Draupadi’s courageous devotion amidst the disrobing – Ask not “why this?” but “how now?”

Ask not why this, but how not.

What do you see? Many times in our life, things go wrong and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for why they are wrong. So, in Mahabharata it says, Karna was wrong. Karna was born, although he was a Kshatriya boy, he was called as Muthukutra to everyone.

But not Karna alone was wrong. We see, the Pandavas were also wrong. The Pandavas, they became the targets of murder and arson and trickery for no particular reason.

Their virtues throughout their lives, you see, they were also targeted. So, actually, if we look at life from this life perspective, from just this life perspective, why not the untenable truths of life is that life is unending. It is just like that.

Some people are born good looking, some people are not so good looking, some people are born wealthy, some people are born poor. So, now at a philosophical level, we understand that yes, these things happen because of our past. But at a practical level, it is true that life is unfettered from this life perspective.

So, the essential teaching of scripture is how to respond to injustice with integrity. The Pandavas suffered injustice again and again and again. But how do we respond integrity? When God Ram, he was the person of pure virtue.

But then what happened? Suddenly, for no fault of his, he was exiled to the forest. And then while he was in the forest, suddenly for no fault of his, his wife was hanged. So, what does all this mean? Now, bad things happen to everyone.

Scriptures do talk about why bad things happen, how when bad things happen to good people, how do we respond? So, now if we go at a philosophical level, we understand that yes, our actions bring reactions. And some may reactions, some from previous lives. So, the principle of karma is true.

But then we cannot know, okay, what specific bad thing that I did in my previous life because of which I got this effect. Now, in fact, no, doing it for ourselves or for others, that sort of, that sort of past life psychoanalysis, that's not a very healthy thing to do. You know, we are meant to, we are meant to deal with people based on the way they are in this life.

So, when that about a year ago or something like that, there was a very brutal gang rape in Delhi. So, I answered questions on my website, Mrushanthi.com, answered almost 1700 questions over there. So, one of the last question, now what was the karma of that woman who was so brutally raped? So, I answered that the primary purpose of the principle of karma is prognosis, it is not postmortem.

Postmortem means that if you see, when Sita is abducted, and nobody says in the Ramayana that it was her karma because of Vishnu abduction. When Draupadi is dishonoured, nobody says, oh, it is because of your karma that you are dishonoured. Why is that? Because the principle of karma is simply meant to expand our understanding of how things happen, of the justice that is there in life.

It is not meant to contradict that justice. What do I mean by this? That if something wrong is happening, then it is our responsibility to do what we can to correct the wrong. It is not to rationalise the wrong by saying that it is happening because of past life.

So, it is not that when Draupadi is dishonoured, Vishnu says, oh, it is because of past life karma, so let everything go as it is. No, from this life's point of view, it was wrong, and it has to be corrected. So, you know, if something wrong is happening to someone, we don't rationalise it by saying it is because of past life.

We do what we can to correct it, and that is what scriptures teach. So, at an individual level, so now I am talking this at a social level or at a public level, if somebody is suffering, you know, if some devotee, some very advanced devotee gets cancer, then if I start thinking, you know, oh, I thought it was a pure devotee, he has got cancer, that means he must have done something sinful for karma in the previous life, you know, what karma did he do? That would be very horrible way of thinking. You know, whatever karma a person may have done or may not have done, the fact is that person has devoted oneself to Krishna in this life, and that is an example and inspiration for us.

So, what we focus on is that how are we meant to act in the present situation. It is not what has happened in the past that is important, how we are meant to act. So, that's about ask not why this, but how now.

How now means, what am I supposed to do right now? What is the best way to act? So, if atrocity is happening in society, you know, we can't just rationalise it by saying that it's all right, it happened because of past life. If we have the power to do something to correct it, we do that. And if we don't have the power to correct it, still that does not give us the right to stigmatise a person by saying that whatever you have done, that's because of your past karma.

Whatever, if this bad thing has happened, it's because of your past karma. We don't have to mentally burden the person by a sense of guilt about it. So, now, I'll, this might seem a little confusing.

I'll illustrate this with some points and then we'll go to Draupadi, Draupadi's example. So, when Draupadi has come to the, has come to Hastinapur for a gambling match, after Rajshri Yagya has been performed. So, now, the gambling match is happening in the sabha.

There, there are no ladies. There are only the Pandavas, the Kauravas and there are other kings over there. And at that time, Draupadi was actually in her period.

Her period was just getting over. And she had, so, at that time, the culture was that in a ladies' period, you know, just for the sake of cleanliness, she was a single cloth and then she had just taken a bath and she had come out and she was about to change her clothes. So, at that time, she, the Pandavas used to gamble and lost Draupadi.

And then Pratikamana, Pratikamana was the palace messenger. He, Duryodhana sent him to summon Draupadi. And when he came there, Draupadi did not, he was strong, he was a, he was a God-fearing person.

He was strong, he knew that what a bad, vicious thing was happening. So, Draupadi asked him, why did you do that? He told him, he told, you know, Yudhishthir has gambled and he has lost you and therefore you have been summoned to the assembly. I think this assembly is going to be destroyed for what it is doing.

So, Draupadi is very sympathetic to him and says, you know, she says four things. Surely, the ordainer who ordains all things has ordained this. Second thing she says is that in this world, good and bad happens to everyone, even to the virtuous.

Third thing she says is that everybody gets the due result of their actions. Therefore, the fourth thing is, the wise cherish virtue and choose to live according to virtue. And then she says, all of you come in, go and tell this to the assembly and ask them whether it is virtue by which they are summoning me to the palace.

So, what does she mean by these four things? He says that, okay, something, now this is something which is inconceivable. It's not inconceivable in a positive sense, it's in a horrifying sense. Now, for a woman to be ordained to come to assembly like this as a slave, for a royal woman to be ordained like that, is horrendous.

