Revenge leads us nowhere!

After listening to Vyāsdev’s words, Dhritrāshtra gave up the idea of committing suicide & further lamentation for his dead sons. On Vidura’s urging, he prepared to perform the funeral ceremonies for his deceased relatives at Kurukshetra

 

When Maharāj Yudhisthira learned that Dhritrāshtra had set out from Hastināpur, he went to meet him along with his brothers, Sri Krsna, Sātyaki & Draupadi. He came to the blind king & bowed down before him. Dhritrāshtra reluctantly picked him & embraced him

 

Actually, Dhritrāshtra was burning with rage, eagerly awaiting the chance to embrace Bhima-not out of affection, but with the desire to crush him to death. Understanding the old blind king’s wicked intention, Sri Krsna quickly came & dragged Bhima away. In an instant He put the iron statue of Bhima He had kept ready for this purpose next to the old king. Dhritrāshtra had the strength of ten thousand elephants. When he squeezed the iron statue in his arms, thinking it to be the real flesh & blood Bhima, he crushed it to fragments. Indeed, by this violent act, Dhritrāshtra also severely bruised his chest & fell to ground in exhaustion

 

Sanjay rushed & picked his master. When Dhritrāshtra came to his senses, he began to weep for the slain Bhima. Understanding that he was now repentant, Sri Krsna said: My dear Dhritrāshtra, Bhima has not been killed. You crushed the iron statue of Bhima made by Duryodhana. Because you are the strongest man on earth, so that no one can escape your crushing embrace, I put the iron statue in place of Bhima, just to save you from committing a very sinful act. Please forgive Me & give up your unnecessary grief

 

Sri Krsna continued: How can you hate the Pāndavās? The slaughter of your relatives was the result of your own fault. Bhisma, Vidura & so many others, including Me, had warned you of what would happen & yet you had repeatedly ignored us. One who cannot see his own faults & thus does not accept the good advice of others must surely meet with great suffering. You should humbly admit that Bhima’s killing your sons was justifiable revenge for all the cruel acts they had performed in the past

 

Dhritrāshtra said: Dear Krsna, what you say is true. Because of excessive parental affection, I went away from the path of righteousness & I’m now suffering the consequences. I’ve given up my anger & so please let me embrace the real Bhima. Now that my sons are no longer with me, I realize that my future depends entirely upon the goodwill of Pāndavās

 

After saying this Dhritrāshtra tearfully embraced Bhima, Arjun, Nakula & Sahadev

 

Even if we are feeling miserable, that doesn’t mean that we should make others miserable. When something goes wrong in our lives, we may feel hurt & dejected and this may give rise to justification of making others miserable, without considering the root cause of our position and effect of our actions. This happens when our mind takes the deviant route & thinks that gaining revenge will bring satisfaction. Revenge affects us before affecting others

 

Krsna says:

manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ
bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat tapo mānasam ucyate

 

And satisfaction, simplicity, gravity, self-control and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind

 

To make the mind austere is to detach it from sense gratification. It should be so trained that it can be always thinking of doing good for others. The best training for the mind is gravity in thought. One should not deviate from Kṛṣṇa consciousness & must always avoid sense gratification. To purify one’s nature is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Satisfaction of the mind can be obtained only by taking the mind away from thoughts of enjoyment

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife