The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna rejecting Duryodhana’s hospitality and food offer. As Duryodhana offers all the best-in-class hospitality and a grand feast for lunch, Bhagawan Krishna silently rejects everything by asserting that it would be a huge blunder on His part to accept any of these things from an enemy. Until Surya Bhagawan (Sun God) and Chandra Bhagawan (Moon God) exist in this world, Bhagawan Krishna will never ever accept even a drop of water from an enemy’s place, as this would account to a huge “Adharmic” act. Rejecting Duryodhana’s hospitality on this basis, Bhagawan Krishna prefers to go along with Vidura to His house for the evening and the night. As this happens, Duryodhana starts fuming with anger because all his plans got foiled! Duryodhana asks Bhagawan Krishna angrily thus, “Oh Krishna! You’re rejecting my hospitality! You’re rejecting to stay with Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya as well! What does Vidura have in him? He is afterall a person who has nothing in his possession! What kind of hospitality is Vidura going to give you?” 

Even as Duryodhana keeps ranting thus, Bhagawan Krishna just smiles and doesn’t reply anything to him! He just walks away along with Vidura! As Bhagawan Krishna decides on the spot to come to his house, Vidura doesn’t know what to do! He is scampering here and there for giving Bhagawan Krishna the best hospitality for the night. Unperturbed by all that, Bhagawan Krishna decides that if there’s one person with whom He can reside for that night at Hastinapura, it would only be Vidura and nobody else! Hence, as Bhagawan Krishna makes His way to Vidura’s house, the first thing that Vidura has in his mind in this – “Oh no! Till today I’ve been consuming the food and offerings that Duryodhana has been offering me! Because of that, what if some characteristics of “Adharma” might have got into me knowingly or unknowingly? Duryodhana has dug a huge pit for tomorrow’s event at the Hastinapura courtroom to trap Bhagawan Krishna with a wicked mindset. I hope I do not have such a wicked mindset in me just because I consumed Duryodhana’s food all these days and years!” 

Thinking thus, as Vidura prepares Bhagawan Krishna’s “Aasana” (Seat), he touches the cushions of the “Aasana” just to make sure that there are no nails or any sharp items that might poke Bhagawan Krishna when He sits! Vidura caresses the “Aasana” twice and thrice even as Bhagawan Krishna is seeing what Vidura is doing! As Vidura makes sure that there are no sharp objects in the “Aasana”, he requests Bhagawan Krishna to be seated. As Bhagawan Krishna sits and gets comfortable. Both Vidura and Bhagawan Krishna are talking with each other happily. As the conversation continues for a while, it is now time for dinner and Bhagawan Krishna expresses His wish of eating some bananas for dinner. 

As per Bhagawan Krishna’s request, Vidura’s wife brings a basket full of bananas and places it in front of both of them. Even as the conversation continues, Vidura peels off the skin of each banana and tries to give the fruit to Bhagawan Krishna. However, unfortunately as the conversation goes on deeply, Vidura mistakenly gives the peeled off skin to Bhagawan Krishna and throws the fruit in the basket! Even though Bhagawan Krishna knows what is happening, He happily accepts the skins and keeps eating them! He knows that Vidura is doing this unaware and this continues for a while! Thus, at one point when Vidura’s wife comes out of the kitchen, she sees this horrific happening! She immediately touches her husband in a bid to make him aware of what is happening! As his wife brings him back to his awareness, Vidura quickly realizes his folly and immediately falls on Bhagawan Krishna’s divine lotus feet and seeks forgiveness for the blunder that has been happening over the past few minutes! 

So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness Bhagawan Krishna’s reaction to this! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna visiting Duryodhana’s palace and Duryodhana in turn trying his best to entice Bhagawan Krishna towards his side. For this, Duryodhana had prepared the best-in-class food items along with the best of the best hospitality for Bhagawan Krishna, in a bid to make Him reside in his palace itself for the rest of the day. The ploy here is very simple – Just like the case of King Shalya earlier, if Bhagawan Krishna accepts Duryodhana’s hospitality and consumes food at his palace, He would become indebted to Duryodhana and would be indirectly blackmailed to fight for Duryodhana’s cause. However, Bhagawan Krishna is too good to be fooled in such ways! As Duryodhana offers all these things, Bhagawan Krishna tactfully rejects them by saying that He isn’t really worthy of all this! Moreover, Bhagawan Krishna also says that He has come here to Hastinapura as a messenger and not as a king, and hence, He would only act in the capacity of a messenger and not accept such hospitality services at the moment! 

Even as Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Duryodhana is not very convinced. He says further thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I know that you’ve come here to Hastinapura as a messenger. But you are more than just a messenger for us. You are one of our family members too. Hence, in that capacity atleast you can stay with me for the day and accept my hospitality, can’t you? Moreover, I’m seriously not understanding why you’re ditching one brother against the other. The feud is between myself and Yudishtra, and not between myself and you in any way. I would always like to maintain good terms with you at all times. Hence, please accept my hospitality!” 

As Duryodhana explains his stance thus, Bhagawan Krishna quips immediately back, “Oh Duryodhana! How can you say that I’m your relative? I’m not related to you in any way! Moreover, you are my enemy! How can you say that I’m not your enemy?” As Bhagawan Krishna asks counter questions like this, Duryodhana doesn’t know what to answer for a moment! He once again asks thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! How can I be your enemy? How am I not related to you? I’m not able to understand what you’re saying!” Bhagawan Krishna replies thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Let me explain to you – You are dead against the Paandava brothers, aren’t you? Please understand that the Paandavas are so dear to me. If you are against the Paandavas, it automatically implies that you’re against me as well! Hence, in this way, you’ve automatically become my enemy. According to the “Dharma-Shaasthra”, if I’m consuming food at an enemy’s place, it is a blunder. Rather, even if I invite an enemy to my place for offering food, it is a blunder! Hence, it is not right for me to consume the food that you’re offering me, or, to accept your hospitality as well! I shall be better off staying with Vidura, who is my ardent “Bhakta”. I shall accept whatever Vidura gives me!” 

As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Duryodhana fumes with anger! He now raises his voice against Bhagawan Krishna and replies thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! Till now I had so much respect for you. However, with whatever you’ve spoken with me, you’ve insulted me in a great way! You’re ready to accept the hospitality of Vidura who has nothing at all in his possession. However, you’ve rejected the hospitality offered by me, Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya, and also my father King Dhritarashtra! This is totally unfair on your part to encourage so much enmity with all of us!” 

Even as Duryodhana continues ranting thus, Bhagawan Krishna walks away from Duryodhana’s palace with a beaming smile! His mission of meeting Duryodhana has been fulfilled to a great extent! 🙂 So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness how Bhagawan Krishna and Vidura spend time with each other for the rest of the day! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna talking with Vidura and subsequently with Kunthi Devi. Bhagawan Krishna makes it a point to visit Kunthi Devi, so as to pay His salutations to Yudishtra’s mother. We should also remember that Kunthi Devi is Vasudeva’s (Bhagawan Krishna’s father)  own sister and in that way too, He wanted to offer His respects to her. Thus, moving on further from here, Bhagawan Krishna now wants to visit Duryodhana in his chamber. Of course, Bhagawan Krishna knows the wickedness of Duryodhana very well, but still, He wants to test Duryodhana to see to what level he can stoop down to. Thus, Bhagawan Krishna makes His way to Duryodhana’s palace and we shall continue from here on in today’s episode. 

As Bhagawan Krishna enters Duryodhana’s palace, He sees the astounding nature in which the palace is built. There is a throne which is made fully of gold and all along the pathway that leads to the throne, gold decorations are made everywhere. As Bhagawan Krishna walks inside through the pathway, Duryodhana comes running and welcomes Him with all the due respects. Perhaps, Duryodhana did not expect Bhagawan Krishna to come on a personal visit to his palace, and hence, Duryodhana quickly scrambles around to give the best welcome possible for Bhagawan Krishna. Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna walks through the golden carpet, Duryodhana offers one of the highest “Aasanas” (Seat) for Him to be seated. As Bhagawan Krishna sits in the “Aasana”, He remarks to Duryodhana thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Thank you for the wonderful hospitality you’re providing me! However, I do not know if I’m eligible for all these things! I was born in a poor family in Mathura! I was chased out of Mathura to Gokula even before I opened my eyes as a baby! I was brought up amidst cowherds for the next ten years of my life. Subsequently, even after I came back to Mathura, I was chased away by Jarasandha’s brother, Kalayavana, all the way to Dwaraka! Hence, I’ve been running here and there all through my life! Given this case, I really do not know if I deserve all these levels of hospitality! Instead, you should be offering all these to someone else who really deserves it!” 

