The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Maarkandeya explaining the entire “Charitra” of Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita, and how they had to undergo enormous suffering together in the forest. But before that, Yudishtra wants to listen to the full “Charitra” of who Bhagawan Rama was, how He incarnated, how He married Mother Sita, etc. before going into the suffering part. Hence, Sage Maarkandeya details the entire Ramayana story, wherein we’ve witnessed yesterday as to how Bhagawan Rama incarnated, and subsequently the reason for His divine incarnation. We’ve also seen how Ravana and the other Raakshasas obtained their respective boons from Bhaagwan Brahma and how they began their atrocities on the earth. Frustrated by this, the Devas go to Bhagawan Vishnu with a long list of complaints about Ravana and with Bhagawan Vishnu assuring all of them of protection, He decides to incarnate in the form of four human beings – Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna. 

Thus, for the next twelve years, the four children grow up royally in King Dasharata’s palace with all the luxuries, and at the end of the twelfth year, Sage Vishnwamitra comes to meet King Dasharata and he wants to take Bhagawan Rama along with him to perform some important “Yaagam”. Even though King Dashatrata refuses to send Bhagwan Rama along with Sage Vishwamitra, upon the instruction of Sage Vasishtachaarya who is also sitting alongside King Dasharata, Bhagawan Rama along with Lakshmana are sent along with Sage Vishwamitra. Thus, after the Yaagam is completely over, at the end of it, Bhagawan Rama kills the Raakshasa by name Shubaahu, but packs off Maareecha and sends him deep into the ocean with his powerful arrows! Meanwhile, Bhagawan Rama also kills the Raakshasi called Thaataka. After all these are over, Sage Vishwamitra takes the two children to Mithilapuri, which is the abode of the great King Janaka. Sage Vishwamitra goes there to perform the “Dhanur-Yaaga” for the “Shiva-Dhanus” (A bow which was gifted to King Janaka by Bhagawan Shiva long back). 

As all of them land there, they come to know that King Janaka had arranged for a “Svayamvara” for his beautiful little daughter by name Sita. The rule was very simple – Whoever picks up the Shiva-Dhanus and breaks it, will be the one who will be marrying Sita. Now it is time for Bhagawan Rama to prove His might! Upon the motivation from Sage Vishwamitra, Bhagawan Rama moves forward and successfully breaks the “Shiva-Dhanus”, which sends the entire audience into a stunning silence! The impossible has been made possible by a 12-year-old boy! King Janaka is extremely happy and he immediately calls for King Dasharata and family to come to Mithilapuri for proceeding with the marriage talks! King Dasharata too is extremely happy and immediately arrives with all his people. The marriage is fixed, and the auspicious “Sita-Rama-Kalyaanam” episode takes place with all the grandeur! Bhagawan Rama marries Mother Sita with the divine “Anugraha” of all the Devas, and also with the blessings of both King Janaka and King Dasharata. Bhagawan Rama is happy that his parents have been involved in the forefront in this marriage. In turn, Mother Sita is also happy because she feels that King Janaka has found the right person and family for her. Thus, all of them return back to Ayodhya and on the way, Bhagawan Rama defeats Parashurama. With this, for the next twelve years, all of them at Ayodhya including Bhagawan Rama and Sita, Lakshmana and Urmila, Bharata and Maandavi and Shathrughna and Shutakeerthi are happily leading their newly married lives until things drastically changed! 

So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode we shall witness the various circumstances that led to Bhagawan Rama being exiled to the forest! Stay tuned for a refreshing update! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Maarkandeya playing down Yudishtra’s and Draupati’s suffering by making a strong comparison with whatever Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita had to undergo, being a husband and a wife. As Yudishtra asks a question as to why is Draupati suffering because of my wrongdoing and as he casts a doubt over whether the suffering that a Jeevatma has to undergo is purely based out of one’s Karma or not, Sage Maarkandeya sorts to clarify Yudishtra’s doubt by explaining how Mother Sita had to undergo an ordeal of ten long months in separation from Bhagawan Rama. He explains how Mother Sita was held captive by Ravana at Lanka, and even after that, when Bhagawan Rama won over Ravana, Bhagawan Rama did not accept Mother Sita straightaway. He wanted Mother Sita to prove her chastity just because of the fact that Ravana allegedly touched her. Now this is one big thing that maybe Bhagawan Rama could have avoided doing, and even today we keep talking about it, isn’t it? Many people opine that by making Mother Sita go through the “Agni-Pravesham” to prove her chastity, Bhagawan Rama exhibited male chauvinism! Thus, the point here is that, even though Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita are incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu and Goddess Mahalakshmi, they too weren’t let off from undergoing ordeals in life! 

