Bhagavatam – Krishna answers King Dhritarashtra

Bhagavatam – Krishna answers King Dhritarashtra

After the Kurukshetra war (the war which was fought between cousins of Kuru Dynastry – Pandavas and Kauravas, a war between ‘the right and the wrong’ at the end of Dwapara yuga) , King Dhritrarashtra, father of 100 sons called ‘kauravas’ grieved the death of his sons. When Lord Krishna went to console him, he having seen the ‘vishwaroopa’ of Lord Krishna in an earlier instance knew him to be the one who could know the past and future, the cause and the effect of events asked  Krishna, “I had hundred  sons and all of them were killed in the war. Why? You say it is one’s karma that one experiences what one does in life – both good and bad. Then tell me, what was the cause of my grief of having lost 100 sons?”

Krishna replied, “Fifty lifetimes ago, you were a hunter. While hunting, you tried to shoot a male bird, but it flew away. In anger, you ruthlessly slaughtered the hundred baby birds that were there in the nest. The father-bird had to watch in helpless agony. Because you caused that father-bird the pain of seeing the death of his hundreds sons, you too had to bear the pain of your hundred sons dying.

Dhritarastra said, "Ok, but why did I have to wait for fifty lifetimes?" 

Krishna answered, "You were accumulating punya (pious credits) during the last fifty lifetimes to get a hundred sons because that requires a lot of punya. Then you got the reaction for the papa (sin) that you have done fifty lifetimes ago."

“But this is wrong!” cried Dhritarashtra.

“No. this is justice and Law of Karma” replied Krishna.

This is a very small anecdote from Mahabharata from Mahabharata – one of the epics of Vedic Culture. Now, what does this tell us?

contd.....

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