॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Tuesday, 6 September 2022 - Chapter 13 of the first skandha - Dhritarashtra and Gandhari give up their bodies.
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विदुरस्तीर्थयात्रायां मैत्रेयादात्मनो गतिम्।
ज्ञात्वागाद्धास्तिनपुरं तयावाप्तविवत्सितः॥
T: Vidura had travelled to several holy places and had received the divine knowledge of the Self from the sage Maitreya. He now returned to Hastinapura, having fulfilled his longing for spiritual knowledge and wishing to meet his kith and kin.
He was received with great joy and a sense of exhilaration experienced when life returns to a dead city, by all, including his brother Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, King Yudhishthira and everyone else.
King Yudhishthira worshipped holy Vidura and expressed the Pandavas’ love and reverence for one who had repeatedly ensured their welfare amidst many dangers and griefs.
भवद्विधा भागवतास्तीर्थभूता: स्वयं विभो।
तीर्थीकुर्वन्ति तीर्थानि स्वान्त:स्थेन गदाभृता॥
T: Yudhishthira said to Vidura: “Oh, Sir, people like you are yourselves places of worship, as you sanctify all the places that you visit, since you carry within the Self Lord Maha Vishnu by your devotion.”
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The king enquired of Vidura after due hospitality and rest where he had been and what he had seen, particularly the well-being of the Yadus.
Vidura described all the holy places and his edifying experiences, and narrated everything except the horrific civil strife among Yadus that had exterminated them, यथानुभूतं
क्रमशो विना यदुकुलक्षयम्, a story he did not want to tell as it would plunge everyone into unrecoverable sorrow.
Sage Vyasa now reveals that Vidura was himself an incarnation of Yama, the Lord of Time and Death. For some transgression,Yama had been given a curse by a rishi that he would have to spend a hundred years on earth as a human. He had taken birth as Vidura.
Vidura saw how Yudhishthira was ruling well and there was peace and prosperity all around. But he also knew that Time or Destiny had some plans to disrupt their sense of “all is well here.”
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Vidura had indeed come to Hastinapura only to give timely counsel to his blind step-brother, the old King Dhritarashtra. Therefore, after a few days, he met him alone and counselled:
येन चैवाभिपन्नोऽयं प्राणै: प्रियतमैरपि।
जन: सद्यो वियुज्येत किमुतान्यैर्धनादिभि:॥
अग्निर्निसृष्टो दत्तश्च गरो दाराश्च दूषिता:।
हृतं क्षेत्रं धनं येषां तद्दत्तैरसुभि: कियत्॥
गतस्वार्थमिमं देहं विरक्तो मुक्तबन्धन: ।
अविज्ञातगतिर्जह्यात् स वै धीर उदाहृत: ॥
T: “Oh brother and king, Dhritarashtra, when one is forced to relinquish this body due to disease and old age inexorably, a body that is so dear to us, what is the difficulty in relinquishing those people we consider our dear ones or our possessions that we cling to?”
“You are now eating the morsels given by Pandavas, the same people your side tried to poison and burn down. Your sons dragged and molested the Pandava queen in your court. You stole their kingdom and possessions and banished them. Is it worth living on their charity now?”
“One indeed is liberated from these bonds when one becomes dispassionate and leaves the attachment to this perishable body. Such a one goes to a remote secluded place and voluntarily relinquishes the mortal coil.”
These words penetrated Dhritarashitra deeply. That very night, accompanied by his dear and dutiful queen Gandhari, and Vidura, the blind king Dhritarashtra left Hastinapura and went northward to the Himalayas.
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Yudshishthira came to the palace the next morning after his usual prayers and wanted to take the blessings of Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Vidura as was his routine. Not finding them anywhere, he asked Sanjaya, the famous charioteer and companion of Dhritarashtra (remember the Bhagavadgita), where the three were. Sanjaya was in tears. After he managed to recover his composure sufficiently, he disclosed to the king that the three had gone away in the dead of the night without leaving any clue.
Yudhishthira was plunged into sorrow and was putting himself into his favourite mood of extreme guilt as the one responsible for all this. At that moment the divine sage Narada, accompanied by another celestial sage Tumburu, came there.
Yudhishthira after extending his reverential greetings burst into sorrow, asking where his uncles and aunt might have gone away. What would befall the old, infirm, blind Dhritarashtra?
Sage Narada replied:
मा कञ्चन शुचो राजन् यदीश्वरवशं जगत् ।
लोका: सपाला यस्येमे वहन्ति बलिमीशितु: ।
स संयुनक्ति भूतानि स एव वियुनक्ति च ॥
T: “Oh, King, do not grieve for anyone. This whole world runs under the watch of Ishwara. The guardian deities, kings and commoners all walk the path chosen by Him. Indeed it is only He who brings people together, and separates them from one another at His will.”
“King, we are all like cattle with ropes passed through our noses and tied with ropes around our necks, being driven by Destiny, either knowingly following scriptural injunctions or not. It does not matter what you think! You may think this material world is the be-all and end-all, or think Brahman alone is, or consider that all life is an explicable phenomenon. Yet the result of how you live and experience life will be the same. This is only a passing drama enacted by the Lord and we are like His playthings that He puts together and separates (यथा क्रीडोपस्कराणां संयोगविगमाविह)!”
तदिदं भगवान् राजन्नेक आत्मात्मनां स्वदृक् ।
अन्तरोऽनन्तरो भाति पश्य तं माययोरुधा ॥
निष्पादितं देवकृत्यमवशेषं प्रतीक्षते ।
तावद् यूयमवेक्षध्वं भवेद् यावदिहेश्वर: ॥
T: “Therefore, King Yudhishthira, meditate on the One Supersoul which is in your soul. He is both inside and outside. Get rid of your illusion and perceive Him. Know that Bhagavan Sri Krishna has completed his incarnation here and discharged all His plans. Await the moment as your own signal as and when He makes his own departure.”
धृतराष्ट्र: सह भ्रात्रा गान्धार्या च स्वभार्यया ।
दक्षिणेन हिमवत ऋषीणामाश्रमं गत: ॥
T: “As for your uncle, King Dhritarashtra has gone with Gandhari and Vidura to the southern part of Himalaya, to the ashramas of rishis.”
“The place is called Saptasrota [“divided by seven”] because there the waters of the sacred Ganges have divided into seven branches for the seven great sages. Bathing three times daily, performing the Agni-hotra sacrifice with fire, subsisting only on water, Yudhishthira will master the control of his body, overcoming the three Gunas and focussing on Bhagavan.”
“He will quit his body on the fifth day from now. And his body will burn up and will turn to ashes. His chaste wife will enter the same fire with rapt attention. After witnessing all this, Vidura, being affected with delight at their holy passage and grief due to his filial loss, will then leave that place of sacred pilgrimage.”
Having spoken thus, the great sage Narada and Tumburu ascended into the higher realm. Yudhishthira was able to pull himself together and overcome his distress.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