As Bhagawan Krishna opines thus, Duryodhana is quick to respond in a nice way. He says thus, “Oh Krishna! You shouldn’t be saying all these. You are a great king and you are the ruler of the great kingdom called Dwaraka. You are Dwaraka-Deesha! Hence, you have all the right to experience this kind of hospitality!” As Duryodhana explains thus, he then quickly comes to the important point of discussion without wasting any further time. Duryodhana says thus, “Oh Krishna! Please tell me one thing clearly – Do both of us have any sort of enmity between us? Did I do anything wrong to you? Did I come to you for any stake in your property or anything? Did I ever invade your kingdom once? For all these questions, the answer is a “No”, isn’t it? In that case, why do you want to align yourself with my enemy and fight against me? What wrong did I do to you? The feud is between myself and Yudishtra, and we both shall sort it out in the way we want! Hence, why don’t you switch sides and come to my fold? I shall give you enormous respect and hospitality and take care of you in every way possible!” 

Even as Duryodhana says thus, a grand feast for Bhagawan Krishna has already been arranged! Duryodhana offers the best-in-class food items for Bhagawan Krishna and requests Him to consume. Duryodhana says thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! Please accept my hospitality and provide me with your divine “Anugraha”. Please accept the food varieties that I’ve specially prepared for you. I request you to consume how much food you would want to, and rest here in my palace tonight, before you get ready for tomorrow morning’s session in the Hastinapura courtroom!” 

As Duryodhana tempts Bhagawan Krishna with all these offerings, Bhagawan Krishna bursts out laughing! He pats Duryodhana on his back and replies thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Many thanks for the wonderful hospitality once again! Wow! The food really looks so tempting and I’m sure it would be extremely tasty too! However, oh Duryodhana! I cannot accept any of these offerings that you’re giving me! My role today is as a messenger. A messenger should first finish his duty before consuming any food items or before accepting any kind of hospitality! Hence, I shall first finish my task tomorrow and then accept everything whatever you give me!” 

Now this seems to be a very tactical reply from Bhagawan Krishna, isn’t it? So it is clear and evident that Bhagawan Krishna is trying to avoid Duryodhana’s hospitality and food offering, because, if He consumes any of what Duryodhana is offering, Bhagawan Krishna would become indebted to Duryodhana, like we’ve witnessed earlier. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall witness what is Duryodhana’s reaction going to be for Bhagawan Krishna’s refusal! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna spending quality time at Vidura’s residence for the rest of the day, as He arrives at Hastinapura. This is a beautiful illustration that we’re witnessing here, as to how Bhagawan recognizes the selfless services rendered by an ardent Bhakta towards “Dharma”. As Vidura asks for the reason behind Bhagawan Krishna choosing to stay at his residence, rather than in the expansive palace of King Dhritarashtra, Bhagawan Krishna explains that He wanted to thank Vidura for a long time now, and this was the right opportunity to do so. As Bhagawan says this, both of them have tears in their eyes. Bhagawan Krishna has tears of gratitude towards Vidura flowing through His divine eyes, for the sole purpose of standing up and talking in favour of Draupati on that fateful day where she was molested openly by Duryodhana and Co. At a time when nobody dared to open their mouths and talk against what Duryodhana was doing, it was Vidura alone who had the guts to do so. This itself recommends to be praised and recognized by Bhagawan more than anything else. 

As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, He now has to go and meet Kunthi Devi next. Hence, moving forward thus, He says to Vidura, “Oh Vidura! Please do not mind! I’ve to leave now and meet Kunthi Devi and talk to her as well. I shall be back again at your residence sometime very soon. Hence, please give me permission to start from here!” As Bhagawan requests Vidura thus, Vidura replies back, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! Why do you want to ask permission from me? You are the supreme of this world! This entire world is your creation! I’m afterall an ordinary person. This is your residence. You can come and leave at any point in time and it is my duty to offer my best hospitality to you! I’m very happy that today I’ve been able to perform my duty sincerely without any blemish. You’re welcome at any point in time to my house!” 