As Yudishtra requests Sage Maarkandeya to detail the entire “Charitra” of Bhagawan Rama, Sage Maarkandeya explains the entire Ramayana text to Yudishtra. We shall keep it a bit brief for our discussion here, as we’ve already witnessed the entire Ramayana storyline in our previous project. Also, since most of us know it as well, we shall go a bit faster. As we know, Bhagawan Rama is the son of King Dasharata. King Dasharata was childless for a long time and with the help of Sage Rishyashringa, he performs the “Putra-Kaameshti Yaaga”. With this, the divine pot containing the “Paayasam” appears from the “Agni Kunda”, which was proportioned to the three wives of King Dasharata. With this, all the three wives, Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra started carrying and at the end of the twelfth month, Kaushalya delivers a baby by name Rama. Subsequently, Kaikeyi delivers Bharata and Sumitra delivers the twin children of Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Thus, King Dasharata now has four children. 

Meanwhile on the other side, Ravana, Kumbakarna, Kara, Soorpanaka, etc. take birth at Lanka, and these people perform an intense “Tapas” towards Bhagawan Brahma. As Bhagawan Brahma appears in front of all them, each of them ask whatever they want from Him. Ravana asks thus, “Oh Bhagawan Brahma! I should not get a death knell from neither the Devas, Raakshasas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kinnaras, etc. I should be immortal in this world in this way!” As Ravana asks thus, he forgets to mention “Nara” (Human being) and “Vaanara” (Monkey). As Ravana asks thus, Bhagawan Brahma grants the boon to Ravana. Subsequently, Kumbhakarana wants to ask Bhagawan Brahma that the Devas should completely be wiped out from this world (“Nir-Devathvam”). However, his tongue slips slightly and instead of pronouncing “Nir-Devathvam” correctly, he pronounces it as “Nidraavatvam”. As we know, “Nidra” means sleep and with this, Bhagawan Brahma grants whatever Kumbakarna asks for verbatim! Thus, Kumbhakarna started his long slumber then and there! 

Thus, in this way, all the Raakshasas ask for their respective boons and the ordeal in the world starts. It is at this time, all the Devas including Indra are undergoing extreme torture and they run to Bhagawan Vishnu for help. Bhagawan Vishnu assures Indra that He would incarnate in this world to put an end to Ravana’s atrocities. It is at this same time, King Dasharata is performing the Putra-Kaameshti Yaaga and Bhagawan Vishnu decides that He would give King Dasharata the divine opportunity to incarnate as his sons. Bhagawan Vishnu splits Himself into four different parts and is thus born as four sons to King Dasharata! 

So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue the brief of how Bhagawan Rama and the others grew up, as per Sage Maarkandeya’s words! Stay tuned for an refreshing update! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we witnessed the re-entry of Sage Maarkandeya into Yudishtra’s home. As Sage Maarkandeya enters, Yudishtra pays his respects to the great Sage and makes him comfortable. As Sage Maarkandeya looks upon, Yudishtra pours out his agitation that was troubling him all this while. The question is very simple here – “If I’m doing all the wrongdoings, I should suffer on account of my bad “Karma”, isn’t it? Now, why should Draupati suffer along with me? What wrong did she do in all these? Why is she bearing the brunt of whatever wrong I performed in my life?” This would be a pertinent question in the minds of many ladies at home. For all the wrongdoings of the husband, why should the wife and children undergo suffering? For instance, the husband at home would be into some bad habits like smoking, drinking or gambling, etc., and because of this, all the money that is being earned at home would be lost into all these habits. Finally when it comes to sustaining the family and paying the school fees for the children at home, there would be no money left! Many a time, women would be forced to take up small domestic jobs, suffer and toil hard and protect the family, whereas, the husband would enjoy his life by drinking and smoking with his companions outside! We see this very commonly these days. This is exactly what Yudishtra’s asking here – For all the wrongdoings of the husband, why should the entire family bear the brunt? For this, Sage Maarkandeya is going to give a very important reply. Let us commence it in today’s episode. 

