Bhagavatha Vahini, Chapter 11 - When the Lord left - the Pandavas Grief

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Bhagavatha Vahini

The story of God and his DevoteesWritten by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai BabaDownload this Vahini

 

Chapter 11

When the Lord left - the Pandavas Grief

Dharmaraja, who was lost in contemplation, recapitulating the advice, the help,

the grace, the love, the sympathy, that they had earned from Lord Krishna,

suddenly raised his head and asked, "Arjuna! What did you say? What calamity

overtook you on the way? Tell us in full, dear brother!", slowly lifting the

chin of Arjuna while asking so. Arjuna looked his brother in the face and said,

"Brother, all my skill and attainments have departed with Lord Krishna. I am now

without any powers, incapable of any achievement, weaker than the weakest,

indeed lifeless.

Brother, listen. This most unlucky fellow did not have the chance to be with the

Lord Vasudeva when He left for His Abode, even though he was in Dwaraka at that

time. I had not earned enough merit to get that chance! I could not have the

Darsan of our Divine Father before He left. Later, the charioteer of the Lord,

Daruka, gave me the message He had given for me when He departed. In that

message, He had written thus with His own Hand".

Saying thus, he took out from the folds of his dress the letter which he

considered more precious even than life, for it was from Krishna and written by

His own Hand. He gave it into the hands of Dharmaraja, who received it

reverentially with alacrity and anxiety. He pressed it on his eyes, which were

full of tears. He tried to decipher the writing through the curtain of tears,

but with no success.

 

Srî Krishna, The Personality of Godhead

It began, "Arjuna! This is my command; carry it out without demur, to the full.

Execute this task with courage and earnestness." After this express injunction,

Krishna had elaborated on the task in the following words: "I have accomplished

the mission on which I had come. I shall no longer be in this world, with body.

I am departing. Seven days from today, Dwaraka will sink into the sea; the sea

will swallow everything except the house I had occupied. Therefore, you have to

take to Indraprastha City the queens and other women who survive, along with the

children and babies and the old and decrepit. I am leaving, placing all

responsibility for the women and other Yadava survivors in your hands. Care for

them as you care for your own life; arrange for them at Indraprastha and protect

them from danger." The postscript said, "Thus, writes Gopala on leaving for His

Home."

Dharmaraja finished reading. He noticed that Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva

were shedding copious tears and squatting like rocks, oblivious to everything

else. Arjuna said, "Brother! I had no desire to live for a moment more without

the Lord in our midst and so I resolved to drown myself in the sea that was to

swallow Dwaraka; I decided to split my own head with this bow and die. But this

command forced me to desist; the order from Him who ordains the Universe tied me

to this earth. I had no time to plan out any line of action, everything had to

be done quick.

"So, I got the last rites done for the dead, according to the Sastras; then in

great anxiety lest the sea swallow Dwaraka before the women, children and old

people were evacuated, I hurried them to come out and started for Indraprastha,

as commanded by Krishna. We left Dwaraka with no mind to leave it. We managed to

reach the borders of Panchanada (Punjab) with hearts heavy on account of the

absence of Krishna, but I was urged forward by the need to obey the Divine

Injunction, and to carry, according to that injunction, the burden of those

people.

"The sun was setting one day; we dared not cross at that late hour a flooded

river that impeded our progress. I decided to encamp on the bank of that river

for the night. We collected the jewels and valuables of all the women and kept

them in a secure place; the queens alighted from the palanquins and the maids

scattered themselves for rest. I approached the river for the evening rites,

dragging myself along with the sadness of separation from Krishna. Meanwhile,

pitch darkness pervaded the place and soon we heard wild barbarian war cries

from the surrounding darkness. I peered into the night and found a horde of

forest-dwelling nomads rushing upon us with sticks, spears and daggers. They

laid hands on the jewels and valuables; they started dragging away the women

and binding them hand and foot.

"I shouted at them and threatened them with dire consequences. 'Why do you fall

like moths into fire?' I asked them. 'Why be like fish that meet death craving

for the angler's worm?' I told them. 'Do not meet death in this vain attempt to

collect loot', I warned them. 'I imagine you do not know who I am. Have you not

heard of the redoubtable bowman, Pandu's son Arjuna, who overwhelmed and

defeated the three world-conquerors, Drona, Bhisma and Karna? I shall now

despatch the whole lot of you to the Kingdom of Death, with a twang of this

bow, my incomparable Gandiva. Flee before you meet destruction, or else, feed

with your lives this hungry bow", I announced.

"Nevertheless, they went about their nefarious task undismayed; their cruel

attack did not abate; they fell upon our camp and dared attack even me. I held

myself in readiness and fitted divine arrows to efface them all. But alas, a

terrible thing happened; I cannot explain how or why! Of the sacred formulae

which fill the missile with potency, I could not recall a single one! I forgot

the processes of invocation and revocation. I was helpless.

"Before my very eyes, the robber bands dragged away the queens, the maids and

others. They were screaming in agony, calling on me by name "Arjuna! Arjuna!

Save us; rescue us; do you not hear us? Why are you deaf to our cries? Are you

giving us over to these brigands? Had we known that this would be our fate we

would have died in the sea like our dear city, Dwaraka." I heard it all, in

terrible agony; I saw it all. They were screaming and fleeing in all

directions, women, children and the aged and the infirm. Like a lion whose

teeth have been plucked out and whose claws have been sheared, I could not harm

those ruffians. I could not string my bow. I attacked them with the arrows in my

clasp. Very soon, even the stock of arrows was exhausted. My heart was burning

with anger and shame. I became disgusted with my own pusillanimity. I felt as

if I was dead. All my efforts were in vain. The greatly blessed 'inexhaustible'

receptacle of arrows had failed me, after

Vasudeva had left.

"My might and skill had gone with Krishna when He went from here. Or else, how

did this misfortune occur of my being a helpless witness of this kidnapping of

women and children entrusted to my care? I was tortured on one side by the

separation from Krishna and on the other by the agony of not carrying out His

orders. Like a strong wind that fans the fire, this calamity added fuel to the

anguish of my heart. And the queens - those who were living in golden palaces

in the height of luxury! When I contemplate their fate in the hands of those

fierce savages, my heart is reduced to ashes. O Lord! O Krishna! Is it for this

that you rescued us from danger in the past - to inflict on us this drastic

punishment?"

When the Lord left

Arjuna wept aloud and beat his head against the wall in despair, so that the

room was filled with grief; every one shivered in despair. The hardest rock

would have melted in sympathy. From Bhima's eyes, streams of hot tears flowed.

Dharmaraja was overpowered with fear when he saw him weeping so. He went near

him and spoke lovingly and tenderly to him in order to console him. Bhima came

to himself after some time; he fell at Dharmaraja's feet and said, "Brother! I

do not like to live any more. Give me leave. I shall go into the forest and

immolate myself with the name of Krishna on my lips and reach Home. This world,

without Krishna, is hell to me". He wiped the hot tears with the cloth in his

hand.

Sahadeva who was silent so long approached Bhima and said, "Calm yourself, do

not get excited. Remember the reply Krishna gave Dhritharashtra that day in the

open assembly when He proceeded thither to negotiate peace between us?"

Bhajan: Narayana Bhaja Narayan Narayan Bhaja Narayan Narayan (sung by Baba)

 

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