As Vidura says thus, Bhagawan Krishna takes leave from Vidura’s residence and it is now turn to meet Kunthi Devi. As Bhagawan Krishna enters into Kunthi Devi’s chamber, both of them exchange pleasantries and Kunthi Devi enquires about the well-being of all her sons, along with Draupati. Bhagawan Krishna replies thus, “Oh Kunthi Devi! Yudishtra and Co. are doing well. They are in good health. I’m very glad that no matter how much of hurdles they’re facing, they are following the path of “Dharma”, which is very important. I’ve come to Hastinapura to talk on behalf of Yudishtra to Duryodhana to dose down the boiling feud. I shall try my best, but if this doesn’t work out, let us leave it to fate to take over!” As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Kunthi Devi asks Him back, “Oh Krishna! What are you going to talk? Is there any use of talking to Duryodhana? You know of his arrogance, don’t you? Why do you want to waste your precious time in talking to him?” As Kunthi Devi asks thus, Bhagawan Krishna replies back, “Oh Kunthi Devi! I know what you’re talking about. I totally understand the fact that Duryodhana is arrogant. However, it is my duty to try and mediate between the two camps and to resurrect Duryodhana. Else, tomorrow if a war happens and if there is a disaster, people would blame me that I’ve not mediated enough and I’ve not given Duryodhana an opportunity to mend his ways. Hence, I’m doing this for the sake of Hastinapura’s well-being, along with Duryodhana’s! It is up to Duryodhana to use this opportunity to do course correction. If he’s not going to utilize this opportunity, nobody can save him from whatever consequences he is going to face!” 

Saying thus, Bhagawan Krishna explains the reason behind His visit to Hastinapura to Kunthi Devi. Paying His respects to her thus, it is now time for Bhagawan Krishna to make His way to Duryodhana’s palace to have a word with him as well! So what is going to conspire in this meeting? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna completely spoiling the bids of both King Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana as He makes His way into Hastinapura. Bhagawan Krishna smartly spoils King Dhritarashtra’s plan of giving 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna, so as to pull Him on to Duryodhana’s side, by not residing at Hastinapura palace as per King Dhritarashtra’s request. Secondly, Bhagawan Krishna also spoils Duryodhana’s bid to entice Him on to his side, by opting to reside with Vidura for the rest of the day. Duryodhana wanted to offer the best-in-house hospitality to Bhagawan Krishna with the wicked intention of blackmailing Him into his fold, but this too gets foiled when Bhagawan Krishna expresses His wish to reside with Vidura. Of course Bhagawan Krishna knows that if He stays and accepts the hospitality from the enemy, He would become indebted to him and hence, carefully avoids the bizarre  situation. 

Moving on thus, as per Bhagawan’s request, Vidura escorts Him to his house. Even though Vidura’s house is very small and simple as compared to King Dhritarashtra’s expansive palace, Bhagawan Krishna opts for this, as He wants to honour His ardent Bhakta. As Vidura brings Bhagawan Krishna to his house, he is completely in tears of joy and tension. He did not expect Bhagawan Krishna to come to his small house. Thus, Vidura extends all the possible hospitality that he can to Bhagawan Krishna and makes Him feel comfortable. Thus, as this happens, Bhagawan and Vidura are conversing happily with each other. Vidura asks Bhagawan Krishna during the conversation thus, “Oh Bhagawan! You are a great king! You are the supreme Lord for the entire world! You are from a great divine place called Dwaraka! As you came to Hastinapura, you were offered the best hospitality at our palace by King Dhritarashtra! Inspite of all these things, why did you opt to come and stay with me? As you know now, my place is extremely small and I can only provide bare minimal hospitality to you, due to my limitations. How did you decide to come to me, rather than residing at Hastinapura?”

As Vidura asks thus, Bhagawan Krishna gives a heart-touching reply to him. Bhagawan says thus, “Oh my dear Vidura! You do not need to provide me with the best-in-class hospitality. That is not what I look for. All I look for is your Bhakti and Sharanagati. I see both these qualities in you, more than anybody else in Hastinapura. Of course, Sanjaya is an exception, and I agree! But apart from you and Sanjaya, there is nobody who can give me these two! Moreover, you are an epitome of “Dharma”, and you are one person who stands by “Dharma” at all times, even when the going gets tough. I know that you’re doing your duty perfectly as a minister to King Dhritarashtra in explaining him the “Dharma” in all his actions. When Draupati was stripped in public on that fateful day, I know that you were the only one who stood by Draupati, at a time when all the others were in silence! You were the one who tried to argue for Draupati’s cause. You were the only one who had the guts to talk against Duryodhana’s actions, at a time when nobody had that courage! Hence, I wanted to honour you for all what you’ve done till date to protect “Dharma”! Of course, you’ve tried your best, but rest is left to fate to decide! However, despite this, you’ve had the guts to stand by “Dharma”! Moreover, I know that you’ve been of immense help to Yudishtra and Co. during their thirteen-year “Vana-Vaasam” period, Thus, I was waiting all these years to meet you and express my gratitude to you for being alongside “Dharma”, and also for helping Yudishtra at tough times whenever I was not available for him! This is the sole reason why I opted to come to your house, instead of staying at King Dhritarashtra’s! Oh Vidura! I know that I would have got ten times more hospitality at King Dhritarashtra’s palace than what you offered me! However, as I said earlier, hospitality, gifts, etc. do not move me! Only your ardent “Bhakti” and your meticulous path towards “Dharma” moves my attention towards you!” 

