Dear members, We are continuing from Part-3 posted earlier. *********** Two significant incidents in the Mahabharatha reveal to us thus two different and contrasting facets of Draupadi's character. They throw up interesting questions too. In the first instance she swore vengeance against the Kauravas for a wrong done unto her by them. In the second, surprisingly, she forsook vengeance against Aswatthama, who again did great wrong unto her on behalf of the Kauravas. It was the same person, Draupadi, however, who acted one way at one point of time and in a diametrically opposite way at another. We should ask 'Why?' The Mahabharatha further tells us that the cause for vengeance in one case was morally no less compelling than in the other. So if Draupadi was acting out of a certain vicious self-interest in the first situation, what was her real motive for action in the second? Was it not entirely self-less? If it was, in fact, selfless, how to explain the wide difference in the nature of her responses? It seems almost magical, is it not, that Draupadi could act so differently? These are helpful questions to ponder about, long and hard. It is in the pondering indeed that one really profits from and enjoys studying the Mahabharatha, not by being impatient for pat, off-the-shelf answers and slick, ready-to-eat explanations. What do the two incidents really convey to us? Firstly, Draupadi's character is by no means a static one in the Mahabharatha. Like all human beings, and like all great epic characters, Draupadi too was evolving as a personality through all the the ups-and-downs, highs-&-lows, agony and ecstasy, griefs and joys of her pretty turbulent life throughout the Mahabharatha. From swearing Vengeance to completely forsaking it, Draupadi travelled a great distance indeed in the journey of life. How was that long arduous journey enabled? Surely, it was her act of "saraNagati". Secondly, the act of "sharaNagati" in Hastinapur did leave a lasting if not immediate impact upon Draupadi's character. It took its time indeed to work its magic, but magic it certainly did work upon her soul. From a rather baleful personality she might once have been when she undertook the first terrible vow, we see how she went on eventually to transform herself into a benign, saintly soul by the time the Kurukshetra War ended and when she chose, in that moment of climactic glory, to grant absolute pardon to the killer of her sons, the dreaded Aswathamma. Thirdly, "saraNagathi" is really not so much God's magic-wand as it is His garden-tool. Through it, God brings about gradual but everlasting change -- call it the flowering of personality and the ripening of wisdom -- God brings about such a change within a devotee's heart. Such personality-change can begin manifesting in outward behaviour in a relatively short period of time, as say, in the case of the 'rAkshasa', Vibheeshana in the Ramayana, or else it can be that the pace of change is plodding but sure, as in the case of Draupadi. (This was the point of "prArabdha karma", a rather heavy technical term, that Sri Anbil Ramaswamy was making in his own comments). ************ "The quality of Mercy", wrote an old poet, "is twice blest. It blesseth him that gives and him that takes". Draupadi's "saraNagati" in the Mahabharatha is a unique illustration of the above adage. All of us, without exception, yearn hard and long indeed to 'receive' the divine compassion of God. But how many of us, if the earthly situation or circumstance were to so arise, how many of us would be ready to gladly 'give' unconditional compassion to those around us , especially to those whom we might have good reason to regard inimically? We go to a temple, stand before the deity and ask, "O Lord, I have long completely surrendered to You! But you have not yet showered the blessing of Compassion upon me! When shall that day come?" To that question the Almighty, we might well imagine, may respond smilingly with a telling counter-question, "You shall 'receive' my own Compassion one day, of course, but only when I see that you are ready and capable of whole-heartedly 'giving' such compassion yourself! Until then must you wait". In the moment when Draupadi was faced with a choice --either to 'take' rightful Vengeance in seeking Aswatthma's death or to 'give' him the compassion of her whole heart and grant the killer of her children eternal pardon -- in that precise moment indeed did Draupadi's earlier act of 'saraNagati', we should say, get consummated and finally bear fruit. It was in that latter moment indeed, and not so much in the earlier and more popular scene of her 'disrobement' at the royal court of Hastinapur, that the Grace of the Almighty fall in full and ultimate measure upon Draupadi. It is such moments indeed as Draupadi's, such glorious scenes in our ítihAsas and 'purAnAs', which reveal to us the hallmark of genuine 'saraNagati'... ************* Trust, the above postings of mine will go some way in dispelling the doubts Smt.Subha Narayan had regarding the true character of Draupadi and provide some insight into Draupadi's act of 'saraNagati'. Thanks and regards, dAsan, Sudarshan Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/hjtSRD/3MnJAA/i1hLAA/XUWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |