Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of India ( Bharatham ) - 10. Swami Krishnananda.
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Opinion :Wednesday, September 14, 2022. 08:55. 2857.//
2.#Chapter 7: The Message of the Mahabharatam.-1.
Post-10.
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The Mahabharata is one of the great epics, about which we had something to consider from its literary point of view and from the point of view of its majestic contents. We have already observed some aspects of this great Itihasa epic. Now I shall try to highlight the inner message that it seems to be conveying to humanity as a whole, apart from its historical and epic grandeur and literary majesty.
The Pandavas and Kauravas, who were opposed to each other right from the beginning, had actually descended from a common source. Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa was responsible for the birth of Dhritarashtra and Pandu, the ancestors of the Pandavas and the Kauravas, as they were called. As two rivers may have a common source and yet move in different directions, this original fund of power and spirituality which was Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa was responsible for the birth of Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Something like a great-grandfather of all these people was Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa. From Dhritarashtra came the Kaurava family, and from Pandu's line we have the Pandava family. They were all happily studying together under the great Acharya Drona, who was a master archer.
Incidentally, not connected with the subject I am referring to, I will tell you a story about Drona. These boys were playing ball. The Kaurava boys and the Pandava boys, little children, were playing with a ball, and by chance the ball fell into a well. They were all looking at the water deep below and wondering how the ball could come up.
An old Brahmin, Drona, was passing by. Drona asked them, “What are you all gazing at?”
“Oh, Dada, the ball has gone into the well,” they replied.
“Shame on you, Kshatriya boys! You do not even know how to take a ball out from the well. See how I take it.”
The great Acharya Drona took a little piece of straw and invoked a mantra into it, and took another piece of straw and joined that to the first one. Like that he went on joining little pieces of straw until they became a large chain, and he shot it down the well. The last end of it caught hold of the ball, and he pulled the ball out. Is there a human being like this? He connected little pieces of straw by some mystical power of his chanting and made it a chain, and pulled the ball out.
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The children ran to the palace, to the great Bhishma, their grandfather, and reported this wonder. “There is a mystery man here who has struck wonder before us. We cannot understand how a person can have such a power.”
Bhishma said, “I know everything. I know who that person is, and there is no wonder about it. He shall be your tutor from today onwards.”
Thus, Drona was summoned to the palace and was appointed as the Guru, or the teacher, of the Pandava and Kaurava children.
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They were all living happily for the time being but, for some reason or another, jealousy crept in, especially in the minds of the Kaurava children. Bhima and Arjuna were two of the five Pandavas. They excelled in power, in archery, in physical strength, and in various ways. They seemed to be nearer to the heart of the teacher Drona than the others. This incited the jealousy of the Kaurava children, who felt that they were a little bit alienated, and from that day onwards there was a feud, and all sorts of means were employed by them to see that Pandu's children did not get on well.
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They poisoned Bhima and tried to burn the Pandavas in a house made of lac, an inflammable material, but somehow or other, due to the wisdom of a mentor called Vidura, the Pandavas escaped from that lac house. For a year they were incognito, moving about somewhere, and later on, at the wedding of Draupadi, who was to be the queen of the Pandavas, they attended the gathering in the guise of Brahmin boys, though they were really Kshatriyas.
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At that time, in that assembly, Bhagavan Sri Krishna was also sitting. This was the first time that Sri Krishna saw the Pandavas, but he did not say one word. He was one of the members who attended the great function and, as luck would have it, Arjuna, who was disguised as a Brahmin boy, shot the arrow which won the test prescribed by the father of Draupadi for winning her hand. All the Kshatriyas were defeated, and the Brahmin boy won victory. The Kshatriya kings were up in arms. “Shame on the Kshatriya kings. A Brahmin boy has won victory.” There was a great hullabaloo. That chaos was put down, and the victors took Draupadi and went to their little hut where they were living incognito, unknown to people.
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To be continued .....
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JAI HIND
JAI BHARATHAM
VANDHE MADHARAM
BHARAT MATHA KI JAI.
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