The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had a detailed explanation on why our “Sanaatana Dharma” is significant and what its real meaning is. Of course, the so-called “Secular” brigade tries to twist the real meaning of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, according to their own whims and fancies, to gain some cheap publicity and popularity, however, the truth will always remain. No matter how much they try, these “seculars” will never be able to breach the forte of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, and we should be staunch towards our approach as well. Thus, as ardent followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, we have a big responsibility on our shoulders – To bash down these secular narratives that specifically target Hinduism and its practices, which are closely knit to our peaceful daily lives. 

Moving on further thus, Sanjaya now describes the four “Yugas” to King Dhritarashtra – The “Krita Yuga”, “Treta Yuga”, “Dvaapara Yuga” and the “Kali Yuga”. Sanjaya explains to King Dhritarashtra thus, “Oh King! When we talk of the “Krita Yuga”, people living in those times were embodiments of “Satva Guna” in all aspects. “Dharma” was at its best and because of this, people did not have a need to eat more and sleep more. People consumed a very meagre amount of food, used a very very meagre amount of the earth’s natural resources for their survival and also subsequently required very less amount of sleep as well! Subsequently as the “Krita Yuga” came to an end, the “Treta Yuga” took over and the “Satva Guna” and “Dharma” started to slowly take a hit. Subsequently in the “Dvaapara Yuga” currently, both these characteristics upon which our “Sanaatana Dharma” is built have taken an even more bad hit! This is why we’re seeing so many battles, fights, lies being peddled upon each other, conspiracies being built to dump one another, etc. However, the situation is much better right now, as compared to the upcoming “Kali Yuga”. When this “Kali Yuga” takes over, people’s desires will know no bounds. The entire world will be driven by people’s cheap desires and because of this, there will be huge destruction and losses. Even if the world faces this destruction at a large scale, people wouldn’t realize. Their desires will only keep skyrocketing from time to time and this is never going to end. Thus, eventually this desire will lead people to greed, which will lead them to jealousy, and eventually people will start destroying themselves. Eventually, people will start doing anything and everything to earn money and to eat sumptuous food three times a day. Oh King Dhritarashtra! We’re almost at the verge of the “Dvaapara Yuga” ending. Now itself we would start witnessing the flavour of the upcoming “Kali Yuga”!”

Saying thus, Sanjaya concludes his lengthy accord on how the world came into existence, along with the different aspects of “Srishti” done by Bhagawan Vishnu and subsequently by Bhagawan Brahma. Next, Sanjaya spoke about the origin of our Bhaarata Desha and its enormous significance. Subsequently, Sanjaya explained clearly as to why our Bharata Desha is an epitome of “Sanaatana Dharma” and finally he concludes with his accord on the four “Yugas” and how the world transformed in each of these “Yugas”, with an accord on the upcoming “Kali Yuga”, which we are witnessing practically at the moment. Of course, we’ve witnessed all these in our previous “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” project wherein Sage Shukachaarya has given a detailed accord in the last “Skandha” of the text. Now we’ve only witnessed a jist of it as per Sanjaya’s words, but readers may obtain more clarity by visiting our “Shrimad Bhaagawata Puraana” project episodes as per your convenience. 

With this accord, we come to the end of the first “Upa-Parva” under the main “Bhishma Parva”. The next “Upa-Parva” under the “Bhishma Parva” is the “Bhoomi Parva”, which is a very small one. Now King Dhritarashtra wants to understand from Sanjaya the size of this “Bhoomi” (World). He now asks a question to Sanjaya thus, “Oh Sanjaya! You had given a very important explanation about how many “Lokhas” are above and below the Bhoomi. However, you’ve not explained how big our Mother Earth is and what its size is! Please explain to me in detail!” As King Dhritarashtra asks thus, Sanjaya is going to give an important accord, but a short one now, unlike the previous long one. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness Sanjaya’s accord on King Dhritarashtra’s question! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya continuing his accord in detail with regards to the constituents of our Bhaarata Desha, and finally explaining why this place is undoubtedly the land of “Dharma”. We’ve seen details of enormous holy rivers, mountains, “Punya-Khetras”, etc. along the length and breadth of this great country, and no wonder this place is deemed to be the land of “Sanaatana Dharma”. Thus, from the south of Himalayas to Kanyakumari, which is the southern tip of the country, including the likes of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh, this “Punya-Bhoomi” has been the hub of all activity pertaining to our “Sanaatana Dharma”, with innumerable kingdoms ruled by various righteous kings across various time periods. The art works, music, dance forms, literature pertaining to “Bhakti” across various languages spanning across different time periods are virtually incomparable in this world! Not only these – Our Bhaarata Desha has its own traditional medical sciences such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, etc., along with Mathematics, Astrologiccal sciences, Geographical sciences, etc. being clearly talked about in our Vedas and Upanishads. Such is the richness of our “Sanaatana Dharma” and this is something that all of us as ardent followers of Bhagawan Krishna should understand. 

