Bhagavatam study 42 1.8.45-52 Yudhisthira argues against his blamelessness

Bhagawad-Gita Shri Nibhavitham 1845 since it is tragedy of queen kunti chapter that has got out that section has got over now And as Krishna is about to depart, Krishna smiled at Kunti Maharani and accepted her prayers. He informed Kunti and other elderly ladies about his departure.
Pravishya gaja sahaveyam. Pravishya. He entered the palace to inform all of them.
Sthriyashya svaputram yasin premna ragya nivarithah. Sthriyashya svapuram. Yes, yasin.
When he was just, after informing all of them, he was about to depart. At that time, premna with love, ragya nivarithah. The king, in love with love, with affection, requested him to stay on.
Do not go. And Krishna agreed. So, why did Krishna agree? Actually, Yudhishthira was in a very distressed predicament.
And seeing that distress, seeing that Yudhishthira was overwhelmed with grief, he agreed to stay. Krishna agreed to stay. What was his predicament? That will be described now.
Vyasadhyayir ishvarehagyai. Krishnaenadbhutakarmanaprabodhito apithihasair nabudhyah chucharpitaham. Vyasadhyayir ishvarehagyai.
Vyasadhyayir. Vyas and others. Even the ishvara, the supreme lord himself.
They all, Krishnaenadbhutakarmana. Krishna, who is the performer of all kinds of extraordinary activities, even he couldn’t persuade, even he couldn’t convince Maharaja Yudhishthira. Prabodhito apithihasair.
Prabodhito, he was so pleased by that. Itihasair, they did not just give some sweet word, they actually quoted from the historical incidences from the scriptures. From the past, to substantiate their points, nabudhyah chucharpitaham, nabudhyah.
He was not satisfied. So, what is going on here? This is like a different theme that is being explored and the scene is being set for the exploration of that theme here. So, the point that is made is that he was not satisfied.
He was not pacified. So, what was, he was in great distress. What was his distress? Let’s look at that now.
47 takes. Aharajadharmasutas chintayansuradambadham prakritenatmanaviprah snehamohavashangatah This is text 47. Aharajadharmasutas.
He spoke. He was the son of Dharma. He is actually a very virtuous and glorious king.
The son of Dharma. Dharmasutas chintayansuradambadham. Chintayan.
What was he thinking? Why had he got so distressed? Because he was thinking suradambadham, actually I have killed my relatives. I am responsible for them. It appeared as if by material conception.
Suta Goswami speaking to the assembled sages. Because of affection, because of attachment. Snehamohavashangatah.
He had gone into great illusion. He had gone into, so it appeared that in his distress, in the distress which was, he was undergoing, he felt very greatly overwhelmed and feeling overwhelmed as he could not do anything constructive. He felt, he was acting just like a common person who might be overwhelmed by grief.
Similarly, Yudhishthira Maharaj was also overwhelmed by grief. 48. What did he speak? Just see my ignorance.
You see the ignorance that is situated in my heart, how misdirected I am. That this body which does not belong even to me, this body which is actually someone else’s property. For protecting this body, I have caused the death of many, many divisions of soldiers.
So, here what is Yudhishthira Maharaj saying? There are many important words here. One relevant word for us is the point that he is saying, O Lord, even this body does not belong to me. Normally, if something does not belong to us, somebody else has given it to us, we may take care of it, but we will not be excessively worried about it.
If some acquaintance comes and tells us, okay, I have got this car, can I park it in your courtyard? We say, okay. But it is not that we are going to, if say, there is a big fire coming up, and that fire is going to either destroy the car or it will destroy our house. Now, we would like to protect both, but if we can’t protect both, we won’t risk our own house or we won’t risk our own life.
To save that car, we won’t risk our own life for that matter. You know, if the fire is so big and if the car is caught fire, we won’t risk our own life to save that car. After all, it’s not our car.
Parakseva. Yes, we can be selfless, but being selfless doesn’t mean being brainless. So, if something doesn’t belong to us, we won’t go to extreme limits to try to protect it.
