MAHABHARATAM: The story of the internal conflict

MAHABHARATAM: The story of the internal conflict

Translation of an article (in two parts) written by poojya Sandeepanandgiri published in Mathrubhumi (22st and 22^nd Jan 2012) 

 The great war of Mahabharata; has it really happened? (Is it a Historical fact or sheer mythology?)  Till recently this was never a moot point, not even a subject of debate.  The case is not so today. An explanation in this regard has become the need of the hour as lot of misunderstanding and misgivings have arisen lately.

Sandeepananda Giri

 Mahabharata is a store house, an ocean of stories; of equitability, fairness and above all righteousness. It is a great laboratory of Dharma and Adharma.  The whole universe from Sun to mere insect has a role to play in this quite unique and great saga. The philosophical ideals of this great country have made the story into one with eternal values and principles. How can anyone discuss it as mundane sibling revelry for a piece of land? How anyone, who has dwelled deeply into this great saga can ever agree with those who insist that it has physically happened in the way it is depicted.

 There is a new school who wants to prove and disseminate a canard that Geeta propagates violence because everything explained in the stories had happened in real life and it (Geeta) justifies it. One should see through their intentions; which erroneously propose to create that killer instinct in the human psyche.

Now let it be reiterated at the onset;    the war of Mahabharata is not an external battle; instead, it is an internal one. Our history as well as mythology explains about numerous battles that had taken place in this country. Man has fought many a war including two world-wars. Here what should be understood is that this war in question is not such a war.

Mahabharata and Ramayana are bedrock of Indian culture and ethos. Vedas were created even before that. There was no religion called Hinduism in those days. Vedas were much above the level of a common mans understanding. Hence Vyasa created Mahabharata in the form of a story. It is a treasure trove of philosophy and statecraft and that is why Mahabharata has risen to an epic standard.

Asmin itiha aaste iti itihasa

This contains “itiha” (values) hence it is “Itihasa” ( a Great epic)

 Because of its greatness and since it contains valuable knowledge it is called Mahabharata. The knowledge of Upanishad is visible and shining in this. It is explained as follows.

Natatra suryo bhati nachandratarakam

Nemaa vidyuto bhandi kutofyamagni:

Tameva bhandamanubhati sarvam

Tasya bhasaa sarvamidam vibhati. 

(5.15  2.11  6.14 )

Neither the sun nor the moon renders it brilliant; the stars or the fire can never illuminate it; In fact all these shine because IT blazes.

Here this divine glow represents the knowledge.  Krishnadwaipayanan who later became well known as Veda Vyasa or the editor of Veda is the same who composed the Mahabharata as well. His aim was to simplify and explain the Dharma of Upanishad which resulted in Mahabharata.

There is a Mantra in Keno-Upanishad explaining Brahman.

Yachakshusha napasyati

Yeenachakshum shipasyati

Tadeva bramatwam vidhi

Nedam yadidamupasate  (1.7)

“Understand; Brahman is that invisible divine energy which makes the vision possible”.

This great Rishi reiterates with firmness and courage that:

 “Anything which remained alien to self and worshipped on conditionality never is Brahman”

Now this is a very important statement. By this he is pointing towards the limitations of idol worship and temple culture.  He subtly and with care persuades the common man to come out of this kind of faulty worships. This large hearted great soul has presented (chapter three and four) and explained the secret meaning of this Mantra dramatically, by narrating a great war between Devas and Asuras and the man’s eternal search for knowledge using a technique of allegory.

He narrates the story by depicting (allegorically) the Devas as the powers that controls the sense-organs and their leader Indra as the human conceit. The Asuras represents the base instincts of man.

More than five thousand years ago through Upanishads the great Indian rishis have proved that realisation of God is impossible through sense-organs.  What Vyasa is trying to drive home through the story of Mahabharata with Geeta as its epicentre; is also precisely this. He is simply creating a path of self-realisation in an easy format.

The characters in this have elevated the Indian Spirituality to its new heights. All those seekers who have studied and understood The Geeta and the Mahabharata have very well understood this aspect.

Look at the explanation Vyasa himself gives for composing these Great Epics.

Katha imaste kathita mahiyasam

Vithaya lokeshu yasha: pareyusham

Vijyanaviragyaviveshaya vibho:

Vachovibhutirnna tu paramartyam.

