Mahabharata Characters 20 – Kunti 01 – The blessing that made a nightmare and a dream come true

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. Today we will discuss about Kunti, the third character in the second generation. Kunti was born as Prutha to the king Shurasena.
So Shurasena was a prince in the, was a king in the Yadu dynasty and Shurasena had among his several offspring, one was Vasudeva and other was Kunti. So Kunti and Vasudeva are brothers. That’s how Krishna, who was born to Vasudeva as Vasudeva, Krishna was the nephew of Kunti and Kunti was his aunt.
Now, there was another Yadu king. He was known as Kuntibhoja. Actually, there are many dynasties who are all collectively called as Yadavas.
There are Andhakas, Vishnis, Bhojas, like that. So this particular king ruled the kingdom, which is also named Kunti and his name was Kuntibhoja and he somehow was childless. Despite his best efforts, he could not get a child.
So because Kuntibhoja and Vasudeva were close friends as well as relatives, Vasudeva gave his daughter to Kuntibhoja and when she was born, her name was Prutha. But Kuntibhoja, when he adopted her, as his kingdom was named Kunti, he also gave her the name Kunti and that is the name by which she is primarily known. Now, Kuntibhoja was a very virtuous and wise king and as was standard in the Vedic culture at that time, he would receive guests and especially spiritually advanced guests like sages and saints.
So at one time, Dhruvasa Muni came to the palace of Kuntibhoja and Dhruvasa Muni is known to be an irritable person. He is an expansion of Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva is in charge mode of ignorance, which is associated with anger and he would get angry quite soon and he would also be very demanding. Sometimes he would ask for food suddenly without any pre-determination, the intuition that he would want food a while later and sometimes when food would be brought, he would say now I am going to take a bath and he would go to take a bath and not take the food only.
So, it is difficult to serve him but he is also a powerful sage who could give great rewards. So, Kuntibhoja entrusted the responsibility of serving Dhruvasa Muni to Kunti. Now, in the Vedic culture, it is understood that by serving great sages, one gets pious and spiritual credits and in the Vedic culture, it is a tradition that when sages come to the house, then they are served properly and one of the ways of serving is that they are cooked, they are provided nice food and they are served that way.
So, the women in the house do the responsibility and Kuntibhoja wanted Kunti to gain piety and blessings of Dhruvasa Muni and it was difficult. Kunti was just a girl in her teens at that time but she served him very diligently, tolerating his sometimes inconsiderate demands and doing everything as well as possible. So, when Dhruvasa Muni departed, she had served him very well throughout his stay and he was pleased with her and he blessed her saying that he would give her mantras from the Atharva Veda and he said by these Atharva Veda mantras, you can call the Devatas and you can get progeny sons from the Devatas.
So, now for a woman, it is a cherished aspiration to get a glorious husband and blessed children. So, this was how Dhruvasa Muni blessed her that you can call the Devatas and you can get progeny through them. So, normally it is a tradition that when women are blessed, they are blessed that they have a glorious husband and also they have wonderful children.
So, Kunti received this blessing. Now, she was quite a small girl at that time and after the sage departed, she was relaxing her chambers and she looked at the sun and as she beheld that shining orb of the sun, her mind wandered to the thought of the blessing that Dhruvasa Muni had given, the mantra that he had given. Now, with a teenage curiosity, typical of exploring things, she started chanting the mantra and as she chanted the mantra, soon after that, Surya appeared.
Kuntidevi was… Kunti at that time, she was just a teenage girl. She was surprised, horrified. She was in a private chamber.
She was alone and normally no man would come to the private chambers of the females in the royal family unless it be a father or brother or otherwise there would have to be a chaperone who would be accompanying. So, suddenly this Suryadev had appeared and she offered respects to him and she said that, Oh Suryadev, thank you for coming and actually, I didn’t realize the gravity of this. I just playfully chanted the mantra and Suryadev smiled at her and he said that, actually you have called me and the darshan of the devatas is very rare.
If you get the darshan, how can a darshan not lead to any result? The devatas come to give some blessings and the mantra that you have chanted is meant to give the blessing of a child. So, he said, I will give you a glorious son. So, Kunti was horrified.
She said, no, no, no, I cannot do this. He said, I am not married. If I have a son, how will that do? It will be a scandal.
He said, if I lose my virginity, then how will I get married and how will I take care of the child? She pleaded Suryadev. She said, please, no, I can’t accept a son. I am sorry for calling you like this.
Suryadev said that, the mantra has power and by that power you have called me and a mantra is meant to give a certain result. So, you have to take that result now. And actually, I am gracefully offering you a result and if I don’t offer this to you, you have called me in vain.
And it is, you know, to call a devata like that is a casually improper thing to do. Of course, Kunti cannot be very greatly blamed. It’s like somebody gets a hotline to the minister of the country and the minister suddenly comes over.
So, it’s a serious thing and Kunti did not realize the gravity of the thing. And she said that, now, Suryadev said that, I have come and I must give you a child. He says, you know, whatever the actions of the devatas are, the whole universe watches it.
So, there are other devatas, other celestial beings, they are watching it and if they see that a devata is rebuffed by a human girl, normally the humans petition the devatas. Here, I am offering myself to you and if you reject me, then it is grace for me. Everybody will laugh at me and the mantra’s potency also has to be honored.
So, he said, I cannot go away without giving you a blessing. Kunti felt it would not be a blessing, it would be a curse. Of course, to have the darshan of a devata is wonderful, it’s a blessing, but to have a son before marriage would be a disaster.
She pleaded with Suryadev. Suryadev said, no. He said, we have to honor the power of the mantra and as far as your virginity is concerned, do not worry.
Now, your virginity will still be preserved. And seeing that Suryadev was not ready to relent, Kunti reluctantly consented. And then, through the union, an extraordinary child was born.
This child was born. Actually, we know that the devatas just missed him. And then the child was born.
The child had a coat of armor and earrings which were a part of the body itself. And this was actually Karna. So, Karna means ear and because he had special earrings, that’s how he was given the name Karna.
And Kunti, this was her first child and she loved the child so much. But at the same time, how could, in a conservative culture at that time, how could a single girl keep a child like that and who would believe her story, that it is Suryadev who had come and her virginity was still preserved. And even if people would believe, how could she take care of the child? What would happen to her future? She had to think not just of herself.
She, as the princess, had to consider the welfare of the whole state. And for the welfare of the whole state, the royal family has to set a proper example. The royal family, if it engages in immorality, or if there is a perception that the royal family is engaged in immorality, then people in general follow whatever the king and the king’s family is doing.
So, there could be serious problems, not just for the reputation of the royal family, but also for the well-being of society, if it was perceived that the, in the royal family, there is injustity. So, there can be injustity and immorality in the rest of society also. So, Kunti with a heavy heart, she decided that she would give away the child.
And she could not risk being detected that she personally going to somebody and arranging for the royal ladies were always at a constant watch. So, she could not publicly go and search for some worthy person to give the child to. So, she decided to entrust the child back to Suryadev.
She arranged a very nice wooden boat sort of thing, a wooden box which would float and she put cushions under it. And she embraced the child for the last time, holding it to her tightly, wondering whether she would be able to see this child ever again. And then she put her child in the box and she did all this secretly.
Her palace was close to a river and going to the river bank was not difficult for her because it was within the palace. And so, in the palace, she could move without much of people watching. So, she went and she pushed the box into the river and as the box was going, she started praying to Suryadev, this is your child, please protect him.
Please, I beg you, please, please protect him. And she prayed to Vayu, you are the conveyor, please direct this chariot, this box away, it will go to the hands of a caring couple, who will take care of him. And prayed to the waters and the Devata of waters, please take care of this child.
She prayed to the Supreme Lord Vishnu, please arrange the safety of this child. And tears flowing down her eyes and a heavy heart, she returned back to her palace. So, that was her first child and happened in her teenage years, still she never forgot.
And throughout her years, she wondered again and again, what had happened to her first child. And she found out, it tore open her heart, what happened to the child. We will discuss that later.
So, eventually, by the arrangement of Bhishma, Kunti was married to Pandu. And wanting to ensure that Pandu would have sons, that there will be no succession crisis as happened after her burial, Bhishma arranged also for another wife. So, Madhuri was the second wife and Kunti was elder in age and she was married first.
So, she was the senior wife, Madhuri was the senior wife. But they had good relationships and both of them served Pandu very well. And Pandu was heroic and he was powerful.
And he travelled around the world, conquered the world, conquered the world, brought under the subjugation of the Kurus again. And he lived with the queens. But again, for some time, he did not get any children.
And then, eventually, he decided to, he was cursed by Kingdom Rishi. And because he was cursed by Kingdom Rishi, we discussed that curse, he accidentally shot the Rishi when he was uniting with his wife in the form of a deal in his time. So, he was cursed and he decided not to have any union with his wives and he decided to live like a vanaprastha, to go to the forest.
When his wives heard what had happened, they were horrified but they supported his decision. Both Kunti was resolute that the place of the wife is always with her husband. And if her husband was going to the forest, she would go to the forest and she would serve him, assist him with austerities.