So when we say “Sanaatana Dharma” time and again at various places, this is the time wherein we’ve to understand the true meaning of this terminology. At a time when many so-called “secular” people coin their own meanings for this term without adequate reading and reference, we shall now understand what “Sanaatana Dharma” really means. As per Sanjaya’s explanation till this moment to King Dhritarashta, a collection of all whatever we’ve seen till now – Our Bhaarata Desha along with its various kingdoms, kings, righteousness, literature, art forms, architecture, various sciences being explained in our Vedas and Upanishads together constitute the term called “Sanaatana Dharma” or “Sanaatanam”. This terminology called “Sanaatana Dharma” simply means “Way of living life as per the principles of “Dharma” mentioned in the scriptural texts composed by various great Maharishis!” 

If such is the case, however, some so-called learned illiterate people of today give various meanings to this terminology without any prior knowledge on this subject. These so-called “Secularists” of today equate our “Sanaatana Dharma” to “Casteism” and the hierarchy of caste systems that existed in yesteryears. Of course, the caste system that comprises the four “Varnaashrama Dharma” principles are part of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, but that is not entirely what is meant by “Sanaatana Dharma”. To be very upfront, in the Mahabharata and Ramayana time periods, casteism has never been the talk of the town, as it is today. Each and every caste has its own “Dharma” and the differentiation is primarily based on occupations that each person does. This has no connection with discrimination of people with regards to “high-caste” and “low-caste”. We should understand one thing very clearly here – Our “Sanaatana Dharma” does not differentiate and discriminate people based on the “Varnaashrama Dharma”. It was only during the later Vedic period that such differentiations and discriminations came into force due to some vested agendas of certain misleading people. We should hence not get carried away by these false narratives that certain Dravidian secularists are spinning today. There can be no other neutral religion other than our Sanaatana Dharma in the entire world today, and it has been proved time and again in many forums and in many situations. 

Moreover, at a time when many wars are being fought across the world today, we should think about why these wars are being fought, isn’t it? The basic reason is “discrimination” against one community of people! We can witness this right from the time when the world wars were fought till today. Hence, given this fact, these so-called secularists are so unprepared, ignorant and illiterate to such an extent that the word called “Secularism” today just means “Hindu-bashing” in today’s context. Readers must see this episode as an eye-opener and should take this opportunity to understand the in-depth knowledge and wisdom that our “Sanaatana Dharma” possesses. If such in-depth wisdom isn’t available here, how will we be able to write thousands of episodes as part of our blog series spanning across various projects like Srimad Ramayana, Srimad Bhaagawatha Puraana, Mahabharata, etc.? Every scriptural text of our “Sanaatana Dharma” consists of enormous treasures of knowledge and wisdom that we can learn for our today’s life! Hence, we should never forget this aspect and should completely discard those unpopular narratives that are being spinned by these pseudo-seculars, whose only agenda is to win elections and involve themselves in looting and plundering our country’s wealth. 

Moreover, it is very comical and ironic to see some groups of listless people trying to take a vow that they will not rest until they destroy our “Sanaatana Dharma”! No matter how much they try to do so, we should be sure that they will not be able to succeed in any of their attempts! So for today, let us understand the real meaning of “Sanaatana Dharma” and let us continue this discussion in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya explaining a few important pointers pertaining to the contours of our Bhaarata Desha during those times. As we see our political map today, our current neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh (Anga Desha), Afghanistan (Gaandhaara Desha), parts of Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore were all part of our Bhaarata Desha in yesteryears. It is only post independence, all these other countries were separated and demarcated. Moreover, Sanjaya explains the various rivers that originate in our Bhaarata Desha and why they are considered to be extremely spiritual and holy in nature. Thus, in a nutshell, Sanjaya explains how our Bhaarata Desha is the land of “Sanaatana Dharma” and it will always be the case in the future as well. No matter how much ever some people try to infect this country with the false narratives of “Secularism” today, our Bhaarata Desha will remain the land of “Sanaatana Dharma” forever. 

