The Indian Dharma

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed how King Dhirdiraashtra’s extreme level of “Putra Vaatsalya” (Excessive attachment towards his son) not only brought about his downfall, but also for the entire Kaurava clan and the Hastinapura Kingdom as a whole. At the end of the 18-day Kurukshetra war, the entire Kaurava clan was completely destroyed, including that of Duryodhana. As this happens, King Dhirdiraashtra couldn’t hold his emotions back! He’s totally devastated that all his hundred sons had lost their lives in the war. In fact, for a very long time, King Dhirdiraashtra wasn’t able to realize his mistake and instead, squarely put the blame on Bhagawan Krishna for the debacle. However, with Sanjaya at the helm of affairs, King Dhiridiraashtra slowly started realizing his fault, but it was too late by then! Everything was over and there was no point in crying and venting henceforth. Had King Dhirdiraashtra opened his mouth when it mattered, many problems could have been solved. Had King Dhirdiraashtra stopped his arrogant son at the right times, the situation wouldn’t have snowballed to such a level. 

This is where we’ve to learn a very important lesson. If we’re going to show excessive attachment towards someone or somebody, we would slowly start getting blinded to whatever “Adharma” that person is doing. In other words, forget taking action, we would not be in a position to even raise our voice against the “Adharma” committed by the person who is seemingly close to us. This is exactly where King Dhirdiraashtra got entangled into. Even though he knew that Duryodhana was arrogant and is trying to push his wrong agenda on the Paandavas, even though King Dhirdiraashtra knew that Bhagawan Krishna is leaning towards the Paandavas everytime, even though King Dhirdiraashtra knew that his son’s life is a great danger, he couldn’t just open his mouth and talk anything against his son’s behavior and actions. This is where, King Dhirdiraashtra’s excessive affection towards Duryodhana blinded him completely, even though there were stalwarts like Vidura and Sanjaya advising him everytime. All their advice went deaf ears to King Dhirdiraashtra, and we’re going to witness all of this in a great detail later on. 

Thus, as King Dhirdiraashtra laments, Sanjaya continues his accord further. He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Leave alone your “Putra-Vaatsalya” towards your son, Duryodhana – You’ve committed another grave mistake as a king. You’ve exhibited clear partiality towards the Paandavas, even though they are the legal heirs of this Hastinapura Kingdom. Don’t you remember that divine voice which clearly pronounced the verdict that Paandavas hold the moral right to claim the kingdom after King Paandu? When they were children, you had accepted the Paandavas as your own sons, after King Paandu’s demise, isn’t it? The deal at that time was to treat the Paandavas like your own sons, isn’t it? But what did you do? You were taking sides and leaning towards your sons and thereby acting with partiality! Isn’t this an “Adharmic” action as per the “Raaja-Neethi”? How can a king conduct himself with partiality towards his own subjects? This is what pulled you down ultimately. Till the end you weren’t able to realize your partial conduct. If you would have been assertive from the beginning, this great disaster could have been prevented. For all your faults thus, why do you blame Bhagawan Krishna? What did He do? Don’t you know that whichever side Bhagawan Krishna leans towards, would be the side wherein “Dharma” prevails? Didn’t you know that Yudishtra was an epitome of Dharma? Didn’t you know that Duryodhana insulted Bhagawan Krishna Hismelf when He had come as a messenger for the Paandava camp? Did you even ask a single question to Duryodhana when he abused Bhagawan Krishna in public? What were you doing back then?” 

As Sanjaya asks King Dhirdiraashtra left, right and center, he loses heart even more! As mentioned earlier, King Dhirdiraashtra expected Sanjaya to console him. However, what Sanjaya answered was in stark contrast. He knows only to talk “Dharma”. He doesn’t know how to say juicy words to kajole anyone. He only knows to talk straight and bluntly. Hearing these seemingly harsh words from Sanjaya, King Dhirdiraashtra sinks further! He replies to Sanjaya thus, “Oh Sanjaya! All this happened because my time wasn’t good! Everything in this world happens because of the time (Kaala)! For me, this “Kaala” has given a bad answer! It’s all my fate! I had to bear everything as a king and as a father. Whom do I go and blame? It’s only time that should answer the way forward as well!” 

As King Dhirdiraashtra laments further thus, Sanjaya again intervenes! He did not like the way in which King Dhiridiraashtra tried to “pass the buck” even at this stage without accepting his mistake! Sanjaya replies thus, “Oh King! Your words are only making me even more sad! I really do not know whether to laugh or cry! Even now after all events have conspired, you’re still unable to accept your mistake! This is where your weakness lies! Till now I thought that your external eyes were only blind! But now I understand that your “internal eyes” (Atman) are also totally blind! Long live Hastinapura!” Saying thus, Sanjaya too sank in sorrow for all what had happened! 

So for today, let us understand the brief of the Mahabharata text till this point, and let us wait till the next episode to witness what happened further and how Sage Vyaasa commenced the detailed version of the Mahabharata text! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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Dear esteemed readers,

As we progress with our new and a very important project, The Mahabharata, we’ve started receiving a tremendous response from all our readers. We’ve done 21 episodes till date and with this, we’ve almost completed a jist of the entire Mahabharata story as narrated by Sage Vyaasa. At this juncture, I’m elated to share the following details with all of you.

