​Bhagavatam study 63 1.13.1-8 Periods of distress can forge the deepest bonds

Bhagatam, Canto 1, Chapter 13, Text 1, Chapter and Title, Dhritarashtra to its own. Suta Vacham Vidura Sthirtha Yatraayam, Maitreyaad Atmanogatim, Gyatwaad Dhaas, Dhaas Kinaapuram, Tayaavaaptamivitsitaha. Sita Goswami is continuing the narration, the fear of Naimisharanya.
And what does he describe? Vidura Sthirtha Yatraayam. Bhagatam’s overall mood is the mood of separation from Krishna, devotion amidst separation. And thus it’s focused on the devotees, describe how exalted they are and then describe their separation from the Lord.
So Vidura Sthirtha Yatraayam. So Vidura, he went on a Sthirtha Yatra and he’s come back. So the incident that happened over here, they are of great souls of devotees who are, so Krishna is not present directly, but the actions of Krishna’s devotees are talked about in these chapters.
Vidura has come back. Maitreyaad Atmanogatim. After being instructed by Maitreya, Atmanogatim, he had understood the nature and the destination of the self from Maitreya.
The conversation between Maitreya and Vidura will be described later. In the third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam especially, Vidura-Maitreya Samvat is actually an elaborate conversation which goes on between the third and the fourth cantos. It’s a fairly long conversation which has references to other big conversations also.
But here Vidura was already a very wise person and after discussing with Maitreya, after living a life of detachment and annunciation, Vidura then has now come back. Jnatvagat dhastipurnam. Jnatvagat.
After learning about the self more and more, after deepening his realisation and wisdom, he came back. Agat hastinapuram. Hastinapuram.
After coming back to Hastinapuram, what happened? Tayavapta vivitsatai. Tayavapta. Avapta means sufficiently, he had gained enough.
So he had learned sufficiently. Now he had a mission. His mission will soon become apparent when he starts talking with his brother Dhritarashtra who has been very attached throughout his life and to rescue Dhritarashtra, Vidura is going to speak some strong words and those will be described.
So he himself had got deepened knowledge of the self and he was going to share that knowledge with Dhritarashtra. So he came back for that purpose. Text 2. Yavatah krtavan prashnan kshatah kaushar avagrataham jataika bhaktir govinde te bhyas chopra ramah.
So now before Vidura’s entry into Hastinapur, it is mentioned that he came to Hastinapur, but there’s a brief flashback describing what happened before. It was mentioned in the previous text that he had learned sufficiently from Yaitreya. So what exactly had happened? Yavatah krtavan prashnan.
So he asked many, many questions, prashnan, kshatah. So Bhagavatam often uses multiple names to refer to its characters and the characters also have different names. And that just adds to the variety, which I would say is the spice of life.
And also sometimes it’s used to bring, to highlight the poetic attributes of the Bhagavatam. So Vidura and Maitreya, they are two names. But now when both of them are referred to them with the name starting from Ka, then there is that alliteration that happens and that is a feature of poetry.
So kshatah, kshatah refers to Vidura and kausharavagratah, kausharav, kausharav refers to the name of Maitreya, kausharav. So jataika bhaktir govinde. So jataika bhaktir govinde, jata means to take birth or to grow forward.
Eka, unto that one pointed, unto that one lord, unto him one pointed devotion was awakened. Bhaktir govinde, bhakti unto Govinda was awakened. Tebhyas chopararamaham, tebhyas, having, after asking many such questions, upararam, upararam means to stop her.
In the past, so in the past, he had asked lots of questions to Maitreya and he had learned abundantly from him. And then once he had learned, once he had been enriched with wisdom, then upararam, he ceased asking questions anymore. Bhagavatam, 1.13.3 Here, how Vidura returned back to Yudhishthira’s kingdom to rescue Dhritarashtra from the darkness of ignorance and attachment is being described.
That’s the theme of the chapter. Tam bandham agatam, on seeing that his bandhu, a relative, had come back. The word brhatra refers to brother.
Bandhu can refer to brother sometimes, but generically it refers to relative. So when he saw his relative, Vidura’s uncle, Tam bandham agatam, Dhrishtva, on seeing this, Dharmaputra Sahanuja, Dharmaputra Yudhishthira along with Sahanuja, his younger brothers, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Dhritarashtra, Yudhishthira, who all came to welcome him, who all are delighted on seeing him, that list is being described over here. So Dhritarashtra, Yudhishthira.
Dhritarashtra was there and Yudhishthira. Yudhishthira, as we mentioned earlier, was the son of Dhritarashtra through a maidservant, Yudhishthira. Sootah sharadvatah prathah.
Sootah, the word sootah can sometimes refer to the sun. But sootah, like Yashoda, Yashoda sootah we can say. But sootah can also refer to the charioteer or in general an assistant.
