Mahabharata Characters 30 – Yudhisthira 08 – Dharmaraja’s moments of infamy and glory in the war

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.
Hare Krishna Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series We are discussing about Yudhishthir and we are right in the Middle of the war And how Yudhishthir Fought with Karna And was humiliated by him And at that time He had to withdraw Be wounded and battered And Arjuna came To meet him And when Yudhishthir saw Arjuna come He thought that Arjuna has won the war Has defeated and killed Karna And has come victorious to report the victory Now for a Kshatriya To be defeated by another Kshatriya Is extremely painful And Yudhishthir was in both Physical as well as mental pain He had been severely wounded And further he was in agony At having been humiliated By Karna in a battle And when he saw Arjuna coming He was delighted And he said, Oh Arjuna Glorious it is that you have defeated That Suta Putra And now you have won the victory for us Indeed the battle is won Karna would have been so difficult to defeat Even for the gods But now you have defeated him And you have attained A stupendous feat Indeed Duryodhana is defeated now And the war is won Glorious are you, Oh Arjuna And Yudhishthir lying weak on bed Started praising Arjuna Arjuna took a deep breath And he Comments, Oh King You are not aware of the facts I was battling fiercely With many other warriors on other side of the Battlefield I was about to go and fight with Karna But when I came to know that you had been wounded I came to see Your condition After enquiring about your well being and taking your blessings I will forthwith go into the battle And I will kill Karna When Yudhishthir Understood that Karna was still alive He shrank back In disappointment And again We cannot imagine the stresses That are there in war You know Every decision that happens in a war That can mean the life or death of thousands and millions Of people And one mistake can be disastrous The pressure on the leader is enormous And Yudhishthir Was overwhelmed at this particular point He said Oh Arjuna How is it That you have left the war and come away While the enemy is still destroying our army It is indeed that you have Acted like a eunuch He says If you were not determined to kill Karna Then why did you take vows to that effect What is the use of your carrying a Gandiva If you are not going to kill Karna You should give up the Gandiva To somebody else Alas With you as our protector Our army is doomed for Even after taking vows you are not killing Karna Alas Yudhishthir started lamenting Now Arjuna had taken a vow That he would not That if anybody told him To put aside his Gandiva He would kill that person And Yudhishthir knew this vow But he had completely forgotten it Under the stress of the moment And Yudhishthir Spoke the words put aside your Gandiva And Arjuna immediately Took out his sword And Krishna was there with him Krishna said Oh Arjuna what are you doing There is no enemy here for you To use the sword Stop Arjuna said I cannot stop I have taken my vow that I will kill anyone Who says that I should put aside my Gandiva The king has said this and therefore I must stay true to my word If I don’t stay true to my word Then I will be ruined Arjuna was also under great stress He had no desire to kill Yudhishthir And at the same time he could not Let his word go false So Krishna caught Arjuna And he said Oh Arjuna He pulled him aside Yudhishthir was distraught Lost in grief And he was almost not there At that time He pulled Arjuna aside He said Arjuna Your word It is a Kshatriya Shivagri But it is a childish vow How can you to keep your own word Kill your elder brother who is like God for you Surely you have not Served the Brahmins You have not practised Dharma You have not studied the scriptures That’s why You are talking of such a thing today One who knows scripture Truly will never Act so viciously in the name Of preserving virtue So Arjuna Realised the truth of Krishna’s words And he turned beseechingly towards Krishna Please tell me What should I do I cannot kill my brother at the same time I must preserve My word So then Krishna told him Actually an insult For a Kshatriya is worse than death You can insult Yudhishthir And That will be like killing him And then you can beg forgiveness from him And in that way whatever insults you do They will be mitigated So Arjuna steeled his heart And that brother whom he loved so much Started speaking viciously Yudhishthir you are chastising me But what kind of Kshatriya are you You gambled away your kingdom You gambled away all of us You gambled your own wife And you did not even allow us to take revenge What kind of man are you That you are the king But you do not have the power to defeat your enemies You depend on the strength of others To fight and kill for you And what others acquire by fighting for you You because of your addiction to gambling You lose it all You do not deserve to be the king And he spoke Strong words And each of these words were like Arrows that pierced into the heart of Yudhishthir And Yudhishthir He was already Brutally wounded by Karna And he became further wounded He said okay he sank completely And he said he got up finally Although he was weak and wounded still he got up And he said oh Arjuna What you say is true I am not at all worthy of being a king Now I will depart from the forest Let you fight And kill Karna And