Why did Krishna not save the Pandavas when they played dice with Duryodhana & Shakuni?

Why did #Krishna not save the Pandavas when they played dice with Duryodhana & Shakuni? Wonderful explanation by Krishna himself in this story:

Krishna and Uddhav

From his childhood, Uddhava had been with Krishna, charioting him and serving him in many ways. He never asked for any wish or boon from Sri Krishna.

When Krishna was at the verge of completing His Avatar, he called Uddhava and said,
"Dear Uddhava, in this avatar of mine, many people have asked and received boons from me; but you never asked me anything. Why don’t you ask something now? I will give you.
Let me complete this avatar with the satisfaction of doing something good for you also".

Even though Uddhava did not ask anything for himself, he had been observing Krishna from his childhood. He had always wondered about the apparent disconnect between Krishna’s teachings and actions, and wanted to understand the reasons for the same.

He asked Krishna, "Lord, you taught us to live in one way, but you lived in a different way. In the drama of Mahabharat, in the role you played, in your actions, I did not understand many things. I am curious to understand the reasons for your actions. Would you fulfil my desire to know?"

Krishna said, "Uddhava, what I told Arjuna during the war of Kurukshetra was Bhagavad Gita. Today, my responses to you would be known as ‘Uddhava Gita’. That is why I gave this opportunity to you. Please ask without hesitation.’

Uddhava starts asking, "Krishna, first tell me who is a real friend?"

Krishna says, "The real friend is one who comes to the help of his friend in need even without being called."

Uddhava: "Krishna, you were a dear friend of the Pandavas. They trusted you fully as Apadhbhandava (protector from all difficulties). Krishna, you not only know what is happening, but you know what is going to happen. You are a great gyani. Just now you gave the definition of a true, close friend. Then why did you not act as per that definition. Why did you not stop Dharmaraj (Yudhishtra) from playing the gambling game?"

"Ok, you did not do it; why did you not turn the luck in favour of Dharmaraj, by which you would have ensured that dharma wins. You did not do that also. You could have at least saved Dharmaraj by stopping the game after he lost his wealth, country and himself. You could have released him from the punishment for gambling. Or, you could have entered the hall when he started betting his brothers. You did not do that either."

At least when Duryodhana tempted Dharmaraj by offering to return everything he lost if he bet Draupadi (who always brought good fortune to Pandavas), you could have intervened and with your divine power, you could have made the dice roll in a way that is favorable to Dharmaraj. Instead, you intervened, only when Draupadi almost lost her modesty and now you claim that you gave clothes and saved Draupadi’s modesty; how can you even claim this – after her being dragged into the hall by a man and disrobed in front of so many people, what modesty is left for a woman? What have you saved?"

"Only when you help a person at the time of crisis, can you be called ‘Apadhbandhava’. If you did not help in the time of crisis, what is the use? Is it Dharma?"

As Uddhava posed these questions, tears started rolling from his eyes.

These are not the questions of Uddhava alone. All of us who have read Mahabharata have these questions.

On behalf of us, Uddhava had already asked Krishna.

Bhagavan Krishna laughed, "Dear Uddhava, the law of this world is: ‘only the one who has Viveka (intelligence through discrimination), wins’. While Duryodhana had viveka, Dharmaraj lacked it. That is why Dharmaraj lost."

Uddhava was lost and confused.

Krishna continues : "While Duryodhana had lots of money and wealth to gamble, he did not know how to play the game of dice. That is why he used his Uncle Shakuni to play the game while he placed the bet. That is viveka."

"Dharmaraj also could have thought similarly and offered that I, his cousin, would play on his behalf. If Shakuni and I had played the game of dice, who do you think would have won? Can he roll the numbers I am calling or would I roll the numbers that he is asking for. Forget this. I can forgive the fact that he forgot to include me in the game."

"But, without viveka, he did another blunder. He prayed that I should not come to the hall as he did not want me to know that through ill-fate he was compelled to play this game. He tied me with his prayers and did not allow me to get into the hall; I was just outside the hall waiting for someone to call me through their prayers. Even when Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were lost, they were only cursing Duryodhana and brooding over their fate; they forgot to call me."

Even Draupadi did not call me when Dusshasan held her hair and dragged her to fulfil his brother’s order. She was also arguing in the hall, based on her own abilities. She never called me. Finally good sense prevailed; when Dusshasan started disrobing her, she gave up depending on her own strength, and started shouting ‘Hari, Hari, Abhayam Krishna, Abhayam’ and shouted for me. Only then did I get an opportunity to save her modesty. I reached as soon as I was called. I saved her modesty. What is my mistake in this situation?"

"Wonderful explanation, Kanna, I am impressed.
However, I am not deceived. Can I ask you another question’, says Uddhava.

Krishna gives him the permission to proceed.

"Does it mean that you will come only when you are called! Will you not come on your own to help people in crisis, to establish justice?’, asks Uddhava.

Krishna smiles, ‘Uddhava, in this life everyone’s life proceeds based on their own karma. I don’t run it; I don’t interfere in it. I am only a ‘witness’. I stand close to you and keep observing whatever is happening. This is God’s Dharma’.

"Wow, very good Krishna. In that case, you will stand close to us, observe all our evil acts; as we keep committing more and more sins, you will keep watching us. You want us to commit more blunders, accumulate sins and suffer", says Uddhava.

Krishna says, ’Uddhava, please realise the deeper meaning of your statements. When you understand & realise that I am standing as witness next to you, how could you do anything wrong or bad. You definitely cannot do anything bad. You forget this and think that you can do things without my knowledge. That is when you get into trouble.'

