Bhagavad vahini - Chapter 10

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Bhagavad vahini by Sathya Sai Baba

 

Chapter 10

The Krishna Mystery

 

Bhîmasena (Kuntî's second son) managed to muster up some courage. He

said, " Brother, grant me leave and I shall proceed to Dvârakâ in an

instant and return quick bringing full information of all that has

happened to remove your fear. " Even while Bhîma was praying on bended

knees for permission, the sun set and the lamps started emitting

feeble light, from every place.

 

Meanwhile, a guard from the main entrance rushed in, announcing that

Arjuna (third son of Pându and Kuntî) had come and that he was

approaching the royal apartment. Every one rose as if they had

suddenly come to life, they hurried forward to meet Arjuna, thirsty

for news from Dvârakâ. Arjuna came in, depressed and despondent,

devoid of any sign of joy, without looking the brothers in the face,

he rolled over the feet of Dharmaraja.

 

Dharmaraja noticed the signs which confirmed his fear and became

eager to inquire further. He asked about the welfare of friends and

kinsmen at Dvârakâ. Arjuna could not rise or turn his head. The

brothers saw the feet of Dharmaraja streaming with the tears shed by

him and were shocked into immobility. Dharmaraja lost all hold on his

mind. He tried to lift Arjuna, shaking him by the shoulders, he

shouted in agony into his ear, " Brother, what has happened - what has

happened, what has happened to the Yadavas? Tell us about that. Our

hearts are about to burst. Save us from terrible anguish. "

 

But, Arjuna did not reply. He could not rise or even spell out words.

Dharmaraja however, continued raining questions on him, inquiring

about the welfare of the Yadavas and others, mentioning them by name

and asking about each one separately. Arjuna did not react even to

this desperate fusillade. He showed no response. He did not raise his

face and looked at his brothers.

 

" You need not tell us the rest, but, this you must tell us, what has

Vâsudeva directed you to tell us, what is his message to us, tell us

that " , Dharmaraja appealed. Arjuna could not bear it any longer. The

grief that he had held back so long gushed out in full flood. " We

have Vâsudeva (Krishna) no more. O, we are orphaned. We could not

keep Him, we have no more luck " , he said and fell on his face,

sobbing on the floor.

 

Sahadeva (the youngest Pândava, one of the two twin sons of Madri

with Nakula) grasped the situation and its possibilities and he

closed all doors that led into the Hall, he engaged himself in

attempting to soothe the distress.

 

" Alas, that we lived to hear this, what a fate; o, destiny, how could

you treat the world so cruelly? " the brothers lamented

together. " Lord, why have you deserted the Pândavas thus? Why this

breach of trust? We have survived to hear this news, this is the

result of the accumulation of sin during many generations " , they

asked and asserted. Each one was submerged in his own grief, in his

own despair. The Hall was filled with gloomy silence.

 

It was Dharmaraja who braved it first. Wiping the tears that filled

his eyes, he questioned Arjuna in pathetic tones. " Have you news of

the condition of the parents, and of Nanda and Yas'odâ and of the

other Yadavas? Tell us about them. They must be broken with the grief

of separation from the Lord. When we too have been reduced to this

helpless depth, what can we say of them? They must be sunk in

unfathomable despair. How can they keep body and breath together? Why

refer to individuals? The entire city of Dvârakâ must have sunk in

the sea of inconsolable grief. "

 

Dharmaraja was sobbing with sorrow as he pictured to himself those

scenes. Seeing him in this condition, Arjuna said, " Brother, the

people of Dvârakâ are far more lucky than ourselves. We are the least

fortunate. We are the only hardened beings that have withstood the

shock of the news of the departure of Vâsudeva (Krishna) from this

world. The rest left the world even before news came of His

departure. "

 

At this Dharmaraja exclaimed, " Hari, Hari, o God, what is it you said

now? What is this catastrophe? I do not understand anything ..... Did

the sea rise and engulf Dvârakâ? Or, did any wild barbarian horde

invade and overwhelm the city and slaughter the population? Arjuna,

tell us what happened. Put an end to our frightful surmises, which

raise up awful pictures. " Dharmaraja held the hand of Arjuna and

turned his face up in an attempt to make him answer his queries.

 

Arjuna said, " No, no sea got furious and swallowed Dvârakâ, no ruler

led his army against that city. Wickedness and vileness grew madly

wild among the Yadavas themselves and excited their strife and hate

to such an extent that they slaughtered each other with their own

weapons. " Dharmaraja asked him, " Arjuna, there must be some

overpowering force that urged the Yadava clan, young and old, to

sacrifice themselves in this holocaust. No effect can happen without

a cause, isn't it " and, waited to listen to the details of what had

actually led to the slaughter.

