Sri Vysasa Madhva Samshodhana Pratishtha

Summary points from the Lecture on “5 Important Lessons from Mahabharata” by              Dr. Vyasanakere Prabhanjanacharya

Date: 20 February 2006, 2.30-6.30 pm  Venue      : Vijayabharathi High School, Girinagar

Purpose of this document

The purpose of this document is to bring out summary points from the lecture delivered by Dr. Vyasanakere Prabhanajanacharya as a part of the “Madhvacharya for the Youth” series conducted under the auspices of Sri Vyasa Madhva Samshodhana Pratishthana.  The purpose of the workshop was to bring out the important lessons that different characters and events of Mahabharata teach us.  These lessons which are dug out from the vast expanse of the great epic and masterpiece of the Master himself, Vedavyasa. The document is not a comprehensive account or assimilation of the lecture delivered, but seeks to capture some salient points from the same.  Any error in the process is seriously regretted.

Summary Points

Attainment of happiness is the prime purpose of all beings.  The happiness has to be of a permanent and infinite nature and not that is short-lived and limited. The direction on how to reach this state of permanent happiness is provided by the Vedas.  As Vedas are cryptic and can be fully understood, the knowledge needs to passed on in the form of the Puranas.  Lord Vedavyasa created the epic, The Mahabharata for this purpose.  In this vast ocean of knowledge there are millions of lessons.  Five such important lessons which teach the common man and the scholars alike have been culled out for the purpose of this workshop.

Lesson # One -Lesson learnt from Pandu and Kunti

• Pandu and Kunti have recognized that it is their duty that they beget righteous children who will protect the Dharma or right conduct in the society.  It the job of the Kshatriya to protect the dharma and society from evil forces.  Dharma in turn protects the people and thereby the entire mankind.  For this reason they beget five children known as the Pandavas.
• The first child is Yudhishitira, the incarnation of Lord Yama and the symbol of Dharma.  A person who shows the world the right path through out his life.  He guides others too to follow the righteous path.
• No law is effective if it is not enforced.  This becomes only a statement of intent but does not serve any purpose.  Enforcement of the any law is done by educating the people and by the use of force to discipline the erring elements of the society.  With this purpose of protecting Dharma, Pandu and Kunti beget their second son, Bheema, the incarnation of Vayu.  As is clear form the scriptures, the strength of all the Gods is Indra, Shiva is stronger than Indra, Vayu is stringer than Shiva and Sri Hari is stronger than all.  Vayu thus is the symbol of strength and knowledge is a very high measure as it is not enough to have limited strength and knowledge. Just like the government uses both ate arms of force as well as knowledge to enforce a law, Yudhishtira is to be protected by the strength and knowledge of Bheema all his life. Knowledge or Gnanabala is to be provided to the society by the Brahmins and Protection through use of physical strength or Bahubala is to be provided by the Kshatriyas or the warriors.
• One should also aim at building a strong mind and a strong body.  If one of these aspects is absent it leads to an incomplete life.
• Vayu apart from being strong and knowledgeable also responds immediately to the requests from people.
• In order to have a strong substitute for Bhima, they beget their third son, Arjuna who is an incarnation of Indra, the king of the Gods.  Bhima and Arjuna serve as the strength for the Pandavas all through.
• Pandu and Kunti beget two more sons-Nakula and Sahadeva who symbolize Character and Modesty.  These two serve as essential complements to Dharma, Strength and Knowledge.

Lesson # Two- The Role of Kunti

• Kunti is a unique example of how a woman despite facing severe adversities, comes out successful.  As a young widow, she faces the crueltites and partisan behaviour of her brother-in-law, Dhritarashtra, towards her children, but overcomes the same owing to her strong faith in Lord Krishna and her son, Bheema.
• Her character is so unique that Vedavyasa mentions at the beginning of the Mahabharata that one of the purposes of writing the epic was to introduce the character of Kunti and the valuable lessons that she gives to mankind.
• Her strong faith in Bheema’s abilities is witnessed consistently throughout the Mahabharata story and especially manifests in the story of the killing of Bakasura.  When she offers to send Bhima to the demon Bakasura, everyone including Yudhishitira is shocked and questions Kunit’s prudence in doing so.  To which she replies that she has full faith in Bhima’s strength and knowledge ever since she saw him at birth.  Bhima as a ten day old child slips off the hands of Kunti and falls on a rock.  When a wailing Kunit runs towards the rock, she is surprised to see that Bhima is intact and the huge rock has been torn to pieces.  She them concludes that there is no situation that can harm not only Bhima and but also the persons who are protected by him.
• She remains unbiased towards her children as well those of Madri and never gives them a step motherly treatment.

Lesson # Three – Lessons of Dharma from Yudhisthira and others

• During the Yakshaprashne incident, Yudhisthira displays the maturity, calmness and knowledge of a righteous king.
• By giving an unbiased treatment to Madri’s sons, he displays how one should follow Dharma at all times.
• Yudhishtira shows how one should follow the law but also the spirit and intent of the law.
• During the Yaksha parshna incident after he successfully answers all the questions posed by Yaksha, he is asked as to who amongst his brothers would he want to come alive.  Without any hesitation he says that Nakula who is the son of Madri should come alive.  When asked the reason for the same, he says that since he is alive and is the elder son of Kunti, one son of Madri should also be alive lest he be seen as partisan towards Kunit’s son.  Here he displays the highest standards of ethics because with just one year before the Mahabharata war, any lesser person would have been tempted to have the powerful Bhima or the great archer Arjuna alive, fight and win the war but he thinks otherwise.  

Lesson # Four – Lessons from Bhagavad Gita

• As learnt in the First Workshop on The Gita, one of the important parts of the Mahabharata is the Gita.
• In a classic case of wrong thinking, Arjuna refuses to fight the war citing his emotions and why thinks the war itself is inappropriate.
• Krishna sets aside all his arguments and implores him to fight the war.
• He gives him the an important message to fight the war without expecting lowly fruits and advises him that one should perform one’s duties in accordance with Dharma and not be side-tracked into lesser and inappropriate issues.

Lesson # Five – Lessons in alacrity

• There is a tendency to postpone and procrastinate doing the correct things.  One always says that he will do tomorrow what he can do today.  Here the assumption that one will be alive and be fit mentally and physically to perform the same.  We know from our surroundings that there is so much uncertainly around us that one can never be sure of the future.
• One should immediately act on the knowledge one gets, however limited, and perform the prescribed duty.

II Sri Krishnarpanamastu II