A staggering increase in viewership –“The Indian Dharma” has crossed a viewership milestone of over 1,45,000 across 113 countries worldwide! This year alone we’ve crossed a viewership of around 34,000 from all across the globe! This in itself speaks volumes of the global reach that our “Sanaatana Dharma” possesses! Of course, this has come along with the constant support and feedback from our esteemed readers from various parts of the globe. My humble gratitude to all of you!

As we move forward with our endeavour thus, I solicit the cooperation and guidance from all our readers in making this a great learning experience for all of us together!

For those readers who would like to have a glimpse of our earlier episodes, you may visit our blog page:

http://www.theindiandharma.org

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Once again, my sincere thanks and gratitude to all readers across thr world, and with Bhagawan’s divine grace, let’s continue with our “Mahabharata” journey further and take our learning’s to greater heights!

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the “Preface” of the Mahabharata text, that Sage Vyaasa is giving as part of the introduction section. We had picked up at the point wherein the gambling game was over, which inflicted blows after blows for the Paandavas. However, Yudishtra and Co. were unfazed with whatever “Adharma” that was happening around them – Courtesy, Shahuni and Duryodhana! With adequate guidance from Bhagawan Krishna from time to time, the Paandava brothers were protected from all the wrath that Duryodhana tried to unleash. Ultimately, when the time came for serious negotiations with regards to deciding the successor for Hastinapura, Duryodhana was adamant that he wouldn’t even share an inch of the kingdom with Yudishtra. Even when Bhagawan Krishna Himself came as a messenger from the Paandava camp, Duryodhana ends up insulting Him left, right and center! Thus, even after several rounds of peace talks between the two camps, nothing seemed to improve. Duryodhana’s arrogance only increased northward with every peace talk. Finally it all came to a point that only a war should decide who should succeed the Hastinapura kingdom. At the end of the fierce battle between the two camps, we witnessed that the entire army on both sides suffered mass destruction, with only around 7-8 people surviving from both camps put together.   

As King Dhirdiraashtra was overseeing the entire war through “live action” narrated by his able minister, Sanjaya, he couldn’t digest the fact that his sons were ending up on the losing side. Not only did they end up on the losing side, but they lost their lives ultimately, which inflicted extreme pain in King Dhirdiraashtra’s heart. As the king vents out his frustration uncontrollably, Sanjaya does not know how to console him. In fact, he does not want to! Sanjaya is a person who is not known for mincing his words for anybody and anything. He only knows to talk the truth (“Dharma”) bluntly on the face! Here too, Sanjaya is doing the same thing. As Duryodhana breathes his last, and as King Dhirdiraashtra cries uncontrollably, Sanjaya poses an important question to him as to why didn’t he stop Duryodhana earlier itself and put a check on all the “Adharma” that he did. Upon this, King Dhirdiraashtra replies thus, “Oh Sanjaya! Yes! It was my mistake! I failed to realize that Duryodhana never had a chance to win over the Paandavas at any point in time! I knew that Bhagawan Krishna was rallying behind the Paandavas at every instance. I knew that “Dharma” was beside them. I tried explaining all of this to Duryodhana, but you know how arrogant he is to even listen to my words! Duryodhana was ably supported by his uncle, Shahuni at all times, who only made sure that he ruined Duryodhana more and more each passing day!” 

This is just one reason why King Dhirdiraashtra couldn’t stop his rampaging son from performing “Adharma”. There is one more important reason, which King Dhirdiraashtra himself accepts! He continues thus, “Oh Sanjaya! Whenever Duryodhana said something against whatever I advised him, I wasn’t able to counter him at any point in time. My excessive affection towards him prevented me from protesting any of the “Adharmic” activities that he performed. In short, my “Putra-Vaatsalya” brought both myself and Duryodhana down! I do not have anybody else to blame for all what has happened to me and to Hastinapura kingdom!” 

As King Dhirdiraashtra laments thus, Sanjaya replies to him. In fact, King Dhirdiraashtra expected Sanjaya to provide him some solace, by saying something sweet. However, Sanjaya had other things in mind! Instead of talking sweet, which is out of Sanjaya’s dictionary, he talks tough with some deeper analysis of King Dhirdiraashtra’s fault lines! He replies thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! This is extremely unprofessional and abysmal as part of a king! Till today, Hastinapura has been ruled by great kings who never ever had the guts or audacity to step out of the path of “Dharma”! However, things changed drastically when you took over! Your first mistake was to create and encourage differences between the Paandava and the Kaurava brothers. Isn’t it the duty of a king to treat his people equally? The differences that you encouraged between the two camps is what fuelled your son to enter into the “Adharmic” path. If you had treated them alike, all problems would have been solved at the grassroot level itself. Secondly, when you had the option of not encouraging the gambling game that Duryodhana wanted to play, you failed to respond! You failed to stop your son and Shahuni from going forward. Also, when the game progressed dangerously, you again failed to intervene! Even at a time when Draupati was insulted in the public, you failed to open your mouth! Now whatever has happened is just the repercussion of that fateful day!” 

