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PURAANIC SUBJECT INDEX (From Mahaan to Mlechchha ) Radha Gupta, Suman Agarwal & Vipin Kumar
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Esoteric aspect of the characters of Mahabharata
Radha Gupta
J-178, HIG Colony, Indore – 452011
Email : ravikant60@hotmail.com
This paper explains how an apparently historical description of Mahabharata is actually a journey of consciousness in our own body. Vyasa is the symbol of that conciousness which helps in the expansion of consciousness. From Vyasa are born Dhritrashtra, Pandu and Vidur who represent tamas/dark, rajas/mixed and satwik/pure minds. Vidura is born out of the combination of Vyasa and a maid servant. Here maid servant symbolizes that in real life, the pure mind always remains as a servant of dark mind. Kauravas are the hundred sons of Dhritrashtra and Gandhari which are symbols of hundred functions of our dark mind. Five pandawas are the sons of Pandu and Kunti - Madri born by the blessings of gods. They represent satwik functions of mind. Dronacharya, who is born out of sage Bhardwaj, indicates our stable mind. Drupada , our flickring mind never accepts the friendship of Drona- our stable mind. Drona partially controls Drupada with the help of Arjuna. Drupada feels insulted and tries to take revenge by begetting a son named Dhrishtdyumna from the fire of yagna. Actually the yagna performed by Drupada is not a satwik yagna, but a bhog [worldly pleasures ] yagna and Dhrishtdyumna represents extreme materialistic mind. Ganga and Satyawati are the different powers of human conciousness. Ganga helps jeewatma in delivering the eighth tatva-aham-the Bheeshma while Satyawati helps in expansion of conciousness. The story starts from Mahabhishak in heavens who takes birth in the form of king Shantanu on the earth.. Mahabhishak is the symbol of supreme soul which, when it descends in mortal human body, is called jeevatma and king shantanu is a symbol of jeevatma. Bheeshma is eighth son of king Shantanu and Ganga. Here Ganga is prakriti, nature[power of conciousness] and bheeshma is ‘aham’ or self – the eighth tatva/constituent of prakriti. Kripacharya is symbol of mind born from shardwan gautam and gyanpadi who are the form of virat parmeshwar and parmeshwari. Knowing and using every character in right sense , we shall be able to understand the true meanings of vedic mantras.
MAHAABHAARATA : A MOKSHA SHAASTRA By Radha Gupta and Vipin Kumar J-178, HIG Colony, Indore- 452011 Until now, the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna in the form of Geetaa has been considered as the most important part of Mahaabhaarata. It is supposed that following the true meanings of verses of Geetaa may lead to deliverance of soul from recurring births – the Moksha. But when one ponders over hidden meanings of other characters of Mahaabhaarata, it becomes obvious that not only the Geetaa part, but the whole story of Mahaabhaarata is important for emancipation. Mahaabhaarata is called Itihaasa – history. History in common sense is understood as the past history of kings of the world. But J.A.Govan interprets word history in the sense of cause and effect. Therefore, Mahaabhaarata as a book of history means to cross the chain of cause and effect. In real life, an ordinary soul does not recognize the chain of cause and effect. To an ordinary person, it seems that every event in this world is a chance. Puraanic texts interpret chance theory in the form of play of dice( Courtesy Dr. Lakshmi Narayan Dhoot, Indore). It is only the deep rooted belief of the society that negates chance theory and says that each event is connected with cause and effect. It is expected from a soul that she will cross this chain of cause and effect and attain Moksha. In Mahaabhaarata, one finds the story of Yudhishthira playing dice with their rivals – Duhshaasana, Shakuni etc., and Yudhishthira at last loses the game of dice to Shakuni etc. Thus, this story points out that Yudhishthira still believes that world events take place as a chance. He has to transcend this belief. The question is – how? The answer can be given on the basis of vedic texts. In one vedic text, there is mention of Aksha – the dice and Ashwa – the horse. Dr. Fatah Singh interprets these two as connected with each other. In Ashwa stage, one really transcends the chance theory. Therefore, when Yudhishthira performs Ashvamedha yaaga at the end of Mahaabhaarata text, this should be understood as a step of crossing the chance theory and attain a state where causal effects cease to hold good. The same fact has been repeated in Mahaabhaarata in the story of Nala and Damayanti in Vana Parva in great details. It will be interesting to ponder over the meanings of stories of Jaraasandha, Paandu, Satyavati etc. in Mahaabhaarata for further details.
Esoteric aspect of Khaandava vana Esoteric aspect of the story of Jaraasandha Esoteric aspect of the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntalaa Esoteric aspect of play of dice by Yudhishthira |