 

Arjuna paused a little to overcome the grief surging within him and

then, he began his account of the events. The other three brothers

drew near and heard the tragic tale. " I learnt that day that not even

the tiniest event can happen unless willed by Vâsudeva. I got fully

convinced of this. He is the Sutradhari, the holder of the strings

that move the puppets and make them act their roles, but, He seats

Himself among the spectators and pretends He is unaware of the plot

or story or cast. The characters cannot deviate a dot from His

directions, His will guides and determines every single movement and

gesture. The varying emotions and events on the stage by which the

drama unrolls itself affect the hearts of those who witness the play,

but, they do not cause a ruffle in the heart of the Sutradhari

(director of the play).

 

He decides what this person should say or that person should do and

He prompts in them the appropriate words and deeds. And, the

consequence of the karma performed and inherited by each individual

from previous lives also adds its quota to this destiny. The Yadavas

who are our own kith and kin were spiritual personages, full of

devotion to God as you all know well. Perhaps, some day, some sage

had cast a curse on them, or else some day some dire sin was

committed by them.... For, how else can we explain this sudden upset

in their history, this unexpected tragedy?

 

They performed a magnificent sacrifice (yajña) at Prabhâsa-kshetra

('splendor', place from where Krishna left this earth); for seven

full days, the yajña was celebrated in unprecedented pomp and style.

The Valedictory Offering in the Sacred Fire was poured in true vedic

grandeur in the presence of Lord Krishna Himself; the participants

and priests performed later the Ceremonial Bath in holy waters; the

brahmins then received their share of the yajña offerings and

distributed it to the Yadavas also. Everything went off, in an

atmosphere of perfect calm, contentment, and joy.

 

Towards noon, brahmins were served with food. Afterwards, the Yadavas

seated themselves in long lines to partake of the feast. During the

feast, as ill-luck would have it, some of the Yadavas filled

themselves with drink and lost self-control so much that they mistook

their own kinsmen as their foes. They started quarrels which raged

into fights of severe fierceness. It must have been in the plan of

God, for however unruly and vile a man might be, he would not

slaughter with his own hands his own children and parents. O, the

horror of it! In the general melee that ensued, son killed father,

father killed son, brother slew brother, son-in-law killed father-in-

law, father-in-law killed son-in-law, in one insane orgy of blind

hate, until there was no one left alive! " Arjuna could not speak

further, he leant against the wall, he held his head, bursting with

pain and grief, between his pressing palms.

 

Dharmaraja heard this account with anguish and amazement. He placed

his hand on Arjuna's back, and said, " What is this that you are

saying, it is an unbelievable story! Since your tongue will never

speak untruth, I am forced to put faith in its correctness, or else,

how can we ever imagine such a sudden transformation of character and

such a lightning massacre? I have never seen or heard anywhere else

such intensity of mutual friendship as marked the Yadava clan.

Besides they do not deviate in the least from the path marked out for

them by Krishna. They will not deflect from it even on the most

frantically furious occasions. That such people should, in the very

presence of Krishna, regardless of all canons [norms] of good

behavior, beat one another to death is strange indeed, such a turn of

events comes only when the end of the world is near " .

 

" Well, Arjuna, could not Krishna stop the fight and advise them to

desist? Did He attempt to bring about some compromise between the

factions and send them back to their places? Krishna is the greatest

adept in the arts of war and peace, is it not? That He did not try to

stop this tragedy makes me wonder more, at this awful tale of

destruction. "

 

Dharmaraja was lost in sorrow; he sat with his head resting on his

clenched fist, the hand placed on the knee; his eyes were so full of

tears that they rolled continuously down his cheeks. Arjuna tried to

speak some words of consolation. " Maharaja, you are aware of the

glory and the grace of Krishna, but yet, you ask questions and

entertain doubts, whether He did this or that, what can I say in

reply? The fate of the Yadavas is the same as the fate of our own

clan. Weren't we and Kaurava brothers? We had kinsmen who were well-

wishers on both sides and we had this same S'yâmasundara (name of

Krishna as the 'beautiful dark one') in our midst, but yet, we had to

go through the Kurukshetra battle. Can we not see that this war would

not have happened, had He willed it so? The forty lakhs [Hindi: lakh:

one hundred thousand] of warriors who died on the field of battle

would not have been lost then, isn't it? Did we ever wish to rule

over this land after slaughtering all these? Nothing can ever happen

without His express command. No one can cross His will or act against

His command.

 

This world is the stage on which each one acts the role He has

allotted him, on which each one struts about for the time given by

Him and each one has to obey His instructions without fail or falter.

We may think in pride that we have done this or that by ourselves,

but, the truth is, everything happens as He wills. "

 

When Arjuna concluded, Dharmaraja thought aloud. " Arjuna, many

motives dragged us into the Mahâbhâratha war. We tried our best

through diplomacy and peaceful means to regain our kingdom, our

status and what was legitimately our due. We bore patiently many

insults and discomfitures. We had to wander in the jungle as exiles.

Through divine grace, we escaped many a plot laid to kill us. They

tried arson and poison on us. They heaped public ignominy on our

Queen. They broke our hearts by systematic ill-treatment.

 

Still, there are but three reasons for the final fight every where:

wealth, dominion, and women. But, take the instance of the Yadavas.