As Bhagawan Krishna gives this lengthy reply, Vidura is in tears of joy! Even Bhagawan Krishna couldn’t hold back His tears as He is thanking Vidura for all whatever he has done to protect Yudishtra and Co. so far! So for today, let us enjoy this beautiful moment between Bhagawan and His ardent Bhakta and we shall continue further with this discussion in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna arriving at the Hastinapura entrance. As Bhagawan Krishna makes His grand entry, hundreds and thousands of people of the city gather on either side of the pathway to receive Him and to have His divine “Darshan” for atleast a second or two. Meanwhile, as per King Dhritarashtra’s direction, Vidura goes along with Duryodhana to receive Bhagawan Krishna, as per the kingdom’s protocol. As Bhagawan Krishna sees both of them coming, His eyes specially fall on Vidura and with a lot of compassion, Bhagawan Krishna allows him to get on to His chariot, whereas, Duryodhana who had also accompanied Vidura was left in the lurch! Fuming thus, Duryodhana gets into another chariot that comes along and the caravan reaches the Hastinapura palace. Bhagawan Krishna, Vidura and Duryodhana get down from their respective chariots and make their way to meet King Dhritarashtra in his chamber. As King Dhritarashtra senses Bhagawan Krishna’s arrival, he offers all his respects and prayers to Bhagawan Krishna, who in turn acknowledges all of it. Now, King Dhritarashtra wants Bhagawan Krishna to stay in his palace for the day and as he expresses this wish, Bhagawan Krishna’s reaction is very important for us to understand. Let us continue from this point onwards in today’s episode. 

Moving on thus, as King Dhritarashtra makes this request, Bhagawan Krishna has other plans in mind! He immediately holds Vidura’s hands tightly and says thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Many thanks for your wonderful hospitality! I wholeheartedly accept whatever you’ve given me till now. However, when it comes to staying back at Hastinapura, more than residing in the palace, I think I should stay tonight at an ardent “Bhakta’s” place!” Saying thus, Bhagawan Krishna looks at Vidura with a lot of compassion and affection! Bhagawan Krishna knows how devoted Vidura is, and how he stands for “Dharma” at all times. Sensing this opportunity, Bhagawan Krishna thinks that this is the right time to give the honours to Vidura and spend some quality time with him. Continuing to reply thus, Bhagawan Krishna says, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! This ardent Bhakta whom I’m talking about is none other than our own Vidura who is standing nearby! I would like to spend some time with him for the remaining part of the day, before I come to the courtroom tomorrow morning!” 

As Bhagawan Krishna expresses His divine wish thus, King Dhritarashtra doesn’t know what to tell! His plan has been totally foiled! Initially, as we’ve seen earlier, King Dhritarashtra’s plan was to gift Bhagawan Krishna with many items and also with around 50 villages from Hastinapura, in a bid to bring Bhagawan Krishna into his fold! However, Bhagawan Krishna has beautifully handled this delicate situation by opting to reside with Vidura at his residence, rather than at the palace! By doing this, Bhagawan Krishna also spoils one of Duryodhana’s ploy as well. Apart from the trap that Duryodhana had been planning earlier, Duryodhana had also thought that if he makes Bhagawan Krishna reside in the Hastinapura palace for a night with utmost great hospitality, Bhagawan Krishna would have no other option but to come into his fold. This is exactly what happened to King Shalya earlier, and readers might remember this – Duryodhana offered the best hospitality and food to a tired King Shalya who had been travelling all through the day, and just because King Shalya accepted Duryodhana’s hospitality, he became indebted to Duryodhana! Thus, Duryodhana had planned a similar strategy with Bhagawan Krishna, however, this strategy has also ended up in a failure with Bhagawan Krishna opting smartly to reside at Vidura’s residence! 