So with this, we’ve witnessed how King Dhirdiraashtra lamented and mourned the loss of his sons. We’ve also understood in brief as to what was the primary reason behind all this. We’re going to witness this in detail in the coming episodes, but as a summary, I hope we’ve understood the context of what we’re discussing. We shall elaborate these events in greater detail and eventually dig into all the “Dharma” that Sage Vyaasa is going to talk about! We shall continue this discussion in the next episode further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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We’re amidst an important phase in the discussion of the “Preface”, wherein Sage Vyaasa has described the entire story of the Mahabharata in a nutshell. In this, we’ve seen till now as to how the Kauravas and Paandavas were born and what happened subsequently after their birth. We’ve witnessed how King Dhirdiraashtra was “forced” to accept the Paandava brothers as the legal heirs of Hastinapura kingdom, after King Paandu’s demise. Even though King Dhirdiraashtra was ruling the kingdom, both he and his son, Duryodhana were extremely possessive and jealous with the Paandavas entering into the kingdom through the “back door”. Ever since then, Duryodhana had a grudge towards Yudishtra and Co. and this grudge only grew more and more as the Paandavas were slowly growing up in their stature. They eventually proved to be extremely good and invincible warriors and administrators as well. 

As Yudishtra became the king of Indraprasta, he arranged for a huge “Raajasuya Yaaga”, wherein Duryodhana was also invited. As Yudishtra conducted the Yagnya with a huge grandeur and with countless amounts of “Dakshina” given to everyone who attended it, Duryodhana’s fuming only increased further. As this “Yagnya” became a huge talking point all over the world, Duryodhana’s jealousy increased manifold. The situation peaked when Mayan constructed an impeccable palace for the Paandavas to administer from. It is at this point Duryodhana decides that he has had enough of all this. He rushes to his father, King Dhirdiraashtra and pours out all his frustration to him. He repeatedly blackmails King Dhirdiraashtra that if this situation continues further, the Paandavas are going to capture Hastinapura too, and finally he would become a hapless person. This is the point which Duryodhana kept on emphasizing to his father – If the Paandavas rise any more in stature, Duryodhana would become a beggar! The world would praise Yudishtra only and not Duryodhana! 

As Duryodhana keeps on repeating this in different ways again and again, at one point, King Dhiridraashtra’s mind started giving away! His affection towards Duryodhana started taking over. Until that point, King Dhirdiraashtra was treating both the Kauravas and the Paandavas as his own sons only. However, when Duryodhana came up with this accord, King Dhirdiraashtra’s selfishness took over slowly. He too realizes that if this goes on like this, his son would be on the streets! This selfishness from both King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana led them to do all possible “Adharma” that they could. Subsequently the Paandavas were called for a gambling game and all of us know how Draupati was insulted at the end of the game. Yudishtra ended up losing all his property, kingdom, money, etc. and finally all of them had to go on an exile for thirteen years. Even during the exile period, so many things happened and once it was over, Duryodhana never seemed to change his stance. His arrogance only kept increasing day after day and finally this arrogance is what led to the unfortunate happening of the Kurukshetra war. 

All of us know what happened at the end of the war. The entire Kaurava clan was totally destroyed. It was not just the Kaurava camp that faced mass destruction. The Paandava camp wasn’t an exception either. Only ten people survived post the war – The five Paandava brothers of Yudishtra and Co., Apart from the Paandava brothers, Sage Kripachaarya, Kritavarma and Ashwathaama were the only people who were left unscathed. Except for these people, Bhagawan Krishna made sure that all others died, including the huge army from both sides. The Paandava camp had seven “Akshauhinis” of army and the Kaurava camp had eleven “Akshauhinis” of army. Each “Akshauhini” has around a thousand elephants, a thousand soldiers, a thousand horses, etc. I shall describe this in detail when we get to this stage of the Mahabharata detailed story. But the point here is that, at the end of such a huge war, only these seven or eight people remained. 

As all this happens on the Kurukshetra battlefield, Sanjaya is detailing “live action” to King Dhidiraashtra at Hastinapura. Upon hearing each and every moment of how the Kaurava army was getting destroyed, King Dhirdiraashtra’s heart broke slowly and steadily. Finally when the news of Duryodhana’s demise reaches King Dhirdiraashtra, he couldn’t hold himself any further! He bursts out crying with immense fury, frustration and regret! At this point, King Dhirdiraashtra himself is regretting for all that happened on that fateful day when the gambling game took place. In fact, King Dhirdiraashtra’s regret is captured by around 50 slokas one after the other. He says to Sanjaya thus, “Oh Sanjaya! The moment Draupati was insulted in the public courtroom in front of everyone, I knew that my son was going to be destroyed! The moment Bhagawan Krishna started leaning towards the Paandava camp, I knew that my son is slowly moving towards destruction. The moment Bhagawan Krishna came to Hastinapura as the “Paandava-Thooda” (Messenger of the Paandavas), I knew that Duryodhana was nearing his end. The moment Bhagawan Krishna took His position as Arjuna’s charioteer, I knew that it was only about time that Duryodhana is going to face a huge repercussion! No matter how much I tried to convince, Duryodhana never listened to my words even once! This ultimately led him to downfall!” Saying thus, King Dhirdiraashtra couldn’t control the loss of all his hundred sons! 