Pandu took a vow that I will shave my head and I will tolerate all, I will subjugate, tolerate and subjugate all the urges of lust, anger, greed. And I will live a life of simplicity and austerity. And his wife also went with him and they also served him very chastely and they would dress themselves very simply.
Normally, the wives, they dress themselves attractively in the presence of the husband, to please their husband. But now, both of them dress themselves very carefully and very simply and they would do anything which would agitate Pandu. They served him diligently over there.
While serving diligently in this way, initially Pandu had renounced the kingdom and he renounced all considerations about the kingdom entirely. But as he was living there in the forest, after all, a member of the royal dynasty, he had been a king and he knew his responsibilities. He was thinking that it is important for me to ensure succession in the kingdom.
So even if I cannot beget children, but still, just as Vyasadeva had done with Ambika and Balika, similarly, others can beget children. So he consulted with the sages. He was living in the forest and there were sages in the forest also with whom Pandu would often discuss.
Pandu would serve him also by ensuring that there were no predators around and he would hear from the sages. So he had grown very friendly with sages and he asked them. And the sages nodded saying that, yes, whatever is needful should be done.
So at that time, Pandu had in mind that some of the sages, they can unite with Kunti and married, they can beget children. So at that time, when this was decided, he approached Kunti. And Kunti said, no.
He said, you are my lord, you are my husband and I cannot leave you. I don’t know any other man in that way. Please don’t ask me if this isn’t possible.
A wife’s duty is to always be chaste to her husband. So I cannot be unchaste to you. So Pandu understood Kunti’s feelings.
And then he said that, I know that you are always chaste to me, you are always faithful to me. And what I am asking you to do will not affect your chastity because I am telling you to do this and then you are following my chastity is to follow my instructions, to do my will. And if I’m telling you to do this, you should do this.
And this is going to be for the good of the whole dynasty. So please agree and let the sages continue our dynasty. So Kunti, when she saw her husband was unrelenting, she begged him.
She said, he told a story of an ancient sage, ancient king who had passed away in a war and when he had been killed in a war and his queen ran to him and he had not got any success before dying. So they ran to his queen, ran to him, raised him. Just by that contact, the king had mystical power.
And just by the contact with his wife, even after his death, he became a child in her. And in that way the succession continued. She said, you know, use your mystical power.
So Pandu said, no, I don’t have such mystical powers. I cannot do something like this. And then when Kunti saw that Pandu was unrelenting, then she told about the mantra which Durvasa Mani had given.
And he said that, now if you want to get great progeny, then we can get progeny even from the gods. And he told him about the mantra. Pandu was delighted.
He said, yes, please, this will be wonderful if in our Kuru dynasty we can get the progeny from the devatas. So saying this, he consented. He told her, immediately decide.
And they decided to, they thought, which devata should we call? She said that, they decided that we will call Dharma. Dharma is the god of virtue and god of religion. Dharma is a cognate of, the word Dharma is a king.
It is a cognate of Yamaraja. She said, you know, he is extremely powerful and he is a great ruler. He is also a greatly powerful being.
And the first and foremost, the king has to be dharmic. So the king we want should be dharmic. Therefore, please call him.
If you call him, then we will get a dharmic son. So Kunti offered the prayers very reverentially and then Dharma appeared and Dharma gave her a son. And when the son was born, there were celebrations.
There was celebration, not just in the Pandu’s family, but even among the sages and even in celestial regions. Actually, a whole cosmic plan was underway so that the devatas could enter into the earth planet through, sometimes there are science fiction movies of implantation. Some aliens, they come and implant some device into the body so that they can control or manipulate or they can penetrate into the earth.
So devatas had a cosmic plan to control Adharma on the earth and they were doing it through the womb. They are appearing in earthly wombs. So there was great celebration at that time.
And then Yudhishthira, the son who was born was Yudhishthira. One who is very strong and unshaken, that was the name that he was given. He was, he would soon become famous as extremely virtuous and learned person.
He was very famous. And then Pandu started thinking. He thought that as a king has to be dharmic, but religion alone is of not much use unless there is power.
There has to be formidable power in a king. Only then the king will be able to control the miscreants and the subordinate elements. So among the devatas, a greatly powerful devata is one with a wind which moves all over the universe and can shake and carry away things, giant things also.
So he said, I want a child with a formidable strength like the wind. Therefore he requested Kunti, please ask Vayu to come. So both of them prayed to Vayu and they offered severe prayers.
Now each of these times, you know, they just did the act of union with the devatas was not just a sensual act. It was a sacred act. And they would pray and they would chant mantras.
