The Indian Dharma

• 

The previous episode marked an important event in the entire Mahabharata text – The divine incarnation of Sage Veda-Vyaasa. As we’ve witnessed yesterday, Sage Veda-Vyaasa was born to Sage Paraashara and Satyavati in an unconventional manner, wherein Sage Paraashara involved in a union with Satyavati with the help of his divine power of penance. With this, Satyavati too did not lose her virginity, even though she gave birth to a child. This child that was born out of this union was a great person with an extreme involvement in the pursuit of Brahman. Immediately after Sage Vyaasa was born, he left his mother with an assurance that he would appear in front of her at any time whenever she wanted his help or intervention. Sage Paraashara on his part blessed Satyavati with virginity again and made her ready to get married to someone before he left. Now since this child was black in color (“Krishna”) and was born in an island (“Dveepa”), he obtained the name “Krishna-Dvaipaayana”. Sage Veda-Vyaasa grew up and he was the only person who was instrumental in segregating the complex Vedas text into the four different categories – Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana. Also, Sage Veda-Vyaasa was solely instrumental for the Mahabharata text to come up, which is even today revered and respected to be the “Fifth Veda” along with the four others. Thus, the contribution of Sage Vyaasa to our Sanaatana Dharma is enormous and he is easily regarded as one of the great “stalwarts”! 

Now coming back to the events that conspired after Satyavati was left alone by Sage Paraashara and Sage Veda-Vyaasa – As per Sage Paraashara’s blessing, Satyavati again gets married. She gets married to King Shantanu. Now the question would arise – Who is this King Shantanu? The answer was that, he was born as part of the “Chandra-Vamsa”, amidst great kings who came as part of that lineage. Now the next question arises – What is this “Chandra-Vamsa”? There is a huge narration of the “Chandra-Vamsa ” here, wherein it all begins from Sage Shukraachaarya. Subsequent to Sage Shukraachaarya came Yayaati. This Yayaati has two wives by names Devayani and Sharmishta. Subsequently, Dushyanata was born as part of the “Chandra-Vamsa”. Bharata was born as a son to Dushyanta. Bharata in turn had a son by name Kuru. Kuru had a son in turn by name Deva. It is to this Deva that Shantanu was born. King Shantanu in turn had a son by name Bhisha. It is to this same Shantanu did Vichitraveerya and Chitraangatha take birth. These people in turn had sons by name Paandu and Dhirdiraashtra. It is to this Dhirdirasshtra that Duryodhana and his hundred brothers were born. Subsequently Paandu had five sons inclusive of Yudishtra and Co. This is how the “Chandra-Vamsa” took shape. 

Thus, we’re witnessing Satyavati getting married to King Shantanu, who is part of this “Chandra-Vamsa”. But we’ve witnessed that King Shantanu’s son is Bhishmaachaarya. But did Bhishmaachaarya take birth out of this marriage? The answer is “No”! King Shantanu’s other wife is none other than Mother Ganga Devi (River Ganges). It is to King Shantanu and Mother Ganga Devi did Bhishmaachaarya take birth. This is why Bhishmaachaarya is also referred to as “Gaangeya”. This means, “Son of Mother Ganga Devi”. Satyavati’s marriage with King Shantanu produced the two sons of Vichitraveerya and Chitraangata. Readers should be very careful in remembering this family lineage here. It is to be remembered that it is to this same Satyavati, Sage Vyaasa was born. That was one side of the story which we witnessed yesterday. Now, after Sage Paraashara blesses Satyavati with virginity again, she gets married to King Shantanu and in turn has two sons namely Vichitraveerya and Chitraangata. 

As this goes on in one end, there is another sub-story to this – There was a great Sage by name “Aani-Maandavya”. Once upon a time Yama-Dharma-Raja commits a mistake to Sage Aani-Maandavaya and gets cursed that he would go and take birth in the world and experience all the trials and tribulations that a human being would experience in the “Manushya Lokha”. This person who took birth because of Sage Aani-Maandavya’s curse is none other than the great Vidura. Thus, we can see here that Vidura is a direct incarnation of “Yama-Dharma-Raja” and is a complete embodiment of “Dharma”. We’re going to witness in due course how Vidura is going to play a very important role in the life of the Paandavas and how he is going to be their “savior” at critical junctures. 

So for today, let us understand till this point, and we shall witness in the next episode as to who else was born in this world as whom! Stay tuned for the important discussion! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had continued with Sage Vaishampayana’s narrative on how King Upari-Chara-Vasu had two children that were born out of a fish accidentally. One of the children from this was Satyavati. This Satyavati grew into a beautiful woman and eventually as she was being brought up amidst a fisherman group, Sage Paraashara spots her. As Sage Paraashara once wanted to cross over the River Yamuna, Satyavati was incidentally the person who drove the boat for him. As both of them were in the middle of the river, Sage Paraashara expressed his desire to have a son with her. Upon hearing this, Satyavati was shell-shocked! Although she did not negate Sage Paraashara’s request, she expressed her fear and concern regarding the same. However, Sage Paraashara consoled and convinced her by creating a conducive situation with his enormous “Yoga-Balam” for them to get together. Also, Sage Paraashara assured her that with this child’s birth, she wouldn’t be losing her virginity and this son would not be living with her at all. He’s going to be a great sage and is about to make a great contribution to this world in terms of “Dharma”. Moreover, if Satyavati wants to meet him anytime, he would appear in front of her then and there! 

