ve witnessed earlier as to why Kunthi Devi had these two names. 

Of course, apart from this important purpose of uplifting the Yaadava community and restoring their status, Bhagawan Krishna’s main purpose of incarnation was to restore and re-establish the “Dharma” in this world. It is for this reason Bhagawan Krishna moved very closely with the Paandavas and whenever the Paandavas were suffering in the hands of “Adharma”, Bhagawan Krishna was the first person to come and protect them. Thus, at this particular stage of the Mahabharata, precisely at the same time when the Paandavas and Duryodhana were born, Bhagawan Krishna too incarnated as the divine son of Devaki and Vasudeva. We’ve already seen in detail, the incarnation of Bhagawan Krishna during our “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” (Dashama Skandha) project, and hence, I’m not going into that detail again. Readers can go back to either our previous Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana or Shrimad Vishnu Puraana projects for references regarding Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation. 

It is also to be noted that Bhagawan Krishna and the Paandavas were cousins to each other, because of the brother-sister relationship between Vasudeva and Kunthi Devi. This is also one reason why Bhagawan Krishna and the Paandavas were very closely knit to each other. Also, we would have a doubt here as to why Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna specially had a unique bonding with each other. Readers should note that Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna share a peculiar relationship with each other and this can be seen at various stages in the Mahabharata text, not only during the Kurukshetra war. Of course, all of us know that Bhagawan Krishna was even ready to be the charioteer to Arjuna, and not to any other Paandava brothers! What is the nexus between these two? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we have been witnessing King Dhirdiraashtra and Paandu having children separately – One at Hastinapura and the other in the forest. As time progressed, Kunthi Devi used her “Mantra” route to start obtaining children. Meanwhile, Gaandhaari, who was blessed by Sage Veda-Vyaasa for a hundred children, also started carrying. Both the ladies became pregnant for their respective first children precisely at the same time. However, Yudishtra was born much earlier than Gaandhaari’s eldest son, Duryodhana. Gaandhaari’s pregnancy lasted for almost two years, and within this time, Kunthi had started carrying her second child as well! Frustrated by this, Gaandhaari “forced open” her stomach, only to find a ball of meat which fell on the floor from her uterus. Shocked thus, Gaandhaari requested Sage Vyaasa for a solution again, and according to his guidance, the meat ball was split into a hundred pieces, each piece put into individual pots filled with ghee. As time progressed, each pot burst into pieces and the babies were born out of them. Thus, Gaandhaari had hundred babies from the hundred pots that were kept there. The eldest son of Gaandhaari was none other than Duryodhana. By the time Duryodhana was born, precisely on the same day, Bheemasena took birth to Kunthi Devi, who was her second son after Yudishtra. 

Thus, after this day wherein Duryodhana and Bheemasena were born, Gaandhaari was obtaining a baby every day from the pots for the next hundred days. However, Kunthi Devi had her third child, Arjuna only after one more year. Thus, for Kunthi Devi, Yudishtra was born first. Subsequently after one year, Bheemasena was born. Again, subsequently after one more year, Arjuna was born. Thus, these three children took birth in the forest for erstwhile King Paandu and Kunthi Devi, and the hundred children took birth at Hastinapura for King Dhirdiraashtra and Gaandhaari. Meanwhile, as Kunthi Devi was happy with the three children that she had, Paandu was wanting to have a fourth child. However, Kunthi Devi refused to have more than three children as she thought that it might create problems when the fourth child arrives. However, Maadri Devi, Paandu’s another wife also wanted to have children with Paandu. For this, both Kunthi Devi and Paandu were ready, and with Kunthi Devi’s help, Maadri Devi prayed towards the “Ashwini Devatas” for obtaining children. As a result of her prayers, Maadri Devi had twin children by names “Nakula” and “Sahadeva”. 

Thus, the five Paandava brothers took birth, namely, Yudishtra, Bheemasena, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Similarly, the Kaurava brothers, starting from Duryodhana and Duchhaasana were born at Hastinapura and with this, days, months and years rolled by. The children were growing up fast. However, one day, as Paandu and Maadri Devi were together in the forest, it started to rain heavily. As it was raining, both of them got drenched, and with this, Paandu got carried away by Maadri Devi’s physical beauty. Thus, as fate would have had it, Paandu tried to get into a union with Maadri Devi, even though she tried stopping him from doing that. Maadri Devi tried to remind King Paandu of the curse that he had obtained from Sage Kindama and that, he had the responsibility to bring up the five children. However, Paandu turned deaf ears to whatever Maadri Devi tried to say. As Paandu entered into a union with Maadri Devi, the curse worked and showed its true colour! King Paandu was killed then and there and with this, Sage Kindama’s curse came true! 

Shocked by what had happened, Kunthi Devi rushed to the spot and however, it was too late by then! Meanwhile, Maadri Devi also confessed to Kunthi Devi that she had tried her best to stop him from getting close to her, but she failed in her attempt! Fate had the last laugh! Highly dejected by this, Maadri Devi too decided to breathe her last, along with her late husband, Paandu, and thus, both of them attained the “Svarga Lokha” together. Now it was upto Kunthi Devi to take care of the five children. The responsibility was not an ordinary one for Kunthi Devi. She had a huge challenge in front of her! So for today, let us understand upto this particular point, and in the next episode we shall witness what happened to the five Paandava brothers and Kunthi Devi, post Paandu’s demise! Stay tuned! 🙂