And this body is saying, Parakseva, this body itself does not belong to me. Normally, we think that I am the body, what to speak of body belonging to me. But Prahlad is clarifying here that, but sorry, not Prahlad, here we have Vidishad Maharaj conveying the deep philosophical truth that even the body does not belong to us.
The body actually belongs to others. Who does it belong to? There is a whole analysis in later section of the Bhagavatam wherein it is said that, okay, the body will go ultimately to fire. So, it will be burned to ashes.
So, it belongs to fire. Or it may go to the earth and be reduced to ashes. So, it belongs to the earth and ashes.
Or even when it is there, if the person is a slave, then the body belongs to the master. So, actually, whom does the body belong to? Essentially, we think that I am the body, but far from we being the body, we are not the body and the body is also not ours. The body is different from us and we use the body while we are in this material existence, but the body is different from us.
To the extent we recognize it, to the extent at the very least, we do not do sinful activities for the sake of gratifying the body, for the sake of satisfying the body. We recognize that, okay, all this is good, but I do not have to be crazy about taking care of the body. Let me just focus on doing what I can for keeping the body functional and for using it positively for my higher purposes.
But here, Yudhishthira Maharaj is thinking that, oh, for the sake of maintaining this body. Now, their idea is that they are Kshatriyas and Kshatriyas are meant to be rulers. So, how can they do their duty of protecting their citizens as martial guardians of society if they do not have a kingdom? So, he is not thinking here out of his humility at one level, out of the illusion that has come out on him because of ultimately Krishna’s plan.
He is thinking that I fought this war simply so that I could have gratification for my body. So, for this body, just see my ignorance that I thought this body is mine and therefore, for the sake of the body, I fought a war in which so many Akshahani soldiers were killed. Sometimes, we may, under the spell of illusion, give up something very important for something very trivial.
So, for example, somebody is giving an exam and it is an important exam. The student knows the answers also. The student gets the answer, then there is a big breakthrough in life and maybe get admission in a very important college or go abroad for a further development of career or whatever.
And during this time, suddenly, that person desires or decides that I cannot do this. The person suddenly gets a temptation or maybe there is an ice cream shop just outside the exam room. And I know at this time, there is going to be a particular new brand of ice cream that is going to come.
And the person just leaves the exam to go and eat the ice cream. And this is ridiculous. You can eat the ice cream anytime later.
You first do the exam right now. So, the point is that to give up something important and urgent for something which else which can be done later, it is absurd. But yet, when we come under illusion, the opportunity for spiritual growth is something which we get after many, many lifetimes when we have human form and when we have spiritual association.
And if you give that up for petty bodily pleasures, then that is a colossal miscalculation, a tragic miscalculation. And he says, such a calculation, such a miscalculation indicates ignorance, indicates illusion. And Yudhishthira Maharaj in a similar movie is saying over here, aho me pashyata jnanam, just see my ignorance.
But for the sake of maintaining this body, I caused the death of so many Akshahuni soldiers. So, if something is so trivial, I paid so big a cost. And further he is now going to map the cost in more specific terms.
So many Akshahuni might seem vague. But in 49th text, next text he says, bala dvija suhuram, mitra, mitra bhratur guru dhruha, nami syan nirayan moksho, ya api varshayita yutai. So, who all have been killed because of my foolishness, he explains, bala, children.
From the perspective of Yudhishthira Maharaj, Abhimanyu was basically a child. Even Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana was like a child. So, bala dvija dvija, one of the most low points of the epic is the brutal killing of Drona by Dhrishtadyumna.
So, brahmanas were killed. Suhrun, who were well-wishers, people like Shalya, they were tricked into fighting on the opposite side of the Pandavas. They were well-wishers.
Suhrun, mitra, they were his friends. So, for example, Krtavarman was a friend of the Pandavas, especially a friend of Arjuna. Pitra, bhratra, guru dhruha, bhratra is like brother.