As Sanjaya listens to all this, he asks a counter question to King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! If you knew all of this, why didn’t you press the panic button earlier itself? Why were you silent? What kept you mum all these years? You should have taken strict action against your son then and there, isn’t it? What is the use of grumbling now, after everything is over?” For this, King Dhirdiraashtra is going to give a very important answer! What is that? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed some key characteristics of the Paandava brothers, which were solely responsible for the names that they possess. We’ve witnessed in detail as to how they justified the meanings of their respective names at various occasions. This is all part of the “Preface” that Sage Vyaasa has given us as a starting point of the Mahabharata text. We shall witness here that this “Preface” section clearly sets the platform for what is in store for us when we commence witnessing the text in detail. Moving on with the “Preface” section thus, Sage Vyaasa summarizes how the Paandavas went about things at Hastinapura as they grew up. Of course, for everything that they did, there was a stiff resistance from Duryodhana and inspite of this, the Paandavas continued to co-live with them until a certain point. 

As time progressed, the Paadava brothers grew up and attained the age of marriage. It is at this time, King Drupata offers his daughter, Draupati (Krishnaa) in marriage with the Paandavas. For this, there was a huge “Svayamvara” event arranged by King Drupata. As part of the rules and regulations of this “Svayamvara” event, any prince who performs the “Lakshya-Bedham”, would be eligible to marry Draupati. “Lakshya-Bedham” means, hitting a fish that is revolving in a pond with a single arrow, by not looking at the pond at all. We’re going to witness this event in detail when we enter into the main Mahabharata text, but now we’re only looking at a summary of the key events that conspired. Many princes tried their hand on the “Lakshya-Bedham” test, however, it was only Arjuna who succeeded in it. Thus, King Drupata was impressed with Arjuna’s exceptional skills with which he handled the bow and arrow and gave his daughter in marriage to all five Paandava brothers together. 

As this happens, greed, ego and jealousy started creeping into the Duryodhana camp slowly. Duryodhana could not digest the fact that the Paandavas are slowly growing in fame and name. He started feeling insecure as to whether he would lose out to them in terms of ruling the Hastinapura kingdom. This jealousy doubled and tripled itself within Duryodhana when Yudishtra performed the “Raajasuya Yaaga” subsequently. Duryodhana was also invited to be part of this important spiritual offering, and he was aghast with the way Yudishtra offered enormous “Dakshina” to all people who had attended it. The “Raajasuya Yaaga” was a “trending” topic of discussion all over the world and the way in which Yudishtra conducted it as per the principles of the Sanaatana Dharma scriptures was a treat to all who were part of it. This, along with the enormous amounts of “Dakshina” that Yudishtra gave away to important attendees increased Duryodhana’s jealousy to  multi-fold levels. Along with the jealousy, came anger and frustration. Duryodhana was burning within himself that Yudishtra is becoming more and more popular and that, his name is getting diminished by the second. 

It was also precisely at this same time that the chief architect of the “Devas”, by the name “Mayan” constructs an impeccable palace for the Paandava brothers. That palace was constructed with an enormous amount of precision and beauty, in such a way that it stood out as the best ever palace that was created in those times. For instance, there were places wherein it seemed like a wall, but there was no wall there. There was a place that looked like a huge pool filled with water, but there was no water there. There was another place which looked so normal, but there was a huge pool of water. As Duryodhana visits this palace, he starts burning within himself even more! His jealousy towards the Paandavas now rises to a level that is extremely unprecedented! 

Finally as a pinnacle point, wherein Duryodhana accidentally steps into a pond of water and falls down on the floor, Draupati laughs out at his folly! Seeing Draupati laugh loudly, the Paandava brothers too joined her in laughing at Durodhaya’s folly! This compounded Duryodhana’s anger to an extreme level and from there onwards, there was no looking back! Duryodhana takes a vow to seek revenge against the insult that he has experienced, at any cost! He was even ready to stoop to any low, to satisfy his revenge! This is the turning point wherein the Hastinapura kingdom went from bad to worse, because of this one person called Duryodhana! In fact, many analysts who wrote commentaries on the Mahabharata much later, conclude on this one important event by saying that, this was the sole reason why the Kurukshetra war happened. After this point, Duryodhana’s anger went into unprecedented levels that a war between the two camps was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before things burst out! 

So for today, let us understand the “Preface” till this point, and let us continue in the next episode with how Duryodhana tried to avenge the insult that he had received from the Paandavas and Draupati. Stay tuned for an interesting accord ahead! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important accord of Sage Vyaasa wherein he gives a brief on how Yudishtra obtained his name. Since he was an epitome of Dharma and the son of Yama-Dharma-Raja himself, Yudishtra is often referred to as “Dharma-Putra”. Also since he was stubborn with his decisions and since he would never back out on what has been taken oath upon, he obtained the name as “Yudishtra”. Here, “Sthiraha” means “standing firm on something”. Once the decision of going on an all-out war against the Kauravas was taken, Yudishtra was firm on to it without backing away at the last moment. Because of this, he is referred to as “Yudishtra”. Whereas, all of us know how Arjuna tried to back away and run away from the battlefield at Kurukshetra and how Bhagawan Krishna had to narrate around 700 slokas to bring him back! Thus, Yudishtra, as we’ve witnessed, is the eldest of the Paandava brothers. We’ve seen an accord about Karna and how he was born to Kunthi Devi, but that was before her marriage with King Paandu. Hence, Karna wouldn’t fall under the Paandava category, although he was Kunthi Devi’s son. 

Next in the list is Bheemasena – The second of the Paandava brothers. Sage Vyaasa now explains who this person is. Bheemasena is an epitome of the quality called “Drithihi”. This means, being steadfast in whatever we’re doing. Once we take up a task, we should strive till the end to finish it off successfully. We shouldn’t back away from anything in the middle. This is very important in modern-day management too, wherein we refer to this quality as “perseverance”. If we’ve taken up an important job, just because it might seem to be difficult, we shouldn’t leave it half done and run away. We should ensure that the job is completed so that all stakeholders are benefitted, isn’t it? This is exactly what Bheemasena illustrates. Thus, if Bheemasena decides to fight against someone, he would make sure that he does that and kills him. During the phase wherein the gambling happens, Bheemasena takes a pledge that he would kill Duchaasana (Duryodhana’s brother) in the battlefield and drink his blood there itself, isn’t it? We’re going to witness all of this when we enter into the “Sabhaa Parva”. Subsequently during the Kurukshetra war, Bheemasena made sure that he fulfilled the pledge that he made in King Dhirdiraashtra’s courtroom! This is where perseverance comes. Bheemasena waited and waited and finally when the opportunity presented itself in front of him, he grabbed it with full force and did the needful. Thus, Bheemasena is an epitome of the important quality called “Drithihi”. 

Moving on thus to the third person in the list – Arjuna. Sage Vyaasa explains an important quality through Arjuna, which is nothing but “Vikramaha”. “Vikramaha” means fearlessness. No matter who is the enemy and what is his strength / weakness, Arjuna had the guts to get inside the enemy’s territory, fight them out and neutralize them, isn’t it? Also, Arjuna is an epitome of “precision” and “concentration”. We’re going to witness in the detailed text as to how Arjuna stood for these qualities. Finally for Nakula and Sahadeva – Nakula was known for the way in which he did service to his Guru. Nakula illustrated to the world how one should behave and conduct himself in front of a spiritual master. Sahadeva was known for his patience. No matter what the situation might be, one should keep himself calm and composed, isn’t it? Sahadeva stood as an epitome of this character. 

Thus, today we’ve witnessed the reasons behind each of the Paandava brothers obtaining their respective names. So let us understand this clearly as we move on further with Sage Vyaasa’s introductory accord further in tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂  

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vyaasa explaining the reason (in brief) as to why Duryodhana was an epitome of anger and frustration every time. He was not at all happy with the Paandavas being given so much importance, because of the fact that Duryodhana knew that they were not the “direct” sons of King Paandu. As we’ve witnessed earlier, King Paandu had this curse that if he gets together with his wives to have children, that would immediately mark his end. However, fortunately or unfortunately, Kunthi Devi had this boon of obtaining children at her will and wish by offering prayers to the “Devatas”. In fact, it is in this way she obtained Karna before her marriage with King Paandu. When she had first obtained this boon, she wanted to test how this boon works. With this intention, she offered prayers towards Bhagawan Surya and she was gifted with a baby whose name was Karna. Since the society would talk ill of her that she had a baby before marriage, she secretly left the baby on a raft along the river, which was later picked up by an ordinary charioteer. This is why Karna is often referred as “Raadheya”, which means that he was brought up by a charioteer.

Apart from Karna, as we had witnessed yesterday, Kunthi Devi had three other sons after her marriage with King Paandu. As for King Paandu’s other wife, Maadhri Devi, on the advice of Kunthi Devi, Maadhri Devi too had two sons, who were none other than Nakula and Sahadeva. Thus, Kunthi’s three sons plus Maadri’s two sons together constitute the five “Paandava” brothers. Thus, since the Paandava brothers weren’t the direct next generation of King Paandu, Duryodhana was irked when they were given “undue” importance in all corners. Even King Dhirdiraashtra had the same query in his mind. How can he accept someone who is not his brother’s direct son? Not only King Dhirdiraashtra – The entire courtroom of Hastinapura refused to accept the Pandavas. It is at this point, a divine voice is heard from above, explaining to all of them present there that it is their bound duty to accept these five children, failing which, they would have to encounter dire consequences in the future. 

Left with no other option, King Dhirdiraashtra had to accept the five children and with this, Duryodhana’s anger increased further. His anger now turned into frustration and this frustration burst out in various ways in the future. Thus as we move into the details of the Mahabharata text, we would witness in what all ways did Duryodhana express his anguish and frustration towards the Paandavas and how did Bhagawan Krishna come to the rescue of the Paandavas at all times whenever they faced hardships. Hence, this is the background of Duryodhana’s intense fury. 

So moving on further, Sage Vyaasa explains the greatness of the five Paandava brothers next – The first and the oldest person in the group is Yudishtra. Yudishtra, as we know, was the son of Yama-Dharma-Raja and rightly so, Yudishtra was an epitome of Dharma. Whatever is prescribed in the “Dharma” textbook, Yudishtra would follow it verbatim, without asking any question. For instance, if we are in this position and if some aspect of “Dharma” is explained to us by someone, what would we do? We would immediately ask for “proof”, wouldn’t we? We would also find thousands of reasons as to why we shouldn’t follow this aspect of “Dharma” that is being explained, isn’t it? However, Yudishtra’s case isn’t the same way. He stood firmly by the “Dharma”, didn’t he? This is why his name contains the “Shabdha” called “Sthiraha”. This term “Sthiraha” means “standing firm on something”. Moreover, even when it comes to war (“Yuddhaha”), Yudishtra exhibited his firmness to fight. During the Kurukshetra war, when Arjuna’s mind entered into some sort of confusion whether to fight or not, Yudhishtra stood firm to his ground to fight it out, isn’t it? Even during the gambling episode, when Duryodhana and Shahuni called the Paandava brothers for the gamble, Yudishtra stood firm on his ground to go for it, even though he knew that he was being trapped. Thus, since Yudishtra was firm on whatever he did, even in the case of a war, he was called “Yudishtra” (Yuddhaha + Sthiraha). Also since he was an epitome of “Dharma” and stood by it, and since he was born out of the divine grace of Yama-Dharma-Raja, he obtained the name “Dharma-Putra”. 