After this assurance from Sage Paraashara, Satyavati was convinced and both of them get together. Unlike ordinary children taking ten months to be born, this child was born immediately once they got together. All this happened in the middle of the River Yamuna, amidst an island that was created by Sage Paraashara with his “Yoga-Balam”. This child was black in color when it was born, and this is why it obtained the name called “Krishna-Dvaipaayana”. We should remember that “Krishna” means “Black”. Moreover, since the child was born beneath the “Badri” tree, the child was also called “Baadaraayana”. As the child was born, right from the first minute he was interested only in searching for the ultimate “Brahman”. He was not into any worldly activities. In fact, he did not even know of anything around him as he slipped into deep “Tapas” almost immediately after taking birth. 

However, upon seeing all this, Satyavati did not understand anything. We should remember here that she was born amidst a group of fishermen, and she did not have even an iota of spiritual knowledge that Sage Paraashara had. As the child was born, Sage Paraashara blessed Satyavati with virginity again, and with this he left. As Sage Paraashara left, this child talks to his mother thus, “Oh Mother! Please do not mistake me for what I’m going to tell you now – I cannot live with you because I’m completely into “Tapas”. However, if you want my help at some point in time, you can feel free to call me anytime. I shall appear in front of you immediately when you call out for me! Please do not feel bad that I’m not with you. I’m always with you in an invisible form!” Assuring Satyavati thus, the child leaves her and with this, Satyavati also returns home as if nothing had happened. 

This child, which obtained the names “Krishna-Dvaipaayana” and “Bodaraayana” is none other than Sage Veda-Vyaasa. Thus till this point, we’ve witnessed how Sage Vyaasa incarnated. We’ve seen in our first episode itself that Sage Vyaasa is also considered to be one of the divine incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu Himself. This is why we chant the sloka as “Vyaasaaya vishnuroopaaya vyaasa roopaaya vishnave”! Thus, Sage Vyaasa was born and as he left Satyavati, he was instrumental in the birth of Sage Shukaachaarya, but that happened much later. Now Sage Vyaasa went completely into the “Yoga-Nishta” and with this, he obtained divine powers and knowledge. With this, Sage Vyaasa took the Vedas text and segregated it into the four different categories – The “Rig Veda”, “Yajur Veda”, “Saama Veda”, and “Atharvana Veda”. Since Sage Vyaasa was instrumental in segregating the Vedas and simplifying its complex content, he started to be revered and respected all over the world as “Sage Veda-Vyaasa”. 

Thus, today we’ve witnessed the interesting episode of Sage Veda-Vyaasa’s divine incarnation. Later on, this same Sage Vyaasa was completely instrumental in authoring the great Mahabharata text, which we’re currently witnessing. This Mahabhaarata text is the extract and essence of all the Vedas put together, and this is why it is referred to as the fifth Veda, apart from the already witnessed four Vedas. So for today, let us understand upto this point of Sage Veda-Vyaasa’s incarnation, and in the next episode, we shall witness what were the series of events that happened next! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had commenced Sage Vaishampayana’s detailed accord on the Mahabharata right from the birth of King Upari-Chara-Vasu. We had witnessed how this King Upari-Chara-Vasu was noble in nature, and had obtained enormous boons from Indra himself. Once upon a time, King Upari-Chara-Vasu had undertaken a huge penance with the aim of attaining a good position in the Indra-Lokha. However, Indra was not ready to grant such a thing to King Upari-Chara-Vasu. Instead, Indra gave him the option of an equivalent position in this world itself as a normal human being, wherein he would be in-charge of ensuring whether everything in this world is happening as per the principles of “Dharma”. King Upari-Chara-Vasu too did not argue much with Indra and accepted this deal. Subsequently, once when King Upar-Chara-Vasu was roaming around in a thick forest, he suddenly had the feeling of “Kaama” (Desire) within him. This “Kaama” feeling let out the energy that is required for child birth. Since his wife was not in his vicinity at that time, he transferred that energy into a bird, with an instruction that this bird should carry and deposit this energy into his wife’s womb, so that a child would take birth. 

However, the bird accidentally ended up transferring this energy into a fish. Subsequently, the fish had to bear King Upari-Chara-Vasu’s child, and with that, two children were born – One boy and one girl. Since they were born to a fish, the girl’s name was Matsya-Gandhi. Also since these children were born to a fish, the smell of fish was very strong in both of their bodies. Both these children were being brought up amidst the fisherman community, not knowing that these children were actually those of King Upari-Chara-Vasu. As seen yesterday, this fish had a name, Adrika. This fish was not an ordinary one. It was one of the “Apsaras women” who had taken birth as a fish. Because of some wrongdoing in the past, she had accumulated some curse from some sage, and because of this, she was living in that pond as a fish. Once these two children were born, this Adrika was freed from the curse and left this physical body of the fish. 

Thus, this girl child that was born out of the fish was named as “Matsya-Gandhi”, however, her original name was “Satyavati”. This Satyavati was a beautiful woman and since she was growing amidst fishermen, her main job was to ferry a boat from one bank of River Yamuna to the other bank on the other side of the river. This was going on everyday as per the routine, and one fine day, Sage Paraashara came by that way. He wanted to cross the River Yamuna and was looking for a boat to do so. Finally his eyes fell on this particular boat where Satyavati was sitting. He approached Satyavati and requested her help to cross the river with her boat. Satyavati agreed and Sage Paraashara got on to the boat. 

As the boat was travelling amidst the river, Sage Paraashara was looking at Satyavati and was getting immersed in her beauty. He immediately expresses his desire to her thus, “Oh Satyavati! I’m none other than the great Sage Paraashara. Today I’m seeing you and I’m falling in love with you. We have an important task to do together – We should get together and have a son who would be a great sage and the world would revere and respect him for something great that he is going to accomplish!” Upon hearing this, Satyavati was shocked! She did not know how to react! Amidst the River Yamuna, if someone is coming and asking such a question and that too so directly – How can a woman feel comfortable? Satyavati too was in this state of shock. On one hand, Sage Paraashara is an extremely powerful person and if she negates his proposal, she might end up in a huge trouble. On the other hand, she did not know how to take this matter to her parents, and what would be their reaction. However, she composed herself within a couple of minutes and replied back to Sage Paraashara thus, “Oh great Sage! I revere and respect your words. However, we’re amidst a river and there are people (Sages) on either side of the banks. What if they see us together? Won’t that be an insult to you? Afterall I’m a fisherwoman, whereas you are a great Sage. How will the world appreciate our combination?” 

