Mahabharata

........contd......

Now regarding the part where Pandavas went to Heaven.....

When the time for the departure of Pandavas came, they left for the sacred mountains.  When they were climbing the sacred mountain, Draupadi first fell down dead and Bheema asked Yudhistra as to what reason she who was so pious and dutiful fell dead. Yudhistra said that though she was married to all five of them and she served them all well, her love for Arjuna was partial. She loved him more than her other husbands.  This fault of her caused her death.  Next Sahadeva fell and when asked for the reason, Dharmaraj said "He was very proud of his wisdom and thought no one was his equal and that brought about his fall".

Next Nakula fell dead and Dharmaraj explained "He was very proud of his beauty and he thought no one was any where near him in his beauty".  Next Arjuna felt and he said "He was proud of his skill of archery" and when finally Bheem fell and asked for the reason of his fall, Yudhistra said "you were proud of your strength and enjoyed eating so much that you never respected the need of others while eating or filling your stomach".

Finally, only he was left and he kept walking towards the mountain top and along with him a dog which had been following him from Indraprastha.  When he reached the top of the mountain, a heavenly chariot came and Lord Indra asked him to get into the chariot which would take him to heaven.  Yudhistra said "I can't come to heaven when my family is dead down here."  and Indra replied "Don't worry, your family is in heaven already and you can join them there" and when he was about the get into the chariot, the dog was denied permission to get into heaven by Indra and Yudhishtara said he couldn't leave behind a dog which has accompanid him all through his journey as this was against his dharma and hence he preferred to let go off the joys of heaven to letting go off the dog. 

Dog immediately got transformed into Lord Yama and congragulated Yudhistra on passing his final test and he took the chariot to heaven.


...contd......