They had no such reason to fall out among themselves in mortal

combat. It appears as if destiny was the only over-powering reason

for this cataclysm.

 

The Yadavas were rolling in plenty. They had no lack of grain or

gold. And their wives? They were models of virtue, faithful and

devoted. They never deviated from the wishes or commands of their

husbands. They could not bring insult or discomfiture to their lords

from any quarter. How then could faction and internecine strife raise

their heads so suddenly among them? "

 

Arjuna replied: " My dear brother! We see the outer circumstances, the

processes which result in the final event and in our ignorance we

judge that this set of causes produced these effects. We guess the

nature of emotions and feelings from what we gauge from events. But

circumstances, events, emotions and feelings are all

simply 'instruments' in His hands, serving His will and His purpose.

When the moment comes, He uses them for His plan, and brings about

the fight He has willed. He is the embodiment of kâla or time. He

comes as the Master of Time and, through some denouement of the plot,

He finishes the drama. That which brought about birth brings about

death too. He finds reason for both, in the same degree. Do we seek

to know why there was a birth? Then, why seek to know why death

occurs? It occurred, that is enough. Reason-finding is a superfluous

occupation.

 

He causes beings to create beings and He causes beings to end beings.

Bodies get born, bodies die, nothing more serious happens at birth or

death. This has been taught us often by Vâsudeva. Why then should we

doubt or deviate from the steady courage He has sought to give us?

 

You might say that it is not just, that He who caused us to be born

should be the person who kills us. Between birth and death, man too

has some capacity to earn punya and papa, merit and demerit and this

has some influence on the course of events. Within these limits, the

Lord plays the game of football with birth and death, and life.

 

Birth and death are two high cliffs between which the river of life

flows. The force of atmic faith (âtmâ-s'akti) is the bridge that

spans the chasm and for those who have developed that force and

faith, floods are of no concern. With âtmâ-s'akti as their safe

support, they can reach the other bank, braving all dangers. O King,

all this is but a grand puppet-show by that Master-Director. The

Yadavas today, like the Kauravas yesterday, had no individuality of

their own, there is no use blaming either.

 

Can this material body, composed of the five elements, - earth,

water, fire, air and ether - move or act without His prompting? No,

it is His amusement, to cause one to be born through another and to

cause one to die through another. Else, how can you explain the fact

of the snake laying eggs and warming them to bring out the young and

then, eat the very children thus born? Even among them, it eats up

only those whose term is ended, so to say, not every one of the

snakelings. The fish that live in the waters get caught in nets when

their term ends; why, the small fish get eaten by the big ones and

they in their turn get swallowed by even bigger ones. This is His

law. The snake eats the frog, the peacock eats the snake, this is His

game. Who can probe into the reasons for this? The truth is: 'Every

single event is the decision of this Balagopâla (another name for

Krishna, ruler of cowherds).'

 

We cannot sense the mystery of His play. We have failed to understand

it. There is no profit in worrying over that failure now. With that

deluding human form, He moved with us, mixed with us, dined with us,

behaved as if He was our kinsman and well-wisher, our friend and

guide, and saved us from many a calamity that threatened to overwhelm

us. He showered His divine mercy on us and solved for us the toughest

problems that defied solution, in remarkably simple ways. During all

this time that He was near and dear to us, we were carried away by

pride that we had His grace; we did not try to fill ourselves with

that supreme joy, to dive deep into the flood of His grace. We sought

from Him mere external victory and temporal benefits; we ignored the

vast treasure with which we could have tilled our hearts. We never

contemplated on His real reality.

 

He guarded us as if we five were the five vital airs (pancha-prâna)

for Him. He came forward to help us and lead us in every undertaking,

however small, and He fulfilled it for us. Brother, what shall I say?

We might be born many times over, but we can never get again such a

friend and kinsman. I have received from Him love much more intense

than that of a mother, a love which no mother can confer.

 

On many an occasion He bore the burdens of the Pândavas as His own

and to relieve us of the bother. He used to plan measures within

minutes and carry them on to final success. It is due to the gift of

His grace that we Pândavas have survived in this world to this day.

 

Why repeat a thousand things separately? Every drop of blood coursing

through these veins is but a drop from the shower of His grace. Every

muscle is but a lump of His love, every bone and cartilage is but a

piece of His mercy. Unable to understand this secret, we strutted

about, boasting " I achieved this " , and " I accomplished that " . Now, it

has become clear to us that without Him we are but bags of skin.

 

Of course, the fate of all men is the same. They forget that the All-

ruling All-knowing Almighty plays with them as puppets; they assume

that they are the actual doers and enjoyers; like me they are plunged

in ignorance of the basic truth. When we who are far-famed heroes and

warriors are in this sad plight, what can we say of ordinary folk who

have no chance of awakening into this jñâna?

 

For this, the sad experience I had on my way is the " direct proof. "

Thus said Arjuna and fell back, leaning against the chair that was

behind him, for he could not bear the separation from his life-long

support and guide, Krishna.