As Satyavati expresses her concern thus, Sage Paraasharata understood her fear. Immediately with his “Yoga-Bala” (Power of Penance) he makes everything around them to be blurred and in such a way that nobody would be able to see their union. With that, everything gets blurred immediately! However, Satyavati was still not satisfied. She replies thus, “Oh Sage! It is fine that all things around us have become blurred! However, we’re in between the fast-flowing Yamuna River. How will we be able to get together amidst the water? For that too, Sage Paraashara had an answer – He immediately creates an island in between the river and both of them walk into it. This island was completely secluded and was beautifully created by Sage Paraashara’s “Yoga-Bala” again. Even after this, Satyavati’s concerns did not vanish completely. She asks again, “Oh Sage! Now we’re getting together. That’s fine. After this, you would leave me then and there. What would happen to my life henceforth? How will I take care of this child all by myself? Moreover, what would happen to my marriage when I attain that particular age? Who will marry me if anyone comes to know that I’m already a mother of a child?” 

Sage Paraashara had an answer for this as well. He replies thus, “Oh Satyavati! Please do not worry about this! Even if you get pregnant and bear a child, your virginity would not go away. This is not an ordinary child that you’re going to bear now. This child is extremely divine in nature. Moreover, remember one thing very clearly – The moment this child is born, he is going to leave you immediately. He’s not going to reside with you. However, he would appear in front of you whenever you think of him and whenever you need some help. So, you don’t need to worry!” 

With this reply from Sage Paraashara, Satyavati was convinced and they get together to obtain a child. Now who is this child that we’re talking about all this while? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Janame-Jaya continuing to express his wish to listen to the entire Mahabharata story in detail from Sage Vaishampayana. As the great Sage briefed King Janame-Jaya of what had happened earlier to his ancestors, King Janame-Jaya was moved to tears and along with it, his interest also grew multi-fold to listen to all the details pertaining to the Mahabharata. As he expressed his wish thus, Sage Vaishampayana was more than happy to start his detailed narration. In fact, Sage Vaishampayana was waiting for this moment to detail the entire Mahabharata text to him. However, since King Janame-Jaya was a noble king, he was extremely focused on his “Raaja-Dharma”, and eventually did not have time to listen to stories. Now that Sage Vaishampayana had triggered the interest in him, King Janame-Jaya was more than ready to listen to the entire accord. As Sage Vaishampayana asked King Janame-Jaya to select one of the four “Purusha-Arthas” (“Dharma”, “Artha”, “Kaama” and “Moksha”) that he liked in the Mahabharata briefing, King Janame-Jaya replies that he is not interested in all of these. All he wants is to keep listening to the Mahabharata text, detail after detail from Sage Vaishampayana. 

With this, both King Janame-Jaya and Sage Vaishampayana get ready for the marathon! King Janame-Jaya is seated on the floor as Sage Vaishampayana is seated on the “Aasana” (Seat). As Sage Vaishampayana was about to start, he still had a doubt within himself whether King Janame-Jaya would have the patience to listen to the marathon accord of 1.5 Lakh slokas. He again quips King Janame-Jaya thus, “Oh Janame-Jaya! I was just wondering whether you would be able to sit continuously for a long time without a break to listen to what I’m going to tell you. In the middle you might feel like having a break to consume food, use the washroom, etc. However, I’m a sage and I can control my physical body needs to a large extent and I wouldn’t have any problem of that sorts. You’re a normal human being. How’re you going to manage this?” As Sage Vaishampayana asks thus, King Janame-Jaya replies, “Oh Sage! I’m indeed extremely happy and fortunate to have you in my courtroom. More than just having you, I’m more fortunate to hear the “Hari-Katha” from you. If the substance that you’re narrating is about Bhagawan, what is going to induce me from getting up from my seat? I’m never going to get up for anything throughout the entire duration of the narration. You may proceed without any further delay, as I’m eager to listen to your divine words about Bhagawan Krishna!”

As King Janame-Jaya asserts thus, Sage Vaishampayana is going to commence the gigantic narrative. Till now we’re in the “Upa-Parva” called “Hamsa-Avatarana Parva” inside the “Aadi Parva”, which is the main “Parva”. Here, we’re in the process of witnessing all those people who took birth as part of the great Hastinapura. It all starts from King Uparicharavasu. King Uparicharavasu was the ancestor of King Dhirdiraashtra and even of Sage Veda-Vyaasa. It is only after King Uparicharavasu comes all the other people including Sage Vyaasa. Only after the incarnation of Sage Vyaasa we’re going to have Paandu, Dhirdiraashtra, and the rest of them, isn’t it? Thus, King Uparicharavasu had obtained enormous amounts of boons from Indra and the Devas. King Uparicharavasu had a unique feature – His chariot would never anchor on the ground. It would always travel an inch above the ground, which means that it would literally float in the air and fly in the air while moving. This is why he had the name “Upari-Chara-Vasu”. His original name was “Vasu”, but since his chariot was always floating in the air (Upari-Chara), he obtained the name “Uparicharavasu”. 