As Bhagawan Krishna opts for Vidura’s residence, King Dhritarashtra replies thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! It is completely your wish! Please make yourself comfortable wherever you would like to be!” Thus, it is now up to Vidura to extend the best hospitality to Bhagawan Krishna for the day! So what does Vidura do? Let us wait till the next episode to witness a beautiful incident that is going to happen next, between Vidura and Bhagawan Krishna! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Duryodhana planning a vicious trap for capturing Bhagawan Krishna when He arrives at the Hastinapura courtroom. We’ve understood that Bhagawan Krishna is on His way to broker peace between the two rival camps and as the news spreads thick and fast, King Dhritarashtra scrambles on one side to offer a lot of gift items to Bhagawan Krishna, in a bid to make Him switch sides. On the other hand, Duryodhana is not interested in all these things, however, he too wants Bhagawan Krishna to be on his side somehow. Hence, Duryodhana wants to arrest Bhagawan Krishna and with this, he plans to bring the entire Yaadava community of Bhagawan Krishna on to his side! We’ve seen that Duryodhana discusses this plan in front of everyone and Bhishmachaarya walks out in anger and frustration as he hears it! 

As Bhishmachaarya walks out thus, King Dhritarashtra once again gets into firefighting mode and now turns to Vidura for help. King Dhritarashtra says thus, “Oh Vidura! I’m hearing that Bhagawan Krishna is nearing Hastinapura city and most probably He would be arriving here by tomorrow morning. I want you to go and receive Bhagawan Krishna as He makes His way into Hastinapura. Please ensure that Bhagawan Krishna is not taken aback in any way. Please ensure that He is happy all through His stay here at Hastinapura. Please provide the best hospitality to Him as much as possible. I do not know how this stupid Duryodhana will behave in front of Bhagawan Krishna. So please have an eye on Duryodhana’s behavior and ensure that Bhagawan Krishna doesn’t return back angrily!”

As this happens, Vidura takes care of the entire hospitality for Bhagawan Krishna and as the dawn breaks on the next day, Bhagawan Krishna makes His way into Hastinapura city. On either sides of the passage, hundreds of people flock to get a glimpse of Bhagawan Krishna and to obtain His divine “Darshan”. As Bhagawan Krishna makes His way through, He too acknowledges all the prayers and salutations of the people of Hastinapura. The prayer within peoples’ mind is only this – “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! You’ve come for an auspicious purpose. Please ensure that there’s no unnecessary war, which would result in a disastrous consequence of all of them losing their lives and livelihood. Please ensure that Duryodhana walks the path of “Dharma” after your visit! May your visit be successful!” 

As Bhagawan Krishna comes closer to the entrance of the city, Vidura and Duryodhana go together to receive Him and are waiting for His arrival. As Bhagawan Krishna arrives at the entrance, He gets down from the chariot upon seeing both of them waiting for Him and all of them exchange pleasantries to each other. Initially the plan was that all three of them would go together and ensure Bhaagwan Krishna’s stay was comfortable. However, Bhagawan Krishna had other plans. Upon seeing Duryodhana and Vidura together, Bhagawan Krishna comes closer to Vidura, holds his hands tightly with His and gets him on to His chariot, thus leaving Duryodhana behind! This comes as a huge embarrassment for Duryodhana as he is internally fuming with anger! Subsequently another chariot comes for Duryodhana as he gets on to it. Thus, the two chariots make their way into the Hastinapura palace and passes through the broad streets leading to it. 

As this happens, both the chariots stop at King Dhritarashtra’s residence. Bhagawan Krishna, Vidura and Duryodhana make their way to meet King Dhritarashtra, who offers his respects and salutations to Bhagawan Krishna upon arrival. As the formalities get completed, King Dhritarashtra is about to request Bhagawan Krishna to stay at his residence itself for the day. But is Bhagawan Krishna going to accept this offer? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vidura once again highlighting the importance of “Sharanagathi” and”Bhakti” towards Bhagawan Krishna and how this would melt His heart towards His ardent devotees. This comes at a time wherein King Dhritarashtra still contemplates how to bring Bhagawan Krishna into Duryodhana’s fold so that his life and kingdom would be safe. Now, King Dhritarashtra’s plan is to give 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna to bring Him into his fold. However, Vidura has a counter here which is very important – “Oh King Dhritarashtra! If you give just five villages to Yudishtra, the entire problem would be put to rest, isn’t it? Bhagawan Krishna would be the happiest person if this happens. However, you’re not ready to solve the problem! You are only interested in bribing others so that the situation gets more and more complicated by the day!” This is how bribery and other social evils would become the order of the day in this “Kali Yuga” and the Mahabharata text is a perfect illustration of the same! 