Moving on thus, Sanjaya now talks about the various kingdoms that existed within our Bhaarata Desha. I shall just list a few of them for our readers’ understanding, however, we can later on have a detailed description of each of these kingdoms, along with their geographical locations. Sanjaya talks about the Gaandhaara Desha, Kekeya Desha, Kalinga Desha, Magadha Desha, Anga Desha, Mithila Desha, Kaashi Desha, etc. which exist in the northern part of the country. Of course, there are many more, but these are the key ones, and hence worth mentioning. Similarly as we move south, Sanjaya talks about the Dravida Desha, Kerala Desha, Chola Desha, Paandya Desha, Karnataka Desha, Chera Desha, etc. As we see here, the Dravida Desha has a special mention and in fact, this is the first kingdom that Sanjaya is talking about. Hence, we can see how much importance did the Dravida Desha have even in those days. Moreover, it is very interesting to see that there are mentions of the names “Keralam”, “Karnatakam”, etc. in the Mahabharata itself. Today we have separate South-Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka, but it is worth noting here that these names existed even during those times. 

Thus, together from the Himalayas in the north till Kanyakumari in the south, this entire “Punya Bhoomi” is collectively referred to as the “Bhaarata Desha”, along with its various significant mountain ranges, rivers, plateaus, lakes, ponds, practices, spirituality, etc. Even during those times, if we refer to several other texts apart from the Mahabharata, we would find mentions of innumerable “Punya-Kshetras” like Dwaaraka, Kaashi (Varanasi), Rudra Prayagam, Prayagraj, Kurukshetra, Somanath, Ujjain, Pushkar, Kolhapur, Pandharpur, Kumbakonam, Tanjavur, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Trichy, Srirangam, etc. which, even today, adorn the Bhaarata Desha like divine garlands of our “Sanaatana Dharma”. Each of these places, right from the north (“Utthara Bhaaratham”) till the south (“Dakshina Bhaaratham”) have their own significances, and as ardent followers of our Sanaatana Dharma, we should take the effort to visit these holy places whenever we find time. Only if we visit these places, will we be able to understand the real significance that lies in each of them. Merely reading about all these will not serve the purpose. 

So for today, let us understand up to this point with regards to Sanjaya’s detailed description and we shall continue this in the next episode as well to witness how our Bhaarata Desha is truly the land of “Sanaatana Dharma” and nothing else! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya’s in-depth explanation on how the “Jambu-Dveepam”, “Bhaarata-Varsham” and “Bharata-Kandam” were formed, along with the inverted “Meru Parvatham”, which is fully made of gold! Bhagawan Vishnu commences the activity of creation, followed by Bhagawan Brahma who officially takes it over from Bhagawan Vishnu as he comes out of Bhagawan Vishnu’s “Naabi-Kamalam”. Moreover, we’ve witnessed how Bhagawan Surya’s chariot revolves and because of this, we have a few months during the year wherein the daytime is longer than the nights, and vice-versa. This is primarily because Surya Bhagawan’s chariot cannot move in a perfectly circular path. Rather, it moves in an elliptical path because the fulcrum of the chariot is designed in such a way. In today’s geological sciences, we call this “Equinox” wherein, during two times in a year, the day and night times are almost the same in terms of duration, however, on all other occasions, there are differences between the durations of the day and night. 

Continuing thus, Sanjaya says that the chariot of Surya Bhagawan keeps revolving around the holy “Meru Parvatham”, wherein an enormous number of “Siddhas” and “Chaaranas” are residing and performing their “Tapas”. Beyond this is the “Svarga Lokha” which is of Indra’s. All the Devas (Celestial Beings) reside in the “Svarga Lokha and beyond this are the seven other Lokhas of “Bhuvar Lokha”, “Survar Lokha”, “Mahar Lokha”, Jana Lokha”, “Tapo Lokha” and the “Satya Lokha”. These are the “Lokhas” that are above the ground and similarly there are seven other “Lokhas” beneath, such as “Athala”, “Vithala”, “Suthala”, “Paathaala”, etc. Thus, combined together, there are totally fourteen “Lokhas” that comprise of this world. Amidst this vast and expansive world, our Bhaarata Desha is situated, south of the great “Himalaya Parvatha”. Apart from the Himalaya Parvatha, there are other important places as well, such as “Uttharaguru”, “Bhadraashvam”, “Maalyavaan”, etc. Apart from these, there are other places such as “Ramanakam”, “Hiranyakam”, “Shringavaan”, etc. as well, which are extremely spiritual and important. Thus, Sanjaya explains to King Dhritarashtra that this “Bhaarata Desha” is extremely spiritual in nature and has all the ingredients to be considered as one of the holiest places in this world. 

