The Role of Lord Sri Krishna in the Mahabharatam -3 : Swami Krishnananda.

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Tuesday,  09 May,  2023. 07:00.

The Role of Lord Sri Krishna in the Mahabharatam -3 :

(Spoken on Sri Krishna Janmasthami in 1972)

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Then Satyaki said, “Why do you ask what help you can give him? We will demolish the Kauravas just now.”

Then Sri Krishna said, “Yudhisthira is a Kshatriya. He will not take charity from others. Why should you try to tell him that we will win victory for him and hand over the kingdom to him? He is not a man to take that. He will follow Kshatriya dharma and take it with the power of his own strength. He is not a beggar. I know his mind. But we can help him in getting the kingdom back in whatever manner he feels fit.”

But Yudhisthira said, “Krishna, for thirteen years we will not say anything because we have to fulfil the vow. Afterwards, let us see.”

“All right, as you wish. Thank you. I am going,” said Krishna. He went back to Dwarka.

After his departure, Draupadi said to Yudhisthira, “You old man! You want to stay here for thirteen years? You have no common sense! When they offered help, why did you refuse? Could you not go just now and teach a lesson to these fellows?”

Bhima said, “Right! I am ready just now.”

And Arjuna said, “I think it is all right. There is no point in fulfilling a vow that has been thrust upon us by a trick, by a falsehood, by a fraud. Should we fulfil this vow? I think a lie is counteracted by a lie. We shall go back and see our valour.”

Draupadi gave a very long lecture to Yudhisthira, condemning him for his imbecility, for his weakness of thought and his unKshatriya-like behaviour, and pitying herself for having married him.

Then Yudhisthira said, “I understand everything. I know what you say. And I know that the Yadava princes came here and offered help. Everything is clear to my mind. But I shall not break my vow, for reasons known to me alone.”

They cursed him, but stayed with him because they had no other hope. They had great obedience to him in spite of disagreeing with him. The reason why Yudhisthira was not agreeable to breaking the vow was twofold. One thing is that it is immoral for a person of his status to break a vow. Secondly, it was not the time to meet the Kauravas because they had great powers such as Bhishma, Drona and Karna, and nobody knew what the consequences of a battle with them would be. They thought, “Let us wait for our own time.”

Then Indra and Rudra blessed Arjuna, and Arjuna was invested with astras; only then did he become competent to meet the Kauravas, not before. All this happened in the Aranya Parva of the Mahabharata, the Third Parva.

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To be continued

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