then let Bhima become the king And Yudhishthir started departing At that time Arjuna Fell at the feet of Yudhishthir And he said oh king please stop I did not mean any of the words That I have spoken I know that you are supremely virtuous It is only because of your adherence to virtue That you played in the gambling match And although We may have strength But it is your virtue which is our supreme strength It is by your virtue That we will be able to win this war And he told everything about his vows And about what Krishna had suggested And Yudhishthir understood the real Situation he calmed down And Krishna told him Oh king do not go to the forest Now is the time for you to win the war And to attain glory Do not lose That which has been attained now after great effort So finally Yudhishthir calmed down And then Arjuna went back And fought fiercely and killed Karna And Yudhishthir congratulated They celebrated and the next day Duryodhana was also killed But that night Ashwatthama killed All the remaining Kaurava warriors Pandava warriors He killed the remaining sons of Draupadi And when Yudhishthir came to know about this Yudhishthir was Devastated And eventually when he came to know from Kunti That Karna was his Older brother that broke him Completely and after performing The final rites he was devastated He said alas this victory seems like Defeat You know we have like dogs fought For a piece of flesh And are fighting viciously Having got that piece of flesh Now we find that we no longer desire This flesh They had all assembled at night They had heard From the sages the whole history Of Karna And Yudhishthir was feeling Immensely guilt ridden And he said I will renounce the world I am such a sinner for me So many people have died And I cannot rule anymore To atone for the sins that have happened For my name I will go to the Forest and live a life of austerity Arjuna was Stunned to hear Yudhishthir’s words And he looked sharply at him And frowning biting his lips he said Oh king how have you spoken Such words never before have we seen such Weakness come upon you It is not the duty of a king to live In the forest the king’s duty as given In the scriptures is to protect the citizens To rule virtuously To give charity That is the duty that Calls you right now And Yudhishthir heard But did not Sway from his determination Bhima spoke Oh king I cannot tolerate your Weakness now Your situation is like a person who is dying of hunger Who endeavours and gets Food and after getting food decides That I will not eat and then dies Anyway What a tragedy It is like a person who fights against Many enemies and defeats all The enemies and then finally turns The knife on oneself and kills oneself Oh king It is you who Desired that we should fight To regain the kingdom how can you renounce The kingdom now Yudhishthir heard but remained calm he said Oh king you do not understand That superior to the path Of worldly desire is the path of renunciation This world is an illusion That ultimately has to be renounced I will renounce it now And I will live a life of austerity Being equal towards all Not coveting anything I will atone for the great sins that have happened So Apati turned Towards Yudhishthir And he said oh king your brothers are crying Themselves hoarse trying to make you See sense It was you who were in the forest At that time you said we will kill Duryodhana And we will regain the kingdom What was the use of fighting the whole war Now that you have fought the war It is your duty to protect All the citizens Please do this duty Sahadev spoke and he said Oh king Mama is death and Nama is Brahman And Brahman is eternal life The way That Brahman can be attained Is not just by renunciation But by devotion to duty Please Do not give up your duty Arjuna told stories from the scriptures About how people who had Developed false renunciation Were corrected and brought back To the path of duty He said that actually By premature renunciation One cannot attain virtue So This was a fascinating discussion that went on And finally this is actually the essence Of Mahabharata What is Dharma What is that one should do Sometimes when we do one thing With one intention and something entirely Opposite result comes up So at that time A thoughtful person was left to wonder What is the point of it all What am I supposed to do Yudhishthir had that question And he was facing that question head on And different people Gave different opinions and finally Bhima spoke Oh king you have fought and Defeated many formidable weapons But I fear that now You are being defeated by the Worst of all enemies You have defeated many Enemies but now your own uncontrolled Mind is about to defeat you Beware otherwise all that you Is virtuous and worthwhile In this world and the next it will be lost Because of your uncontrolled mind Yudhishthir is different And he said oh child You do not know that Actually It is the uncontrolled mind That causes one to become attached to things Of this world. It is because my mind Is controlled that I am thinking About attachment And you praise The path of engagement in this world But the path of renunciation is always higher And it is that path of renunciation Which I will embrace now There were many rishis who had also assembled over there And they heard the discussion Between the sages And the devastans spoke He said oh king there is no guarantee That just by renunciation one will attain Perfection.
