Monday, December 6, 2010

The Destiny called Draupadi

As I read through another Mahabharata, I keep thinking to myself how Draupadi was created just to fuel the cleansing of the Earth at the cusp of the ages.

To begin with she was not born, she appeared from the fire of a yagna. King Drupada had just been humiliated by Dronacharya. He was defeated and captured by Arjuna at the direction of Drona. King Drupada came back to Panchala and conducted a massive yagna to beget a son who would kill Drona and a daughter who would marry Arjuna. And so there she was...Draupadi, born to marry the handsome Arjuna.

But, fate had something else in store for Draupadi. Draupadi was a dark and ethereal beauty who no man could resist. When the Pandavas saw her at her svayamvara, they all wanted her. Even so many kings and princes of Bharatvarsha, including Kuru prince Duryodhana and King of Anga, Karna. Draupadi's purpose in life was accomplished when Arjuna pierced the eye of the revolving fish, disguised as a brahmin. The Pandavas brought her home to Ekcharka to their mother and presented Draupadi as bhiksha. Kunti, their mother asked them to divide it among themselves. Kunti grew very worried when she saw Draupadi and realized what she had just uttered. But, Krishna appears and tells them how Draupadi in her previous birth had asked Lord Shiva for a husband and had repeated "husband" five times in her boon.

At her svayamvara, Draupadi refuses to accept sutaputra Karna and spurns him. This incident remained embedded in Karna's memory when he did what he did at the dice game.

After receiving Khadavprastha from their uncle, the Pandavas with the help of Krishna, transformed it into Indraprastha. The danava Maya built a Maya Sabha for them there. Maya Sabha was built such that it read the mind of people that came to see the sabha and if they were envious, the sabha would conjure up tricks which would confuse them. One day, after the Rajasuya yagna, Duryodhana entered the Maya Sabha and looked at it full of envy. As he stepped in, he lifted his garment to cross what he thought was a puddle of water but it tuned out to be a hard floor. A little further down he walked into a pool of water when he thought it was hard ground. Seeing the Kuru prince drenched, Draupadi laughed out loud. Duryodhana was seething with anger and stormed out of the place.

All these led to the dice game and Draupadi being humiliated in the Kuru sabha. Karna and Duryodhana never forgot the insults handed to them by Draupadi and took advantage of the dice game. For Draupadi, Bheema and Arjuna took the vows they took.
Once, during the exile, when Draupadi was alone, Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu and brother-in-law of Duryodhana saw Draupadi and could resist her. He caught hold of her and carried her away. On his way he was caught by the Pandavas and they punished him by shaving his head off. Unable to bear the insult he performed a rigorous penance and obtained a boon such that he would be able to defeat all the Pandavas except Arjuna in battle for a day. This he used on the day when the Kauravas treacherously killed Abhimanyu.

These and many other incidents, make Draupadi THE reason for the Mahabharata war. She was the Lord's Maya that illusioned the demonic forces and together, Krishna and Krishnaa (Draupadi was called so because of her complexion) rid the Earth of her burden.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Spiritual Evolution

The root of this discussion was during a session we had on spiritual leadership. I am surprised ...... Why have we come to the point that we think ethical leadership is innovative or radical? Isn't it something that should come naturally? Weren't we born to be ethical? Why should we have a lecture on this? And besides .... what is the new fad that "I have guru" and "my life changed after I met my guru"?
I believe these gurus are doing a decent job of at least getting people aware of the essence of life. One could agrue that most of these spiritual teachings are more about day to day living and really do not lead to moksha. Then what is so spiritual about these teachings? But then remember all humans (or for that matter creatures) are in different stages of spiritual evolution.
As I see it there are 3 stages of spiritual evolution -
1. Regular dialogue between two atmas - Here you accept that you are the soul and not the body. This awareness is essential before u emabark on the path to self realization. The dialogue happens between two people.
2. Dialogue between the atma and the perceived parmatma - Now you find a guru whom you look upon as parmatma. You get closer to the "Truth" if you would like to call. But according to me at this point too, the guru is an atma who probably is closer to the parmatma.
3. The last and the most diffcult part is realization that atma and parmatma are the same. Now the dialogue is more internal and you are well on the path to self realization. I do not know where it ends.....
These are purely my thoughts and I consider myself very low on the spiritual evolution path. It may also seem to be an oversimplified path to self realization. Again I am no expert. And of course I do not subscribe to any school of thought. I am after all a free spirit in this vast universe that was created just for me to question and find answers naturally!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

7 1/2 years of Shani

Ok sorry for the long time between posts, I have been plain lazy and besides, I have reached a stage of saturation.
Coming to my post, I have been reading a lot of astrology on the web. I find that the most dreadful thing, according to astrology, is the 7 1/2 year cycle of Shani (Saturn). And yes you have guessed it, I am right in the middle of this action.
Shani is one of the Devas (gods). He is the son of Surya (Sun) and his wife Chhaya(Shadow). Shani is known as the greatest teacher .
During the 7 1/2 years of Shani we get resuts as per our past Karma. In an individual's average lifespan, this 7 1/2 year cycle will come 3 times. Shani can be both good and bad. In an individual horoscope, not only the house in which the planet is placed will be affected, but also the houses Shani lords over (2) and the 3rd and 10th houses from where Shani is placed will be affected. So this gives us 5 areas in our lives that may be affected during the 7 1/2 years of Shani.
I believe that Shani helps set our expectations right and keeps our feet firmly on the ground. People with a lot Shani influence are the ones that come up in life after a good long fight. According to astrology, Saturn never denies god things, it only delays. It delays so that we can adjust our expectations. It gives us time to become patient. Saturn certainly makes us more tolerant. We realize that everything related to this world is bound to change. Nothing is certain in life.
Once these lessons are learnt, Saturn starts giving. We get all that we ever wanted but now we are wiser and know the brevity of our life experiences.
So as the saying goes "This time will also pass!" So yes, there is an end to this time tunnel and also light at the end of the tunnel!