So in this particular context, it refers to Sanjaya, who was sootah, who was the assistant of Yudhishthira. Sanjaya was also there, delighted to see Vidura coming back. Saradvatah refers to Krupacharya and prathah is Kunti.
So it was like a big joint family that was there to welcome him, welcome Vidura when he returned. Gandhari, Draupadi, Brahman, Subhadra, Chotra, Krupi, Anyashtha, Yamaya, Pandora, Gyataiha, Sasutaha, Striha. So further this is given, there was Gandhari, Draupadi, they were also there.
Brahman, Suta Goswami is referring to the Brahmanas. Subhadra, Chotra, Krupi. Krupi is the wife of Krupacharya.
Subhadra is the second wife of Arjuna, as has been talked about repeatedly before. Chotra, of course Uttara has been mentioned quite often in the previous chapters as the mother of Parikshit, wife of Munnu. And further, Anyashtha, Gyataiha, Pandora, Yamaya, Pandora.
Gyataiha words come later. Gyataiha is here, Yamaya is there. Yamaya is the wives of the other family members were there.
So earlier, mostly in the previous verse, the males were mentioned. Now the females are being mentioned. Other wives also were there.
Gyataiha, Sasutaha. Gyataiha means family members. And then Sasutaha, with their children.
Striha, the ladies and the sons were there. So basically, he returned at a time when the whole family was there to meet him. And text for you.
Pratyu Jagmohu Praharshena Pranam Tanva Ivaagatam Abhisangam Nayavidhivat Parishvan Gabhivat Vadinahai So Pratyu Jagmohu, they all went towards him. Pratyu Jagmohu, towards him they went. Praharshena, with delight, with joy.
Pranam Tanva Ivaagatam, it is as if Agatam, what had come, or you could say come back, it is as if life had come back to their Tanvat, their body. So Abhisangam Nayavidhivat. Abhisangam means go towards him.
And as was appropriate, according to the etiquette, Parishvan Gabhivat Vadinai. Parishvanga, that means some people embraced, some people offered obeisances. Abhivadinai.
Now Vidura was among the eldest members in the family. Dhritarashtra himself was elderly now. And Bhishma, of course, had been older to all of them, but Bhishma was no longer there.
So most of the people in the family now were younger to Vidura, except for probably Dhritarashtra and Gandhari and of course Krupacharya. So everybody, as was appropriate, they all went forward towards meeting him, embracing him, offering obeisances to him. And there had been many separations, often painful separations, because most of the relatives of the Pandavas and the Kauravas had been killed in the war.
And the last time the Pandavas had met Vidura had been a very long time ago. Now, if we see that way, the Pandavas saw Vidura directly at the time of the gambling match. After that, they were 13 year exile.
There is no record of Vidura going out to meet the Pandavas during their 12 year exile. Although once he also left and he went because Dhritarashtra was very, Dhritarashtra felt that Vidura was partial and Dhritarashtra practically drew Vidura away. But then Dhritarashtra sent Sanjaya and called Vidura back.
So that is the only record where Vidura went to meet the Pandavas. But after that, there was no chance of meeting. Even Vidura did not know where the Pandavas were.
At least there is no public indication that he gave that he ever knew. And then the Pandavas never came to Hastinapur. They sent various representatives for negotiation.
Drupada’s Brahmin representative came. And then after that, Krishna himself came. So Vidura, of course, got to meet Krishna at that time.
But he did not get to meet Yudhishthira and the Pandavas. So that means after over a decade, at least if not more, the Pandavas were meeting Vidura and it was extremely mortifying. What had happened in between was extremely mortifying.
Although they had eventually won the war, but the victory in the war had also come at a great cost. And therefore, it was not really a jubilant celebration of victory. They could do all the more so because their own sons had been brutally slaughtered while they were sleeping.
So overall, there had not been many occasions for joy when Bhishma Pitamah had departed. Of course, now they knew that Parikshit was going to be born. That was one occasion for celebration.
And now when Vidura has come back, at those times, people would go on pilgrimage. It would be very difficult to even know whether a person is alive or not. You alone know where the person actually is.
You may see this in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Not coming to know, at least from the external point of view, where he was performing, he was acting like a human being. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not know where his own elder brother Vishwaroopa had gone.
And he kept travelling over South India, ostensibly using the reason of searching for him to go around South India. And eventually, when he found out that he had become Shankararanya Maharaj, he had taken sannyas, he had become a very great soul. But then by the time he came to know all this, Shankararanya Maharaj had already departed from this world.
The point is, you know, if someone we have not seen for a long time and if that person we love a lot, and then after that, they’re not knowing where they are, how they are, not even knowing whether they’re alive or not. This causes a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. And then suddenly, after it all, when suddenly that person comes back, hale and hearty, then we feel joy.