So, even when this is happening, what is Draupadi's first realisation? He who is the ordainer of all things has ordained this to her. That means Krishna is still in control. No matter what a horrifying thing may happen, yes, at this level it is horrifying, but still somehow, Krishna is still in control.

I'm not understanding why Krishna is ordaining this, why is this happening? But, no matter how terrible things happen in this world, the truth beyond this world that Krishna is always in control, doesn't change. And knowing that Krishna is in control, knowing that Krishna is ultimately a revolutionary, that itself can bring a level of stability to us. Because when things start going wrong, especially when big things start going wrong, then we need some sort of help.

Generally, if we are going in a boat, then the waves are constantly moving up and down, so the boat keeps moving up and down. So, if the boat is to be steady, it needs an anchor to be steady. So, like that, things keep going up and down, and we need something to steady ourselves.

So, the steadiest of all shelters is Krishna. Now, we may have many steadying things in our life. You know, people may think, because I'm telling you TV.

You know, whatever problems come, are there in life, just come home, watch TV, and things will be all right. But no, 31 TV doesn't make things all right. Emperor religious may just forget that things are all right.

That's not right. Of course, many times, TV doesn't allow us to do that also. Because on TV, there are only things going wrong.

So, anyway, people can have a few shelters, but the supreme shelter is Krishna. So, the first thing you can do is, no matter whatever is happening, Krishna is still important. Then, second thing she said is, that in this world, bad things happen even to those who are devoted to virtue.

Yes, those who pray to you righteously, even to them, not bad things happen. That's just a fact of life. So, why does that happen? That is just some carrying over, bad karma result coming.

We don't know exactly how it is happening. The point is that, when we sow a seed, different seeds fructify after different time durations. So, some crops may just fructify after 2-3 months.

Some fruit trees may fructify after 5 years. Some may fructify after 15-20 years. So, like that, different karmas fructify after different time duration.

That's why, we may have little lack of virtue also. And that virtue will be fruitful. But prior to that, we may have done something wrong, and that could be something else.

So, bad things happen even to good people. But third thing she said is, those who seek to virtue, eventually are redeemed. They get the results.

So, she said, still what I want to do? Yes, bad karma. Terrible thing is happening to me. But still, I want to do the right thing.

Still, I want to seek to virtue. And, since I want to seek to virtue, you also, assembly and leaders, you also seek to virtue. The wife's chair, she wants you to please decide what is virtue and what is karma.

So, if we focus too much, ourselves too much on why this, why this, why is this happening, why is this happening, why is this happening, then that resentment saps our mental energy. It saps our morale, saps our spirit. And we just can't move on.

So, at a philosophical level, it is a solution, the karma solution is there. But beyond that, micro-analyse, okay, what did I do wrong? So, instead of focussing on why this, what is, what is Draupadi's focus? How? What should I do now? So, that is what we all need to focus on in our life also. What can I do now? Whatever happens.

So, Draupadi, what does she do? She immediately, now she is a princess, she is, she has lived in her father's kingdom. So, she is also trained in morality, trained in diplomacy. And she immediately points the floor.

What does she say? So, when she, when first Pratikraman comes and says, that you know, you just gambled and lost you. And therefore, you haven't done it thus far. So, she is confident, which is his.

How could you gamble, really? Did he not have anything else to gamble? What man gambles in pride like this? So, Pratikraman's fear lies actually, he gambled and lost everything. He lost even his brothers and himself. And then he gambled.

And therefore, none of this happened thus far. And immediately, now this whole thing is a catastrophic. And you know, unless you will be able to just stumble to tears, oh, what is this happening? But Draupadi, she, gallantly, she just catches him.

He says, ask the assembly, that if Yudhishthira, the king had already gambled himself, then did he have the right to gamble? If he was not his own master, then was he my master to gamble me? And then the Pratikraman goes back to the palace. And when he goes back to the palace, he asks this question. So, at that time, Duryodhana says, oh, cool, where is Draupadi? He says, Draupadi has sent this question.

And now, Duryodhana is enjoying the misery of the palace. And he says, he just laughs, sadistically, and he says, tell Draupadi to come here and ask the question. He asks the question herself to her husband.

So, she goes and says, Pratikraman comes back again. And she says, this is what Duryodhana has said. Now, here, we see Draupadi, she does not oppose her husband directly.

She maintains her duty to her husband. At the same time, she does not sacrifice that. He says, I did not ask the question to my husband.

I asked the question to the assembly. Because I am sure that the king would not act wrongly unless he was forced by someone else. So, it is for the assembly to judge this.

And the Pratikraman goes back again. He says, oh, cool, where is Draupadi? He says, Draupadi has sent this. And then, he says, go and call her and tell her to ask this also to her husband.

But then, the assembly forced him to go. So, what do I tell? Pratikraman is afraid. He says, then Duryodhana sits.

This fool is afraid of Dushyasan. Dushyasan, you go and get Draupadi. And then, Dushyasan charges, you know, like a landmine turned into a lioness den.

He charges in. And then, Draupadi sees him coming. She is screaming and she screams fervently.

And Dushyasan is charging him. She screams and runs immediately towards Gandhari's palace. Because she realised the whole Dynasty is perverted.

The only person. Now, Kunti does not have much influence over there because her husband is not there. So, she is running towards Gandhari's assembly.

She charges at him. Now, Dushyasan sees this. And he realised that if he resists Gandhari's assembly, then even he has some culture.

He cannot directly disobey his mother. So, he is a warrior. He charges and catches Draupadi.

He catches her by the hair. He drags her. He says, oh, wretch, leave me.

He says, I am dressed in a single cloth. I am not fit to go to the assembly in this condition. Dushyasan laughs.

