Glimpses From Epics

GLIMPSES ​

FROM BHAGAVATHAM : PARIKSHIT’S UNUSUAL BIRTH: At the fag end of the Mahabharata war, Ashwathama vowed to destroy all Pandava heirs to avenge the death of his father Dhronacharya. He then brutally murdered all the Pandava children in the night while they were fast asleep which was contrary to Yudha-dharma (rules of war). Then he dispatched his powerful fire-emitting missile (Agneyastra) to destroy the only remaining Pandava heir, the child inside the womb of the 16 year old charming Uttara wife of Abimanyu (Arjuna’s son).

Abhimanyu was killed by the Kauravas in the war by stealth. Lord Krishna (whose sole mission is to protect the righteous, destroy the wicked and resurrect dharma) reduced himself to the size of a thumb and went round the fetus emitting fire – nullifying the missile-fire.

Thus, Lord’s mercy saved Parikshit – so he was named ‘Vishnu-raatan’ [one saved by Vishnu]. He was popularly called “Pari-ikshita” as the child in the womb was ‘trying to identify the nature of the thumb-sized person’ who went round protecting him. [Pari = 4 directions; Ikshita = looking out for].

[Note: Vyasa has hinted at 2 things here: (1) every child in the womb (like Parikshit) is protected by the Lord from all external dangers - otherwise how can such a fragile thing survive all the shocks? (2) Upanishads refer to the soul inside us as ‘thumb-sized Lord’ just to help the sadhakas concentrate and (3) every one of us enter this world with the knowledge of the Lord (totality). But His power (Maya) temporarily hides Him from us like a cloud covering the sun.

Maya is called ‘igorance’ and ‘knowledge of the Lord’ nullifies it to reveal Him. Maya will allow us to know what we sincerely want and work hard for. For example, ignorance of mother is removed by knowledge about her, ignorance of nursery rhymes, Algebra, financial /engineering subjects etc. with their knowledge. So we have a choice (free-will) as to what knowledge /skill to acquire and work for. How do we exercise this choice today? We work hard to gain knowledge and to procure worldly things like wealth, power, position, possessions, relatives, etc. which are temporary (subject to time and depreciation). But we do not seek that knowledge (about Lord or Truth) which gives us permanent freedom. King Parikshit (when confronted with sure death) sincerely wanted to get that knowledge of the Lord. Responding to this sincereity, Shuka Maharshi appeared from nowhere (thanks to Maya) and refreshed his knowledge through Bhagavatha Mahapuranam. But we need not wait till that last moment! We have a choice to start much earlier. We can, in fact, start today – right now – because self-knoweldge presupposes introspection which needs a sharp intellect which we humans have. But most intelligent humans use it to know the world and they are also successful – so moving towards spirituality is given a very low priority. Most people therefore die away without any exposure. The handfull who are fortunate to get exposed do benefit immensely. Hence this attempt to expose the young to spirituality through Bhagavatham stories.

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