Vedic Wisdom Talks

  🏆   Duhsāsan was in-charge of food supplies & Asvattāma looked after Brāhmanās. Bhisma & Drona scrutinized everything in case there was an oversight. Krpa took charge of precious jewels & managed distribution of charity to brāhmanās. Vidura was the treasurer & Duryodhana was in-charge of receiving gifts presented by visiting kings   By his own choice Lord Krsna, took charge of personally washing feet of all brāhmanās, just to show by His personal example how important it is to worship devotees of the Lord   All kings who came to see Maharāj Yudhisthira perform Rājsuya sacrifice, presented him with immense wealth that was not less than one thousand of anything that was given. Each of these proud kings flattered themselves thinking that only by their generosity, Yudhisthira was able to perform the sacrifice. All guests received presents of immeasurable value & provided with every sort of royal comfort during their stay   When Rājsuya sa...

  Take shelter & thrive!   Nakula travelled west & after conquering numerous kings he arrived at the precincts of Dv ārakā. When Nakula sent a messenger to Lord Krsna & other Yādavās, all of them happily accepted sovereignty of Maharāj Yudhisthira. Nakula then approached his uncle Salya, who out of affection voluntarily accepted subordination of Pāndavās. At last Nakula returned to Indraprastha & offered huge tribute collected to his elder brother   Pāndavās treasury swelled enormously & upon seeing the vast wealth, Yudhisthira began to seriously think about performing Rājsuya sacrifice. All the king’s friends & ministers repeatedly encouraged him to begin preparations. Sri Krsna then arrived at Indraprastha bringing cartloads of valuable presents for his elder cousin brother   Yudhisthira gave Sri Krsna a royal reception. They then sat down with sacrificial priests, headed by Dhaumya & Vyāsdev. Yudhisthira said-My dear Lord Krsna, we’ve e...

Humble or Strong?   When Arjun returned from North direction, he presented all gifts & wealth to Mahar āj Yudhisthira, including some wonderful horses of parrot green & peacock blue complexion, which were received from Gandharvas   Bhima also conquered numerous kings travelling east & at last he came to Cedi kingdom. Hearing Bhima’s arrival, Sisupāla immediately came out of his city & in a spirit of friendship offered his entire kingdom. Bhima stayed with Sisupāla for 30 days & was very luxuriously entertained by Cedi ruler. Bhima continued touring & numerous kings approached him peacefully to pay the required tribute. He returned back & offered all that he had acquired to his elder brother   While going south, Sahadev defeated Dantavakra & forced him to pay tribute. He then approached kingdom of Kuntibhoja, where his father-in-law came & voluntarily admitted his subordination to Yudhisthira. He further defeated Vrinda & Anuvinda, k...

  Our disposition! When we read Mahabharata, we need to understand the philosophical & devotional rationale of the message applicable to our life We see so many characters making a wrong choice and learning about the same, gives us the anchor to internally correct ourselves, when we are in similar situations. We can connect easily with characters like the Pandavas, Kauravas, Dhritrashtra, Bhisma, Vidura, Drona, Jarasandha, Shalya & so many others and seeing the parallels is a source of intelligence for us to appreciate our situation Lord Krsna lays the ground rules of Dharmic principles and its applicability as per time, place & circumstances. His focal message is that of connection rather than correction in most cases. He pushes us to connect us with our intelligence dovetailed to his lotus feet, to make sound decisions Intelligence is a tool for thinking. It’s like a sword to cut through our confusions. Just as a sword-owner can fight more effectively by learning how ...

  Solving Purpose! Sri Krsna took Jarāsandh’s chariot for their return journey to Indraprastha. This wonderful chariot was formerly used by Indra to battle demons & later he gave it Uparicara Vasu who in turn gave it to Jarāsandh’s father, Brhadratha. Krsna picked up the reins & as he thought of Garuda, he came & sat on chariot’s flagpole   People of Girivraja came out to worship Krsna, & at this time, the 88 kings that were imprisoned by Jarāsandha also came to offer their prayers to Lord expressing eternal gratitude for having been rescued from a ghastly fate. Krsna instructed them to assist King Yudhisthira in performance of Rājsuya sacrifice. A son of Jarāsandha named Sahadev came to offer his heartfelt obeisance & worshipped Krsna, who then installed him as king of Magadha   Upon his return to Indraprastha, Sri Krsna related to Yudhisthira all that had happened & hearing Bhima’s victory he became blissful, worshipped Krsna & embraced the 2...

  When in  doubt? We have been discussing the events from epic Mahabharata & lot of people cast doubt about the events, characters, pastimes & else When we study scripture, our preconceptions often act as a barrier to understand the message. We look through our colored filter & thus we accept those parts of scripture that confirm our conceptions and downplay those parts that confound our conceptions. With this we may think we know scripture, but we don’t. To actually know scripture, we need to look at our preconceptions through scripture, not look at scripture through our preconceptions We need to acknowledge that we our sense are incomplete, our vision is flawed & our propensities are not pure to understand the ultimate reality which has multiple manifestations. These manifestations exist at different levels, with different degrees of power Each scripture defines remarkable vision of divinity and is a sample of the profound knowledge which we can decipher keep...

  Knowledge in mode of ignorance! Krsna said to Jarāsandha-O foolish king! You consider yourself unrivaled in prowess, but it’s only due to your arrogance for there are many who’re equal to or superior. Know that I’m your old enemy Krsna & my companions are sons of Pāndu, Bhima & Arjun. We challenge you to either release imprisoned kings or else fight Jarāsandha happily accepted challenge & chose to fight with Bhima, considering him superior in strength to both Krsna & Arjun. Performing some propitiatory rites to invoke good fortune, He then rushed with great eagerness to fight carrying only his 2 massive arms as weapons. A fierce battle followed & both warriors struck each other with fists & kicked with feet. From time-to-time Bhima picked up Jarā & hurled him a great distance. Jarā would do same exhibiting wrestling moves. Soon everyone came out of the city to watch Beginning from 1st day of Kārtika month, the colossal heroes fought continuously throug...