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Ashwathamas Do Not Die.

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by HariLakhera, Sep 15, 2018.

  1. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Ashwathamas Never Die

    Aswathama, son of Dronacharya, the Guru of Kauravas and Pandavas princesses was not a part of Drona's class but he learnt archery in the background. He was not a Kshatry -a warrior. He was being groomed to be a teacher like his father. He had no reason to be fighting on behalf of Kauravas. But he did. He had no reason to be against Pandavas but he was. His envy of Arjuna' s skill in Archery made him victim of inferiority complex. He adopted adharma by choice.

    On the last day of the war he was sole survivor from the side of Kauravas. He promised to the injured and dying Duryodhana that he will kill all Pandavas and thus turn the victory in Kauravas' favor. He had the alibi of his father's killing. More than anything else it was his personal anguish and hatred for Pandavas and misplaced loyalty for Kauravas. His father was under obligations to repay the debt of timely help by Bhism Pitamah and Dhritrastra but he himself was not any such obligation.

    Instead by mistake he killed five sleeping innocent kids, sons of Pandavas, used Brahmastra to kill a still born child, Parikshit, son of Abhimanu and Uttara. And all this for what? To avenge killing of his father? No. To gain Victory in war? No. To please Kauravas? No. To take revenge on Pandavas? No. To satisfy his pent up feelings of inferiority? Yes. Yes. Yes. And to hide this he acted as faithful of Kauravas, for no reason.

    He was the only one who did not die and was crushed to be wandering the Bhoolok in search of death.

    I am posting this in continuation of my earlier post 'Truthfulness is Mandatory ' to support the maxim that those who do not and cannot distinguish between truth and untruth, dharma and adharma never die.

    And to be more specific, Ashwathama lives in us. As long as we cannot value for what we are and keep on torturing us for what others are, we unwittingly become Ashwathama. We hide behind pretexts to cover our weakness.
     
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  2. Thyagarajan

    Thyagarajan IL Hall of Fame

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    :hello:double distilled truth about HUMANITY always running in haste toward mirage.
    THANKS AND REGARDS.
     
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  3. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    A good write up on Ashwaththaama.
    As we go through the life of Ashwaththama, we find that Ashwaththama is not portrayed bad.Ashwathama is never afraid to speak his mind. He boldly tells Duryothana<'weare striving our best to win the war for you.It is you who are greedy,self centred and treacherous.In fact your suspicious character is the actual problem."

    Aswaththama's character changes when he finds out that his father was killed through deceiptful means.
    Not only Aswaththama, but the entire mahabharatha is an epic of revenge.
    Pandava's vengeance against humiliation at the game of dice, Draupathi's revenge for her humiliation by Dussasana, Bhima's revenge, and ultimately Aswathama's revenge.

    As Ashwathama enters the enemy camp ,he saw guarding the gate, a great bodied spirit ,very bright,draped in tiger's skin.All the arrows javelin, clubs, and swords used by Aswathama are devoured by the spirit.He actually thinks that it was the fruit of his impure intention.Ultimately he bows to Lord Shiva and seeks his help .He offers himself as a sacrifice and enters the flame of sacrificial fire .Shiva, getting moved gives a sword and enters his body.
    Next day Krishna explains to Pandavas that it was the great Lord Shiva who had helped Aswathama.During the war it was Krishna's guiles that helped Pandavas to win.In the end it was Shiva's guile that helped Ashwathama.
    Are we to take that lord Krishna and Shiva had their valuable service in protecting what they intended as Dharma.
    Krishna signalled to Arjuna to remind Bhima to break the thighs of Duryodhana.-totally against Dharma
    Krishna purposely arranged to place Shikandi against Bhishma '
    Krishna played great mischief in having the elephant named Aswathama killed and having it announced by Yudhishtira and purposely blowing his conch loudwhen the word'elephant'was pronounced making everybody believe that Drona's son died;-the countless unfair practices that Krishna played that gave Pandavas a victory. Now Shiva on his part helped Aswathama to take revenge.
    If Gods start helping, why to blame Aswathama? Perhaps god inside everyone of us is indirectly persuading the person to indulge in misdeeds.
    The story of Mahabharatha deals with hundreds of sub stories and everywhere there is some justification or the other for misdeeds either in the name of divine intervention,karmic laws ,self pity or the curses given by Rishis.
    Whether it is young Abhimayu's death , or the death of Parikshith, or death of upa pandavas-everywhere destiny or karma plays its role.
    But the beauty of Indian epic is all the misdeeds are questioned by the author Vyasa himself through the mouth of Duryothana or Draupathi.He does not leave Lord Krishna or Shiva.

    Jayasala 42
     
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  4. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Thank you Shri Thygarajan. It is so complex.
     
  5. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    --
    Thanks for so elaborate feed back. Mahabharata is in fact the story of us. The more I read it, the more I am convinced that nothing much has changed. Humanity has lived with love, honesty, truthfulness, and opposite of all these. Every story and sub story is a reminder of this.
    It is again difficult to say what justifies what-means or the ends. Gandhi said means should justify the end. In Mahabharata it is all mixed up. Every action can be justified by quoting another action.
    The only thing that goes against Ashwathama is his position in the hierarchy of social order. He was not supposed to be fighting the war at all as he was not under any obligation. As a son of a teacher his place was in the class room as a teacher. His excuse for the death of his father was also not true. He knew his father was fighting the war as he was under obligation and indebted to Kauravas, which itself was misplaced because he had paid his debt by training the kauravas. One of the 100 sons of Kauravas, I don't remember the name, did not take part int he war as he thought it was an unholy war. May be there were others who did not take part in the war from both sides.
    But then as you rightly said, the epic has justification for every action.

    Thanks and regards for your time.
     
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  6. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Hariji,

    It is unusual punishment for someone who is known to have a gem in his forehead to command all the other beings at his will and also known as immortal. Generally, Avatar's kill those who commit Adharma and perhaps, Lord Krishna didn't want to conflict with Lord Shiva.

    His father Dronacharya violated his own principle of giving the knowledge of Brahmastra only to those warriors who deserve and would use it wisely because of love for his son. Aswathama might be a great warrior but didn't use it wisely as he was trying to kill an unborn baby. He also killed sleeping warriors to just satisfy the wish of his dearest friend Duryodhana.

    Isn't it a difficult punishment to not only live to watch all the loved ones die in front of the eyes but also deteriorate in form but stay alive for a long period of time? It is hard to imagine that he lives even today among us.

    Sometimes, those who commit so many sins are the ones who are the great worshipers. Even today, we see those who commit so many sins in daily life do pooja in the morning quietly with the family. It jolted me to read your lines that there is Aswathama in us when we torture ourselves for what others are. Great lesson you have communicated through those wonderful words of wisdom. Those lines of yours is a great motivator to change myself to value what I am.

    Viswa
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2018
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  7. raswam

    raswam Senior IL'ite

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    Well said. Very nice and thought provoking post.
     
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  8. HariLakhera

    HariLakhera Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Viswa,
    Many thanks for your appreciation.
    Mahabharatha is very complex if we see it from a distance. The moment we start evaluating ourselves we find that we are no different and it becomes easy to comprehend it. Each and every character in Mahabharatha is an embodiment of sins and virtues rolled into one. In the same way we are. That probably is the reason why it is universal and will remain relevant for ever. Even Krishna does not appear fair.
     
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