Sage Maarkandeya replies thus, “Oh Yudishtra! I understand your question and it is very important for me to address it. You’re talking about one Draupati who is an ordinary woman afterall, and how she is suffering because of you. However, please understand – Goddess Mahalakshmi, when she was born in this world during Bhagawan Vishnu’s previous incarnation, had to undergo suffering herself! Now how does that weigh? You’re talking about Draupati only. But there is a precedent wherein Goddess Mahalakshmi herself had to undergo a similar ordeal!” As Yudishtra hears thus, he is surprised! He asks back thus, “Oh Sage Maarkandeya! Why did Goddess Mahalakshmi suffer? She is Bhagawan Vishnu’s divine consortium isn’t she? Why should she undergo suffering? What happened to her? Can you tell me in detail about it?” As Yudishtra asks thus, Sage Maarkandeya explains: “Oh Yudishtra! Goddess Mahalakshmi incarnated in this world as Mother Sita – The divine daughter of King Janaka at Mithilapuri and got married to Bhagawan Rama, who was the son of King Dasharata of Ayodhya. For some petty reason, Bhagawan Rama was exiled to the forest for fourteen years and Mother Sita had to accompany Him to the forest. There, she was abducted by a Raakshasa by name Ravana and she was held captive alone for a long period of 10 full months! Oh Yudishtra! You’re talking of Draupati suffering, aren’t you? Atleast you should be happy that Draupati is well with you at all times without any harm. Now see what happened to Mother Sita – She had to undergo a painful separation from her dear husband for ten long months, and even after that when Bhagawan Rama came to Lanka and defeated Ravana, did He accept Mother Sita again? He did not! He refused to accept Mother Sita by saying that she was touched by someone else! Hence, Mother Sita was forced to prove her chastity in front of everyone! Did Draupati even once undergo this difficulty? In fact, for this act of Bhagawan Rama, He is still spoken wrongly about by people! Did you undergo any of these things in life? So what are you talking about in terms of suffering? Oh Yudishtra! Please understand – Your suffering is actually nothing as compared to what Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita had to undergo in their lives. Your suffering is nothing as compared to what Nala and Damayanti underwent during their tough times! Hence, please do not get into such thoughts! All of us in this world have to undergo suffering and this is the mandate of human life in this world!” 

Saying thus, Sage Maarkandeya consoles Yudishtra and for today, let us understand up to this point. We shall continue this discussion further in the upcoming episode to understand what Sage Markandeya further explains to Yudishtra! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Shiva granting a boon to King Jayathrada, just for the sake of his intense “Tapas” that he had performed. Even though Bhagawan Shiva made it quite clear to King Jayathrada that he will not be able to win over the Paandavas, especially Arjuna at any cost and that, he has to let this off from his mind and move on with his normal life. However, Bhagawan Shiva explains that because of the fruit of his penance, King Jayathrada would be able to win over the Paandavas (except Arjuna), but that victory will last only for one day and not more. As Bhagawan Shiva says thus, King Jayathrada is confused – Whether this is a boon or a bane, in the first place! What is he going to do by winning over the Paandavas for just one single day? What is he going to benefit out of that victory? Can he use that just to fulfill his vengeance towards Yudishtra and Co.? As a lot of things run in King Jayathrada’s mind, he makes his way back to his kingdom. We shall of course witness the repercussion of this boon given by Bhagawan Shiva during the Kurukshetra war. 

Moving on thus, we shall now witness what happened back at Yudishtra’s camp. In the next “Upa-Parva”, there is a full description of the “Rama-Avatara” given by Sage Vyaasa. This Parva is called “Rama-Upaakhyaana Parva”. Sage Vyaasa has kept this Parva in the Mahabharata text in a very brief form, as narrated by Sage Maarkandeya to Yudishtra. Now we might wonder how Sage Maarkandeya is back again in the picture! Now we’ve to fast-forward the days and months in time. After a few months of roaming here and there, Yudishtra and Co. settle down in the forest in another place, and it is at this point, SGe Maarkandeya makes a second visit to Yudishtra. Sage Maarkandeya is very concerned about the well-being of Yudishtra and his Paandava brothers and hence, he makes frequent visits to confirm whether everything is fine with all of them. Hence, in this way, Sage Maarkandeya gives an entry into Yudishtra’s place and as usual, Yudishtra receives him with all the due respects and the protocol. As Sage Maarkandeya settles down, he once again sees Yudishtra’s face becoming pale and sorrowful. Now Sage Maarkandeya asks Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! What is worrying you now? Are you fine? Are you taking your food properly? Are you getting good sleep? Are you able to maintain your physical and mental health properly?” 