Moving on further, Sanjaya is now going to explain in detail, the various mountains, rivers, etc. that adorn this great Bhaarata Desha. When we talk of the various rivers that adorn our great holy land, we talk of the rivers Chandrabhaaga, Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Drishtadyuthi, Vibhaasha, Vegavathi, Krishnaveni, etc. which are in the northern side. Similarly when we come towards the central part of our Bhaarata Desha, we have the rivers Gomathi, Kaushiki, Mahanadhi, Narmada, Tapti, etc. As we now come south towards the “Draavida Desha”, we have the famous rivers of Godhavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Tamraparni. Similarly, now Sanjaya talks about the different territories that encompassed various areas of our Bhaarata Desha. Readers can do this as a beautiful homework to check which erstwhile kingdom ruled which states of our current political map. For example, we talk of the Anga Desha, Kalinga Desha, etc., which are today the East-Indian states of West Bengal and Odisha respectively. Similarly, when we talk of “Indraprastha”, it is today’s national capital region of Delhi and its surroundings. Similarly, when we talk of “Vaaranavatham”, we refer to as the modern-day city of Varanasi and its surroundings in the North-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In similar lines, the famous “Gaandhaara Desha” is now referred to as the country of Afghanistan, from where Gaandhaari came to marry King Dhritarashtra. Thus, from the contours of Afghanistan and further west to Cambodia and Indonesia in the east, this land is the land of “Sanaatana Dharma” and was together erstwhile referred to as “Bhaarata Desha”. 

Thus, we must understand that the reference of “Bhaarata Desha” that we give today, is only about 60% of the area that we’re talking about here. In the Mahabharata times, the Bhaarata Desha encompassed today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore. Of course there are several books that are published in this regard and this information is very much available in the public domain for our ready reference, and readers can always refer to those materials for more in-depth analysis. So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue this discussion further in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of Sanjaya’s detailed accord on how the world came into existence. Sanjaya talks about how the five elements were created, along with the five senses, which came together to form the “Anta-Kataaham”. Bhagawan Vishnu was the one who created all these, and from this point, He decides that someone else should take up the responsibility to continue the job of creation, and thus, from His divine “Naabhi-Kamalam”, Bhagawan Brahma takes incarnation. As Bhagawan Brahma comes into existence, Bhagawan Vishnu entrusts the job of creation to him, and he continues this further. Thus, in between this “Anta-Kataaham”, is the “Jambu-Dveepam” and within this “Jambu-Dveepam”, there is a huge mountain made of gold, which is in the inverted form. This divine mountain is called “Meru Parvatham”. We would have heard of the great Himalaya mountains and Vindya Mountains, but this is “Meru Mountains”, which we cannot see through our naked eyes. Thus, Sanjaya explains how the Meru Mountain is in the inverted form, and is fully made of gold. 

Over and above the Meru Mountain, we have several “Lokhas” and the same is the case below the Meru Mountain as well. Thus, to the south of the “Meru Mountain” (“Meroho Dakshine Paarshve…”) is our Bhaarata Desha situated. Our Bhaarata Desha is situated within one of many “Paarshvas” that have been created by Bhagawan Brahma. Under these Paarshvas, there are many “Kandas”, wherein, our Bhaarata Desha is situated in the “Bharata-Kanda”. Sanjaya says thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! This might be very complex for you to understand. You may imagine a huge lotus flower with many petals branching out from the centre. That centre portion is what is called as the “Jambu-Dveepam”. This is completely south of the huge inverted Meru Mountain. Just like how the petals branch out from the centre of the lotus flower, Mother Ganga branches out from the “Jambu-Dveepam” in three different directions – One towards the Deva Lokha, one towards the Manushya Lokha and one towards the Aakaasha. This is the reason why the River Ganges is extremely holy in our Bhaarata Desha and is referred to as “Triphagatha” or “Trisrothas”. These names are adorned by Mother Ganga because of the reason that she flows in three different directions. Thus, as the River Ganges descends from the “Jambu-Dveepam”, she passes through the “Dhruva-Mandalam” wherein all the “Nakshatras” are present. As per the astrological calculations, there are twenty-seven “Nakshatras”, which are divided into three categories of nine each. It is believed that Surya Bhagawan’s chariot passes through all these twenty-seven “Nakshatras” and this is how the three categories of routes of nine “Nakshatras” each, are formed. Similarly, there are twelve “Raashis” and for each “Raashi”, we have a count of 2.25 “Nakshatras”. Moreover, it is a scientific fact that during the summer season, the day time is longer and night time is shorter. This typically happens from the month of January to June of the English calendar year. In Asgtrology, we call this time period as “Uttharaayanam”, wherein the direction of Surya Bhagawan’s chariot is northwards. Similarly, when the direction of Surya Bhagawan’s chariot changes towards the southern direction, we call it “Dakshinayanam” and here, the day time is shorter and the night time is longer!” 