The rishis also Have to strive to meet To maintain their bodies And even after performing austerities in the forest They cannot necessarily They will not necessarily gain perfection There is no need for a King to renounce prematurely Vyasadeva spoke about how The glories of kings Who perform good dharmic activities And thereby attain perfection Yudhishthir Did not want to disobey Or displease the brahmins and the sages Yet he had no heart to rule He said that alas It is only for my sake That all these kings Were killed. After all Duryodhana was a righteous ruler And there was no need To fight this war just to make me the king Now Actually the Mahabharata does not clearly state anywhere that Duryodhana ruled Virtuously. There are second person reports Where Duryodhana himself Says that I rule virtuously And Yudhishthir here is being subjective In his humility, Duryodhana was a Virtuous ruler.
But we know That Duryodhana’s virtue was entirely Self-serving. Where virtue Where dharma could help him Get his ends, he would follow dharma Where dharma would not help him get his ends He would abandon dharma. So people Under him might have been Prosperous for some time.
But eventually It would have led to disaster So getting a dharmic King installed was important And as Yudhishthir continued On thinking deeply In this way, not knowing what To do He decided that he would Wait Wondering What would be happening in future He not knowing what to do He thought wondering He had no desire to displease and disobey the brahmins Krishna said, oh king, do not grieve so much Because grief itself Will sap your energy And will make you sick And he said, if you have doubts Then go and ask Bhishma Actually before that, when Yudhishthir said I am responsible for the deaths of the kings Vyasadev told him, no You alone are not responsible There are many factors involved Primary among them, it is the karma of those Kings themselves And what is important for you Is that you do your dharma You did your dharma, Kshatriya, and that is what You should continue right now Yudhishthir finally said that When he heard about Bhishma He said, alas, that grandsire is lying On the arrow bed just because of me How can I even face him now Leave alone ask him for instruction So Krishna Consoled Yudhishthir And Vyasadev said, okay You have not committed any sinful activities But if you feel that you have committed any sinful activities Then you can Actually go ahead And do Expeciatory rites There are rites to Counter sinful activities And in that way you can overcome whatever Wrong has been done Whatever wrong that you perceive Has been done And in this way you will be able to attain Perfection So as he thought deeply about What to do When Vyasadev spoke thus And Krishna spoke thus You can consult Bhishma So Yudhishthir decided to agree To the will of the Sages and ultimately Of Krishna And he felt that he would be solaced by Bhishma’s words Eventually when he went to Bhishma What did Bhishma speak Bhishma spoke primarily He gave various explanations And why things had happened The way they had happened And finally he said that it was the will of the lord And it is you Who should do his will And by doing his will alone you will attain Supreme auspiciousness So this is the essence of the Mahabharata Dharma is Dharma is It is very very Difficult to understand what is right and what is wrong But ultimately What should one do One should do that which is the will of the lord By doing the will of the lord We will be able to attain Supreme auspiciousness Now we may not know what is the will of the lord And the lord is not there directly to tell us Do this But then the scriptures give us a general understanding of the will of the lord That we practise Dharma We practise bhakti We devote ourselves to the lord And by doing the activities That connect us with god Then we develop a connection With him in our own hearts And through that inner connection Which comes from Our sincere Practise of devotion And the lord guides us from within And in that way We can learn What is the right course of action And by following that course of action We will attain supreme auspiciousness This is how We attain perfection in our life So Yudhishthira agreed And in this way He consented to Accepting the duty Of a king And as he accepted the duty of a king He went back to the Assembly To be coronated And As Dhaumya was going to coronate Yudhishthira was going into the palace Adorned and Decorated and as he went There was a demon named Charvaka who had taken on the garb Of a brahmana and he said to Yudhishthira Oh Yudhishthira All these brahmanas have appointed me As their representative And date I want to tell you that you Have been most vicious You have caused the death of all your kinsmen And you do not deserve to be the king You should be rejected by the citizens And Yudhishthira already Had a conscience Which was unsure and when He heard this word he said Oh you are right I will