And he says, oh, you are a slave now. And whether you are in a single cloth or in no cloth, if the assembly calls you, you must obey. Come.

Now, she is reprimanding him. She is standing and reminding him of that. He just drags her to the assembly.

And he flings her right into the court. Now, she is screaming at the king. Immediately, she gets up.

And he looks at the king is there. And Bhishma, Drona is there. And she says, forgive me, my poor elders, for not having proper respect to you on coming here.

Since I was not in the right condition. This is why she brought me here in a condition where I am not fit to be here. And she repeats that to Bhishma.

And then, so, Bhishma, he says that, oh, Draupadi, that even at such a time of catastrophe, you are remembering Dharma. And asking the assembly to remember Dharma speaks volumes to your virtue. And such virtue will surely be rewarded.

And the Kuru assembly will be destroyed for having attempted to dishonour a virtuous woman. But the specific question that you have asked is that it is very difficult for me to answer this. He says, a woman is always considered to be under the protection of her husband.

But at the same time, the person is yammering himself. How can he own anything? Therefore, because Dharma is very subtle, I am confused. And I want to answer your question.

I am sure that Bhishma must have thought before getting to this. So, he basically asks, before coming to Bhishma. Now, at one level, the very fact that somebody, one human being can gamble on another human being, that might itself seem atrocious for us.

Now can that be done? Are human beings like properties? At all? But we see the big difference over here. Now Yudhisthira, he gambles his property first. You know, his weapons, his chariots, his jewels, his whole kingdom.

And then, what does he gamble after that? He gambles his brothers, he gambles himself. And after that, he gambles his wife. What does that mean? You know, the wife, if at all is considered to be a property, it's in a very different category than all the other properties.

That means the wife is to be protected more than one's life. And after one has lost oneself, then he is gambling. So, it's not any sort of dehumanising anyone.

It's completely different category. Actually, you know, ownership and belonging is a fact of relationships also. So, Yudhisthira goaded Yudhisthira to gamble.

Now, as I told earlier, there are many different depictions of the Mahabharata. And different people have tried to explain or rationalise this in different ways. So, specifically, if you look at the Sanskrit Mahabharata that is available, what is described, how did he come about the gamble? Basically, he gambled all the things, he lost everything.

And right before he had started the gamble, you know, he told the girl, he said, why do you want to steal from me the wealth that I want to use to serve the Brahmins, that I want to serve Dharmartha. So, his idea was the wealth is made for the service of Dharma. Artha is for Dharma.

So, he did not want to gamble at all. But unfortunately, his own promise worked against him. After the Rajasuya Yagya was over, and Duryodhana had felt that I have been insulted because he is a slipper and peg.

So, Yudhisthira was perceptive. He noticed that Duryodhana has left him a very great reach. So, he wanted to try his best to maintain peace and relationship.

So, at that time, he asked Vyasadev, how was the sacrifice? Vyasadev had been the person who presided over all the sacrifices. So, he asked Vyasadev, did the sacrifice happen properly? Was there anything wrong? So, Vyasadev said, no sacrifice went on well. But after 14 years, there will be a war.

And the war, the warriors, all the great warriors will be killed. And after that, your rule will become secure. That war will be fought to make you the king.

Secure. So, at that time, Yudhisthira becomes very grateful. He starts thinking, I do not want war.

And then I will do everything possible to avoid war. So, he says, what are the things that cause war? He says, favouritism and partiality. And he says, disrespect and godlessness.

So, he says, I will not show favouritism or partiality towards anyone, even my own children, sons and family members. And I will not disrespect or disobey my parents. That way, I will do what I can to avoid dissension and fighting.

So, this was an additional vow that he took to the Archangels just to avoid war. But that vow itself worked unfortunately against him. Because when Shakuni and Duryodhana plotted to have the gambling match and they persuaded Dhritarashtra.

And Dhritarashtra sent Vidura to call Yudhisthira. And Vidura himself opposed and Dhritarashtra insisted. And now, Yudhisthira naturally was virtuous and always wanted to obey his elders.

And he treated his uncle like his father of the same generation. And father was like God for him. So, in general, the culture was against disobeying oneself.

And on top of that, he had taken a vow to obey the elders. So, he could not avoid gambling. Now, he could not avoid gambling per se.

Of course, there is also the other principle that when a Kshatriya is challenged, Kshatriya cannot refuse. That is also there. But then specifically in this situation, his gambling is understood.

But the extent of his gambling, how do we understand that? So, there are two things about it. First is that Yudhisthira, when he started gambling, as he started losing more and more and more things. So, at one particular point, he had practically lost all the treasury which they had got.

So, at that time, Arjuna tapped Yudhisthira and said, stop, it's enough. Yudhisthira understood what he was saying. But then he suddenly said, I have made all my brothers in my family, I have made all of them into paupers because of my own foolishness.

And he says, how can I do this? Because surely, Shakuni's luck will run out. How long can a person keep winning in gambling? He said, if I can just win once, then what I have lost, I can gain back. And that way, I can continue doing my duty to my family and my service to the Brahma and the Dharma.

So, his motive, it was not just an ordinary gambler's frenzy in which a person loses everything. He was thinking that I have to undo the wrong that I have done. And he was thinking that how long will his luck go on like this.

So, now, Shakuni, he was, first of all, an expert gambler. He was a very expert gambler. On top of that, he said, see, expertise can be at various levels.

Expertise can just be skilled in doing a particular thing well. Expertise can also be cheating and concealing on cheating. So, now, the Mahabharata does not exclusively mention whether Shakuni cheated in that gambling match or not.

But before and after, Shakuni, before the gambling match is planned, at that time, there is a discussion. He says, how can you be so sure that you will win? That is what apprehension is driven in us. And Shakuni says, nobody can defeat me.

