Excerpts from Sathyopanishad
Shrikanth S
Incident 6: Did
Draupadi cause the Mahabharatha war?
Draupadi ensured
that her husbands stayed on the path of righteousness and morality several
times. One such episode which reflects
her greatness and magnanimity is an incident after the Great War. On the night of the 18th day of
war, Ashwattama wanted to avenge his father’s death and wanted to kill Pandavas
in their sleep. After entering their
tent, thinking the five children were the Pandavas, Ashwattama gruesomely
massacred the young Pandava children in their sleep. Realizing that the perpetrator was
Ashwatthama, Arjuna tracked him down, and dragged him before Draupadi and
Subhadra.
At this moment, if
you put yourself in Draupadi’s shoes: Here is a person who was supposedly close
to Pandavas, almost brother-like, and he killed her unarmed children in their
sleep; this person tried to destroy the lineage of the Pandavas by aiming the
powerful astra towards her daughter-in-law Uttara’s womb; and this Ashwattama
entered the Pandava camp in slyly in the night to kill her husbands and was
full of hatred towards them. Imagine
how one would have react. Given her
chastity, she could have easily cursed the offender of this crime and
pronounced punishment.
Instead, falling
at the feet of Aswatthama, the son of her husbands' most respected Guru, Draupadi
said
“It is at the feet of your father, Dronacharya
that my husbands have learnt all that they know. Being the son of Dronacharya,
was it proper to kill my children. How could you have the heart to kill them
who were unharmed, young, quietly asleep, were not having any grudge against
you, and were not contemplating any harm to you?”
– Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
http://www.saibaba.ws/discourses/2004/04Sep06a.htm
Witnessing this,
the Pandavas were shocked. Bhima and
Arjuna exploded in anger and Bhima roared that Draupadi is a stupid woman, as
she pleaded for Ashwattama’s freedom and she felt no anger against the murderer
of her sons.
When Arjuna and
Bhima were about to kill Aswatthama, Draupadi fell at his feet and articulated
her views that by killing Aswatthama will her sons be revived? Will not Ashwatthama’s mother feel similar
kind of sorrow she underwent? She then
coaxed Arjuna and Bhima to maintain their tranquility. Furthermore she stated it is not proper to
kill one who is fast asleep, one who is intoxicated and one who is resting
without safety and security, and that it is not dharma to do such an act.
Arjuna reminded
Draupadi of his vow to kill Ashwattama.
To this Draupadi replied, tonsuring Ashwattama’s head and removing the
crown jewel from his head would be equivalent to killing him. Accordingly Ashwattama was forgiven
magnanimously with a token punishment.
Lessons to be Learnt
What is Papa (sin)? Hurting, abusing and
killing others is sin. What is Punya (merit)? Helping others is merit.
Therefore, one should not retaliate to an evil act with an evil act. Instead,
one should be magnanimous in forgiving the offender. There are many such sacred
teachings in the Mahabharata.
People around, who were witnessing this scene,
were wonderstruck. They were wondering whether Draupadi was really mad! In
fact, the world will be better if everyone is afflicted with such madness.
Thus, when Draupadi pleaded with her husbands for saving the life of
Aswatthama, Aswatthama prayed for forgiveness. Draupadi was happy at the change
of heart in Aswatthama and advised him, "Brother! You need not beg for my
forgiveness. Instead, you pay your respect and do service to your mother. Do
not drown her in sorrow. Never cause her anguish; take good care of her."
Even the loss of five sons did not make Draupadi shed tears of sorrow.
– Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
http://www.saibaba.ws/discourses/2004/04Sep06a.htm
Maintaining
equanimity is vital. One of the reasons
for her patience and equanimity could be her surrender to the Lord. To be honest, it is easy to state
equanimity, surrender etc. It can be
extremely difficult to follow. For
instance, I can lose equanimity even at simple things – if someone praises, I
am happy and if someone abuses I am sad.
Sometimes, I do wonder at the journey to be travelled. But as our Lord says don’t look at the
journey to be covered, be happy by seeing the journey that has been
covered. To cover the journey ahead,
I can draw inspiration from events in Draupadi’s life, which set a very high
standard for us to emulate and benchmark.
Incident 6: Did
Draupadi cause the Mahabharatha war?
Several TV serials
showed that Draupadi laughed at Duruyodhana while he was in the Mayasabha. There was some commentary that said that
laughter could have made Duruyodhana vengeful and angry leading to the game of
gambling and finally to the Kurukshetra War.
Bhagawan Baba provides clarification
“These are words of those
who do not know the reality. Draupadi was not an ordinary person. She was a
queen, known for her chastity. She was the wife of the great Pandavas. It is
ridiculous to say that she laughed at Duryodhana in the Mayasabha. You are
mistaken if you think so. She was not of the type to laugh at people. Those who
don’t know what had actually happened think like this.
On that day after taking
a head bath, Draupadi was drying her hair and was about to come out of the
palace through the main door. It was at that time that Duryodhana fell down
mistaking the place for open ground when there was water. Watching, this, the
maidservants started laughing at the ludicrous, sight. As Draupadi was coming
out just then, Duryodhana saw her and mistook that she was laughing at him. In
fact, she did not laugh at all. So, it was the fault of Duryodhana to think so.
There was no flaw in
Draupadi. She never raised her voice at any time. Contented with whatever she
had, she was never tired of serving the Pandavas under any circumstances. She
was the noblest of them all. It is your foolishness to think that she laughed
at Duryodhana or at any other person.”
– Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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