Narrating all these calculations thus, Sanjaya explains how the world was created and what are some key characteristics of the world that all of us live in. So for today, let us understand these technicalities a bit, and I’m also keeping it a bit brief here. We’ve already discussed these things in a great deal of detail in our “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” project previously, and readers can refer to the same for more details. We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vyaasa completing his accord by saying that this is not going to be an ordinary and a usual war. This is going to be something that is extremely unusual wherein at the end of the war, not many people are going to survive on both the camps. This means that, it is not only the Kaurava army that is going to face mass destruction, but also the Paandava camp, which is equally going to face extreme destruction. At the end of the war, only a handful of people are going to survive and we’re going to witness lakhs and lakhs of people and animals waiting to face destruction! In the meanwhile, as Sage Vyaasa finishes his accord thus, King Dhritarashtra turns to Sanjaya and asks about certain geographical locations from where people have gathered at Kurukshetra for the war. Now, Sanjaya is going to give a very important accord on this, as he is starting to view the proceedings of the Kurukshetra war with the divine pair of eyes gifted by Sage Vyaasa. 

Sanjaya says thus with tears in his eyes – “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Do you know something? People from all over the world have gathered here at Kurukshetra. At every household, there is no youngster at all, as all the youngsters have assembled in the battlefield, representing either side. Similarly, when it comes to charioteers, all the charioteers from across various kingdoms have arrived here, which means that there is a severe shortage of talented charioteers across various kingdoms. Similarly, when it comes to animals, all the horses, elephants, etc. from various geographies of the world have assembled here. This means, there is a huge shortage of animals to do agriculture, construction works, etc. across all territories! Such is the intensity of this war! This, I think, is going to be a marquee battle and as Sage Vyaasa said just now, if the entire world has gathered here, it is going to be a mass destruction that is going to happen very soon! How can Sage Vyaasa’s words go wrong? We’re going to witness something stunning and unprecedented within the next few days!” 

As Sanjaya says thus, King Dhritarashtra asks another question thus, “Oh Sanjaya! You’re saying that people and animals from various kingdoms have gathered at Kurukshetra, aren’t you? Now tell me – What are the dimensions of this world and the geographical locations of various kingdoms? What is meant by Bhaarata Desha? What are its geographical locations? What is the composition of this world? Give me an accord on all these aspects in detail!” Sanjaya replies thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Now let me tell you how this whole world took shape. Initially, there were only the five important forces – “Prithivi”, “Appu”, “Tejas”, “Vaayu” and “Aakaasha”. As these five forces were dominant everywhere, Bhagawan Vishnu (Referred to as Para-Brahman) takes a divine “Sankalpa” thus, “I’m going to unite all these five forces and create something called as “Bhumi” (Earth) wherein many living beings are going to be born and are going to live!” It is with this divine “Sankalpa” of the Brahman, did the “Prakriti” or “Moola-Prakriti” take shape. This “Prakriti” further took shape into something called “Mahaan”. This “Mahaan” further took shape to become “Ahankaara”. This “Ahankaara” splits into three categories namely, “Saatvika Ahankaara”, “Raajasa Ahankaara” and “Taamasa Ahankaara”.  From the “Taamasa Ahankaara”, came the five elements (“Pancha-Bhootas” – Earth, fire, wind, water and sky), along with the “Pancha-Sanmaathras” which are nothing but the five sense organs – Look, touch, taste, smell and sound. Thus, we can see here that the five elements of the earth are closely linked with the five senses – For instance, water links itself with taste, earth links itself to smell, wind links itself to touch / feel, sky links itself with sound and fire links itself with light / vision. As Bhagawan creates all these, He decides to combine everything together to create the “Anta-Kataaham”. 