Meanwhile, moving on further, Duryodhana comes to know of King Dhritarashtra’s plan of giving 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna and he fumes with anger! He immediately rushes to Sahuni (Duryodhana’s uncle) and is now going to chart out an unwanted plan. Duryodhana talks to Sahuni thus, “Oh uncle! Do you know what my father is planning to do? He’s planning to gift away a substantial portion of our Hastinapura kingdom to Bhagawan Krishna! I wouldn’t allow this to happen! I’m not ready to part with even a single inch of my land! We need to somehow stop King Dhritarashtra from doing all this nonsense! I know that he is planning such useless stuff out of fear and frustration. Vidura and Sanjaya are constantly brainwashing my father in all aspects! Both of them talk of “Dharma” through which they are indirectly trying to favour Yudishtra and dump me! Hence, we need to stop this immediately! For this I have a plan!” 

As Duryodhana says thus, Sahuni asks for the plan, and Duryodhana discloses thus, “Oh Uncle! Let Bhagawan Krishna come to Hastinapura tomorrow. I’m going to dig a huge pit, cover it with a nice cloth and put an “Aasana” over it. Once Bhagawan Krishna arrives at the courtroom, I’ll invite Him to sit on that particular “Aasana”. The moment He sits on it, the “Aasana” along with Bhagawan Krishna sitting on it, will fall into the pit. Before Bhagawan Krishna gets up from the pit, I shall arrest Him and threaten Him to come into my fold. Through this, the entire Yaadava and Vaarshneya community will also come into my fold completely! With this, Arjuna and Co. will be completely rendered powerless and I shall easily win over them!” As Duryodhana says thus, Bhishmachaarya is also present in the courtroom, and he is stunned to bits! He did not expect Duryodhana to go down to this level. Unable to bare this “Adharmic” plan of Duryodhana, Bhishmachaarya quickly gets up in anger and walks out the courtroom! He could not stand this anymore! While leaving the courtroom, Bhishmachaarya says only one sentence to Duryodhana thus, “Oh Duryodhana! You’re trying to do what you shouldn’t ever be doing in your life! If at all you try to materialise this plan, your destruction is going to be confirmed! Take it from me!” 

As Bhishmachaarya storms out of the courtroom thus, King Dhritarashtra is completely helpless. He is once again totally confused! On one side, Vidura and Sanjaya are educating him on the path of “Dharma”, and on the other side, an unruly Duryodhana is planning to trap Bhagawan Krishna, which is clearly a path of “Adharma”! So what is going to conspire in King Dhritarashtra’s courtroom when Bhagawan Krishna arrives? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Vidura and Sanjaya lambasting King Dhritarashtra over his idea of gifting Bhagawan Krishna with an enormous number of items as He arrives. The agenda behind King Dhritarashtra’s idea of gifting Bhagawan Krishna with expensive items is not really to welcome Him with a devotional heart, but to somehow pull Bhagawan Krishna towards Duryodhana’s side with a wicked intention. This agenda is clearly understood by both Sanjaya and Vidura, who then explain what is real “Bhakti” to King Dhritarashtra. When we welcome Bhagawan into our homes too, this is applicable. Now that we’re in the process of celebrating Krishna Janmashtami all over our Bhaarata Desham, this is something that all of us should understand – Bhagawan Krishna’s heart melts for our tears that flow from our eyes as we touch His lotus feet with complete surrender, and not with the gifts that we give him with a business-like mind! This is exactly what we should understand as ardent followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”. 

As King Dhritarashtra listens to all these words of wisdom from Vidura and Sanjaya, he once again doesn’t want to relent so easily. King Dhritarashtra replies back thus, “Oh Vidura! I have another idea – Let us not give all these jewels, ornaments, etc. to Bhagawan Krishna. Let me give around 50 villages from Hastinapura to Bhagawan Krishna, and with this, He would be satisfied, won’t He? Ultimately, I want to show to Bhagawan Krishna that I’m ready to give Him anything so that my son Duryodhana is safe and secure!” As King Dhritarashtra says thus, Vidura doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry! He replies back slowly thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! I really came to know today that not only are your external eyes are blind, but your inner eyes within your heart and conscience are also blind! Now what did you say? You are willing to give 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna, aren’t you? If you give just 5 villages to Yudishtra and the Paandavas, Bhagawan Krishna is never even going to talk about war and loss of lives! You are clearly deviating from the core problem that is in hand, and are willing to satisfy someone with a bribe! Are you understanding your main issue now? You are not ready to treat Yudishtra as your own son, in an equal stature as you treat Duryodhana, and this is where all the problems start! You are unwilling to address this problem, and instead, you are only trying to complicate the issue further and further! Oh King Dhritarashtra! What are you going to achieve by giving 50 villages to Bhagawan Krishna? I’m reiterating my point again and again – Bhagawan Krishna is not someone who gets carried away by material pleasures of this world. All He needs is your ardent Bhakti and Sharanagati. He wants you and your son Duryodhana to follow the path of “Dharma”. If you do this simple thing, you don’t need to fear anything in life! However, you’re unwilling to do this!”

