Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of India ( Bharatham ) - 12. Swami Krishnananda.
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Chinmaya Mission
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1.#Opinion : Friday, November 11, 2022. 06:45. 2915. //
2.#Chapter 7: The Message of the Mahabharatam.-3.
Post-12.
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There is a story behind this incident. As a digression I will mention it to you. It appears that Shishupala, this blabbering man, was born with four eyes, four arms, four feet, etc. Some abnormal creature-like thing was born. Everybody was wondering what kind of child this is.
An invisible voice spoke from the skies, “People from all around will come to see the child. Generally when a baby is born, people in the neighbourhood come and say hello, and if any one of them, while touching the child, suddenly causes the disappearance of these double limbs, that person will be the death of this child.”
Everybody was coming and fondling this child who had all kinds of contortions, and one of the persons who came to see him was Sri Krishna himself. When he touched the child, his extra limbs vanished and he became normal.
Shishupala's mother cried, “Oh, please, please, please save this child, save this child, save this child!”
Krishna said, “What is the matter? I have not come here to harm anybody.”
Shishupala's mother said, “No, the akasha vani, the voice from above, said that if somebody touching the child causes the disappearance of the extra limbs, that person will be the death of the child.”
Sri Krishna replied, “No, I will give you a promise. Even if this boy insults me a hundred times, I will not do any harm to him. But if he insults me a hundred and one times, that is a different matter.”
They say that when this boy, who grew up to be a prince called Shishupala, was abusing Sri Krishna in the assembly, Sri Krishna was silently counting the abuses. All were wondering why Krishna was keeping quiet, tolerating this noise; he did not say a word, he did not get up, and he did not respond. But he was responding in a different way. When a hundred abuses were over, then a hundred and one, Sri Krishna stood up, and with a discus he severed the head of Shishupala.
It was indeed a very inauspicious event that took place at the beginning of the otherwise auspicious coronation ceremony of Yudhisthira. The whole sacrifice was an auspicious, most blessed event. It was the coronation ceremony of the king, and before that this happened. Vyasa Krishna Dvaipayana was also there. He said, “I foresee something which is not good for this family. I think some tragedy is to fall on the entire Kaurava and Pandava family, and nobody can avert it.” Saying this, he left.
After that, the coronation ceremony of Yudhisthira was performed, in which the Kaurava brothers were also present as invitees. Duryodhana himself was appointed as the treasurer, to collect donations coming from all parts of the country. They say humorously that Sri Krishna purposely made Duryodhana the treasurer; because of jealousy he will spend the money lavishly, which will only add to the glory of Yudhisthira because people will say, “How kind, how kind, how kind! How kind Yudhisthira is! This man is lavishly squandering.” The glory, the power and the royalty of Yudhisthira at that time increased the jealousy of Duryodhana still more. He could not tolerate it any longer. All sorts of incidents took place, into which details we need not go.
Then Duryodhana cunningly managed and manoeuvred a play of dice in which he wanted to see that Yudhisthira lost his entire kingdom and become a pauper. This was done. In this assembly in which dice was played twice, Yudhisthira lost everything—lost his wealth, lost his brothers, lost his wife, lost his honour. Worse than a human being did he become, and he was exiled to the wilderness. For twelve years the Pandavas had to be there, according to the stipulation of the game. Twelve years passed, and another stipulation was that the thirteenth year should be spent incognito. That also was done. Nobody helped them at that time. They were on their own, suffering.
In the beginning, children do not understand what this world is. You have seen little boys, little girls playing on the veranda of the house of even poor parents. The parents may not have food to eat for the evening, but the children play games. They do not know the suffering inside. The Pandavas and the Kauravas, as little babies, were happy indeed. Later on community consciousness gradually arises, and children are awakened to the consciousness of who is a good neighbour and who is not to be considered as a good neighbour. In the beginning, all is well. Little children may even go into the house of a neighbour who is an enemy and ask for sweetmeats, not knowing what kind of person he is. Children are innocent. But the parents will say, “Don't go there. They are not our friends. These are our friends, and those are our enemies. This land is ours, and that land is not ours, so don't go there.” Children are slowly initiated into this prejudice of who is their friendly neighbour and who is not.
This kind of consciousness arises in every one of us. Little babies, little children, do not know much of these kinds of things. Then they are initiated into the consciousness of rivalry, the goodness and the badness of people, mine and not mine, and so on. Each one tries to see what best can be done for his own future; and some succeed, some do not succeed, as was the case with the Pandavas who succeeded and the Kauravas who did not. Jealousy, business clash, court cases, and violence of various kinds get ignited on account of the impossibility of the ego of one group to tolerate the ego of another group. Somehow somebody earns something, to the chagrin of another who has not been able to earn like that. We have difficulties of emotional tensions and social disputes whether in the house, in the community, in the office, or even in governmental circles. The various parties that we speak of are nothing but cleavages that are created among people for the purpose of a single person, a community or a larger group, as the case may be. It can even be between nations. One nation may not tolerate another, for its own reasons. And after an initial victory due to the power and ability of youth there comes a disillusionment of the values of life, something like the exile of the Pandavas going to the forest.
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