As Sage Maarkandeya asks thus, Yudishtra replies, “Oh Sage Maarkandeya! I have a long-pending question that I need to ask you – All of us know that I was responsible for playing the gambling game and it was a gross mistake that I did. Owing to that mistake, I’m now experiencing the punishment of roaming around in the forest by losing all my kingdom and wealth. My brothers who are with me – Of course, knowingly or unknowingly since they were born along with me, they would also have to bear the punishment. But what fault did Draupati do? She came from a different family altogether and the family from which she has come, isn’t an ordinary one. King Drupada is an extraordinary king and Draupati was his daughter who came from a “Yaaga”. Given such an enormous significance attached to her, why is she suffering along with me just because I’ve done something wrong? What wrong did she do so that she would be insulted publicly in the courtroom on that fateful day? Hence, my question is very simple and straightforward – In your previous accord to me, you had said that our “Karma” is responsible for the suffering that we’re experiencing. However, in this case, what “Karma” did Draupati perform, in such a manner that she has to suffer like this? My “Karma” is that of playing the gambling game, for which I’m experiencing the punishment. But Draupati never did anything, and yet, she is experiencing this pain. Why is this so? Please, can you explain the reason behind Draupati’s suffering?”

This is a very important and pertinent question that all of us might have at our homes too! If the husband is into all sort of bad habits like smoking, drinking, gambling, etc., why should the wife and children also suffer because of the husband’s wrongdoing? Every woman in these kinds of houses will have this question in their mind, for which, Sage Maarkandeya is going to give an important reply. So for today, let us understand the question from Yudishtra very clearly and in the next episode, we shall witness a detailed reply from Sage Maarkandeya! Stay tuned for an interesting and important update! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Jayathrada being handed over a crushing and a humiliating defeat in the hands of the Paandava brothers for the reason of abducting Draupati in broad daylight. As Bheemasena followed King Jayathrada, he made sure that King Jayathrada doesn’t get away so easily. Bheemasena showed a glimpse of what his raw muscle power can really achieve, and with this, King Jayathrada was bruised and torn apart! Unable to fight again, King Jayathrada was held captive and brought in front of Yudishtra. Even though Jayathrada had to be meted out with a harsh punishment for the heinous crime that he had committed, Yudishtra made him accept his mistake and let him scot free! Even though this act of Yudishtra irritated Draupati, Yudishtra is someone who follows “Dharma” verbatim as per the text book! There is no question of deviation! On the other side, unable to bare the defeat and insult in the hands of Yudishtra and Co., King Jayathrada sits on a deep penance towards Bhagawan Shiva, who warns him not to take on the Paandava brothers. Bhagawan Shiva reminds King Jayathrada that Arjuna is the owner of the “Paashupatha-Asthra”, before which, Jayathrada would not even be able to stand for a minute! Now what does King Jayathrada do? Does he leave this insult and injury here itself and move on with his life? Or, is he going to have other plans? Let us find out! 

As we’ve also witnessed yesterday, Bhagawan Shiva explains how Bhagawan Krishna who is always around Arjuna is none other than Bhagawan Vishnu Himself from Vaikunta! Hence, with all these facts, Bhagawan Shiva advises King Jayathrada not to mess up with the Paandavas, which would invoke the anger of Bhagawan Krishna as well. Continuing thus, Bhagawan Shiva explains thus, “Oh Jayathrada! Please be careful! Do not indulge in these kind of “Adharmic” activities with the Paandava brothers. However, since you’ve performed an immense “Tapas” towards me, I cannot go away without giving you a boon. With your power, you will be able to win over the Paandava brothers, except Arjuna for 24 hours. Beyond that you cannot!”

Now, this might seem like a small boon given by Bhagawan Shiva, but this has enormous significance. In other words, Bhagawan Shiva says that King Jayathrada would be able to win over the Paandava brothers in a war, but that victory can sustain only for one day, post which, he would again be defeated / killed! However, this boon doesn’t apply to Arjuna. With Arjuna, King Jayathrada can never win even for that one day! Now this boon came handy for Duryodhana and Co. during the final Kurukshetra war, and using this boon, Abhimanyu was killed during the “Chakra-Vyuga” plan! Thus, Abhimanyu was the person who had to bear the brunt of Bhagawan Shiva’s boon to King Jayathrada. The connection might be very distant here, but readers should understand how boons work! In fact, this is how the entire Mahabharata works. We’ve to remember all these “connections” and “loops” very carefully, because at some later stage, we’ve to figure out this loop from somewhere! This is why I always keep advising readers to make notes while reading through our episodes. It would be of great help, because we would be referring to this particular episode maybe after 100-150 episodes from now! Hence, if we do not make notes today, we might not be able to find the link later on and we might not be able to understand the storyline properly. Hence, it is always advisable to take notes as we keep following the Mahabharata storyline. 