Thus from now, readers shouldn’t get confused with the names of Yudishtra. At some points, he would be referred to as “Yudishtra” and at some other points, he would be referred to as “Dharma-Putra”. It all means the same person only. So for today, let us understand this point very clearly, and let us wait till the next episode to witness how the other four Paandava brothers obtained their names. Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we witnessed Sage Vyaasa’s continuation of the “Preface” that he had authored before he went on to commence the detailed Mahabharata text. In fact, we can actually split the “Preface” into two segments – The first segment talks about two great “Trees” – The “Kaurava” tree and the “Pandava” tree, and how these two trees are distinctly built. We’ve seen how the Kaurava tree had Duryodhana at the helm of affairs, holding on to the “fulcrum” of it, with all his anger at its peak. Eventually there are others like Karna, Shahuni, Duchaasana and King Dhirdiraashtra holding fort. Similarly in the other tree, we have Yudishtra (Dharma-Putra) at the helm of affairs, who is ably assisted by the rest of the Paandava brothers, who occupy various echelons of the tree. Finally, like how King Dhirdiraashtra anchored the entire Kaurava tree, Bhagawan Krishna anchored the “Paandava” tree, wherein the seed sown here was “Dharma” in verbatim text book format! With this, Sage Vyaasa clearly outlined the “Mahabharata” text within a jiffy! 

This wasn’t of course the end of the preface. In the second segment, we had commenced witnessing in yesterday’s episode as to why Duryodhana was an epitome of anger. This is an important accord that Sage Vyaasa is giving first-up, and with this, we can understand the crux of the entire Mahabharata story without even going into it in detail. This is where we saw how skilled and talented Sage Vyaasa was to explain content both in brief as well as in detail. So let us now continue from where we left yesterday. For readers’ recollection, we shall look into the slokas once more: 

“Mrga vyavayaadidhidanaath krishraam paapa sa aapadam!

Janmah prakrithi paarthaanaam tatra aachara vidhihkramaha!!

Maatraha maatrorabhupa patthischa dharmopanishadam pathi!

Dharmascha vaayo chakrasya devayoshca tathaasvinou!!”

We’ve to now see how King Paandu went about things at Hastinapura. We’re of course going to witness all of this in detail later, but now this is only a “Preface” isn’t it? So Sage Vyaasa is explaining this in short here – King Paandu was ruling Hastinapura and at that time he had a curse from a sage. Accidentally King Paandu had barged into a sage when he was together with his wife. The sage did not like this and as a result, he cursed King Pandu that if he gets together with his wives, he would die the next moment itself. Thus, because of the curse, King Paandu could not have biological children through his wives. However, his wife, Kunthi Devi had a boon that she could pray towards any “Devata” and obtain children with their divine grace. Now after her marriage with King Paandu, when she knew that her husband had such a curse, she makes use of that boon – She first prays to Yama-Dharma-Raja and obtains Yudishtra as her first son. Subsequently, she prays to Bhagawan Vaayu and obtains Bheemasena as her second son. Similarly, she prays to Indra and obtains Arjuna as her third son. Thus, Kunthi Devi had three children. 

So much and so forth for Kunthi Devi – Now King Paandu had another wife by name Maadri, isn’t it? We’ve seen this earlier itself. This Maadri Devi also wanted to have children. However, due to the inability of King Paandu to do so, Kunthi Devi passes on the “sacred Mantra” for obtaining children through “Devatas”. Thus, Maadri Devi prays towards “Ashwini Kumaras” and obtains twin sons of Nakula and Sahadeva. Thus, the three children of Kunthi Devi and the two children of Maadri Devi together constitute the “Paandava” brothers. Sage Vyaasa explains this in a nutshell at this point. However, we’re going to witness a detailed description of all this later on. 

As this happens, King Paandu eventually passes away due to some diseases that were plaguing him for a long time. The five children that Kunthi Devi and Maadri had, were being brought up for a certain period of time by some sages in the forest. Eventually after King Paandu’s demise, his brother Dhirdiraashtra took over the reins of the Hastinapura kingdom. As this happens, the children of Paandu were brought to King Dhirdiraashtra’s palace. As the children came, everybody casted their doubt as to whether these children were the “real” sons of King Paandu or not. Everyone knew King Paandu’s curse that he wouldn’t be able to obtain children. However, the children were brought to the Hastinapura palace with a claim that they were Paandu’s sons! Many weren’t able to buy this argument, including King Dhirdiraashtra himself. However, because of some undue pressure from various fronts, including that of some senior sages, King Dhirdiraashtra was forced to accept the Paandava brothers as his own sons. 