This King Uparichara-Vasu wanted to somehow obtain a great position in the “Indra-Lokha” and hence, he undertook a great penance. However, Indra was not convinced. We’ve already witnessed how Indra is always jealous and protective of his wealth and position. He immediately appeared in front of King Uparichara-Vasu and explained to him thus, “Oh great king! I understand your intentions, but it is not feasible for you to attain the Indra-Lokha at the moment. As I’m ruling the Deva-Lokha for so many years now, it would create unwanted conflict between you and me. Hence, you continue ruling the Bhoo-Lokha like how you’re doing today, and ensure that all the good and auspicious things keep happening in your kingdom. With this, I’m also granting you a lot of wealth and powers, with which you can be happy and content in this Bhoo-Lokha itself!” 

Accepting Indra’s deal thus, King Uparicharavasu is continuing to rule his kingdom with all the “Dharma” in place. As he was going around his kingdom to check whether everything is happening according to the “Dharma”, he spotted a beautiful woman and eventually ended up marrying her. Her name was Girika. He should have ideally had children with his wife, isn’t it? But that did not happen. Once upon a time, when King Uparicharavasu was roaming amidst a forest, he suddenly had the feeling of “Kaama”, and with this, he transferred his feelings into a bird that was flying above him. He instructed the bird to somehow transfer this energy into his wife, Girika, so that they would be able to have a child. However, on the contrary, the bird transfers this energy to a fish amidst a lake. This fish was called “Adrika”. As the fish obtained this energy from King Uparicharavasu, it started to bare his child, rather than his wife becoming pregnant. There was a child that was born out of this, and it was called “Matsya-Gandhi”. Since it was born out of a fish, and since it was with a human form, it was called so. Also, since it was born to a fish, it always had the smell of a fish in it! King Uparicharavasu did not know of all this, as the bird accidentally transferred his energy to the fish, isn’t it? So for today, let us understand upto this point, and we shall continue this discussion in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Sage Vaishampayana gives the perfect “Elevator Pitch” to King Janame-Jaya for the launch of the great Mahabharata narration. With this, Sage Vaishampayana triggered the interest in King Janame-Jaya to listen to more of the Mahabharata, and induced many “unanswered” questions in his mind. As King Janame-Jaya was given the suspense in this way, he came up with a multitude of questions to Sage Vaishampayana, which in turn prompted Sage Vaishampayana to commence the detailed narrative. As this happens, Sage Vaishampayana commences the narrative, completes the entire one-lakh-odd slokas of the Mahabharata that covers four important aspects of our Sanaatana Dharma – “Dharma”, “Artha”, “Kaama” and “Moksha”. After the entire narration is over, Sage Vaishampayana asks King Janame Jaya thus, “Oh Janame-Jaya! As you wished, I have narrated the entire “Charitra” for you. Now I guess you would have a fair bit of understanding of the four pillars of our Sanaatana Dharma. Now please tell me – Out of these four pillars, which is the one that you like the most? Given an option, which pillar would you adopt for your life as a king?” 

As Sage Vaishampayana asks thus, King Janame-Jaya replies, “Oh Sage Vaishampayana! To answer your question frankly, I did not like any of the four pillars! I’m not in agreement with any of them!” As Sage Vaishampayana hears thus, he’s surprised! He asks again, “Oh Janame-Jaya! What do you mean by saying that you’re not in sync with any of the four pillars? Are you going to find a fifth pillar?” King Janame-Jaya replies thus, “Oh Sage! I’m not going to find a fifth pillar after all what you’ve said! In fact, I’m so incompetent for all that. All what I meant to say here is that, I was very impressed with the way you narrated the entire Mahabharata in detail. You moved me into tears and a state of bliss! If given an opportunity, I would keep listening to you all day, all year and all throughout my lifetime! I’m not interested in all these “Dharma”, “Artha”, “Kaama” and “Moksha”. I’m only interested in what you’re saying. So please continue with this narration further and I want to keep listening to your divine words!” 

Such was the devotion that King Janame-Jaya exhibited to Sage Vaishampayana. From this, one important aspect that we should learn here is the amount of “Guru-Bhakti” that King Janame-Jaya exhibited. Only if one has such a devotion and unconditional surrender to the “Guru” (The Spiritual Master), will he / she be able to obtain the divine knowledge that is required to attain “Moksha”. King Janame-Jaya is an epitome of this aspect of our Sanaatana Dharma that emphasizes on the “Guru-Bhakti”. As Sage Vaishampayana was narrating the entire text, King Janame-Jaya didn’t move here or there, even for an inch! He was totally devoted to listening to what Sage Vaishampayana was explaining, and this concentration towards whatever we’re learning is extremely important. One of the main reasons why many of us aren’t really successful in learning something important is that we neither have the concentration nor the patience to learn and understand things. Both these qualities are extremely important if spiritual learning should happen. Some aspects in our Sanaatana Dharma would make us uncomfortable and might be difficult to understand and comprehend. This is because, we do not have that prior experience in our present lifetime to understand and relate these things. However, having said that, it doesn’t mean that we would discard those important principles. This is the reason why our ancestors have given all these “tough” principles of life in the form of stories. This would make us understand and comprehend these things in a much easier way.

One other reason here is that, these principles are also in the form of complex Sanskrit “Shabdhas” and “Dhaatus”, which might be extremely difficult for us to understand and learn. In today’s scenario, we’ve literally forgotten our ancient language called “Sanskrit”, in which, fortunately or unfortunately all our Sanaatana Dharma literature is written in – Be it Vedas, Upanishads, Puraanas, and even the Ithihaasas of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Hence, there is a huge “language barrier” too that prevents us from learning and understanding these texts. This is why I always keep insisting to all our readers to take a step forward towards learning the Sanskrit language. It is very heartening to see today that many people are taking that initiative, but more and more people should chip in. Of course, I can explain many things through English, but if we know Sanskrit, it is a different ball-game altogether! We would be able to understand with even more clarity! Hence, let us use whatever opportunity we get today, to enrich our knowledge in Sanskrit, which in turn would be extremely useful in understanding our Sanaatana Dharma literature in an even better way. 