renounce the world Hearing this all the brahmanas started Lamenting and they said oh king we have not Appointed him and these are not our words And they looked at this person Carefully and they recognised him To be this Rakshasa Charvaka And they said This is a demon This is not a brahmana And they said And by the power of this curse Charvaka fell down dead over there And then Yudhishthira was surrounded There was Kunti, there was his brothers There was Krishna, there were the twins All of them were there And in their presence Yudhishthira Did all the propitiatory rites And then dressed in pure white silks With Draupadi right next to him Dhaumya poured the Sacred waters on him performing the abhishek And then Yudhishthira rose Coronated as the king of the world At that time Yudhishthira He announced That although I am the king Dhritarashtra is our god He is our father And he should be respected Just as he was respected earlier There should not be If you wish to please me there should not change your disposition Towards him At all This was the virtuous nature of Yudhishthira In fact When Yudhishthira met Gandhari And Dhritarashtra after the war Got over He did not try to rationalise He did not say that I tried my best To avoid the war if only you had accepted The peace proposal, give me five villages All disaster could have been avoided He just went in front of Gandhari And Dhritarashtra and he said Here am I the killer of your sons Please punish me When Gandhari and Dhritarashtra heard this They understood that Dhritarashtra Was already suffering enough Now Yudhishthira he had been very alert And he knew that Gandhari Would be angry so he had asked Krishna To go and meet them first And to pacify them And that’s what they did, Krishna did Krishna had told them that Pandavas and Kauravas had died because of their own misdeeds And do not curse them But still Yudhishthira he was so humble He did not try to rationalise and justify What had happened And it was this that endured Him to Dhritarashtra And Gandhari And his conduct was so Virtuous that Although their sons had died They still And although they were grieving They could see that Yudhishthira Was so virtuous and so noble And Yudhishthira cared for them as if they were Like his own parents And he gave them all the royal honours And actually Dhritarashtra found that Under Yudhishthira He got more respect and more True care than he had got When Duryodhana was the king also And Dhritarashtra could not but lament Why did he have to Be a part Why had he consented To Duryodhana’s terrible schemes By which Such a great war had taken place Yudhishthira ruled virtuously For 36 years Those years were glorious Everybody was prosperous during that time And After leading an Exemplary kingdom Then he got the news through Arjuna That Krishna had departed When Yudhishthira heard this He decided He appointed At that time Parikshit Had become Mature enough to become the king here Parikshit had appointed the king and Yudhishthira decided To depart from the world And he dressed in simple clothes Announcing his royal attire And he left And as he departed Along with him the Pandavas departed When the Pandavas departed Draupadi also followed And the citizens Were disappointed, dismayed But they knew that this was the course That everybody has to take Manaprastha ultimately And the Pandavas went Towards the north, they walked and walked for days And weeks and months, they walked far Far far far into the Himalayas And they were exhausted Emaciated and as they were walking upwards Suddenly Draupadi fell on the ground And she died So Bhima Asked Why Draupadi was so chaste and virtuous Why did she die like this Without even turning around Yudhishthira kept walking forward This symbolises that Actually ultimately On this spiritual journey we are alone That Draupadi For whose honour The Pandavas had fought a terrible war Now when the last moment came Ekastu, we all come alone In this world and we all go alone from this world So on the path of duty Yudhishthira kept moving forwards It symbolises that all of us have to Deal with our own karma ultimately alone All of us will go on our own journeys And we have to keep Marching forward steadily on the path of Dharma So Yudhishthira said Although she was married to all five of us But still she Favoured Arjuna especially Because of her partiality she has fallen As they moved forward After that Sahadev fell And When Sahadev fell He asked Why is it that he has fallen? Although he was Virtuous But he thought himself beyond compare In scriptural learning And that’s why he has fallen Then after sometime Nakula fell Bhima asked again Why has he fallen and died like this? He said that he thought himself To be incomparable in worldly beauty And because of this pride he has fallen Then after that Arjuna fell Arjuna fell He said Arjuna was such a great archer How has he fallen? He said that in the Kurukshetra war Before the war started out of pride