Values from the Mahabharatha

NOTE: This is not a religious piece of work or any kind of propaganda. Yes, it's based on the Mahabharatha. But the Hindu epics were meant to provide guiding principles for life and nothing more. To me, the Hindu epics do not really coincide with religion. I have a personal connection with them and treat them as stories that I love. Someone asked me if they are indeed guiding principles, what values did I learn from it. I have tried to tackle that question from a different angle and in an extremely informal manner. This is not any sort of commentary but simply my opinion.

When you think about learnings from the Mahabharatha, one’s mind automatically goes to the Bhagawad Gita. But given the depth and complexity of the epic, there is so much more to glean just from the story than just the Gita.

My favourite characters in the tale are Karna and Abhimanyu. Why? Because I dig that underdog story. And what do we learn from them both? Life is terribly unfair no matter how good you are. In Karna’s case, despite being born as a kshathriya, as a demigod, he grew up as a suta and faced discrimination and stigma throughout his life. He was abandoned by his mother for no mistake of his and had to bear the brunt of his mother’s carelessness. His brothers find out about his birth only when discussing whether they should perform funeral rites for man born in the lower caste. The ill-fated prince, the subtitle on the Amar Chithra Katha comic detailing his life, is the so apt and his story thaws my heart every time.

In the case of Abhimanyu, he was betrayed by his maternal uncle, Krishna. Now you cannot really blame Krishna, but you know, being the avatar of Vishnu, he could have chosen to save his nephew. But no, the Lord is not biased and will kill his own nephew. The story goes like this. In the advanced stage of her pregnancy, Subadhra, Arjuna’s wife, resides in Dwaraka, her brother Krishna’s kingdom. One afternoon, she is unable to fall asleep and thus asks her brother to tell her a story. Krishna chooses to tell her about a war formation called the Chakra Vyuham. It is an extremely complex formation which can only be broken by the most skilled warriors. Krishna was narrating to his sister but there was one more listener in the room. Abhimanyu was paying attention from his mother’s womb! Subadhra falls asleep halfway, meaning Krishna has only told them how to enter the Vyuham but not how to exit it. This incident plays a crucial part in the Kurukshethra war. On the 13th day, Dronacharya who had taken the reigns from the former commander-in-chief Bhishma, suggested that they distract Arjuna and then attack their army with the Chakra Vyuham as nobody else knew how to break the formation. Abhimanyu, being Arjuna’s valiant son volunteers. The Pandavas agree to offer him protection as they do not want to risk a sixteen-year old’s life. But they are stopped at the mouth of the Vyuham by Jayadhritha, who has a boon from Lord Shiva that he can overpower four of the Pandavas on any given day. Stranded in the heart of the formation, surrounded by the best warriors of the opposition, Abhimanyu fights like a lion backed into a corner. Unable to overpower him, Jayadhritha stabs him from the back. And thus, falls Abhimanyu. Despite having read the story at least a million times, my heart still weeps over the mighty hero. I want to supplement this point with a shloka.

मातुलो यस्य गोविन्दः पिता यस्य धनञ्जयः । सोऽपि कालवशं प्राप्तः कालो हि दुरतिक्रमः ॥

This shloka means that despite having a maternal uncle like Krishna and a father like Arjuna, Abhimanyu still did not win his war with time. Life often deals you a bad hand and we need to learn to live with it. It may be something as insignificant as your favourite team not winning the trophy or something as huge as the loss of a loved one. No matter what, time is insurmountable and we just need to deal with it.

One other lesson I learnt from the Mahabharatha is that you need to know when to put yourself first and when to put the needs of others first. One incident which illustrates this is when Devavrta, more popularly known as Bhishma, gives up his claim for the throne and vows to be a Bhramachari, when he clearly knows that he is more than qualified to rule the kingdom justly. This alters the course of the entire story resulting in bloodshed and so many other things we could have done without. Bhishma is known to be just and benevolent and it can be assumed that he would raise his children the same way. Instead of doing this extremely reasonable thing, in the name of love for his father and sacrifice, all Bhishma did was appoint a power-hungry queen or a fisherwoman fuelled by her father’s wishes. Satyavati was young enough to be married to Bhishma and not his father, the King Shanthanu. If only Bhishma had claimed his right to the throne! I understand that this is an idea that could only exist in the Kali Yuga. The Mahabharatha which takes place in the Dwapara Yuga, draws heavily from the Treta Yuga, in which Ramayana happens. And don’t we all know the motto of Lord Ram –

“Praan jaaye par vachan na jayi”

which means that your word is more important than your life. I’m not saying that honour is a bad virtue. It is indeed amazing if you could always stick to your words. But in some cases, you just need to cross some lines or at least bend them. Despite always being the voice of reason, Bhishma was always overruled by the King and other members of the royal family. Their treatment of him bordered on disrespect but Bhishma being bound by his vow does not retaliate. I really hope that the concept of self-love and putting your needs above others is not viewed as critically as it is today because at the end of the day, you have to live life for yourself and not for anyone else.

P.S. If you view the world in this light, Slytherin house does not seem all that bad after all.