So for today, let us understand this important point of King Janame-Jaya’s “Guru Bhakti” towards Sage Vaishampayana and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode, wherein Sage Vaishampayana is all set to commence the bigger narrative of the Mahabharata text! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the crucial role played by Bhagawan Krishna in bringing all those people following “Adharma” to book. None of them were spared on either camps, except the five Paandava brothers. Each and every individual of the 18-Akshauhini-strong army had to bite the dust at the end of the eighteenth day of the war. As Sage Vaishampaayana narrates all of these with a “chilling” effect, King Janame-Jaya was moved to tears. Till that point, he did not know all of what had happened in the past, and he was totally unaware of Bhagawan Krishna’s important role in his family lineage. Thus, with the divine “Anugraha” of Bhagawan Krishna, the Paandava brothers succeeded King Dhirdiraashtra to the throne of Hastinapura, ruled the kingdom as per the “Dharma” for many further years, and finally attained the highest “Moksha” with the divine “Anugraha” of Bhagawan Krishna. With this accord, Sage Vaishampaayana stops his narration and is about to take leave from King Janame-Jaya’s place. He had narrated the entire story within just 30 slokas! 

This “brief narration” triggered King Janame-Jaya’s curiosity even more. He replies to Sage Vaishampayana thus, “Oh Sage! I was thinking that you would give me a detailed accord with more than a lakh slokas about what happened to all my ancestors! However, you’ve finished the entire story within just 30 slokas! With this, there is a huge trigger within myself with so many doubts and queries. Therefore, I request you to elaborate the entire story in such a way that all my queries are answered! Oh Sage! I’m not satisfied with listening to this brief. I want to hear more!”

“Itham shata sahasraamhi slokaanaam punya karmanaam!

Satyavatyaatmanatheeneha vyaakhyaatam amitoujasaa!!”

As King Janame-Jaya expresses his wish thus, Sage Vaishampayana was more than happy to continue his accord in a great elaboration. He replies to King Janame-Jaya thus, “Oh Janame-Jaya! I was actually waiting for you to come up to me with this request. Is it going to be a burden for me to narrate the entire “Charitra” that has been authored by Sage Veda-Vyaasa? It is indeed a pleasure for me to do so! I was just thinking whether you would have the liking and the time to listen to the elaborate narration or not!”

In fact, there is a background story to this – When Sage Vaishampayana approached King Janame-Jaya earlier to enlighten him about his past, King Janame-Jaya was not ready to sit and listen to all this. He was a great king and with that, came a lot of responsibilities too. King Janame-Jaya was extremely busy with his roles as a king and did not have time for all this. He kept postponing this for a while now. However, Sage Vaishampayana was very smart. He requested King Janame-Jaya multiple times to listen to atleast one “Parva”, or atleast one “Upa-Parva” or atleast one “Adhyaaya”. To all these requests, King Janame-Jaya wasn’t ready to budge. However, when Sage Vaishampayana requested him to listen to just one sloka, he acceded. Sage Vaishampayana explains thus, “Oh King Janame-Jaya! Suyodhana and Dashaanana, although they knew of their enemy’s valor and power in war, they still came to fight each other!” With this, the sloka came to an end! 

Upon hearing this, even we’re unable to understand anything, isn’t it? King Janame-Jaya too had the same feeling! Many questions arose in his mind – Who is this “Suyodhana”? Who is this “Dashaanana”? Why did both of them come to loggerheads? Suyodhana was none other than Duryodhana. When Arjuna and the Paandavas were living in the “Viraata-Nagara”, Duryodhana witnessed Arjuna’s enormous powers in warfare. He was slightly taken aback by that. However, Duryodhana’s ego pushed him to go for an all-out war against Arjuna and the Paandavas at Kurukshetra, isn’t it? Similar is the case with “Dashaanana”, who was none other than Ravana. Even though Hanuman had come to Lanka and burnt down the entire city, Ravana still did not relent from his stance of submitting Mother Sita back to Bhagawan Rama, isn’t it? Even though Ravana knew that one Hanuman was enough to destroy a thousand Ravanas like himself, he did not relent and still fought a war with Bhagawan Rama, isn’t it? We’ve seen this in our earlier Ramayana project. Thus, Sage Vaishampayana’s message here was that both “Suyaanana ” and “Dashaanana ” were the greatest fools on this earth! Saying thus, Sage Vaishampayana asked King Janame-Jaya whether he can leave! 

As Sage Vaishampayana was about to leave, King Janame-Jaya was filled with questions in his mind! He wanted answers! This is where Sage Vaishampayana was very smart! He triggered King Janame-Jaya’s interest with just that one sloka, within just 5 seconds! How long is it going to take to chant one sloka? Maximum 10 seconds maybe? This is what we call in today’s management terms as “Elevator Pitch”. In other words, we should be able to convince and impress an investor within just five to ten seconds while going on an elevator that we’ve got a business plan that is fundable! Similarly here too, Sage Vaishampayana employs an “Elevator Pitch” to King Janame-Jaya to impress them that he should spend time listening to the Mahabharata story! With this, Sage Vaishampayana succeeded in triggering King Janame-Jaya’s interest, and from now onwards, the Mahabharata narration in a great detail is about to start! 

