Hari Om Parents
We continued with the story of Mahabharata. With every episode there is a lesson learnt that I have tried to include in the summary below.
- Shantanu does not learn from his mistakes and gives into desire again to marry Satyavati. The effect is the fall of the Hastinapura. Lesson learn is never succumb to desires and learn from past mistakes.
- Satyavatí's father, however, said that he would only allow the marriage on the condition that his grandchild would rule the kingdom of Hastinëpura instead of Devavrata
- Bhishma's love for his father resulted in him taking the vow that he will remain celibate and give up his claims to the kingdom. He recieves the boon of Iccha Mrityu from his father and the name Bhishma, the one with the terrible vow from the Gods.. One must serve parents because it always brings good to the person.
- We learnt about the ancestory of the pandavas and kauravas. The chart is included below.
- The birth of the blind Dhritharastra and Pandu's curse to not be able to bear children by natural means
- Pandu married kunti and madri
- Kuntí, before her marriage, experimented with the mantra given to her by Sage Durvësë and had invoked Sïrya, the Sun God. To her surprise, she was blessed with a beautiful baby, Karna, born with sacred earrings and armor.
- Gandhari, Wife of Dhritharastra willingly bandaged her eyes, as she did not wish to enjoy what her husband could not. An idealistic emotional vow which if not taken would have helped in providing some direction to the decisions made by her husband.
- The couple supported the wrong doings of their children because of their love without discretion. All their children lived by adharma and ultimately died in the war. We cannot be carried away by emotions and blind love because they will eventually bring in disaster
- Kauravas forgot the laws of kharma and gave into jealousy, competition and performed wrong actions. Result is complete destruction and failure.
- Kunti wanted to test her boon given by Sage Durvasa. With that she bore a child who she had to give up, and harbor that secret which haunted her all her life until to the point that she had to admit. You must not be afraid of our mistakes. It makes it easier on us if we confess our wrong doings.
- Duryodhana continues his vicious plans against the pandavas and plans to put their lac palace under fire. Pandavas escape through a secret tunnel. Lesson learnt is to always be on alert.
- After that they disguise themselves as Brahmins. During that time Arjuna wins the hand of Draupadi brings her home. Kunti without understanding fully what is it that Arujna got orders the brothers to share it equally. As a result she is married to all pandavas. Lesson learnt is to look think and say.
- Yudhishtra invited all the kings, including the Kauravas, to be his guests at the palace during the Rajasuya Yagna
- The prosperity of his cousins made Duryodhana burn with jealousy, and again he plotted with his uncle Shakuni to destroy them. Effect was evil act results in unhappy life. Lesson learned is make peace when there is a chance. Evil action yield evil results.
- They both invite Yudhishtra to a game of dice in which by deceit they win over Yudhishtra, his brothers, humiliate his wife by disrobing her. No one comes to her rescue except Lord Krishna who supplies her with an unending robe of sarees. Lesson is Bhagavan comes to the rescue of his devotees. Hang on to a friend who you can count on.
- The pandavas are sent to the forest in exit with the 13th year to be spent incognito. Every vice can bring disaster. A good man like Yudhishtra lost everything to desire and greed.
- Yudhishtra could have stopped the first time he lost. But his greed pushed him to play further until he lost everything. Learn from previous mistakes.
- We talked about single-pointed attention that is needed to attain perfection in any endeavor. Supported by the story of Arjuna when he can only see the head of the bird in the sight of his vision when his guru asked him to shoot an arrow on the bird on the tree.
- We discussed the episode, known as Yaksha Prashna which is from aranya parva of mahabharata where Yaksha asked Yudhishthira approximately 125 questions.
- These questions and answers are beautiful, subtle and embedded with sophisticated deep wisdom and philosophy.
- Through Yudhishthira, Veda Vyasa has crystallized the entire philosophy of Hinduism into an investigation comprising more than one hundred questions.
- These gems of wisdom later reflected in the Bhagavad Gita are relevant and significant today they were in Yudhishthira's times. The focus of the entire discussion is on Dharma
Regards
Sapna ji and Vyjayanti ji