More than this, there was a divine voice that was heard aloud from the sky, saying that these five children are none other than the legal heirs of King Paandu. There was a strew of flowers being strewn upon the children by the Devas from above, and with this, King Dhirdiraashtra had no other option but to accept the five children. So since these children were the legal heirs of the erstwhile King Paandu, ideally Yudishtra should succeed the kingdom after the demise of his father. However, King Dhirdiraashtra, although he was forced to accept the Paandavas, wasn’t very convinced. This passed on to his son Duryodhana too. The moment Duryodhana came to know of all what had happened in the past, he raised a strong objection that Yudishtra and Co. can never be encouraged to be part of the Hastinapura royal family. As his words went into deaf ears, his anger slowly started to build. Every action that Duryodhana did after this point was mooted against the Paandava brothers and as each action of his resulted in a failure, the anger only increased further and further! 

It is thus for this reason, Duryodhana was an epitome of anger and frustration. So for today, let us understand the glimpse of what the Mahabharata storyline is all about, and let us wait till the next episode to continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vyaasa explaining first-up the crux of the entire text. We can take this section as the “Preface” of the great text called Mahabharata. In the modern day books that are being published, we would witness the “Preface” and a “Summary” of the entire book being written first-up, isn’t it? Some people call this “Abstract”. This terminology called “Abstract” is predominantly used in scientific research and journal articles, however, we can still equate this terminology to what Sage Vyaasa is talking about here too. Thus in these lines, we’ve witnessed one part of the “Abstract”, wherein Sage Vyaasa is talking about the “Kaurava” and the “Pandava” trees. We witnessed the “Kaurava tree” in detail during yesterday’s episode. We’ve witnessed how King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana being the central fulcrums (Foundation and the fundamental reason for existence) of the “Kaurava tree”. All the other people like Ducchaasana, Shakuni, Karna, etc. formed various parts of the tree according to their individual capacities. Thus, the “Kaurava Tree” is one segment of the entire Mahabharata. 

As Sage Vyaasa detailed thus about the “Kaurava tree”, it is now the “Paandava Tree” to get its due share of attention. Sage Vyaasa explains thus: 

“Yudishtro dharma mayaha skandaha arjunaha!

Bheemasenokta shaakaaha maadri suthou pushpa phale!!

Moolam krishno brahmacha braahmanaascha!!” 

This is an exceptional summary that Sage Vyaasa is making here, with regards to the “Paandava tree”. Just like how in the “Kaurava tree” we witnessed Duryodhana being an embodiment of “Manyu” (Anger), here we’re witnessing Yudishtra (Dharma-Putra) being the fulcrum and an epitome of “Dharma”. Whatever is specified in the “Dharma” rule book, Yudishtra would be one of the greatest examples who would have followed them. Moving on further, just like how Karna was the sole trusted aid of Duryodhana in the “Kaurava tree”, here, Arjuna was the sole trusted aid of Yudishtra. Similarly, just like how Shahuni formed the branches and leaves of the “Kaurava tree”, here, Bheemasena forms the branches and leaves of the “Paandava tree”. All of us know how powerful Bheemasena was with regards to physical strength. Hence, Bheemasena was the “go to” person for Yudishtra if such a requirement arose. In similar lines, just like how Ducchasna was the “fruits and flowers” of the “Kaurava tree”, Nakula and Sahadeva were the fruits and flowers of the “Paandava tree”. The term “Maadri sutaha” refers to the last two Paandava brothers of “Nakula” and “Sahadeva”, because they were the sons of “Maadri”, who was another wife of King Paandu. Of course all of us might know of Kunthi Devi being one of King Paandu’s wives, and she was the mother of Yudishtra, Bheemasena and Arjuna. 

Moving further, just like how King Dhirdiraashtra was at the center-stage of the entire “Kaurava tree”, Bhagawan Krishna is at the center-stage of the “Paandava tree”. We would see in due course of the Mahabharata discussion as to how Bhagawan Krishna is always at the back of the Paandavas, helping and protecting them at crucial times. Bhagawan Krishna played the “anchor role” even during the final Kurukshetra war and it is solely because of Him, did the Paandavas win the war. If not for Bhagawan Krishna, the Paandavas would have lost the war within just 2-3 days. The Kaurava camp had so much arms, ammunition, talented warriors, etc. and this was no match to what the Paandavas had. It is solely because of Bhagawan Krishna that the Paandavas were protected at various stages of the war, which we’re going to witness in a great deal of detail later. 

Thus, such is the comparison of the “Kaurava” and the “Paandava” trees, and with this, Sage Vyaasa has created a great masterpiece called the “Mahabharata”. If the “preface” or the “abstract” itself is so absorbing for all of us to read through, I’m sure we’re going to be glued to our seats as the Mahabharata story commences in full detail. As Sage Vyaasa explains this, he doesn’t call it the end for the “Preface”. He also explains in a series of 4-5 slokas as to why Duryodhana was an epitome of anger. We’ve just seen that Duryodhana bursts out with anger and fury everytime whenever the Paandavas are being regarded highly, isn’t it? There is a big reason behind Duryodhana’s intense fury and Sage Vyaasa captures the essence of that fury here. Sage Vyaasa explains thus, 

“Mrga vyavayaadidhidanaath krishraam paapa sa aapadam!

Janmah prakrithi paarthaanaam tatra aachara vidhihkramaha!!