So for today, let us leave it at this point, and we shall continue this discussion forward in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of how the Paandavas were humiliated more and more by Duryodhana and Co. They were sent to the forest as part of the “Agnyaata-Vaasam” for a period of twelve years. During their thirteenth year when the Paandavas finished it and were residing at Viraata-Nagara, Duryodhana claimed to have “spotted” them and with this, as per the previous agreement, they had to go on another twelve years of “Agnyaata-Vaasam” to the forest. This was grossly protested from all corners and the enmity started rising. Even though many tried to convince Duryodhana that he was going on a wrong path, he was not ready to relent. He was firm that Yudishtra should not become the ruler of Hastinapura forever, and the kingdom would solely be under Duryodhana’s control. Uncle Sahuni was motivating Duryodhana to up his ante against the Paandavas every time. As the enmity breached the threshold levels, it was just about time that a war broke out between the two camps. Messengers were sent from either side to doze off the tension, as a “last minute” attempt. However, this too did not work. With the public insult meted out to Bhagawan Krishna Himself by Duryodhana, all the war clouds came together! Bhagawan Krishna too decided that enough and more of opportunities were given to Duryodhana and Co., but they never mended their ways towards “Dharma”. So the only option that was left was the war, and with this, Bhagawan Krishna ensured that not even a single person in the Kaurava camp survived after the eighteen-day event. 

The destruction in the war and its aftermath was so severe that even in the Paandava camp, except for the five Paandava brothers, nobody was left over! Even the Upa-Paandavas had to die at the end of the war, courtesy, Ashwathhaama’s “unethical war tactics”, which we’re going to witness later. After all this got over, Bhagawan Krishna ensured that the entire aspect of “Adharma” in this world came to an end! It was a ghastly end to a great kingdom, which had to bite the dust, courtesy, Duryodhana’s arrogance and jealousy. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna ensured that he “enacted” this war perfectly with the help of the Paandava brothers without taking even a single weapon in hand. This is a very important point that needs to be noted by readers here – During the war, Bhagawan Krishna did not take out even a sword to fight. In fact, He never even fought with a single person on the battlefield. Yet, with His ever-sharp intellect, He made sure that the Paandavas danced to His whims and fancies and got the job done! 

Thus, during His childhood, Bhagawan Krishna made sure that He Himself killed all the Raakshasas who came to attack and kill Him at Gokula and Mathura. We’ve witnessed all these during our previous Shri Vishnu Puraanaa and Bhaagawatha Puraana projects. Right from Poothana to Kesi, Bhagawan Krishna destroyed all the Raakshasas who came to kill him at Gokula. Subsequently at Mathura, Bhagawan Krishna killed Kamsa and Chaanura. Eventually during His later years of incarnation, Bhagawan Krishna killed Sishupaala too. He was also instrumental in Bheemasena killing Jaraasantha and the other allied Raakshasas. Thus we can see here that Bhagawan Krishna’s entire purpose of incarnation was to complete destroy “Adharma” which had manifested in various forms – One in the form of the Raakshasas themselves, and mainly the other form in which normal people like Duryodhana who followed the path of “Adharma”. Duryodhana was not a Raakshasa by any means, but still he bore the brunt because of his “Adharmic” approach. Same was the case with the others like Karna, Ducchaasana, Sahuni, etc. 

If such is the case with Duryodhana and Co., seniors like Bhishmaachaarya, Guru Dhronaachaarya, etc. were also not spared either! This is because they were aiding the “Adharma” to take place by compromising on the “Dharma”. Even though Bhishmaachaarya knew that Bhagawan Krishna is a divine incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu and that, He would always stand by the “Dharma”, the “Maya” (Illusion) took over and this made Bhishmaachaarya take a stance towards Duryodhana and King Dhiridiraashtra, although it was a known fact that these people were talking the path of “Adharma”. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna had no other option but to bring all these people to book, even though they were very senior and learned people! 

So for today, let us understand and appreciate Bhagawan Krishna’s divine role in this Mahabharata story as Sage Vaishampayana narrates these chilling events to King Janame-Jaya. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vaishampayana briefing King Janame-Jaya as to how the Paandava brothers had to bear insult after insult, humiliation after humiliation under the wretched hands of Duryodhana and Co. at Hastinapura. Courtesy Vidura and Bhagawan Krishna, the Paandavas were afloat and alive. We’ve witnessed how the Paandavas were planned to be killed under the “Laaksha Griham” at Vaaranavata. Subsequently as they escaped that trap, Duryodhana fumed in anger and frustration and with the assistance of Sahuni, he arranged a game of “Gambling”. Duryodhana took this step because he knew that no other “death traps” can kill the Paandavas and the only way to win over them is through “smartness” and “perverted intelligence”. Even though gambling is against “Raaja-Dharma”, King Dhirdiraashtra had no option but to accede to it, owing to Duryodhana’s constant pressure. During the game, Yudishtra had to lose everything that he had, including wife Draupati. Subsequently, Draupati was dragged to the courtroom by Duchhaasana, Duryodhana’s brother and was insulted in public by unstripping her saree. Thanks to the timely intervention of Bhagawan Krishna’s “invisible divine hands”, Draupati was saved from further insult. 

This made the Paandavas fume with anger. Duryodhana’s trap and wicked plan was out in the open. What started as a “friendly” game, ended up in a disaster of a humongous sort! Upon Draupati being insulted, the Paandavas take a firm pledge to avenge this in some way or the other. Bheemasena was fuming in anger and took a pledge that he would amputate Ducchaasana’s hands that unstripped Draupati’s saree and would drink his blood to avenge the insult! The entire Hastinapura courtroom was shell-shocked with Bheemasena’s pledge! King Dhirdiraashtra was shaking with fear! Bhismachaarya and Guru Dhronaachaarya were beyond words! The downfall of Hastinapura had begun! However, if there was one person who never realized the dire consequences for what has conspired, it was none other than Duryodhana! He stuck to his plans of sending the Paandavas away to the forest on an “Agnyaata-Vaasam” mode for twelve years. During this period, the enmity increased further. As the Paandavas were staying at the “Viraata-Desha” during the thirteenth year, the feud took a huge giant leap. To dose this feud, several messengers from both sides tried their best. Sanjaya came from King Dhirdiraashtra’s side to make truce with the Paandavas. Bhagawan Krishna Himself went as a messenger to make truce with the Karuavas. But at the end of the day nothing worked! As Bhagawan Krishna was finally insulted by Duryodhana when He had gone as a messenger, the message was loud and clear! War was inevitable at this stage! 