We shall of course shed more light on this context while discussing the Kurukshetra war in a great detail later on, but for now, we should understand that the impact of Bhagawan Shiva’s boon to Jayathrada is going to fall on Abhimanyu later on! With this, Bhagawan Shiva bids farewell to King Jayathrada. As Bhagawan Shiva leaves, King Jayathrada wonders whether he had obtained a boon or a curse from Bhagawan Shiva! He doesn’t know how to proceed further, as he had got confused! Should he use the boon to go full throttle against Yudishtra and Co., or should he refrain from the pursuit because of Bhagawan Shiva’s warning? Lot of things run in King Jayathrada’s mind! So for today, let us understand this clearly and let us wait till the next episode to find out more! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Jayathrada trying to abduct Draupati, only to be gunned down by Bheemasena, Sage Dhoumya and the others. Bheemasena thrashes King Jayathrada with his brutal and raw muscle power, ties him with a rope and drags him in front of Yudishtra for the final decision. As everybody expected Yudishtra to pronounce his decision of putting King Jayathrada to death, Yudishtra had other thoughts running in his mind. He wanted to somehow stick to the path of “Dharma” and never intended to deviate an inch from it here or there. Thinking thus, Yudishtra requested Bheemasena to let Jayathrada off without killing him, however, upon the condition that he has to accept his defeat and he shouldn’t cross roads again with the Paandavas henceforth. Even though this decision did not go well with Draupati, who was the direct victim of King Jayathrada’s wrath, Yudishtra somehow consoled her. King Jayathrada left that place accepting defeat, but is he really happy that Yudishtra saved his life that was in great danger in the hands of Bheemasena? Let us find out what King Jayathrada did henceforth in today’s episode. 

Moving on further thus, King Jayathrada moves out of Yudishtra’s place and thinks what to do next. He could not take the insult that he had just experienced in the hands of Bheemasena and Yudishtra. He somehow wants to give it back to both of them. The anger within King Jayathrada is making him fume! What does he do now? He sits on a “Tapas” towards Bhagawan Shiva. The “Tapas” continues for days and nights together and with this, Bhagawan Shiva is mighty impressed. Bhagawan Shiva thus appears in front of King Jayathrada and asks him what he wants. King Jayathrada explains his stance thus, “Oh Bhagawan Mahadeva! I requested your intervention because I’m in a problem right now – I was insulted very badly by Yudishtra and Bheemasena. I want to somehow win over them and become their leader. I want to somehow defeat Arjuna and kill him. Please grant me a boon accordingly!” As King Jayathrada asks thus, Bhagwan Shiva replies, “Oh Jayathrada! Whatever you’re saying might not be possible. Of course, I understand your pain and frustration, however, remember one thing – It is not that easy to win over Arjuna and the others. I myself had gifted Arjuna with the “Paashupata-Asthra” earlier when Arjuna came to meet me. If he uses it against you, you can be rest assured of defeat in his hands! You will never be able to win over him at all! 

Oh Jayathrada! Let me give you an important piece of advice – The people whom you are trying to take on, are not ordinary people like you think. They are very close devotees to Bhagawan Krishna, who is none other than Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! You do not know who Arjuna really is – He is none other than the divine disciple (“Nara”) of Bhagawan Narayana at the Bhadreenaatha Kshetra. Hence, I would suggest that you leave this episode of insult here itself and move on with your life. Do not put yourself in danger by opposing Bhagawan Krishna unnecessarily!” 

As Bhagawan Shiva says thus, He also narrates Bhagawan Krishna’s previous incarnations as well, in the likes of Bhagawan Rama, Bhagawan Varaaha, Bhagawan Narasimha, etc. He does this to highlight that Bhagawan Krishna is none other than Bhagawan Vishnu or Bhagawan Narayana from Vaikunta and has incarnated in this world to restore and re-establish “Dharma”. As Bhagawan Shiva narrates all these anecdotes, the important question here is simple – Is King Jayathrada ready to listen to all these? Or, is he still going to take the offensive route against the Paandavas and Bhagawan Krishna? Let us wait till the next episode to find out the answers! Stay tuned! 🙂  

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Draupati being abducted forcefully by King Jayathrada as he falls in love with her. Even as Draupati persists with her stance of not coming with him, Jayathrada is in no mood to listen. He abducts Draupati and places her on the chariot. As he rides fast, Sage Dhoumya spots him and runs behind the chariot in a bid to save Draupati. Sage Dhoumya warns King Jayathrada of inflicting a heavy curse on him if he doesn’t relieve Draupati immediately. As this is going on, Yudishtra and Co. quickly understand the situation and join the chase. As the chase goes on, Bheemasena shouts in a loud voice thus, “Oh Jayathrada! Why are you running away upon seeing all of us? If you have the guts to fight us, stop! Don’t run like a coward! Face me in a war if you really have the strength in you!” 

