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| Peaceful Village at Kurukshetra |
As Leo Tolstoy writes in “War and peace” The
strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience. All violent reforms deserve censure, because they can never do away with evil
as long as men are what they are; and therefore, it is a part of wisdom not to
employ violence. It's not given to people to judge what's right
or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in
nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.
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| Monument near Jyothisar |
Mythology
is filled with examples of the results of war be it the Mahabharata and
Ramayana. Whether it is personal war or war for dharma, War for land or riches
the violent results of war are never good for the winning side as well. Cause
and effect of the war is always unfavourable. Be it God or ordinary mortals. In
the Mahabharata the Victors of the war of kurukshetra, the Pandavas lost their
immediate descendants the sons of Draupadi - Prativindhya, Shatanika, Sutasoma,
Shrutasena and Shrutakarma who were killed by Ashwathama at the end of the war.
In the War Ambhimanyu and Ghatothkach
were killed. Even Krishna cursed by Gandhari met his end by the arrow of
an ordinary hunter. Finally after 36 years of ruling their kingdom, when the
Pandavas opted for Exile and decided to walk their way to heaven, one by one they
fell down exhausted and died, the first to fall among them was Draupadi and
Yudishitira since he had renounced all decides not to look back or wait and
advices all to continue. Draupadi preferred Arjuna
among the Pandavas, (Desire was her sin).The next to fall was Sehadeva, he was proud of his knowledge (Pride is his sin). Then came the turn
of Nakula, he was really proud of his beauty (Vanity is his sin) Then came the
turn of Arjuna, he was envious of all archers (Envy is his sin) then to fall was the
strongest of them all Bhima, he used to
eat like crazy without serving others (Strength and Gluttony is his sin).
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| Geetha updesh |
Finally the one left to reach the doors of heaven was Yudhistira and a Dog that
accompanied the pandavas right from the palace of Indraprastha. When the two of
them reach the are stopped at the door and Yudhistira is told that only he may
enter, but Yudhistira refuses to enter without the Dog. Yudhistira says that the dog was his faithful companion and he cannot
abandon it, It sought his help and gave him unconditional love. The pleasures
of heaven will mean nothing to him in comparison to its grief. It has done
nothing to deserve abandonment and had none of the weaknesses of his wife and
brothers. If it does not deserve to go to heaven, then neither do he.
Indra and Gods in heaven welcome Yudhistira to heaven with his dog. The dog in
mythology is a companion of Rudra, Shiva himself! Once in heaven Yudhistira
sees all the Kauravas in heaven is amazed about their presence there, while his
wife and brothers for their little sins are not in heaven. He questions how it
is possible and is told that whoever commits sins and virtues will attain both
hell and heaven. If the Sins outweigh the virtues he enjoys heaven for a brief
period and lives in hell for the a longer period. If the Virtues outweigh the
sins then he spends a brief period in hell and is elevated to the heavens for a
larger period. So the cycle of Karma will eventually catch up. There fore the
deeds of love and violence of war will not go unaccounted. We must be
responsible for the pain we cause while being applauded for the love we share.
When
we argue about Rama and Krishna, about righteousness and wrongness, What we
forget is that what our scriptures teach us is that – there is good and evil in
the world, one is not independent of the other, and they are but two sides of
the same coin. Every person has a mix of both good and evil in us. Our persona
is exhibited based on the part of us predominates the other. This makes us the Hero or the
Villian. To be elevated to the status of God does not absolve us of our persona.
The Avatars are human beings who are elevated to a Godly status to make us
understand the rules of nature. Ultimately to win one must loose and to have
lost is not the end. Time knows no beginning and time knows no end.
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