And even if somebody defeats me, I am expert enough to still win. So, and afterwards also, Krishna and his sons, Krishna, Balaram, Pandu and the fox, that Shakuni is a cheater. And because of his cheating that this great atrocity has happened.

So, basically, Yudhishthira did not factor in the point that Shakuni was cheating and that is why the dice always kept falling in his favour. Now, when he gambled Nakula and Sahadeva, at that time, Yudhishthira thought that is enough, I have lost too much. And then Shakuni goaded him forward.

He said, oh, Yudhishthira, the whole world knows you as Dharmaraja, as one who is equal to all. But it seems that the sons of Kunti are much more dear to you than the sons of Madri. And that is why you have gambled only Madri's sons, not Kunti's sons.

Yudhishthira, he heard this, he is back in his feet. He said, oh, cool. We five Pandavas are united.

Whichever one you try to create dissension among us. So, by losing all this, Yudhishthira has maintained his composure. But when the prospect of trying to sow dissension among Pandavas comes up, he raises and explodes.

So, Shakuni wants the gambling match to go on. He says, oh, please forgive me. In the heat of the gambling, one may say things that one does not mean.

Okay, you are superior to me in every way. Please let us continue the match. And that way, he goads him on.

And then afterwards, when he has lost to himself, Yudhishthira is devastated. Horrified completely. So, at that time, it is Shakuni who suggests it.

He says, you still have one thing which you can do. And then, he proposes Draupadi. And when he just mentions Draupadi, the whole assembly erupts in lamentation and horror.

He says, this is unheard of. How can you gamble? So, Bhima and Arjuna both are burning in anger at that time. But then again, what is his thought? His thought is, no, come on, if all our possibilities are not there, who will protect Draupadi? If I can gamble Draupadi and do that, I can get what I have lost back.

That is our only possibility. So, he does make a miscalculation about the extent to which he is gambling. But he is forced.

And right, the match, even if somebody argues that Shakuni did not cheat, we do not know whether he cheated or not. But the fact is that the match itself was on the foundation of cheating. But because, no, it is two equals, those who are staking the wealth, they have to play.

So, now, Shakuni's wealth was nowhere near Yudhishthira's wealth. And that is why Shakuni could not gamble with Yudhishthira. So, it was Duryodhana who gambled.

Now, the normal game is that the person who gambles, that is the person who plays. So, imagine if there are two chess players, they want to play a match. You know, two, a match of chess players, they are going to play a match.

And then one of the match of chess players says, yes, we will play a chess match, but I will call Shanathanananda to play a match. It does not work. If it is a match of chess match, it has to be played by a match.

And so, for him, for Duryodhana to have Shakuni play the dice on his behalf, that is itself completely wrong. It is against the codes of gambling. So, gambling also has its codes.

That is all. So, it is against the codes of gambling. And Yudhishthira pointed that out.

He says this is completely wrong. So, then he looks at the others and all of them stay silent. Yudhishthira stays silent.

And then again Duryodhana goes and he says, okay, if you are afraid, then you do not play. So, what happens is the very foundation of the match is based on cheating. So, certainly, Yudhishthira, as we talked earlier about the Karmakanda level and the Bhakti level.

So, at the Karmakanda level, Yudhishthira's gambling, Draupadi are just fighting, playing the gambling match for so long is wrong. It is a mistake. And Yudhishthira admits that also.

Now, when in the forest, then they are living and Draupadi, Bhima are both especially very angry. And they say that, no, we have now lived for 12 years, we have lived for 13 months in the forest. So, Bhima is also no scripture.

He said, actually, according to scripture, a mass can also be a worship. So, a month can also be here. So, let our 13 months be 13 years and let us go back and fight and get the kingdom back.

So, at that time, he argued like that. So, at that time, Draupadi also speaks about how this was so unjust. So, at that time, Yudhishthira, he practically apologises and says, you know, I got carried away at that.

I should not have messed. So, that from the Karmakanda point of view, Yudhishthira, the extent, the fact of gambling is not wrong, but the extent of gambling was wrong. Now, but from the devotional point of view, Yudhishthira was orchestrated by the Lord to teach a particular principle.

The principle is that in this world, no matter how many protectors we have, but ultimately, we have no protector except the Supreme Protector, that is Krishna. So, a woman is protected by her husband. For a woman to have a great warrior as a husband is a great fortune.

And Draupadi was so fortunate, she had five husbands like this. So, in that sense, from the material point of view, who could be more protected than what she was. But even a person who is protected to that extent, even that person can be rendered protectionless.

And when a person has no protections, at that time, the Lord comes as a protector. So, from the devotional perspective, the whole past ten, both Bhishma's silence, as well as Yudhishthira's compliance, they are all ultimately to illustrate the infallibility of Krishna's protection and the fallibility of all other forms of protection in this world. So, now, how many of you want to join the Bhishma Sanjaya? It's almost six o'clock.

So, this past ten, at least if you are to take on, it will take at least half an hour, half an hour, it's more. Should I continue this? 6.30. Okay, then fine. So, Draupadi is in the assembly and Bhishma has said that I cannot decide the issue.

So, we see here, Draupadi, she, again, you know, see, there are always, there can always be a mistake that anyone can commit. And it's clear that Yudhishthira has committed a mistake. But, you know, we don't wash our dirty linen in public.

That means, you know, if somebody who is our family member has committed a mistake, or somebody who is a part of our circle, no, we don't point out faults to them in public. So, when again, Bhishma says, let Yudhishthira decide. So, Draupadi, she does not blame Yudhishthira.

She says, I'm sure that the king is virtuous. And he would not act in any way, he would not have acted like this, unless he was special. So, he says, the question is, whether I was lost in the gambling match a month.