As Bheemasena shouts thus, Jayathrada comes to a grinding stop! He is now shaking with fear for Bheemasena, as he knows how powerful Bheemasena is. Unable to accept defeat straightaway, Jayathrada decides to give a fight with Bheemasena. The war begins and Bheemasena is no match to Jayathrada. Within minutes, Bheemasena has Jayathrada under his complete control with his raw and brutal muscle power! Even as Jayathrada screams for help, Bheemasena is in no mood to let him off! He tears open Jayathrada and inflicts heavy blows on him. As Jayathrada is bruised beyond repairs, he calls truce! With this, Bheemasena also does not want to kill Jayathrada and instead he drags Jayathrada all the way in front of Yudishtra. Now it is upto Yudishtra to take the decision whether to kill Jayathrada or not. Yudishtra says thus, “Oh Bheemasena! Oh Sage Dhoumya! When Jayathrada called for truce and has surrendered himself, it is wrong on our part to kill him. We shall let him off this time!” 

As Yudishtra rules thus, Draupati becomes extremely angry. She vents out her anger on Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Don’t you understand the graveness of Jayathrada’s crime? He has surrendered not because he has realized his mistake. He has done so only because he is unable to match Bheemasena’s might in war! It is only because he has been bruised so heavily, he has no other option but to surrender! Hence, I feel that Jayathrada should be brutally killed immediately. Everytime I’m being insulted like this, you never feel for me at all! You did the same thing when I was insulted in the courtroom amidst the public. You remained silent without reacting even for a single minute. Even now, you’re only talking in favor of Jayathrada who did a henious crime of kidnapping me! What do you think you’re doing? Everytime you’re letting me down in front of an enemy. Is this the “Dharma” that you’re practising?” 

As Draupati fumes thus, Yudishtra tries to calm her down. He says thus, “Oh Draupati! Please calm down. Why are you bursting out in anger? Jayathrada had already got what he deserved, isn’t it? He has got bruised all over his body! Now what more is left in him? At any cost, patience (“Kshama”) is the highest aspect of “Dharma” and we should always follow it. Moreover, tell me one thing – What benefit are we going to gain by killing this Jayathrada? Who is he? Does he have any relationship with us? Not at all! If such is the case, why should we poke our nose into someone with whom we do not have anything to share? Hence, the best way to deal with this situation is to let Jayathrada off!” Saying thus, Yudishtra requests Bheemasena to let Jayathrada off. Yudishtra tells Jayathrada thus, “Oh Jayathrada! Please accept your defeat and get out of here. I don’t want you to stand in front of any of us even for a single minute. I’m letting you off for a good reason. Hence, do not try to take advantage of it and repeat the same mistake again!” 

Accepting his defeat thus, Jayathrada is freed up and he rushes out. However, is Jayathrada happy with the escape that he had got? No! He could not resist the insult that he had obtained from the hands of Yudishtra and Bheemasena! So what does Jayathrada do from here on? Is he going to seek revenge on the Paandava brothers henceforth in the near future! Let us wait and witness the next set of happenings in the next upcoming episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the key learnings that we can imbibe from the Yudishtra-Draupati-Sage Dhurvasa event and also the importance of the “Atma-Kshemam” and the “Shareera-Kshemam”. Moving on from here, Bhagawan Krishna takes leave from Yudishtra’s place and heads back to Dwaraka. After a few months, one fine day when Draupati is cleaning and washing the front portion of the house, Jayathrada who is the king of the Sindhu Desha comes along. He sees Draupati at a distance and falls for her beauty. King Jayathrada is on the way to the “Shaalva Desha” for attending a “Svayamvara” event and on the way he spots Draupati as he passes through the close vicinity of Yudishtra’s place in the forest. As King Jayathrada spots Draupati, he wants to know who this beautiful lady really is. So he sends Kotikadhya, an assistant who had accompanied King Jayathrada on his travel to find out the whereabouts of Draupati. 

As Kotikadhya approaches Draupati he enquires thus, “Oh lady! Who are you? What are you doing in this forest area? My king, King Jayathrada is from the Sindh Desha and he has fallen in love with you. He wants to marry you and take you along with him!” As Kotikadhya says this straightaway, Draupati replies back immediately thus, “Oh Kotikadhya! Please do not even encourage such thoughts of marrying me in your king’s mind. I’m the wife of the Paandava brothers and Jayathrada is having a wrong intention. I’m someone else’s wife and I cannot be the wife of another person beyond my marriage. Hence, please tell your king to change his mindset and leave this place immediately!” 