They would invoke the devata and create a proper consciousness so that the devata would appear and the devata would give them a glorious child. So Vayu appeared at that time. And Vayu gave Kunti another son and that son was Bhima, glorious son.
And after that, some time passed and Yudhishthira was very happy with the two sons, but he thought that actually dharma is important, power is important, but along with that heroism is required. And heroism is present among the devatas greatest in Indra. And Indra is also a great devotee of Vishnu.
So Indra is among the primary gods in all the sacrifices the devatas perform for the pleasure of Vishnu. He said that Indra is the king of the gods and therefore we should get a son from him. So both of them performed austerities and they purified themselves.
And Kunti, prayed to Indra and Indra came and gave her a third son. That was Arjuna. So Bhima means very fierce, very frightening or ferocious.
Bhima. And Arjuna means straight or pure. So Arjuna was the pure one.
And then when this Arjuna was born, there were prophecies talking about how great and glorious this person would be. And Pandu was extremely happy with these three glorious sons. And as he was living in this way, one day Madhuri came to him.
And Madhuri said that, you know, although I am born from a glorious dynasty, you know, I have been chosen as a junior wife over here. I don’t mind that. But what I do regret is that I don’t have any children.
Kunti has not just one but three sons. Please, I also want some children. So Pandu said, I was thinking about this too.
But I know your feelings now that you have told me. He said, I will tell Kunti. And then he said, it’s unlikely that Kunti will tell you the mantra.
But she can invoke the mantra and she can request Devata to give you children. So when Kunti was told, she agreed, consented. And then Madhuri thought carefully.
She realized that she would not have more than one chance because Kunti would not want her junior wife to have too many sons, especially more sons than her. So this is natural. This sort of competition is there naturally among queens.
So she thought that if I have only one chance, better let me utilize the chance. I am just possible. So she decided, she said, please call the Ashwini Kumaras.
The Ashwini Kumaras are two. And the two Ashwini Kumaras, both of them came and then they gave her two sons, the twins, Nakula and Sahadev. And they were also glorious, handsome, virtuous.
And then after that, Pandu thought that now I have five children. It would be nice if I have more sons. Then when Pandu approached Kunti, Kunti understood the mind of Pandu and she said, I cannot do this anymore.
Actually, before this, Kunti had, before that, Pandu had three sons. Pandu approached Kunti and he said that you can get more sons from the Devatas. So Kunti said no.
Kunti was virtuous and he said that even in emergency, a king, when there is succession crisis and a progeny has to be born, at that time, a woman may know some other men other than her husband. But even in such situations, a woman can know more than three men. So he said, I cannot call the Devatas again.
I cannot call any other Devatas. Now, Kunti quoted scripture to support this point. And Pandu, when he heard this, he agreed.
He would have liked to have more sons, but he did not realize the truth of what Kunti was saying. So Kunti knew scripture and she was very learned even in those, in her youth also, she was quite learned in scripture. And then she knew that she could not have any more children.
And she told Pandu now that I allowed mother to call only once and she called two Devatas and this way she got two sons. Now if I allow her again, then she may call, I do not know whom she will call. She may have more sons than me and I cannot allow this.
So please do not ask again. So Pandu realized that he would not be able to persuade Kunti and he decided that he had satisfied five sons and he lived happily with these five sons moving forward with them. And as he was living with them, he was happy and he would take these five sons around with him to the forest and he would do various activities with them and he trained them in Kshatriya ways.
And as he had once gone to the forest, he had gone out to Madri and suddenly he had gone to a windy place and as he turned around, he saw that the wind was blowing the clothes of Madri and her clothes were sticking to her body and her contours were visible and Pandu felt a desire rising in his heart. Now he had kept his desire under control for a long time, but now he with his sons going around in the forest, he started to feel like a young man again and as he was young, he felt like that and he saw Madri in this way and when he saw Madri in this way, suddenly desire awakened in his heart and as the desire awakened in his heart, he turned towards Madri and Madri immediately by looking at his face understood what was happening. She had to be careful to always keep herself very simply so that Pandu would never get provoked.
But suddenly she saw Pandu approaching in this way and she tried to speak to him, warning him, reminding him. The sage had cursed him that just because you have killed me when I was uniting with my wife. So he said in the future if you unite with a woman at that time, you will also die.
So doing this curse, Pandu had desisted from uniting with his wives very rigorously till then. But then as he approached, Madri tried to warn, no don’t do this, don’t do this. Remember the curse of the sage.
Pandu was captivated by passion and he just couldn’t think of anything else and what happened thereafter, we will discuss in our next session. Thank you.