Maatraha maatrorabhupa patthischa dharmopanishadam pathi!

Dharmascha vaayo chakrasya devayoshca tathaasvinou!!”

In fact, if I’ve to put this into perspective, with these above-mentioned slokas, Sage Vyaasa has summarised the entire Mahabharata text. In modern day terms, we call this as “Precise writing”. We should be able to convey a content within a short span and duration of time and at the same time, we should be able to convey the same content at length with a great deal of detail too. We should be competent in both ways. Sage Vyaasa is demonstrating this competency clearly here. He has summarised the entire Mahabharata into just 5-6 slokas (including the previous “Kaurava and Paandava tree” slokas). At the same time, he has composed around 60 Lakh slokas to expand the content into a great detail. 

So now, through these slokas, Sage Vyaasa is clearly outlining the key reasons why Duryodhana was an epitome of anger! What are these reasons? Let us wait for an absorbing and an interesting next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Bhagawan Ganesha is writing down the Mahabharata text, as and how Sage Vyaasa is dictating. As per the rule, Bhagawan Ganesha shouldn’t interpret the slokas in the way He wants to. His duty is only to convey what Sage Vyaasa’s intentions were, behind each and every sloka. Also, Sage Vyaasa shouldn’t stop anywhere in the middle. He should keep on narrating sloka after sloka with a great speed, and Bhagawan Ganesha would be closely following him while documenting. If at all there is a pause, Bhagawan Ganesha would immediately stop writing and vanish away! In this accord, both started their works, and we’ve eventually witnessed in yesterday’s episode that there are around 8,800 slokas in the Mahabharata text for which none can infer their meaning and significance. Perhaps with the exceptions of Sage Vyaasa’s son and Sanjaya, there might not be anybody in this world, including Bhagawan Ganesha who could understand and comprehend any of these 8,800 slokas. Thus, the entire Mahabharata text was documented successfully by Bhagawan Ganesha, as Sage Vyaasa dictated it. 

Moving on thus, Sage Vyaasa explains the crux of the entire Mahabharata text. As many of us might be knowing, there are two important camps – The Kaurava camp and the Paandava camp. Sage Vyaasa now equates these two camps to two trees standing opposite to each other. On one side there is the Paandava tree and on the other side there is the Kaurava tree. Sage Vyaasa explains thus,

“Duryodhano manyu mayaha mahaadhrumaha!

Kandaha karnaha shakunistasya shaakaaha!!

Duschyaasanaha pushpam phalam! 

Samruddhe moolam raajaa dhirdraashtraha maneeshi!!”

Through this sloka, Sage Vyaasa clearly explains the characteristics of the Kaurava tree. The entire Kaurava tree revolves around this person called Durydhana. This Duryodhana, as Sage Vyaasa explains, is an epitome of anger. For anything and everything, Duryodhana would burst out in anger and would try to establish only his point of view. He would not listen to anybody who is trying to give a different point of view. Even if someone tries to make him understand his mistakes and tries to pacify him, he would burst out in anger and would insult them left, right and center! Thus, Duryodhana was an epitome of “Manyu” (Anger”). Moving on further, any tree should have a strong foundation called “roots”, isn’t it? Only with strong roots can a tree stand tall. The root of this Kaurava tree is none other than Karna. This is why we see that Duryodhana’s most trusted aide was Karna. Even if Guru Dhronaachaarya and Bhishmaachaarya deserted him midway, Duryodhana was super-confident that Karna would never desert him at any point in time. Thus, Karna forms the root of this Kaurava tree. 

Moving on further, Shakuni, who was Duryodhana’s uncle, formed the various branches and leaves of the Kaurava tree. If we’ve to start counting the number of leaves that are there in a banyan tree, are we going to succeed in doing so? The answer is “No”, isn’t it? Similarly here too, the number of “false malices” that Shakuni did for the sake of Duryodhana is countless. Moreover, the confusions that he created in the Kaurava family was also enormous, which ultimately led to the downfall of the entire clan. Hence, Shakuni forms the branches and leaves of this Kaurava tree. Similarly, Ducchaasana, who was Duryodhana’s brother, formed the fruits and flowers that the Kaurava tree would produce. Ducchaasana was the one who fulfilled all the worldly desires in the name of Duryodhana, isn’t it? He tried to meddle with Draupati (Wife of the Paandava brothers), he tried to strip her off, etc. Thus, Ducchaasana was the person who was like a thorn in the flesh for Duryodhana and Co. 

Finally, the very fundamental reason for the Kaurava tree’s existence was King Dhirdiraashtra, who was the father of Duryodhana and Co. It is only because of King Dhirdiraashtra’s blind affection and attachment towards Duryodhana, all the faults took place, isn’t it? On the pretext of doing good to his sons and protecting them, King Dhirdiraashtra eventually stood by all the “Adharma” that his sons did. If King Dhirdiraashtra would have been strict towards his sons and if he would have punished Duryodhana for all the wrong things that he did, we wouldn’t be having the entire Mahabharata text, isn’t it? Everything would have been set right then and there! Thus, King Dhirdiraashtra was the one who was solely responsible for all what happened at the Hastinapura kingdom! 

So far thus, we’ve witnessed the Kaurava tree and its constituents. Similarly, Sage Vyaasa is now going to explain the “Paandava” tree. What are the constituents of the Paandava tree? Let’s wait for the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