And that is to be decided by the assembly. So, Yudhishthira is silent in this particular case. And then, he doesn't speak, he just dazes, as if he is stupid.

And then she looks at all the assembly members, and nobody speaks anything. So, Draupadi, at one level, she's, not if not, but still, she's holding the floor. And then, when nobody speaks at all, at that time, it's a long question, but I'll focus on the important things that are happening.

So, Vikarana gets up. And he says, O assembly, he says, Draupadi has asked a question before us, and it is our duty to answer this question. And if a person in distress comes to the assembly and asks for justice and the assembly remains silent, then the whole assembly will be tainted by sin.

Please, all in advance, answer the question that Draupadi has asked. And then, nobody answers, everybody remains silent. So, now, actually, Vidura has already strongly opposed what is happening.

And Vidura knows that he is not going to be heard. Bhishma has said that he can't decide. Now, it's up to Dhritharashtra.

Dhritharashtra remains silent. And finally, so, Vikarana, in an assembly, there is also the etiquette. Vikarana is of a younger generation.

So, Vikarana first asks, O you answer. When nobody answers, then he says, then I will, according to my understanding, answer. And he says that there are four voices under the influence of which when men come, they lose all intelligence and they act foolishly.

The four voices are womanising, hunting, gambling, and drinking. So, under the influence of these four, these are basically the four egotistical states. So, when people come under the influence of these activities, they act foolishly.

And therefore, wise people do not consider these actions seriously. Therefore, I can feel that this whole gambling match should be declared a null and void. And the Pandavas should be given back everything that they lost.

Because originally, this was supposed to be a just a play match. It was just to be a match for entertainment or recreation. And under the spell, they have lost everything.

Then the second thing he says is that the match is unfair because one person gambled the money and another person threw the dice. That is against the rules of gambling. So, therefore, the match itself is unfair.

And third thing he says is that Yudhishthir was forced to fight this match against his will. And also, he lost himself before he gambled properly. Therefore, he could not have gambled.

And therefore, I also consider this to be wrong. Therefore, he said, Draupadi is not lost. She is not a maidservant.

And the whole assembly cheers him. And now, Duryodhana is outraged. How dare my brother go against me like this? So, he is glaring at Duryodhana and seeing this, you know, the Karna feels, I should come to the aid of my brother, of my friend.

And he just rises up and moves his giant hand, silent, silent. And he says, I have seen many improper things in this assembly. But Vikarna's speech is the most improper.

Just see the Parval's logic, you know, dragging a woman by her hair in a single-cloth assembly. That he does not consider improper. What he considers? Vikarna's speech is improper.

He says, Yudhisthira could have stopped gambling any time that he wanted. It was his foolishness that he did not stop. He chose to gamble voluntarily and he lost.

And he has said, as far as Draupadi is concerned, he says, a woman who has five husbands, she is already a prostitute. What is the question of honour for such a prostitute? Not to stick up in a single cloth, even if she is dry, unclothed and in the assembly. It is up the wrong way with that.

Now, logic does not get more perverse than this. See, Draupadi, certainly, her polyandry, having five husbands was rare. But to call that as prostitution is horrendously wrong.

Now, just for that action, to call a honourable woman as a harlot, just for that action, a person deserves to be killed. So, there is no logic at all in this. See, prostitution basically means a woman for financial or other gains offers her husband.

Now, Draupadi did not in any way finagle or scheme to get five husbands. She just, as per her father's will, she agreed that whoever would win the Swayamvar, she would offer the garland to him. And when Arjuna won the Swayamvar, she offered the garland to Arjuna.

Her expectation was that Arjuna would marry her. Then later on, when Arjuna came back, the Pandavas had loved for a long time and Kunti was anxious. She was in her prayer room praying and when Arjuna came back, he said, just see what I brought for you today.

So, now she was so relieved that the Pandavas had come back safe. And for the parents, the great joy is that the children live amicably together. So, one of the standard blessings that she would give is, share equally.

Whatever you have got, share it equally. Now, when she spoke this, a deadly silence fell upon the Pandavas. She realised something was wrong.

And then they saw Draupadi in full bridal wear. She realised what had happened. She also was horrified.

How can a wife be so? And then, this I am discussing, when Kunti said that, whatever I have never spoken about Kunti. And this she also said, no, although this is very rare, but my mind which cannot even think of sin, but it does not feel any distaste on hearing this. And then they go back.

They decide to go along with that man, that Draupadi will be the wife of all of them. So, Draupadi does not do any scheming to do that. And even her father is shocked when he hears.

How can this happen? And then Vyasadev comes over there and Vyasadev tells a story from the previous life. That she had prayed to Lord Shiva and she had worshipped Lord Shiva in a previous life in order to get a husband. And a long time she was in Australia.

And she had wanted different qualities in her husband. So, when finally Lord Shiva came, after a long time, she was so anxious that she said five times, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband, I want a husband. So, Lord Shiva said, you ask five times, you will have five husbands.

So, now Lord Vyasadev said that what Mahadeva has ordained, that cannot be ignored. So, the point which I am making through all this is, first of all, Draupadi did not scheme to get any more than one husband. Secondly, all the moral issues that were there in her having five husbands were already resolved by people who were far more knowing in dharma than Karna.

I mean, Dushtir himself is there, Kunti is there, Draupadi is there, Vyasadev is there. I mean, Mahadev is involved. So, to call someone like that, so then he said, and then Karna said, since she is our maid servant, why not disrobe her? See, violence against women is not always because of lust.

Here, for both Karna and Duryodhana, lust was there, because both of them had also come as potential suitors in the Swayamvara. So, both of them had failed to gain her hand. And certainly, there was some lust over there.

But here, you know, dishonouring the woman was more expression of power. Now, what she represents is the honour of the Pandavas. And we want to dishonour the Pandavas, and the way we will do it is by dishonouring their wife.