Now this is the problem not only with King Dhritarashtra, but also with all of us today! When we confront a problem in our life, we’re only willing to take “shortcuts” to success, and are not prepared to slog and face the problem head-on! This is exactly what King Dhritarashtra is also doing here! Instead of addressing the problem with Yudishtra straightaway by giving just 5 villages and settling the issue once and for all, he is thinking of bribing Bhagawan Krishna with 50 villages! While the requirement to resolve the problem permanently is just 5 villages, King Dhritarashtra is ready to bribe 50 of them! This is how bribery dances to the tunes of people and is becoming the order of the day in the Kali Yuga. Bhagawan is illustrating all these kinds of instances to us to make us understand that the world is going to be very tough in this Kali Yuga and as ardent “Bhaktas” and followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, we should be very careful not to fall into such traps! If we do so, our focus from “Dharma” would deviate and we would fall off track from obtaining Bhagawan’s divine “Anugraha”! 

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

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna finally commencing His journey towards Hastinapura. As this happens, news spreads thick and fast into King Dhritarashtra’s courtroom, wherein King Dhritarashtra urgently convenes a meeting with Vidura and Sanjaya. King Dhritarashtra tells both his able ministers that he is planning to offer enormous gifts to Bhagawan Krishna when He arrives at Hastinapura. We’ve seen a glimpse of the various gifts that King Dhritarashtra is wanting to give Bhagawan Krishna. Of course, Bhagawan Krishna is visiting Hastinapura after a very long time, and this might be an outward view that King Dhritarashtra wants to give a “rockstar” welcome to Bhagawan Krishna. However, the real question here is whether this is the only agenda that King Dhritarashtra has in his mind, or is he thinking of something else! Let us continue this interesting accord today. 

Moving on thus, as King Dhritarashtra lets out his opinion, Vidura asks immediately: “Oh King Dhritarashtra! I do not find a genuine sense in what you’re saying. You are trying to fake something here. If you would have been so genuine, I wouldn’t be seeing you so tense and frustrated right from the onset of knowing that Bhagawan Krishna is going to visit Hastinapura. You seem to have something else in your mind and with my “Gnyaana-Drishti”, I’m able to see what is running in your mind as well. Let me tell you this – You’re thinking that if you give enormous gifts to Bhagawan Krishna, He will drift towards Duryodhana’s side, thereby the Paandavas can be easily cornered. Oh King Dhritarashtra! Please trust me on this atleast – Bhagawan Krishna is not someone who gets carried away by all these petty things! Bhagawan Krishna will always stand by “Dharma” at all times, no matter whether you gift Him or not. If you have “Dharma” by your side (which unfortunately you do not have), Bhagawan Krishna will automatically come and take your side. Hence, please do not waste your time in planning such petty things. Instead, take this as an opportunity to surrender to Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet and seek forgiveness for all what had happened. Maybe this might be a little too late, but there might still be a slight chance for some reversal to happen!”

As Vidura says thus, Sanjaya continues further: “Oh King Dhritarashtra! What do you think Bhagawan Krishna will melt for? Does He melt for all your gift items? Never! The moment a “Bhakta” understands that Bhagawan is on His way to see him, this “Bhakta” would run to the entrance of his house, clean his house, arrange for some nice garlands and would wait impatiently for Bhagawan’s arrival. As Bhagawan arrives, this devotee’s eyes would be filled up with tears of joy. He wouldn’t know what to talk to Bhagawan! The devotee’s heart would be filled up with a feeling thus, “Oh Bhagawan! How come you’ve arrived at my place, who is a fine zero in everything? I’m a poor person! I don’t even know how to receive you properly! I don’t even know anything about your significance! Yet, you are coming to visit me! How fortunate I am!” Thinking thus, the devotee would directly fall onto Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet and would cry continuously! The devotee’s tears would wet Bhagawan’s feet and this is something that melts Bhagawan’s heart! Oh King Dhritarashtra! If you receive Bhagawan with a malicious agenda by giving enormous gift items, don’t you think Bhagawan wouldn’t understand your intentions? He would definitely do! In fact, I’m sure that Bhagawan Krishna is coming to Hastinapura, knowing very well that you would do all these gimmicks!”

As both Vidura and Sanjaya slam King Dhritarashtra in this way, it is now up to King Dhritarashtra to think properly and use this golden opportunity! Does he do so? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