Thus, eventually a huge war broke out at Kurukshetra! Each and every element of the eighteen-Akshauhini Sainya was destroyed by Bhagawan Krishna silently, in the form of motivating the Paandavas to go for the kill. It is during the war did Bhagawan Krishna become the charioteer to Arjuna and gave the famous Bhagawad Gita to the world. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna became the “Geeta-Chaarya” and “Paartha-Saarathy” to Arjuna during the Kurukshetra war. Thus, the entire Kaurava camp was completely destroyed, not leaving behind even a single soul alive! Duryodhana was kept alive till the last day of the 18-day war, and he had to see all his 99 brothers being killed in front of his own eyes! Bhishmaachaarya was not spared. Guru Dhronaachaarya was tricked and hacked to death! Everybody had their share of misfortune during the war, and eventually Bhagawan Krishna ensured that “Adharma” was destroyed right from the grassroot level. 

All this was done by Bhagawan upon a single request from Goddess Bhoomadevi that the population of people performing Adharma was increasing in an alarming manner, and this should be brought under control! As Sage Vaishampayana explains thus, he concludes by explaining that this is the main reason behind the huge war of destruction that happened between King Janame-Jaya’s grandfathers. Arjuna had obtained the “Gaandeepa” (A special bow) directly from Agni Bhagawan. It is only with this Gaandeepa did he go around destroying the Kaurava camp in masses, of course with the able and smart guidance of Bhagawan Krishna! Thus, we can see here that the entire thing was “staged” by Bhagawan to destroy “Adharma” in this world. So for today, let us understand upto this point, and let us witness in the next episode as to how King Janame-Jaya is going to react to whatever Sage Vaishampayana had to say till now! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had been witnessing Sage Vaishampayana’s briefing about how the feud between the Paandava and the Kaurava camps started and how this feud led to the ultimate Kurukshetra war, which ended up in mass destruction on both sides. This briefing is being given here by Sage Vaishampayana in response to King Janame-Jaya’s curious question as to how things conspired in his past, and why his ancestors ended up fighting with each other within the family. In this lines, we’ve witnessed upto the point wherein Duryodhana tried to “burn down” the Paandava brothers inside the “Laaksha Griham”, which is nothing but a huge and an attractive palace built of wax and other easily inflammable materials at a place called Vaaranavatam. Upon Duryodhana’s repeated convincing, King Dhiridraashtra asks the Paandavas to go and reside in this new palace at Vaaranavatam for a year. However, as the Paandavas start residing there, Vidura knew the conspiracy plan of Duryodhana and Shahuni and he immediately alerted the Paandavas through a messenger. With the help of this messenger, an underground secret passage was constructed overnight and through this, the Paandavas and Kunthi Devi escaped out of the “Laaksha Griham” as it was set on fire by Duryodhana and Co. 

Thus, till this point we can see that Vidura was instrumental in many occasions in protecting the Paandavas, as he knew that the Paandavas were genuine people and epitomes of “Dharma”. After this episode, the Paandavas were roaming around in a thick forest, without getting into the eyes of Duryodhana and Co. We’ve to understand here that at this point, Duryodhana doesn’t know that the Paandavas have escaped the “Laaksha Griham” trap. He is still of the view that the Paandavas were burnt down, and was celebrating at Hastinapura. However, thanks to Vidura’s timely intervention, the Paandavas escaped the wrath of Duryodhana yet again, and are now in a secret place. As days and months passed, they heard of the “Svayamvara” of the daughter of King Drupata. King Drupata’s daughter was none other than Draupati. The Paandava brothers went to the Drupata Desha, participated in the Svayamvara event, and married Draupati. Thus, Draupati became the wife of all the five Paandava brothers. 

In the meanwhile, there was a Raakshasa by name “Bagaasura”. He was destroyed by Bheemasena and the Brahmins in that area were rescued. Subsequently, another Raakshasa by name “Hidimba” was destroyed by Bheemasena and ended up marrying Hidimba’s sister, Hidimbi. With this, Bheemasena obtained a son by name “Gatodhgaja”. We’re going to witness all of these in a great detail later on when we discuss the apt “Parva” and “Upa-Parva” of the text. Thus, all these instances took place in the forest, and after these incidents, the Paandavas returned back to Hastinapura. By the time, the one-year-period got over, and with their return back to the Hastinapura kingdom, Duryodhana couldn’t believe his eyes! Till that point, he was thinking that the Paandavas were history, but when they walked in front of him with Draupati in the middle, Duryodhana’s anger only shot up northwards! His jealousy grew northwards as he was fuming about the Paandavas’ growing popularity all over the country. Thus, he again sat with his uncle, Shahuni and planned the next conspiracy. 

Now comes the main part – The phase wherein the “Gambling” took place! With the help of Shahuni and his wicked and crooked planning, Duryodhana wanted to play the game of gambling with the Paandavas. Although King Dhirdiraashtra opposed this initially because this is against the “Raaja-Dharma”, Duryodhana played the “emotional card” and convinced him to grant permission. The Paandavas were invited for the game and as the game started, Yudishtra started losing all his wealth and kingdom to Duryodhana one by one. Finally when nothing was left for Yudishtra to lose, Duryodhana and Shahuni induced him to stake his wife Draupati and play! When Yudishtra lost Draupati too in the gamble, Draupati was dragged into the courtroom by Ducchaasana, who was the brother of Duryodhana. As Bhishmaachaarya, Guru Dhronaachaarya looked on helplessly, Ducchaasana insulted Draupati by undressing her saree in public! Amidst all this, again Vidura tried to intervene and did his best to stop this nonsense from happening, but this time, Vidura was helpless! His words went to deaf ears! King Dhirdiraashtra too wasn’t able to stop this insult from happening! 

