THE KRISHNA MYSTERY Story to Remember bhagavantha Vahini

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THE KRISHNA MYSTERY

Bhima managed to muster up some courage. He said,

“Brother! Grant me leave and I shall proceed to

Dwaraka in an instant and return quick bringing full

information of all that has happened to remove your fear.â€

Even while Bhima 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 had come and that he was

approaching the Royal apartment. Everyone rose as if they

had suddenly come to life. they hurried forward to meet

Arjuna, thirsty for news from Dwaraka. 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 Dwaraka. 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.â€

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 look on his brothers.

“You need not tell us the rest; but this you must tell us;

what has Vaasudeva 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 Vaasudeva no

more. Oh, 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 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

t we lived to hear this, what a fate! Oh,

Destiny, how could you treat the world so cruelly?†the

brothers lamented together. “Lord, why have you deserted

the Pandavas 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 Yasoda 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 Dwaraka must have

sunk in the sea of inconsolable grief.â€

Dharmaraja was sobbing with sorrow as he pictured

to himself these scenes. Seeing him in this condition, Arjuna

said, “Brother! The people of Dwaraka 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 Vaasudeva from this world. The rest left

the world even before news came of His departure.â€

At this Dharmaraja exclaimed, “Hari, Hari, Oh God!

What is it you said now? What is this catastrophe? I do not

understand anything. Did the sea rise and engulf Dwaraka?

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

Dwaraka; 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 Vaasudeva. I got fully convinced of this.

He is the Suthradhari, 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 Suthradhari.

“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 (Yajna) at

Prabhasakshethra. For seven full days, the Yajna 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 Yajna

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.

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

killed father, father killed son, brother slew brother, son-inlaw

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!â€

Arjuna could not speak further; he leaned 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 of good behaviour, 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.â€

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

Shyamasundar 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

(100,000) 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.â€

When Arjuna concluded, Dharmaraja thought aloud.

“Arjuna! Many motives dragged us into the Mahabharatha

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

everywhere: wealth, dominion, and woman. 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 overpowering 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?â€

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 Kala 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 Vaasudeva. 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 (Atma Sakthi)

is the bridge that spans the chasm and for those who have

developed that Force and Faith, floods are of no concern.

With Atma Sakthi as their safe support, they can reach the

other bank, braving all dangers. Oh, 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 Balagopala.’

“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 filled our hearts. We never contemplated on His Real Reality. “He guarded us as if we five were the Five Vital Airs (Panchaprana) 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 Pandavas 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 Pandavas 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 this.’ 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 Jnana? “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

----- Ram ChuganiKobe, Japan