As Bhagawan creates all these, there should be someone to take care of all these individually, isn’t it? Hence, from Bhagawan’s “Naabhi-Kamalam”, Bhagawan Brahma gets created. From this point onwards, the responsibility of further creation (“Srishti”) is handed over to Bhagawan Brahma, who commences his job straightaway! Thus, slowly and steadily, the world starts taking shape under the responsibility of Bhagawan Brahma, and for today, let us understand up to this point. We shall continue this discussion in the next episode as well to witness further details on this! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had been witnessing a very important conversation that is going on between Sage Vyaasa and King Dhritarashtra, wherein Sage Vyaasa wants to provide a divine pair of eyes to King Dhritarashtra to see the war. However, King Dhritarashtra rejects that offer and explains to Sage Vyaasa that he doesn’t want to witness his own people dying in the battlefield. Moreover, King Dhritarashtra is very particular that let Sanjaya take the lead in viewing the war with the divine pair of eyes already gifted to him earlier by Sage Vyaasa and Sanjaya would update him periodically. Also, we’ve witnessed Sage Vyaasa explaining how the planetary positions and the astrological predictions together point out towards a major destruction within the next few days. Sage Vyaasa clearly explains that it is not only the Kaurava army which is going to face destruction, but the Paandava army as well! 

Hence, as we’re witnessing Sage Vyaasa explaining this, we can understand one thing very clearly here – This is not an ordinary war wherein one camp will win with minimal damage and it would inflict heavy damage on the other camp. This is a war wherein both rival camps will face colossal destruction. The Paandava army will also see heavy destruction, which would be quite similar to that of the Kaurava army. Sage Vyaasa explains this, even as King Dhritarashtra knows that destruction is inevitable for his son Duryodhana and Co. In fact, King Dhritarashtra himself says that he doesn’t want to view the proceedings of the war, only because he knows that this is going to be a war full of destruction! Nobody is really going to be able to claim victory at the end of it! This is purely the divine “Sankalpa” (Divine Will) of Bhagawan Krishna wherein, He has decided to destroy all the evil forces on the Kurukshetra battlefield. When we say “evil forces”, we should not mistake that the Kaurava army is the one which has all the evil forces in it. We should understand here that the Paandava army also has evil forces in it, which has walked the path of “Adharma” earlier and Bhagawan Krishna is going to ensure the destruction of those people as well! Hence, end of the day if we’ve to analyze the result of this war, it is going to be “nothing” in terms of gain or loss pertaining to one particular army. The result of the war is going to be the victory of “Dharma” over “Adharma”, and for this, countless numbers of people are going to lose their lives. 

Concluding his accord thus, Sage Vyaasa is now about to leave Hastinapura and at this point, King Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya a very important question. King Dhritarashtra asks thus, “Oh Sanjaya! You’re able to see the happenings at Kurukshetra, aren’t you? I’ve been hearing that people have come from various territories across our Bhaarata Desha to fight this war. So tell me – Which are those territories from where people have come? What are the characteristics of those territories? What are the precise geographical locations of these territories? Please tell me in detail!” As King Dhritarashtra asks thus, Sanjaya is going to give a detailed accord with various interesting details pertaining to this regard. We shall commence this important discussion in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important accord on the key rules and regulations that are being framed for the conduct of the war. Precisely and most importantly, it is mutually decided that the war would happen only during the day time and not after sunset. This is in contrast when we compare the war that took place between Bhagawan Rama and Ravana in the Ramayana text, wherein the war happened during both day and the night. But here, it is strictly decided that the war will not happen after sunset and further, people who are on the chariots will fight with only those counterparts who are also on chariots. In similar lines, people riding on horses will fight only with those counterparts who are on horses. Similarly, this rule applies to all kinds of warriors who are going to participate in the war. Meanwhile, Sage Vyaasa visits Hastinapura once again, in a bid to provide a divine pair of eyes to King Dhritarashtra as well, so that he too can see the live proceedings of the war along with Sanjaya. 

However, even as Sage Vyaasa is ready to provide him with the same, King Dhritarashtra is not ready to receive them. He replies to Sage Vyaasa thus, “Oh my dear father! Do you really want me to have these eyes and see the war proceedings? This is going to be a disastrous war and all my family members, friends and relatives are going to die in this. Do you really want me to see all their deaths one after the other? This is perhaps one of the biggest family feuds ever happening in this world and this has led the entire family to the battlefield. Now, all of them are going to engage in warfare and are going to destroy each other! I do not have the heart to see this mass destruction of my own family members and my sons! I’m not so stone-hearted to digest these things! Hence, let Sanjaya see it and let him update me with the proceedings from time to time!” 

