Hindu Itihāsa Series: Coping with a loss

Prologue

The story goes back to when the royal children of Hastināpur were still quite young. It was back then when Duryodhana was still known as Suyodhana and his siblings Dushāsana and Dushāla were known as Sushāna and Sushāla respectively.
It was a warm sunny day at the gurukul of Guru Drona (Dronāchārya), who was as good a teacher as he was a warrior. Drona had recently settled in Hastināpur with his wife Kripi who was the sister of one of the seven immortals in Hindu belief, Kripāchārya and his young son Ashwathāmā, who although younger than the eldest Kuru prince, Suyodhan, was still as tall as Kripa.

It was a lesson day, much like any other day but the events of this day would be vital in shaping the future of the land of Bharata. The princes along with Ashwathāma had gathered around in an open field, playing with each other, teasing each other and sharing bitter sweet moments between the two camps of Kuru and Pandu.

The story begins

Whilst the children played amongst themselves, Drona walked with a serious face. Drona, although a great teacher was also known for being quite strict. He commanded all his pupils to gather around and form a line.

Now that the students were standing in a queue, he approached his own son Ashwathāma. He asked him, “What do you see ?”

“A tree, sire!”, Ashwathāma spoke with a soft voice. “I see your brains is already muddled after all the time you’ve spent with Suyodhan and gang. Go back to your seat, son. Next was the overly large Bhim who slowly approached his spot next to the Guru upon being called. “And what you see, O Bhim !”

Taking a pause, Bhim casually replied, “I can see some ripe mangoes on that tree Gurudev”. “Oh ho ho !! Looks like that large tummy of yours hasn’t been fed in a while, huh !!”, replied Drone. His words dripping in sarcasm. Bhim, dragged his feet back to his spot as the other students tried hard to contain their laughter. They knew better to not laugh at Bhim. He was after all, kind of a bully when it came to food or attacks on his ego in his younger years.

“Suyodhan!!”, roared Drona. His voice growing visibly impatient. “Let’s see what you see Kuru prince!!”, Drona spoke with a smirk as Suyodhan walked hesitantly to the spot. “Its a tree only, what else can one see??!”, young Suyodhan thought to himself when suddenly he saw something.

“I see…. I see….love. Nestled in those tangled branches, away from this unfair world. I see love, gurudev. Sweet, innocent love”, Suyodhan said in a gentle, loving tone.

“Look here all !! The blind raja’s kid too is plain simple blind after all!! Love!?? Are you even here in the academy, boy ?”, laughed Drona, hysterically. The remaining students, too burst out laughing. Visibly confused, Suyodhan wondered why they laughed at him.

“Arjun!! Please step up and tell me what you see! And you, Suyodhan! Stop hanging out with that no good Kripā and his irritating nāstika buddy Cārvāka!!”, commanded Drona.

Having taken his spot, Arjun replied, “Just the eye”.

“Shoot”, ordered Drona.

Swish! Went the arrow, leaving Arjuna’s bow and swiftly piercing the eye of the bird. The poor lifeless body immediately fell to the ground with a soft thud. The remaining Pandavas containing their excitement of their brother demonstrating a skill who no other student could even think of replicating.

“No!!!”, screamed Suyodhan. He knew what this meant and as he approached the now dead bird, it’s partner too flew down to it. Suyodhan’s eyes a little teary now, he tried pumping the chest of the bird in the hopes of reviving it. In his mind, he thought the arrow had only touched the bird’s wings or some other part. He still had a chance to save it and all it required was some bandages with some good care, he thought to himself.

But the partner had now realized what had happened. She knew. She knew what the scriptures had said one too many times. All this whilst being, just a bird. Death is just a change of clothes for what is the being, ātaman. It is but a change in dimensions.

Briefly nudging her partner’s body one last time, she flew away.

Lesson

We had seen three purushārthas being mentioned in the previous article in this series(read it here). Moksha is the final purushārtha which forms the core part of hindu belief. This is believed in by all darshanas, āstika or nāstika.

Life and death are two sides of a coin which keeps on flipping and the only relief from this cycle is what moksha is. This realm we live in is merely a karmabhoomi for us humans. Which is why, Buddha too believed that life was nothing but a struggle. We are destined to leave it as soon as we’re born perform our dharma whilst we are here.

Which is why mrityu is seen as just a passing by, a change of clothes. When one passes away, it does affect us. We grief in our own ways, taking our time and when it’s time, we move on to our dharma, cherishing the memories of the ones who although may never hold our hands again but will always touch our soul !

I hope this piece gives you some insight about the nature of power, perseverance and patience. It’s an effort to preserve teachings from our scriptures and I will be writing about more tales from our itihãsa and dharmashãstras in the future.

— — Deepak Choudhary
Ashvina Shukla Navami, Vikram Samvat 2081