The Hindu : Lessons from the Mahabharata

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Lessons from the Mahabharata

CHENNAI DEC. 31 . A guidebook on ethics, a constitution in poem for human conduct, a treatise on virtue, prescribing the principles which ought to be scrupulously adhered to and some of the tendencies to be eschewed, a clear message that everything that happens has a meaning and a cause and that men who behave good are few while evil elements are numerous — these are some of the lessons drawn out of the monumental epic, the Mahabharata. At the very commencement is the grim determination of an astonishing character who refused to give up his vow to remain a celibate forever, as while it was taken, celestials and sages were witnesses. A factor governing administration that has been brought out is that there should be no vacuum when a ruler dies and there should be an immediate substitute, reminding us of the adage, "The king is dead, long live the king" (who succeeds).

Evil should be got rid of is yet another instruction given. "If you sacrifice this child for the good of the humanity, evil can be averted" was the suggestion made when certain ill omens were evident, when the villain of the epic was born. "For the sake of the family's welfare, one member can be given up; the family can be abandoned for the sake of saving a village; the village when the community is threatened and everything, even this world, can perish when the soul is to be saved", the wise say.

In her discourse, Smt. Prema Pandurang said a cow does not abandon its calf nor a bird its fledgling but one young woman who secured a boon to use a "Mantra" experimented with it and obtained a child but fearing royal scandal, kept it in a container and sent it down a river for no fault of it. But with the same spiritual power she got three children for her and two for her co-wife. The poem describes her extreme poignancy when she left her child secretly and later when her children went through severe trials, as to make her an edifice of sacrifice.

Very often Lord Krishna who gave the universal sermon, the Bhagavad Gita, to one of her sons, calls him as "Kunti's son" to demonstrate her greatness. The wife of another king, who was married in spite of his blindness, feeling that she should be no better than him, bound her own eyes with layers of silk cloth. Though God made us to be kind, yet we turn cruel; compassion should be our watchword. The eldest of the five was a manifestation of Righteousness and Truth and had no ill will towards any.

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