As King Dhritarashtra says thus, Sage Vyaasa too understands his son’s feelings with a lot of compassion. Sage Vyaasa replies thus, “Oh my son! You’re right! I know it is difficult to see people dying in front of our eyes. Accordingly, even I’m seeing some bad omens all around me, which suggests something disastrous is yet to come. With this, Sage Vyaasa lists down a huge number of planetary positions pertaining to astrological science, which favours a disastrous war in the making. Of course I do not know much about Astrological science and predictions pertaining to it and hence, I’m not going deeper into this subject. Readers who are well-versed in astrology can go through this section in detail and may be able to understand it far better. However, one thing is very clear – All the planetary positions that are there during this time are in such a way that it indicates a major disaster happening very soon. 

Moreover, Sage Vyaasa also explains one interesting point here, when it comes to the context of astrological positions – Within the previous fourteen days (1 Paksha) from the start of the war, both solar and lunar eclipses have taken place! This is something very unusual. Normally during the no-moon day, (“Amaavaasya”) the solar eclipse takes place and during the full-moon day (“Pournami”) the lunar eclipse takes place. Here, Sage Vyaasa explains that both the solar and lunar eclipses have taken place within this span of fourteen days and this is extremely disastrous for the entire world! Hence, what we can understand here is that, if both the lunar eclipse and solar eclipse comes back to back, it signals a disaster for the world. Subsequently, Sage Vyaasa explains the positions of the planets “Raahu” and “Kethu” and explains how these positions are extremely bad for the Kauravas and how these are going to be extremely good for the Paandavas. 

Sage Vyaasa further says thus, “Oh son! Please understand one thing clearly – If I say that the Paandavas’ planetary positions are favourable, it doesn’t mean that they will easily breeze through this war and attain victory fully! They are also going to face equal destruction as the Kauravas, and this war is not going to be a cake-walk for them as well! Hence, when it comes to destruction, it is going to be there at a large scale on both sides. However, we should not forget that this is Bhagawan Krishna’s “Sankalpa” of killing all the evil forces in the Kurukshetra battlefield, and if He has made the “Sankalpa”, nobody can stop it from happening!” Saying thus, Sage Vyaasa explains the mammoth destruction that is in store for the entire Kaurava and Paandava armies. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the all-important Bhishma Parva, wherein the Mahabharata war was about to commence at Kurukshetra battlefield. Both the camps are taking their pole positions in the battlefield and are getting ready for the inevitable war. The Paandava army led by Drishtadhyumna is slowly building up on one end of the battlefield and the Kaurava army led by the great Bhishmachaarya is gearing itself up on the other end. At this juncture, we’re entering into the first “Upa-Parva” under the Bhishma Parva , which is called “Jambu-Khanda-Vinirmana Parva”. Here, we’re going to witness an accord on the entire “Jambu-Khandam” (Earth) as a whole, with an enormous accord on the important mountains, oceans, rivers, land masses, countries, territories, etc. that it comprises. So we shall first set up the context for this discussion, as we move into the accord. 

Now we would be wondering from where this “off-shoot” discussion about the world is coming. This is being asked by King Dhritarashtra to Sanjaya. We’ve earlier witnessed that Sanjaya is the one who is going to explain the minute-by-minute happenings of the upcoming war to King Dhritarashtra, as he is going to see the proceedings live through the divine pair of eyes gifted by Sage Vyaasa. This entire discussion is being done by Sage Vaishampayana to King Janame-Jaya. This Upa-Parva discussion commences at this point where King Janame-Jaya is going to ask an important question to Sage Vaishampayana. Now this is where readers should not get confused. In the Mahabharata text, we will look into conversations within conversations, and the first ring of conversation is always between Sage Vaishampayana and King Janame-Jaya. We should remember that this entire Mahabharata story discussion stems from this conversation only. King Janame-Jaya asks Sage Vaishampayana thus, “Oh Sage! What did my great grandfathers do at Kurukshetra? How did the war proceedings begin? Who fought with whom? Please tell me in detail!” 

As King Janame-Jaya asks thus, Sage Vaishampayana replies back – “Oh Janame-Jaya! Now, we are witnessing the proceedings at the battlefield and you’ve asked a very important question. Now that all of them have reached Kurukshetra, tent accommodations and food facilities were provided to all of them assembled there. Moreover, facilities for their resting and sleeping, along with medical first-aid were also created at a large scale, given the mammoth size of both the armies. Along with all these, the rules and regulations for the battle are also mutually decided. For instance, those who are in the chariots, should only fight with those who are in chariots. Those who are on top of horses, should only fight with their counterparts who are riding horses. Soldiers who are on foot, should only fight with their counterpart soldiers who are also on foot. Those who are taking food, water, medical supplies, etc. to the battlefield should not be touched by either camps. Similarly, those who do not have any weapons in their hands, should not be fought with. The war will only happen during the day time and once the sun sets in during the dusk period of the day, the war should stop at any cost. Thus, all these rules are drafted and communicated to both the camps in advance, as they are getting themselves ready. 