So, now, when we spoke this, then, as we know, Dushasan immediately marched to Draupadi, pulling her aside. Initially, Draupadi tried to resist, and she tried to hold on. But she was no match to Dushasan.

And as Dushasan started ripping away, then she finally, she raised her hand and called out, O Govinda, O Keshava, O Lord of the Universe, O Master of all living beings, O Indwelling Lord, I am sinking into the ocean of the Puru dynasty. Please, O Lord, save me. She called out, fervently raising her hands.

Krishna was in Dwarka at that time. And Krishna immediately heard the call of Draupadi and came. Now, the Mahabharata does not describe exactly Krishna coming.

Sometimes, you may see in TV depictions or in pictures, Krishna is there, and his hands are raised, and from his hands, Arjuna is coming out. But what happened there suddenly was extremely serious. Draupadi was just with her hands up, begging to the Lord, it was clear from the call that she was begging to Krishna.

But all that she suddenly saw was that the sari was being pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled, and the sari was exhausted. So, she went on and on and on, and for a warrior like Dushasan to get exhausted was not easy. And it was so mysterious that actually Duryodhana was just pulling, Dushasan was pulling, pulling, and Dushasan got completely exhausted.

And as he was pulling, Draupadi was actually spinning around. Now, spinning around is one nonsense, far more exhausting activity than pulling. But Draupadi remained unfazed.

And Dushasan sank in exhaustion, a huge pile of fabric under there. And seeing this miracle, the whole assembly cheered Draupadi and her virtue by which, in such a mystical way, she had her honour and be protected. And they all sent her to Dushasan, and Duryodhana and the whole company.

The whole assembly fell silent, and then the horrid incident that happened. It struck obvious. First of all, the horrid incident of getting Draupadi, and then this mystical incident happened.

But then, Duryodhana was so brazen, and he thought, okay, I am not able to disrobe Draupadi, but still, I have one request. And he said, oh Dushasan, take her to the maid servant's quarters, and let her reload. And again he thought about it.

So, sometimes people say that if God comes and shows some miracles, then we'll have faith in God. But those who don't want to have faith in God, no matter how many miracles are shown, they will not have faith in God. They decide, you know, believers need no reasons, and non-believers accept no reasons.

So, non-believers accept no reasons. Although, Duryodhana saw this extraordinary display of power, that did not change his mind. And we see the same point when Krishna came to Shantinika.

We mentioned Krishna showed his Vishnu. Even after that, what did Duryodhana think? Of course, Krishna used his mystic power to show some miracles. And later on, just before the war, Duryodhana sent Uluka as a messenger.

Uluka was the son of Shakuni. And he sent him as a messenger to goad the Pandavas. He said, oh, you think you are great heroes? Oh Bhima, you are so proud of your arms, but your arms must have got tired washing the cooking utensils in Virata's kitchen.

He says, I will reduce you warriors so proud into a menial cook. This is the way great warriors humiliate and destroy their armies. So, he basically goaded the Pandavas for fighting.

And he was so arrogant, so confident that I am going to win, that he wanted to goad the Pandavas. At that time, he said, tell that Keshava that, you know, come and show some forms now on the battlefield. All such magic is not going to work.

What is the point of showing some forms? I can also show many forms. But in the war, one's power will die and he will crush you. So, basically the point is, miracles don't necessarily convince those who are convinced about what they are doing.

As a man convinced against his will, he has the same opinions. So, Krishna protected Draupadi, unharmed, regardless. But what happened is that Duryodhana's brazen, evil tendency did not stop.

And again he was about to drag Draupadi. So, at that time, Draupadi again said, Oh, stop it, you and I. In this assembly, I have not finished what I am doing. And then, the last word she speaks is, she said, that in this assembly, virtue has shown to be destroyed.

The virtue's king has been forced to gamble everything he wants. And then, I, the high-born wife of the virtue's son-in-law, who is the daughter of Draupadi, I am the son-in-law. And here it over-enters, you have seen something.

Surely, virtue is around him. I have nothing more to say. And she becomes angry.

So, when she speaks this, actually, before this, several things happened. Now, when Dushyasana is dragging Draupadi, at that time, Bhima gets very angry. And he turns to Sahadev, and Sahadev is brim-fired.

He looks towards Dushyasana and he says, Okay, there are many despotic rulers who gambled everything away. But even they don't gamble even their medicine. And you have gambled away this whole panchayat and since.

And he says, I cannot tolerate this. The hands that gambled Draupadi away, I will burn those hands. And then, after that, the hands that dragged Draupadi, I will break those hands.

So, he speaks this. Immediately, Arjuna gets up. And Arjuna catches Bhima by his shoulder.

He says, Oh, brother, how have such words escaped from your mouth? Don't you know that Yudhisthira gambled only because he was instructed by his elders? Indeed, because he has stopped the principle of killing his elders, even amidst such adversity, he will attain great virtue. Now, Bhima is not ready to hear all this. Then Arjuna also says, Oh, brother, do not give joy to our enemies by speaking against the rulers.

And this is the logic that Bhima understands. He never wants to give joy to Duryodhana. And he says, Duryodhana is delighting to see the internecine conflict between the fathers.

And then he says that, yes, I know. If I had not known, if I had not been sure that Yudhisthira was acting in place of Arjuna, you know, I would have stopped him long ago. He says, this assembly will be destroyed.

The dishonours of Draupadi will be destroyed. He falls silent. And then Duryodhana, he turns towards the Pandavas and says, Oh Pandavas, if you acknowledge that Yudhisthira is not your master, then I will release all of you.

So now what is he trying to do? He is trying to again create dissension among the Pandavas. So Arjuna says, when we entered the assembly hall, Yudhisthira was surely our master. But when the gambling was going on, who was whose master, that is for the assembly to decide.