Oh, this is wonderful. It’s like life has come back from the dead. That’s what happened to Vidura because the Pandavas had always been very, very grateful to Vidura.
He had soon become disillusioned by Vidura’s arrogant ways. And he knew that Yudhishthira was a far better choice as the successor on the Kuru throne. And when Dhritharashtra duo had tried to sideline, persecute, assassinate the Pandavas, Vidura had protected them.
So they’re all delighted. And text 6, they’re all delighted that Vidura has come back now. उमुच्छुः प्रेम बाशपोगः विरहो कन्थस कातरः राज अतम् राह्यम् चक्रे कृतासन परिग्रहम् उमुच्छुः, you know, when they beheld him, प्रेम बाशपोगः, that out of love, tears came out from their eyes.
विरहो कन्थस कातरः विरह आउथ कन्थ So separation and anxiety born of separation. Normally, if somebody is far away from us, we would like to know how they are. And if there is no way to know how they are, then that causes much more anxiety.
कातरः, they were in distress, they were in fear because of the anxiety caused by separation. And now, that anxiety had been relieved. Now the Pandavas were able to behold Vidura with them.
राज अतम् राह्यम् चक्रे So, king went and received him and offered him. अरह्यम् चक्रे, offered him properly. कृतासन परिग्रहम् Properly made sitting arrangements for him.
Please come, please have a seat. And he offered Vidura a respectable seat of honour. So, in this, even in intense emotions, it is not that etiquettes are forgotten or discarded.
Temporarily, there is just overwhelming of emotion, there are tears, but immediately there is a remembrance. There is a proper way to receive a guest and immediately say, please come, please sit. This is delightful.
Take 7. तम् भुक्तवन्तम् विश्रान्तम् आसीनं सुखमासने प्रश्रवानन्तो राजा प्राहतेशाम् चिष्वन्वताम् तम् भुक्तवन्तम् And afterwards, the king offered him lavish foodstuffs to eat. Now, he knew that Vidura had been living the life of a mendicant. So, in a forest, sometimes you get some fruits, roots to eat, sometimes you may not get fruits, roots to eat.
So, the food which one gets is usually quite austere. So, here, now that Vidura had come back, the Pandavas wanted to offer him lavish food. They offered it to him.
And then, विश्रान्तम्, please take rest. He must have come from a long, tiring journey. So, they offered him a facility to rest.
And then after that, after he had rested adequately, then he came out again and then they talked with him. So, Yudhishthira spoke to him and Yudhishthira was eager to hear from him. But normally, when a loved one comes back to welcome them, one of the first things that is spoken is how deep is the affection between them.
And if there are some memories of times when the affection has been very close, the affection has been very intimate, then expressing those times, expressing the memory of those times can become a very good starting point for launching a close and deep discussion. So, now Yudhishthira will speak to Vidura and he will express his gratitude for all that Vidura has done for them. In that way, he will make Vidura feel welcome, feel happy to be back, feel loved and cherished.
Text 8 यदिष्टिरुवाच अपिसमर्थो नो युष्मत् पक्षच्छाया समेधितान् विपद्गनाद् विशाक् न्यादेर् मोचितायत् समात् तुरुकहा अपिसमर्थो नो युष्मत् यदिष्टिरुवाच नो युष्मत् पक्ष चाया समेध तान पक्ष चाया समेध तान अपिसमर्थो नो युष्मत् अपिसमर्थो नो युष्मत् अपिसमर्थो नो युष्मत् Dhritarashtra, the respect worthy of a father Dhritarashtra never treated the Pandavas like his sons In fact, he did not even treat them like his nephews Oh, he actually treated them in a very official and heartless way on many occasions So the love of a father the wisdom, the guidance the protection, if the Pandavas got it they got it from Vidura and Vidura also took the responsibility समात्रकह So, मात्रकह means that one aspect of that can be that when they were saved from the house of Lakh, at that time Kunti was also there with them but another thing is, when the Pandavas were exiled, at that time Vidura said that Kunti is now too old to go out in the forest with you let her stay with me Now this was actually a great relief for Yudhishthir because he and his brothers and their wife, they were still young and they could take the forest austerities but Kunti, it would have been very difficult for her So, Yudhishthir immediately consented to Vidura’s plan and as he is saying that even in the Asat Sabha, even when Draupadi was just honoured, even the gambling match took place at that time Vidura opposed to his fullest capacity, although of course he did not have any royal power he tried to use his moral power but Dhritarashtra was too blinded by the attachment to listen to any moral wisdom, but still Vidura tried his best to minimise the problems that the Pandavas suffered and he helped them as much as he could and Yudhishthir is remembering that and he is, as it was mentioned in the previous text, that tears coming in his eyes and he is now expressing his heart’s gratitude to Vidura for all that Vidura has done for them We will continue this discussion in our future classes