As Draupati is explaining her stance to Kotikadhya, King Jayathrada himself comes to the vicinity. He directly asks thus, “Oh beautiful woman! Why are you roaming in this dense forest and experiencing suffering? You can come with me, marry me and enjoy all the luxuries of life! Please come with me. I shall ensure that you’re my queen with all facilities. What are you going to gain by being a wife of someone who is roaming and wandering around in the forest without anything? You are not supposed to undergo such suffering in life. You’re someone who has to enjoy a luxurious life. Please come with me!” As King Jayathrada directly makes a proposal thus, Draupati tries to explain her stance to him with all the good and decent words possible, but Jayathrada is not going to listen to all of that! He has already made up his mind to somehow attain Draupati and hold her hands. Even as Draupati signals a warning that if her husbands come from wherever they are, it would signal danger for him, Jayathrada is in no mood to listen to her warning signal as well! Jayathrada is determined to take Draupati with him, and even if she resists, he is determined to take her by force! 

Thus, as Draupati refuses persistently, Jayathrada loses patience and finally makes the move. He rushes towards Draupati, forcefully holds her hands, drags her quickly, lifts her in his strong shoulders and places her on his chariot! With this, he rides fast, before anybody could even trace him. As Draupati is being abducted like this, Sage Dhoumya spots Jayathrada. He runs behind Jayathrada’s chariot and warns him that if he doesn’t give Draupati back, he would be inflicted with a heavy curse! But King Jayathrada is not in a mood to listen even to Sage Dhoumya’s warning. As all this is happening, Yudishtra and Co. quickly understand the graveness of the situation that Draupati is being abducted by King Jayathrada. They too join the chase along with Sage Dhoumya to stop Jayathrada from abducting Draupati! 

Now what does Jayathrada do? Does he budge and return Draupati back? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the culmination of the Sage-Dhurvasa – Yudishtra – Draupati event wherein we had discussed some key learnings that we can imbibe from it. First and foremost, it is important that we serve our guests properly when they visit our place. Second, we should provide the best hospitality to those who are visiting us. Third, even if we do not have anything with us to serve, we should make that dedicated effort to prepare something and serve them. The first two things atleast, many of us might perform, however the third point is a bit difficult – If we do not have something at home and if we’ve to serve guests, we would start showing faces, we would start getting frustrated, etc. If it is the worst case scenario, we will conveniently say that we cannot serve them anything since we do not have anything at home! Of course, even if we give a negative answer, most of the people would understand our difficulty and might not take it in a big way. However, we’ve to remember that by skipping the practice, we’re deviating from our path of “Dharma”. If we do not have anything, atleast we can give them a tea / coffee or some light snacks or biscuits! Or at the worst, we can simply buy some batter from a shop, prepare some idlis and offer the guests. Such things aren’t very difficult to do, but many times, we become complacent and lazy. This is the problem with all of us. Hence, by going through this particular event, we should realize how important it is to serve people who come in search of us. We should make sure that we nourish them with the best of the best food that we can offer. 

Sometimes we have this practice too – If we have a scarce quantity of food items and if we’re in a situation to serve a guest, what will we do? Our natural tendency is to apportion a small amount of that scarce food item for ourselves, and then serve the rest of the food, isn’t it? This is what we should not do. Instead, we should completely serve whatever the guest asks for and should not bother about what is leftover for us! This is the highest level of hospitality that we can offer! Even if the offering is a small amount of rice grains with a simple vegetable, it should first be offered to Bhagawan and then to guests if any, and only after all this, we should consume the offering. These are certain important points that Yudishtra highlights through this event. Thus, the key learning here is very simple – “Atma-Kshemam” is more important than the “Shareera-Kshemam”. The phrase “Shareera-Kshemam” means enjoyments / pleasures for our physical body and “Atma-Kshemam” means enjoyments / pleasures for our “Atman”. If we’re only looking at our “Shareera-Kshemam”, our “Atma-Kshemam” will go for a toss! The problem today is that, wherever we go, “Shareera-Kshemam” gains a lot of prominence. Even inside our house, we make sure that all our household equipment is “user-friendly” for our physical body. For instance, when we go to the bathroom to take a bath, there is a shower on the top, which provides us with water directly on our body! We don’t even need to bend down, take a mug full of water and pour it upon our body. Nowadays, the time has come that if we bend down, we get back pain! Actually, the reason for back pain is not because we’re bending down. We’re getting back pain only because we’re not doing any sort of bending down for anything in life! There is no physical activity / exercise at all in today’s world as most of the jobs are in front of the computer! We hardly even get up and walk! This is why all the problems surface in our physical body. If we constantly keep walking, bending down to do household work, etc. our “Shareera-Kshemam” is automatically taken care of. This is what is in fact, the real “Shareera-Kshemam”. In the olden days, people rarely had the problem of diabetes, stress, hypertension, blood pressure, etc. and this is because, they performed a lot of physical work and without much worries. Even though their hands and legs were doing a lot of work, their minds were focused on Bhagawan and this takes care of the “Atma-Kshemam”. They never had worries and tension on worldly affairs like how we have today! 