So Arjuna also doesn't get suckered into this game. He is also silent. He says, it is for the assembly to decide.

Now, why assembly? Now, in one sense, I was talking earlier about the Niyamagraha part, sticking to the letter of the law while forgetting the spirit of the law. So, what does that refer to over here? See, the whole principle of dishonouring a woman in public like this, that itself is so horrendously wrong. And the whole assembly should have opposed that.

Now, Draupadi, the she, is being dragged into assembly and that time, she tries to stop the tragedy of justice that is happening by sticking on to a technicality. It's actually a technicality, whether a husband has lost himself first or his wife first. The whole point is, the whole gambling match is wrong.

And that's what Vikarna says first. So, getting into the whole technicality was Draupadi's way of defending herself. Now, the assembly, rather than getting into that technicality and saying that the technicality is irresolvable, what was important was, the overall event that was happening was atrocity.

And that itself has to be checked. So, that's how the Bhishma is saying that, oh, I cannot decide, because it's a very complex issue. Yes, that specific issue may be complex.

But the point is, what is happening, that it is immoral is not at all complex to decide. It's obviously wrong. But in Niyamakara, the whole assembly gets wrong.

So, before this whole thing, before this, Draupadi is destroyed. So, when Arjuna speaks back, at that time, Duryodhana, he is basically trying to increase the agony of the Pandavas. So, one is, we are trying to create dissension.

Another is, he just lifts up his cloth and he exposes his thigh. And he says, oh, Draupadi, come and sit here. And he says, I will break this thigh and I will kill you.

And he says, I will kill all the Pandavas who have dishonoured Draupadi. And then he says, Arjuna will kill this wicked Sutaputra. And Arjuna says, yes, I will destroy you.

And Sahadeva says, oh, Shakuni, the dice that you have thrown at us, it will return to you as my arrows and they will cause you no harm. And as all the Pandavas take vows like this, the Kauravas, this Duryodhana is still not breathing, he has not acted yet. He just keeps laughing.

And then, when the Pandavas are taking vows, he says, why are they taking vows like this? We will kill you in future. Kill them now. Then if somebody did something wrong, attack right now.

But the Pandavas have given them virtues. So, what is the virtue over there? The virtue is that they have gambled and lost themselves. So, because they gambled and lost themselves, so, they cannot act in defiance of that action of Yudhishthira.

So, they are talking about future eventuality. When they are free, at that time, they will take revenge. So, at this particular time, they cannot do anything because their hands are gone.

But as the whole event goes on, and then, when Draupadi speaks in her tears, she has tried her best, and by her chastity and purity and ferocity, she is such a miraculous person. But even after all this, the assembly is still on the path of vice. Then she says, oh elders, you know, whatever you decide, I will accept.

If you say that I have been lost in the gambling match that was fought fairly, then I will go and live in the maid's service quarters, and I will seek the truth. As she is speaking, her voice breaks and tears come to her eyes. And when she speaks this, at that time, suddenly, there is from nowhere, a hyena roars.

The roar of a hyena is heard from the sacrificial altar of Dhritharashtra. Now, at that time, Dhritharashtra also had his own worship chambers. And that is a very sacred place.

And you know, an auspicious creature like a hyena, it is never supposed to be there. But a hyena's screech is heard from there. And suddenly, from above, the sounds of vultures are heard.

Vultures roar. And then, foxes roar. And a series of inauspicious signs are found.

At that time, Rudra gets up. Rudra says, okay, enough is enough. He says, can you not hear all the inauspicious signs? They are portents of the imminent destruction of the Kumbh dynasty.

Stop. Stop this gambling match. Stop this atrocity now.

Otherwise, everyone will be destroyed. Now, Dhritharashtra also understands that now things are going to be fine. Actually, Dhritharashtra throughout, till this point, has maintained a mask of neutrality.

That means, you know, he says to Pandavas, when he comes back, oh, I will give you half the kingdom. And he tells the Pandavas, why don't you go to Varanasi? So, he has never explicitly till now, exhibited his partiality. But he is, that impartiality is just a mask.

And as the dice is being tossed, the pretender's mask keeps falling. And that's why very deeply he asks, what is this Nivar? What is Nivar? What is Nivar? And then Panchali is gambling. At that time, he is very eager, has Panchali Nivar? Has Panchali Nivar? So, Dhritharashtra, he knows that his mask of neutrality has already been exposed.

He especially mortified after hearing Bhima's words. So, now he doesn't see Draupadi's, that inexhaustible plot. But what he hears is the sounds.

And these are illustrations. Now, Dhritharashtra, he himself may be weak, but he does know Varanasi. This is the cause of women in Rome.

And he says, stop. He turns to Draupadi. He says, O princes, I call this gambling match just for the sake of playing.

And I feel that things have gone so too far. So, if my sons, he is trying to patch up things. If my sons have done anything wrong, it is not a question if they have done anything wrong, they have done so much wrong.

He says, please remember any kindness that the queen and I have done to you. And please do not be a guilty one. You know, your adherence to virtue is extremely horrible.

Please ask for some lesson. So, he says, please let Yudhishthira be released. He says, so be it.

He says that, ask for something more. He says, now let the other Pandavas be released. Ask for something else.

He says, let them, sorry, second time he says that, let the Pandavas be released along with their weapons. He says, if they have their weapons, just buy their weapons, they will give everything back. So, here also, we see Draupadi's tragedy that she does not take, first thing she asks for, let Yudhishthira be released.

She is not even asking, let me be released. She is asking, let Yudhishthira be released. And she could have said, Yudhishthira, the Pandavas, Yudhishthira.