This is a story. It is being told with the sole aim of creating knowledge through asceticism (solemnity).

Before venturing to create Mahabharata Vyasa in his prayer to the Lord, says:

“I have a story in my mind; describing different kinds of people from different walks of life, their varied food habits and their way of life; a story of great rivers and mountains. So kindly bestow me with a person who can best transcribe it”.  The lord directs him To Ganapati who according to the Lord is the best.  Now accordingly when approached, a debate takes place between Ganapati and Vyasa. Ganesa places the condition that the narration once started should be non-stop; and Vyasa demands that he should write nothing without understanding it.

 Here, “understanding” is a password (pointer). Vyasa has deliberately brought this story (the story of this debate between Ganapati and Vyasa) obviously an apocryphal one, to forewarn those who seek to understand Mahabharata in its real sense; about its allegoric nature.  Westerners miss this password; whereas the eastern psyche has understood it.

 Mahabharata which instructs not to write without understanding also has another language- the language of asceticism or solemnity. In olden days scholars used to tell things symbolically. For this they used the language of asceticism. The images of all Hindu gods are symbolic.

One may think that the image of Ganapati is rather strange and unusual if not queer.  Is there any point in insisting that such a person does exist? The goddess Saraswati is found sitting inside a lotus! If a child asks the obvious and pertinent question that “won’t the goddess be drowned if she sits on the lotus” the parent is duty-bound to explain the symbolism behind that depiction. 

When it is pointed out that Krishna had sixteen thousand and eight consorts; the majority of Hindus today suffer a kind of discomfiture because they are unable to explain the essence it carries. Ignorance of the principle and the symbolism shows that the modern time Hindu has lost the language of sobriety or asceticism.

 Today this language makes us uncomfortable. We fail to accept that it does not possess any literal meanings. It tells everything figuratively. They prefer to keep such renowned and illustrious philosophies under the wraps. Hence it is rather amusing and is always welcome to argue notionally with these people who are relentless in waging a War (sic) historically.

Swamy Vivekananda has said -“It is my resolve to bring out the gems of our spiritual understanding embedded in these great books. Presently they are under the custody of a few.  They are hidden away in the forests and monasteries.......for eons they are lying unused and unattended to, in the guise of difficult Sanskrit.  I wish to bring them out and spread it among the common man.”

These words of a great humanist who wanted to save his fellow-men from the darkness of evil rituals and show him the path of eternal reality acquires added importance lately.

Vyasa and other monks were very adept and famous for presenting spiritual secrets in the form of stories and fables. Look at how deftly he conjures situations.

A powerful background was created before presenting the Geeta. Looming war clouds and the exigency of a great battle was spellbinding.  And with this as a perfect backdrop, he had dramatically presented Bhagavat Geeta which is the embodiment of all Upanishads, which in turn is the treasure trove of all the spiritual secrets. The characters flashing in the back ground, their birth secrets, their names, even their physical descriptions are all symbolic. 

The Pandavas (five brothers) represent the five elements.  A conjugation takes place between a woman and the Sun (Surya), Air (Vayu), and Indra (The lord of Devas). Kunti’s is such a joining. Karna, who had innate armour, is the son of Surya (Sun). Bhima was sired by the air (Vayu) and Arjuna by Indra (the lord of Devas). Nakula and Sahadeva were born in turn to Madhri from Aswanideva who personified the Earth (Bhumi)-What kind of characters are they? People who claims paternity from the Sun and the Moon! Take the case of Kauravas; they were not even born out of a womb!  What a weird story it is! The language of asceticism is the only recourse to explain all these.

If one fails to understand the logic and the doctrine of these, he will end up with the conclusion that the great Epic Mahabharata is a weird, unbelievable story of a few greedy uncouth people. Do you think this is what the great scholar like Vyasa wanted to convey ultimately? Not clearly understanding the essence of these principles makes the other religionists to ridicule Hinduism.

 The five elements are characters here; the Sun the moon the rivers and mountains; all are vibrant actors in this. Even with an insect Vyasa converses. Looking at his magnum opus which is a great ocean of stories Vyasa himself proudly says:

  Yadihasti tadanyatra

Yanne hasti nakarhichit’

 “What is here may be present elsewhere; but what is not here will not be anywhere else.

(To be continued)