Now, of course, at this particular point, he has come to know that Karna is his brother. So, that is also causing distress. And of course, the Pandavas were cousins and some of them like Vikarna, who is relatively virtuous.
Pitra, the whole generation of elders, father, parents, parental generation and the grandparental generation, this whole thing. Guru, of course, Kripa and Drona were both his teachers. Dhruha, so all these people to whom we are affectionate, who we are meant to serve and take care of.
Dhruha, I killed them. Namah Isyan Nirayan Mokshu. Therefore, from Nirayan, Niraya is hell.
So, from hell, I will not get liberation. Even if I perform atonement, even if I go to hell and even if I had to suffer for hell, Varsha Ayuta Ayutai. Ayuta means millions.
So, Ayutai, again and multiple millions again and again, repeatedly for millions of lifetimes, millions of years, Varsha. If I go to hell, still the kind of sinful reaction I have accrued that will not get exhausted. Here, of course, we know that Yudhishthira Maharaj fought for the cause of dharma and he will not go to hell.
The fact that he goes to hell momentarily at the end of the Mahabharata, that is simply to illustrate this point that actually no one can live a life that is fully spotlessly pure and he certainly does not have to go for as long as he is talking about. But at this particular point of time, grief has distorted his perception and it is not Yudhishthira speaking. In one sense, it is grief that has taken control of him that is speaking over here.
Now, in one sense, Yudhishthira is not an ignorant fool. He knows the reasoning which was used to fight the war and he knows that for a king who fights in dharma yudha, Kshatriya is a martial guard in a society and though when there are aggressors who disrupt the social order, at that time a Kshatriya is duty bound to fight. So, Yudhishthira states here that actually I am aware of these things but these things do not apply to me, they do not satisfy me, they do not illumine me because they are not relevant over here.
There are words which speak that that for the sake that in a righteous war, in a war for the establishment of dharma, killing of enemies, killing of the envious in the cause of dharmic yudha, a king is allowed to do that. But if a king in order to protect his citizens has to fight a dharma yudha against his creants, that is fine. Now, that is the truth actually but Yudhishthira is saying that does not apply to me.
He is thinking that actually there was no need for me to have fought the war. Now, at one level it is said that under Duryodhana, the kingdom was also being managed reasonably well. Prabhupada also says that Duryodhana was doing a fairly good job of managing the kingdom.
Now, yes, Duryodhana knew that while he had a fairly long time, he had 13 years of time as the ruler, but he knew 13 years would get over and his hold on the kingdom was not very solid and that is why he did not want to do anything exploitative during this period. So, he tried to curry favour with all the opinion leaders in his kingdom and he tried to give gifts and flatter people and try to win them over, not by his sincere dedication to their welfare, but by his desire to be able to perpetuate his hold on the throne. But other than considering any malicious or self-serving motive on the part of Duryodhana, Yudhishthira Maharaj is simply looking at his actions and thinking that Duryodhana was managing the kingdom quite well.
So, it is not that I had to fight this war to protect the citizens. Actually speaking, yes, Duryodhana was managing the kingdom during his reign, but he was by nature envious, malicious, vicious and once he would have got unchallenged right to the throne, then his true colours would have come out and he would have started exploiting the citizens. But based on his track record till now, at least during that time when he was ruling over the kingdom, Yudhishthira Maharaj is feeling that, oh, it is not that Duryodhana was doing a terrible job.
So, he is saying that my dharma yudha, that this particular battle that was fought, that cannot be called as a dharma yudha. So, this injunction does not apply to me. 1851 Shrinam Madhat Bandhunam Shrinam Madhat Bandhunam of the women whose relatives, whose bandhus, whose protectors, be they husbands or brothers or children or other relatives, whatever, fathers or whatever, and I have killed them and such droho, such enmity, such animosity, such anger has arisen because of this karma-bhir-graha-medhi-yair that graha-medhi-yair, the word graha-medhi usually has a negative connotation as it is used in the Bhagavatam, but graha-medhi basically does not have to always have a negative connotation.
