॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Thursday, 8 September 2022 - Chapter 15 of the first skandha - Arjuna narrates how Sri Krishna has departed from this physical world and all the Vrishnis have killed one another. Yudhishthira and others relinquish their bodies through yogic union with Bhagavan.
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There is only one downside to being closely associated with a Living Master, a Mahatma or an Avatara. When the Avatara ends this incarnation, the devotees totally identified with him will find it impossible to live on. Maybe that is how it is meant to be.
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Arjuna has been asked so many questions by Yudhishthira. But how does he compose himself and begin to narrate what has come to pass?
With heroic effort, he pulls himself together and begins. Yet his voice chokes, and tears stream down his face, as he speaks.
वञ्चितोऽहं महाराज हरिणा बन्धुरूपिणा। येन मेऽपहृतं तेजो देवविस्मापनं महत् ॥
यस्य क्षणवियोगेन लोको ह्यप्रियदर्शनः। उक्थेन रहितो ह्येष मृतकः प्रोच्यते यथा॥
T: “Oh King, Sri Krishna, Hari, has betrayed me! I have lost him and I am now without any powers that were once the wonder of even the gods. By whose disappearance even for an instant the world totters in grief, that Sri Krishna has left us forever and reduced me to a body that rots upon death.”
Arjuna recalls eloquently, in words dripping with love and devotion, how Sri Krishna guided him at every step. He says he owes everything to Sri Krishna - his winning Draupadi’s hand after winning the impossible challenge of the Matsya yantra, his defeating Indra, propitiating Agni and getting the heavenly Indraprastha constructed by Maya. Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya, Bhima’s victory over Jarasandha, Draupadi’s emancipation in that horrid episode of Kauravas’ demeaning her, the way Pandavas received the Akshayapatra (inexhaustible vessel of food) in the forest satisfying the sage Durvasa, then Arjuna’s propitiating Lord Shiva and getting the Pashupata, and Arjuna’s victory as Brihannala over the mighty Kauravas-each episode is succinctly cited as proof of the all-empowering grace of Sri Krishna in their most significant moments. Without Sri Krishna's grace could Arjuna have survived the deadly arrows of Bhishma, Drona, Karna and such warriors?
And now?
नर्माण्युदाररुचिरस्मितशोभितानि हे पार्थ हेऽर्जुन सखे कुरुनन्दनेति।
सञ्जल्पितानि नरदेव हृदिस्पृशानि स्मर्तुर्लुठन्ति हृदयं मम माधवस्य॥
T: “Oh King, Sri Krishna used to speak so jovially and informally with me, with so much love, always smiling, calling me “Oh Partha, Arjuna, Kuru Hero” and so on. I am simply destroyed by grief and my heart is with Sri Krishna who is now gone!”
“You know, King, that one who spent so many hours days and nights together with me, treating me equal to a beloved, as his son, and even tolerated my slights, has now left me! Without him, I was powerless even to defend the helpless Dwaraka women against ordinary robbers.”
“Once Sri Krishna was gone, that famed chariot, that famed gandiva, those arrows and weapons, all burnt down to ashes. So you see, it was not about me ever, it was all Sri Krishna’s grace. And now, what!?”
“Oh king, all those dear Vrishnis you named and asked about- how to describe what happened? That terrible scene? By a sage’s curse, they all got so drunken and crazy that they all beat one another to death in the bloodiest way!”
“They say big fish eat small fish. That applies even to kings. The Vrishnis were so insolent by their power over all other kings that this was perhaps the only way to end their evil ways. It is like using a thorn to remove another and then throwing both away.”
प्रायेणैतद् भगवत ईश्वरस्य विचेष्टितम्।
मिथो निघ्नन्ति भूतानि भावयन्ति च यन्मिथः॥
T: “Surely this has to be Bhagavan’s will and his game plan. Otherwise how do you explain how the same Yadus who looked out and protected one another caused their own annihilation?”
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एवं चिन्तयतो जिष्णोः कृष्णपादसरोरुहम्।
सौहार्देनातिगाढेन शान्ताऽसीद्बिमला मतिः॥
गीतं भगवता ज्ञानं यत्तत्सङ्ग्राममूर्धनि।
कालकर्मतमोरुद्धं पुनरध्यमगद्विभुः॥
T: Arjuna’s mind slowly found its peace by his total contemplation of Sri Krishna’s lotus feet, and his immersion in the Lord. His mind was no more agitated.
The profound upadesha of Srimad Bhagavagita at the crest of the Mahabharata battlefield by Sri Krishna to Arjuna had been by His will relegated in Arjuna’s memory. It now came back to fill him with wisdom and peace and took him to liberation.
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निशम्य भगवन्मार्गं संस्थां यदुकुलस्य च। सः पथाय मतिं चक्रे निभृतात्मा युधिष्ठिरः॥
पृथाप्यनिश्रुत्य एकान्तभक्त्या भगवत्यधोक्षजे निवेशिता ….
स्वराट् पौत्रं सुसमं गुणैः अभ्यषञ्चत्…
T: Hearing how the Lord had relinquished this earth physically, how the Yadus had destroyed themselves, Yudhishthira was clear about what he had to do.
Kunti, hearing all that had happened, easily focussed her life-breath in the Lord and left this world.
Yudhishthira anointed the worthy grandson Parikshit as the king. He also made Vajra, Krishna’s grandson, the king of Mathura. He then took sannyasa formally, relinquishing all attachments and bonds. ब्रह्मण्यात्मानमव्यये T: Thus did Yudhishthira merge into Brahman, to all outward purposes looking like someone crazed and deaf, but immersed in divine bliss as he walked away northward in Mahaprasthana.He then resolved his breath through Yoga and returned his body to the five elements.
Bhima and Arjuna followed him, realizing Kali Yuga had come.
धारयामासुर्वैकुण्ठचरणाम्बुजम् T: Vyasa makes it a point to emphasize that how the Pandavas presented themselves to the physical world was totally irrelevant as they had fully realized in their hearts the lotus feet of Sri Hari, Sri Krishna.
Vidura also followed suit in Prabhasa, and was escorted by divine attendants to his heaven, i.e., Yama Loka. Draupadi also followed the Pandavas and dissolved herself in Bhagavan.
तद्ध्यानोद्रिक्तया भक्त्या विशुद्धधिषणा: परे ।
तस्मिन् नारायणपदे एकान्तमतयो गतिम् ॥
य: श्रद्धयैतद् भगवत्प्रियाणां पाण्डो: सुतानामिति सम्प्रयाणम् ।
शृणोत्यलं स्वस्त्ययनं पवित्रं लब्ध्वा हरौ भक्तिमुपैति सिद्धिम् ॥
T; Thus did the Pandavas, by their intense meditation and devotion, purify their bodies and minds and make them fit for salvation. They dissolved into the lotus feet of Narayana as their ultimate and final abode.
Anyone who studies this episode of the salvation of the worthy Pandavas dear to Sri Krishna, following him after his departure, will reap all auspiciousness and make his own journey blessed and more than anything else, grow in his Bhakti.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