He said that I will kill I will defeat all the Kauravas And kill them and win the war In just one day Because under pride he took such a great vow Which he could not keep He has fallen And as he kept moving forward Bhima fell And Bhima asked Why have I fallen? Why am I dying like this? He said although you were Very strong and devoted But still you were very inconsiderate While eating And because of this inconsiderateness You have fallen Now at the time when the Pandavas Started climbing up the Himalayas A dog had accompanied them And this dog kept coming right up And Yudhishthir went right up to the top of the Himalayas And when he reached on the top At that time his dog Was still there with him And he turned towards his dog And Indra came over there in his celestial chariot And he said come now You can attain the supreme heavens By your piety So Yudhishthir said that You know this dog Is under my protection. I cannot leave him He also has to come. So Indra said No, dogs have no place in heaven He said then I do not desire heaven This dog has taken my shelter And one who has taken my shelter I cannot abandon him So seeing his dedication to Dharma At that time Indra smiled And the dog turned into Dharma actually He was actually Yamaraja’s father He said I had tested you earlier in Dwaitavan That time you passed with flying colours answering all my questions And now also you have passed with flying colours You are sure to attain heavens Go now with Indra And then it had been a test which Yudhishthir had passed So basically beyond the specifics of what is spoken over here This Yudhishthir’s solitary Ascent to heaven Demonstrates how all of us Have to become purified As we become more and more purified Even the subtler and subtler of the contaminations Can hold us back Only when we give up all the contaminations Do we attain the highest perfection of life And then As Yudhishthir went He saw many great celestial sages Rajarushis who had attained heavenly planets By their past Punya and then eventually Yudhishthir arranged Attained heavens And there he saw to his shock that Duryodhana Was sitting there on a throne in heaven And he turned and said how is it that Duryodhana is in heaven He said because he Lived He died on a war field A warrior’s death that’s why he has attained heaven Karna has also attained heaven And he said where are my brothers So He turned towards He said you want to see your brothers Go and take him to his brothers And then the attendant From heaven started taking He started taking a particular direction Suddenly Yudhishthir found himself In a place where there were Terrible screams and there was foul smell And there were Horrible looking creatures and people Were in great pain And he said this is hell Why have you brought me here He says I have brought you here At your own request And at the instruction of Yudhishthir Of Indra if you do not want we can turn back He says turn back I want to go back to Indra And At that time as he was turning Back so he heard Oh Yudhishthir oh Yudhishthir oh Yudhishthir Wait he heard the voices of Arjuna And all his brothers and he also heard Voices of Yudhishthir and other kings And he said what are you doing here He said we have been suffering terribly over here Now that you have come just by your presence We are feeling some relief from our pain Please do not go away He said surely this is a hallucination This must be a dream How is it possible the virtuous Pandavas Have attained hell This cannot be And he turned towards the heavenly attendant and he said that You know if the Pandavas are in hell Then I will be in hell with them They have asked me to stay and I cannot Abandon them you may go And Yudhishthir was ready to choose Hell at this particular time This was also an extraordinary demonstration of his virtue And the heavenly attendant Disappeared and Yudhishthir was there wondering How he would Help his brothers and at that time Suddenly the whole Hellish setting disappeared and Indra and other Devatas appeared and decided To take them where the Pandavas and their Allies Oh Indra this was a test for you Indra said this was a test for you and again you have passed the test Everybody has to see hell Because everybody does a little bit sinful Activity but the Pandavas All of you Pandavas by your merits Are meant to attain Exalted destinations for a long Long time and then the Pandavas Were taken with them and there they saw In a effulgent four handed form Vishnu form Krishna was there And Yudhishthir went and offered Respects to Krishna and he knew That where Krishna was There eternal good fortune would be And whether He was in heaven or in hell If he was with Krishna life was always Going to be supremely auspicious for him And he knew with Krishna Whatever would happen he would always Be ready for that So this is how Yudhishthir led a complete Life of Dharma throughout And he demonstrated His life as Dharmaraj Even amidst great calamity He stuck to