Here it refers to the idea that graha-medhis have a material conception of life, material conception of graha, they think in terms of improving things materially and enjoying things materially. So, here rather than the negative connotation, here the point is the material conception and karma, karma means work, fruitive work, karma often means good work, pious work. karma-bhir-graha-medhi-yair naaham kalpo kalpo vyapohitam that even if I, even if I expertly do a lot of punya, lot of pious work for ameliorating the harmful effects of this fratricidal war, still that work cannot be mitigated.
So, the point is, in Sri Vishnu Maharaj is anticipating and countering various, various counters to his, his lamentations. Some people say that it is a dharma yudhya, no it is not a dharma yudhya. Okay, even if you feel you have done some papa, you can actually do, you can actually do welfare work in a practical sense, try to counter whatever harm has happened.
But he says, no, the harm that has happened is so colossal that it cannot be countered. Then takes 52 states, yatha pankena pankambhaha surayaava surakritam bhutahatyam tathai vaikam nayagyair marshtu marhati yatha pankena pankambhaha Just as, we cannot, if water is muddy and if you use mud, we cannot clean the mud or surayaava surakritam, we cannot, if a pot is got the, got the smell of wine, you know, and I will put some further wine into it, that smell won’t go away. Bhutahatyam tathai vaikam.
So, similarly, they said these two are in terms of futile, so by the same token, tathai vaikam. So, bhutahatyam, I have killed so many living beings and that nayagyair marshtu marhati. It’s not possible that by doing yagyam, by prescribed sacrifices, marshtu, the counteracting of that cannot be done.
So, if somebody argues that, okay, you are not just concerned about providing relief for those who have been distressed, but even if you feel that you have to get rid of the karmic reactions, you can do punya karma, you can actually do yagya karma. And by doing fire sacrifices, you can counter whatever sinful reaction might be there. So, he says, no, such fire sacrifices will not lead to the countering of those reactions.
And what he gives two examples, that mud cannot clean water and wine cannot remove the smell of wine in a pot, wine cannot clean a wine stain pot. In this way, one cannot actually become free. The point here is, we have in today’s context, Einstein said that problems created at one level of consciousness cannot be solved at that level of consciousness.
Something similar is being said over here, that actually, we need something higher to be able to deal with this problem of our current entanglement in material existence. So, Yudhishthira Maharaj is right, ultimately, that karma, the bad effects of bad karma cannot be countered by doing good karma. We need something higher for that.
We need bhakti which will liberate us from the karmic entanglement. And that practice of bhakti is something which is going to be the solution that Vishwapitama will offer in the next chapter. But at this stage, Yudhishthira Maharaj, the point that he is making is philosophically correct, but it is not contextually relevant.
Because in his context, he has not done papa and he is actually enjoying not just to do punya when he is told to become a king and do yajna, he has been asked to do, he has not done papa and he is not being asked to do punya, but he is being asked to do bhakti by doing the will of the Lord and taking up the kingdom and the mood of service to the Lord. So, after Kunti’s prayers get over, the Bhagavatam in a very quick narrative shift, the Bhagavatam moves to the next topic. So, Kunti Maharaj is offering exalted devotional prayers and after those prayers end, those prayers actually end in 43, Krishna’s response to those prayers is in 44 and to end one line of 45 also.
But then from 45 to 52, the frame shifts quickly and now Yudhishthira Maharaj’s grief is strongly being expressed over here. And the counter of this grief or how the wisdom that will enable him to overcome this grief that will be described in the next chapter. So, in this chapter, the Bhagavatam focuses on three things, how per his attack by Shatama and saved by Krishna, how Kunti offers prayers which culminate in surrendered pure devotion and Yudhishthira Maharaj’s grief.
So, the protection of Parichit goes on till verse 16. Kunti’s prayers 17 to 44 and 45 to 52 is Yudhishthira Maharaj’s lamentation. How Yudhishthira Maharaj’s lamentation will be removed that we will discuss in the next chapter in future classes.
Thank you.