As this is happening on the Kurukshetra battlefield, Sage Vyaasa once again comes to Hastinapura palace to meet King Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya. As Sage Vyaasa settles down, he tells King Dhritarashtra thus, “Oh my dear son! Along with Sanjaya, I’m ready to give you also a divine pair of eyes, through which you can see the war proceedings. I’m sure you are also eager to witness the war proceedings. Hence, I came to give you the divine pair of eyes, with which, you yourself can see the proceedings live, which nobody else can see, except Sanjaya!” As Sage Vyaasa says thus, King Dhritarashtra thinks for a while and is going to reply to him. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall understand what King Dhritarashtra is going to say, and how the conversation is going to build on from here! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya explaining in detail as to how Shikhandi’s gender change happened, and why he will not fight against Shikhandi in the war. As we’ve seen, Shikhandi was originally a female by birth (Amba) and subsequently how she retook another birth to be born as the daughter of King Drupada and how she “converted” herself into a male through an “Yaksha” prince. We’ve also witnessed Kubera getting angry with this “Yaksha” prince by exchanging his male characteristics with Shikhandi for some cheap reasons, and as a result, Kubera curses this “Yaksha” prince of being unable to regain his male form and characteristics forever in his life. Thus with this, Shikhandi had no option to regain her female form from this “Yaksha” prince and as a result of this, Shikhandi had to continue living as a male all through her life! Concluding this accord in this way, Bhishmachaarya clearly spells out his strategy towards Shikhandi and the others in the Paandava army. 

Moving on further thus, we now enter into the main “Bhishma Parva” wherein the famed Mahabharata war is all set to begin! Subsequently the next morning, both the army camps swiftly start making their way into the Kurukshetra battlefield. There are huge rumbling sounds from the ground as both the armies are marching towards the battlefield and there is enormous dust that is erupting from the earth surface. A huge herd of elephants, horses, and several batches of soldiers from both sides make their way into the battlefield. Since Bhishmachaarya is the leader of the Kaurava army, this “Parva” is named after Bhishmachaarya. Subsequently, Bhishmachaarya is going to be the leader for the Kaurava army for the first ten days of the war. After he is pushed into the bed of arrows by Arjuna, Guru Dhronachaarya is going to take over the reins from Bhishmachaarya, and the “Parva” which is going to describe the happenings of the war at this time, is called “Dhrona Parva”. Subsequently after Guru Dhronachaarya’s demise, Karna takes over, and the “Parva” which is going to describe the happenings of the war during this time is called “Karna Parva”. After Karna’s demise, King Shalya takes over, and the “Parva” which describes the war happenings at this time is called “Shalya Parva”. Thus, with this, the entire war is going to come to an end. Hence, we’re now going to witness four important “Parvas” back to back, which describe the intricate details of the war. Some of the key details that we’re going to witness are the strategies of warfare that both the armies adopted to attack each other, key people who fought the war on each of the eighteen days, key people who were neutralized at the end of each day of the war, the “Asthras” they employed upon each other, Bhagawan Krishna’s role in the battlefield and how He protected the Paandavas during the war, etc. Hence, we’re going to enter a very critical phase of the entire Mahabharata story and readers’ attention to minute details is required from here on, so as to have a clear understanding of what happened during the eighteen-day war. 

Opening the account of the war thus, we’re now entering into the Bhishma Parva, which is the main Parva at this stage. Within the Bhishma Parva, the first Upa-Parva is the “Jambu-Khanda-Vinirmana Parva”. This is a huge Upa-Parva that describes the entire “Jambu-Khandam” (Earth) as a whole, with an enormous accord on the important mountains, oceans, rivers, land masses, countries, territories, etc. that it comprises. We might wonder why this long accord about the earth is coming at a time when both the camps are readying themselves to attack each other! We shouldn’t forget that we’re in the middle of the battlefield. Even though this is the case, with both the camps getting ready with their respective strategies and weapons to fight, where does this discussion come from? We shall wait till the next episode to have a detailed discussion on this! Stay tuned for an important and informative accord for tomorrow! 🙂