the path of Dharma always And by sticking to that path of Dharma He attained supreme Fruit of Dharma So Yudhishthir was himself Not just a Brahmanically inclined person he was also A great Kshatriya He was a formidable spear fighter And If he is known more As a virtuous king than as a Kshatriya warrior that is because Of two reasons First is that he is A Warrior Who was in an Era in which there were such Extraordinary warriors And so many Extraordinary warriors So because of that He is sometimes Is Eclipsed By the other warriors But still he himself is A great warrior No doubt about it And he was especially Known for his spear fighting So there are two reasons One is that Bhishma, Drona Bhima, Arjuna Karna These were such Great warriors that As compared to them They were so glorious Yudhishthir was also glorious but as compared to them He sometimes is not as great And moreover His distinctive characteristic What makes him so special Even unique is not his heroism And warfare but it is His knowledge and adherence of Dharma That’s why he is known as Dharmaraj But he was also a very great Warrior and his Greatest moment of glory came towards the End of the Kurukshetra war On the 18th day The Kauravas Declared Shalya to be their commander And at the beginning of the war When the Pandavas And the Kauravas were planning What The hostilities that would take place Who would earmark whom Who would fight with whom At that time Yudhishthir had taken a vow That he would kill Shalya It is not that he had any particular enmity against Shalya Shalya was his uncle But now in this war They were going to fight with each other And both of them were accomplished spear fighters And naturally They were antagonists And that’s why he had taken that Because he was such a great spear fighter So he would take on the best spear fighter From the opposite side And when Shalya was appointed as the commander Yudhishthir consulted Krishna And Krishna said He is the foremost warrior And now being empowered With the post of a commander He will be as formidable as Bheeshma, Drona or Karna But still I think He can be overpowered And you should be the person to overpower him As you have taken a vow After having passed through the great Kaurava ocean Be careful not to become complacent Or over confident And to sink into the puddle of Shalya Fight to the best Of your capacity And overpower him So That day Shalya Fought with a maniac fury Like never before the Pandavas had seen him fight Although he had been there for 17 days Always been a great warrior But on this day Shalya had now given up all hope of coming out Alive from this battle And he decided to fight At the moment of death And he just broke through the Pandava ranks Breaking havoc over there And Yudhishthir challenged him And they had a fierce fight The fight went on and on and on And they just both Attacked each other, wounded each other And still nobody was getting an upper hand So Bhima came to assist Yudhishthir And Krithavarman, Duryodhana And others came to assist Shalya The twins came to assist Yudhishthir And a general fight broke out And Shalya with a series of arrows Destroyed the chariot of Yudhishthir And Yudhishthir Fought on fiercely And over a period of time Shalya’s chariot was also destroyed His armour was destroyed And he became weaponless He took up whatever weapons he had in his hands And started hurling them Finally Yudhishthir took a heavy spear Raised it, the dart he raised in his hands And taking full aim Hurled it at Shalya You are dead He roared loudly And Shalya saw the dart Falling upon him like a meteor Falling from the sky And he tried his best to grab it Try to hold it with his hands But it had come so fast That it slipped through his hand Before he could even hold it And it pierced through his head And Shalya fell to the ground And it seemed the ground almost rose up To meet him And in this way Yudhishthir Defeated The Last commander during the 18 days Of course after this Towards the night Ashwatthama was appointed as a Commander But on the 18th day the commander of the army In the Kaurava force was defeated by Yudhishthir So Yudhishthir his name Is true He was firm in battle And there is an outer battle And there is an inner battle The outer battle Is against the enemies that we have He was firm in that battle too And his distinctive virtue is that He was firm in the inner battle There were times when he was overcome By weakness also as when he gambled He could not have avoided gambling But the extent to which he gambled he could have avoided that But His glory was that as soon as he Regained his perspective He after that always stayed On the path of virtue And he always Remained fixed on the path of virtue resisting All the distractions and temptations And justifications that could Have taken him away From the path of virtue And in this way he is the Eldest of all the Pandavas And he is glorious As the personification of virtue As Dharmaraj Thank you