As the entire Hastinaapura palace was watching helplessly, Bhagawan Krishna intervened in the middle and His “invisible” hand saved Draupati from getting insulted further! It is only at the end of this disgraceful event, the Paandavas take a strong pledge that they would defeat and kill Duryodhana and Co. somehow or the other by pulling them into the war. Thus, this incident sowed the seed for the Kurukshetra war to happen! This was the main trigger point for the mass destruction that took place henceforth! As Sage Vaishampayana was narrating thus, tears rolled down King Janame-Jaya’s eyes as he was lost in his thoughts! His ancestors have been clearly ill-treated, insulted and cheated in public! As he was listening more keenly now, Sage Vaishampayana continues to brief the further happenings. We shall stop with this for today, and let us continue this briefing further in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vaishampayana giving a brief as to who the Paandava brothers are, and how were they born. We’ve already witnessed that the Paandava brothers’ grandfather was Sage Veda-Vyaasa himself. After this, King Paandu, who was ruling Hastinapura kingdom at that time had a curse that if he unites with his wives to have kids, he would die on the spot. Hence, he was unable to have children. However, Kunthi Devi had other plans. She used her boons that she had obtained earlier, prayed to the Devas one after the other and with their divine “Anugraha”, the Paandava brothers were born. As the Paandava brothers were growing up in the forest amidst the sages, at one point, it was decided that they head back to Hastinapura. By this time, King Paandu had died along with Maadri Devi. So the five children were left alone with Kunthi Devi. As they went to Hastinapura, Paandu’s brother, Dhirdiraashtra, had been crowned as the king. As the Paandava children came in, King Dhirdiraashtra had his reservations and doubts whether these were really King Paandu’s children or not. However, a divine voice intervened and sorted things out, and it was decided that the Paandavas would henceforth reside in Hastinapura only. 

As this decision was made, everybody accepted it unanimously, except for one person – Duryodhana. Even while being a child, Duryodhana was jealous over the Paandava brothers that they might some day grab the kingdom from him, and he would lose the opportunity to rule Hastinapura. To fuel this more, Duryodhana’s uncle, Shahuni was always by his side. Shahuni was from the “Shoubala Desha” (Today’s Afghanistan). Shahuni’s sister was Gaandhaari. This Gaandhaari was married to King Dhirdiraashtra and Shahuni came along with her “to be of help” to her blind husband. All of us might know that King Dhirdiraashtra was blind by birth. There’s a story to this effect too, and we’re going to witness when that context comes. But for now, we’re only witnessing Sage Vaishampayana’s brief about who were King Janame-Jaya’s ancestors and why did they end up fighting with each other. 

Thus, as Shahuni came along, more than being of help to his sister and husband, he was only fuelling Duryodhana’s jealousy. Shahuni was making many plans to destroy the Paandava brothers along with Karna. As all these were happening on one side, there was one person in the Hastinapura palace who was genuinely concerned about the welfare of the Paandava brothers. That person was none other than Vidura. Whenever there was a grave danger looming for the Paandavas, it was Vidura who was in the forefront everytime to protect and save them from falling into it. Vidura was the direct “Avatara” (Incarnation) of Yama-Dharma-Raja. There is a separate story for this too, which we would be witnessing later. 

As King Janame-Jaya was listening keenly thus, Sage Vaishampayana continued to narrate a few instances wherein the Paandavas were pushed into great danger. Even while being a child, Duryodhana tried to poison Bheemasena’s food, thus trying to kill him then and there. It would be very interesting to note that the enmity between Duryodhana and Bheemasena started right from day one of the Paandavas entering into Hastinapura. However, that poison had no effect on him and the food that Bheemasena ate, got digested without any problem. Secondly, Duryodhana tried to push Bheemasena into the fast-flowing River Ganges while he was asleep. However, Mother Ganga was gracious enough to bring him back to the bank safely without any injury. Next, Duryodhana tried killing Bheemasena by making a snake bite him. However, the snake’s bite never injected any poison into him, and thus he escaped. Notwithstanding all these failures back to back, Shahuni chipped in and with him, Duryodhana planned to shift the Paandavas to a place called “Varanavata ”. At Varanavata,  Duryodhana built a “Laaksha Griham” (A palace built of wax) and convinced King Dhirdiraashtra to send the Paandava brothers to this place. The plan was to burn them down overnight as the Paandavas would be asleep inside the “Laaksha-Griha”. However, Vidura somehow knew of Duryodhana’s wicked plans, and at the apt time, he sent a messenger to alert the Paandava brothers. With the guidance of that messenger, the Paandava brothers dug a secret underground passage and escaped from that “Laaksha-Griha”. 

It should be noted here once again by readers that all these instances are going to be discussed elaborately in the upcoming episodes. However, for now, Sage Vaishampayana is only outlining the various reasons why the enmity fuelled between the two camps. Each of these above-mentioned instances are described in detail as separate “Parvas”, which we’re going to see one after the other. So for today, let us understand till this point that the Paandava brothers escaped the “Laaksha-Griha” trap. We shall continue this outlining of Sage Vaishampayana in the next episode as to what was Duryodhana’s next plan of action to destroy the Paandava brothers. The next episode is going to talk about the tipping point of this enmity between the two camps! Stay tuned! 🙂