But, as I said, yes, people may commit mistakes. You know, when people commit mistakes, you know, they need our assistance, not an invitation. Sometimes what happens is, if we have a sense of morality, and we know somebody else is wrong, somebody else is doing something wrong, then what happens is, we become very judgemental ones.

Our philosophy is meant to make us more understanding, not more judgemental. So, Draupadi, she does not condemn Yudhishthira. She says, let Yudhishthira be released, and let the weapons be released.

They will get everything back. So, she still has some things in her hands, and it is asked for something more. So, now, Draupadi even here remembers virtue.

And she says that, okay, it is, for a Kshatriya woman, she should never ask for too many benedictions. Therefore, what we have given is enough for her. Now, Dhritarashtra does that.

This is not going to happen. He says, I give you back all the kingdom that was lost, and all the rest, go and live in peace. Now, Duryodhana is enraged.

You know, all the work done, he had not done any work, but he is thinking all the work that I have done, it is all undone. And, and he hears this, at that time, now, Karna sees Duryodhana distressed, and they realise that, at least for namesake, Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra is the king. And Dhritarashtra on the rare occasion decides to assert power, and they cannot openly go against him.

So, Karna again decides to take one cheap shot. He says, oh, just see, how great are these heroes, that when they were sinking into poverty, they were rescued by a woman. So great is their heroism.

Such heroism has never been seen in the past. Oh, Dhritarashtra is so angry. He is about to pounce on Karna.

He says, oh, Karna, virtue is simple. Do not pay much attention to the mean words of no-minded men. Let the dogs bark.

And the Pandavas depart from there. And again, he says, oh, if you see the whole pastime that happened in the assembly, but there are very unlikely heroes and unlikely humans over there. So, at material level, we could say Krishna is the hero, because he comes at us first.

But Krishna is invisible. The undisputed hero that comes out in the pastime is actually the hero. Now, her adherence to virtue, and her adherence to protecting virtue, she doesn't go, she lives in a patriarchal society, she doesn't go directly against the But ultimately, all dharma is meant for Parabrahma.

So, if the males in the family are coming to Adharma, it is the duty of the females to remind them of that. And she does that very respectfully. So, she is actually comes out as a heroine, although she is dishonoured.

And she didn't feel anything like a heroine at the end of the day. But her sticking to virtue is truly heroic. And another unlikely hero comes out is Vikaram.

He takes a stand for virtue. And as I said, the most unlikely villain who comes out is Karna. Duryodhana was known to be evil, as was Shakuni.

And in one sense, the silence of the Kuru elders, Bhishma and Vidura, they were not silent, actually. Vidura spoke against them. Bhishma also opposed them.

But he, rather than opposing the broad principle, he got caught in the technicality. But Karna's speech is most unexpectedly shocking. Now, it basically illustrates the spoil of how we say that, you know, whom we live with, we become like that.

Or whom we associate, we become like that. That's not exactly true. It's not whom we associate with, but whom we choose to please, we become like that.

Now, we may associate with anyone. And when we live in the world, we associate with some different kind of people for our professional activities, for our social activities, whatever. But whom do we want to please? Now, we may have to learn the association of many, sometimes low-class people also, selfish people, illiteracy people, immoral people.

But whom do we want to please? That is important. So, Karna, in one sense, makes the mission of his life pleasing to the world. And that attempt to please Duryodhana causes him to commit grievous mistakes.

So, of course, Dhrashtra, now he acts strong just on occasions. And his strength is like the illumination created by lightning. He is there for a few minutes, and then it is gone.

So, after the Pandavas are sent back, now the Pandavas are still furious. And they are going back. So, at that time, Shakuni and Dhrishtvasan and Duryodhana meet Karna and they say, this old man, they don't even call him Vicky.

In public, if you call him Vicky, this old man has pointed him. And he said, we have to do something, otherwise he will get angry. Shakuni says, the only solution is, call them back for another gambling match.

And in that gambling match, we will have the stakes that whoever loses, they will go to the forest. That one year, followed by one year of incognito stake. So, why did he put the condition of incognito stake? His idea was, the Pandavas are so famous, they will never be able to stay incognito.

And we will find them, and again, we will send them 12 years ago. And like that, for exile, like that lifelong, we will keep them with us. That was his plan.

So, then immediately they went to Dhrishtvasan. And Dhrishtvasan said, he said, things are bad enough, let's not make them worse. He said, if you leave them like this, they are going to become worse.

Even the Pandavas are going to stay silent. So, Shakuni speaks, they are right, they are wrong, they are going to attack us anyway. Better that we disempower them and empower ourselves.

So, if we get their kingdom, if we get their wealth, then we will be in better position. Broking the hope of peaceful relationship is impossible. And here, what is he doing? He is exploiting the heroes of Dhritarashtra.

Now, yes, Pandavas did come. Certainly, they were angry. But Yudhishtira would not have himself provoked war.

So, again, when the danger to Duryodhana was pointed out, Dhritarashtra retreated. And Dhritarashtra retreated, he called, he sent Yudhishthira away for another gambling match. Dhritarashtra was horrified.

He said, okay, what you have seen, Yudhishthira. He said, now, call him back. He gave him the Pandavas' same diamond.

And there was a gambling match. And then, it was just one diamond. And the Pandavas lost everything.

And then, they had to go to the forest. Then also, when the Pandavas went to the forest, now, what had happened was that at this particular time, Subhadra was in Dwarka. That's why she was not with the Pandavas.

So, Dwarka, only Draupadi was there. And Draupadi also decided to go to the forest. Subhadra remained with the Pandavas in the forest.

Subhadra stayed in Dwarka with her brothers. And then, when the Pandavas were eventually exiled, they stayed for 12 years in the forest, and then they came back. And then, what happened in the forest, how Krishna helped Arjuna and the Pandavas, we will discuss in tomorrow's session.

Are there any questions?