Thus, the point here is very simple – Both “Shareera-Kshemam” and “Atma-Kshemam” are important for us, however, “Atma-Kshemam” should gain more and more prominence as we advance spiritually. So for today, let us understand this point and with this, Bhagawan Krishna also takes leave from Yudishtra’s place. Let us wait till the next episode to witness what happened next! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Yudishtra is meticulously following the path of “Dharma” even though the path is hard. He is sacrificing his hunger to wait for Sage Dhurvasa to arrive, although he knows that Sage Dhurvasa has already left mid-way. This impresses Bhagawan Krishna a lot and even after Bhagawan Krishna tries to tempt Yudishtra to call off his waiting, Yudishtra doesn’t give in. This is the important lesson that all of us should learn from such episodes in the Mahabharata. We’ve just witnessed how Mudgala followed the path of “Dharma” by waiting for fifteen days for one sumptuous meal. Even in that, if a guest comes home, serving the guest becomes the top priority and his meal takes a backseat. It was the same Sage Dhurvasa who tested Mudgala as well and here is Sage Dhurvasa again to test Yudishtra too! However, with the divine intervention of Bhagawan Krishna, Yudishtra’s “Dharma” is being protected. 

From this, we’ve to understand one important lesson too – If we’re steadfast in our practices and in our path towards “Dharma”, Bhagawan will always stand with us like a rock! At times, even if our path of “Dharma” is quite dangerous to walk through, Bhagawan will always come to our rescue. If our “Dharma” is under threat, Bhagawan will rush towards us to intervene. This is exactly what happened with Yudishtra and Draupati too here, isn’t it? When Yudishtra had given his promise to Sage Dhurvasa that he would serve him and his disciples a sumptuous meal, he gave the promise without even realizing that the kitchen was empty! Given this fact, how will Draupati serve all of them? Where will they go for procuring all the raw materials for preparing the food for everyone? This is where Bhagawan Krishna intervened. If there is a danger along the path of “Dharma” which Yudishtra is following, at every instance in the Mahabharata we would be able to see Bhagawan Krishna’s divine intervention. This is not the first place where we’re seeing this happening. Right from the childhood days of Yudishtra and Co. whenever they faced problems, Bhagawan Krishna will always come for their rescue. We’ve seen this happening during the wax palace episode, as to how Bhagawan Krishna timely sent Vidura and his assistant to bail the Paandavas out of the great danger of being burnt down! Subsequently, all of us know what happened during the gambling game – How Draupati was saved and protected by Bhagawan Krishna! We’ve also seen how Bhagawan Krishna frequently visited Yudishtra and Co. when they were ruling the Indraprastha kingdom before the gambling game occurred. 

Thus, at every instance, whenever the Paandavas are facing difficulty, Bhagawan Krishna will always rally behind them. Now why is He doing so? It is only because of the fact that the Paandava brothers stood by the “Dharma” path at every point in time. Especially Yudishtra, who is an epitome of “Dharma” – How can Bhagawan keep quiet by refraining from helping him out at crucial times? Yudishtra is putting that meticulous effort of practising “Dharma”, isn’t he? So he should be rewarded for it, isn’t it? This is where Bhagawan plays an important role. He will not interfere in any way with any of our actions, but if He finds credibility, honesty and sincerity in whatever we’re doing, and when things are taking the tough route, Bhagawan will come up to us with His divine intervention! Bhagawan is like a leader or a CEO of an organization – Unless and until things are going fine in the company, the CEO will not interfere unwantedly in the everyday activities. However, when he / she senses that something is going wrong, it is only then the CEO will intervene and find out what is happening, isn’t it? Similarly here also, if everything goes well, Bhagawan will never intervene and this is why He has gifted us with all our six senses! It is up to us to use our intellect and follow the path of “Dharma” as prescribed by Bhagawan. If we’re deviating from it, Bhagawan will not intervene unnecessarily. He will however keep giving us chances to mend our ways and improve ourselves. However, if we’re not improving, Bhagawan will finally take the stick in the hand! 

So this is the important learning that all of us have to imbibe from this Yudishtra-Draupati-Sage Dhurvasa episode and for today let us reflect upon this and consciously take efforts to mend our ways towards the path of “Dharma”! We shall wait till the next episode to move on further with our discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