Sanatsujaatheeyam-chapter1

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vidhuraH uvaacha

 

Vidura said

 

Soodhrayonou aham jaathaH na athaH

anyath vakthum uthsahe

 

Kumaarasya thu yaa budDhiH vedha thaam SaaSvatheem

aham

 

I

am born to a Sudra woman and hence I do not endeavour to speak about it though

I know the eternal knowledge that is known to Sanatkumara well indeed.

 

Vidura

was born to a servant maid through Vyasa when one of the two wives of

Vichithraveerya who were instructed to get issues through the grace of sage

Vyasa, was afraid of the thejas of the sage and sent her servant maid instead,

who served him with devotion. As a result Vidura was born to her and through the grace of

Vyasa he was a jnani from birth.

 

But

Vidura being jnani though quite

qualified, irrespective of his birth, to instruct Dhrarashtra on self-knowledge

but he did not do so in order not to make it a precedent for others less knowledgeable

than him. As the Lord says in the Gita, yadhyadhaacharathi

SreshTaH thath thath eva itharo janaaH, the

people will follow those who are leaders

in aachaara, and those who do not have the wisdom of Vidura will start teaching

others their imperfect knowledge irrespective of their birth and station in

society. Thus the wise must follow the sadhachara as ordained in the Vedas.

 

It

was not the caste but the propriety which was given importance here. The duties

of the four varnas as laid out by the sastras say that the Brahmin alone is

qualified to teach the spiritual knowledge to others, which fact Vidura points

out next.

 

braahmeem hi yonim aapannaH suguhyam api yo vadheth

 

na thena garhyo dhevaanaam thasmaath ethath

braveemi the

 

The

one who is born as a brahmin who instructs on the most secret knowledge is not

censured by the devas.

 

In this work the word braahmaNa means not the one who is merely a Brahmin by

birth but it denotes the one who has the brhamajnana akin to the sthitha prajna

mentioned in the Gita. Sanakaadhi sages do not belong to any caste being the

maanasa puthras of Brahma.

 

vaisampaayana

uvaacha

 

The sage Vaisampayana who was relating the

story of Mahabharatha to Janamejaya, the

son of Parikshith said,

 

Chinthayaamaasa vidhuraH tham rshim

samSithavratham

 

Sa cha thath chinthitham jnaathvaa

dharsayaamaasa bhaaratha

 

Vidura meditated on that sage, who is austere,

and he appeared in front knowing his thoughts.

 

sa cha enam prathijagraaha

viDhidhrshtena karmaNaa

 

sukhopavishtamviSraantham enam

vidhuro abraveeth

 

Vidura

honoured the sage in a befitting manner

and after he was seated and comfortable Vidura spoke.

 

bhagavan samSayaH kaSchith

dhrtharaashtrasya maanase

 

yo na Sakyo mayaa vakthum thvam asmai

vakthum arhasi

 

"Sir,

there is some doubt in the mind of Dhrtharashtra which You are fit talk on and

I am not able to do so.

 

yam Sruthvaa ayam manushyendhraH

sarvadhuhkaathigo bhaveth

 

laabhaalaabhou priyadhveshyou yaThaa

enam na jaraanthakou

 

vishaheran bhayaamarshou kshuthpipaase

madhodhbhavou

 

arathiSchaiva thandhree cha

kaamakroDhou kshayodhayou

 

Hearing

which this king will transcend all sorrow, will be unaffected by gain and loss,

likes and dislikes, old age and death, fear and vengeance, hunger and thirst, arrogance

and pride, worry and indolence desire and anger and decay and growth.

 

The

items listed here are the general causes of the ills of samsara, and Vidura in

short asks the sage to instruct Dhrtharashtra about that knowledge which will

help him to cross over the samsara. But this chapter occurs in the Udhyoga

parva before the Mahabharatha war and not after the war, and hence the advice

did not seem to benefit Dhrthrashtra in any way and served only as a kind of

learning such as the sasthras, which unless applied in life does not bring

spiritual progress.

 

Then in the next chapter Sanatkumara starts to

speak. As the Gita was not meant for Arjuna alone but for the whole mankind

this discourse is also for the benefit of humanity as a whole. As Arjuna forgot

the Gita soon after he started fighting, so too Dhrthrashtra seemed to have

forgotten the profound wisdom imparted to him by the sage soon afterwards.