"Dharmaraj’s ignorance was that he thought he can play the game of gambling without my knowledge. If Dharmaraj had realized that I am always present with everyone in the form of ‘Sakshi’ (witness), then wouldn’t the game have finished differently?"

Uddhava was spellbound and was so very overwhelmed by Bhakti.

He said, "What a deep philosophy, Kesava.

What a great truth!"

Even praying and performing pooja and calling Him for help are nothing but our feelings / beliefs. When we start believing that nothing moves without Him, how can we not feel his presence as Witness? How can we forget this and act? Throughout #BhagavadGita, this is the philosophy Krishna imparted to Arjuna.

He was the charioteer as well as guide for Arjuna, but he did not fight Arjuna's War’: Realize that the Ultimate Sakshi / the one who is the Witness is within & within you! And Merge in that God Consciousness!

Please realise that God is with us all the time at the time when you do good as well as when you commit mistake. Every time I read this gives a smile on my face.

Please spread knowledge by sharing this with your friends.

A Story from Mahabharata - How Giving with an Expectation of a Return becomes a Trade !

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all Donors (donations) and not himself. Lord Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold.

Krishna said "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold".

Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a huffed up chest.

For two days and two continuous nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in their slightest.

Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest.

Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna" he told him.
Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said, and walked away.

Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him?

Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination.

Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment".

Giving with an Expectation of a Return in the form of a Compliment or Thanks is not a Gift, then it becomes a Trade.

"Give Without Expecting Anything in Return !!!"

Have faith in God

Everyday Krishna would visit the garden and say to all the plants, “I love you”. The plants were very happy and responded saying “Krishna, we love You too".

One day Krishna rushed quickly into the garden very alarmed. He went to the bamboo plant and the bamboo plant asked, “Krishna, what´s wrong?”

Krishna said “I have something to ask you, but it is very difficult”.

The bamboo said “Tell me: if I can, I will give it to you”. So Krishna said “I need your life. I need to cut you”. The bamboo thought for a while and then said “You don´t have any other choice. You don’t have any other way?”

Krishna said, “No, no other way. And it said “OK” and gave himself up. So Krishna cut the bamboo n made holes in it, and each time, he carved the holes, the bamboo was crying in pain ...

Krishna made a beautiful flute out of it n this flute was with him all the time. 24 hours a day, it was with Krishna. Even the Gopis were jealous of the flute.

They said, “Look, Krishna is our Lord, but yet we get to spend only some time with him.

He wakes up with you, He sleeps with you, all the time you are with him”.
Gopis asked the bamboo, “Tell us your secret. What secret do you have, that the Lord treasures you so much?”

And the bamboo said “The secret is that, i gave myself up, and he did whatever was right for me, in the process i had to undergo a lot of pain.

And the Lord does whatever he wants with me, whenever he wants with me and however he wants with me. I have just become His instrument”. So this is complete surrender: where God can do whatever He wants with you, whenever He wants, as He wants.

Trust Him completely and have faith in Him and Always Know.. that you are in His Hands... What can go wrong??

This is Sharanagathi.

Arjuna vs Karana - An Inspiring Story from Mahabharata

There are many stories in the Mahabharata (an ancient Indian epic), some which may not be mentioned in the original. But many of them are very interesting and provide deep insight. This is one such story:

While the battle of Kurushetra was at its peak, Arjuna and Karna were fighting each other. It was a battle to witness, a flurry of arrows were being exchanged, and even Gods were witnessing this epic battle between the 2 warriors.

Arjuna would shoot his arrows and the impact of these arrows would be so much that Karna’s chariot would go back by 25-30 feet. People who witnessed this were amazed by the skills of Arjuna.

Karna was no less. When he shot arrows, Arjuna’s chariot would also shake and go back by 3-4 feet.

More than everyone, Krishna would applaud Karna every time his arrow hit Arjuna’s chariot. But not once did He applaud Arjuna’s skills.

At the end of the day, Arjuna asked Krishna: “Oh Lord, I have shot so many arrows at Karna’s chariot, it was being displaced like a feather in wind, but not once did you appreciate me. Rather, you would appreciate his skill despite his arrows just displacing my chariot a little”.

Krishna smiled and replied “Oh, Arjuna, remember, your chariot is protected by Hanuman at the top on your flag, Me as your charioteer in the front and by Sheshnag at its wheels, yet the whole chariot would still sway and displace whenever the valiant Karna hit us with his arrows”.

“But Karna’s chariot is not protected by any such force, he is on his own, yet he fights valiantly”.

It is said that after the battle of Kurushetra was over, Krishna refused to get off the chariot till Arjuna got down. Once Krishna alighted from the chariot, it caught fire and turned to dust.

Krishna said “Oh Arjuna, your chariot was destroyed by Karna a long time ago, it is I who was still protecting it.”

Never in your life have the arrogance to say that you have achieved something. If you have achieved something, it is the divine will, it is the divine intervention that has always protected you, cleared your path and given you the right opportunities at the right time.

What is Kaliyug and what will happen during Kaliyug ?

What is Kaliyug and what will happen during Kaliyug ? : asked The four Pandavas (except Yudhishthira who was not present) Krishna smiled and said "let me demonstrate you the situation of Kaliyug"

He took a bow and four arrows and shot them in four directions, and ordered the four Pandavas to bring them back. Each of the four Pabdavas went in four different directions to search for the arrows.

Arjuna- when he picked the arrow, he heard a very sweet voice.. he turned back and saw a cuckoo was singing bhajans in very spellbinding voice but was also eating flesh of a live rabbit which was in great pain.

Arjuna was very surprised to see such a gory act by such a divine bird ...he left the place immediately.
Bhima picked the arrow from a place where five wells were situated, the four wells were surrounding a single well.

The four wells were overflowing with very sweet water as if they were not able to hold water and surprisingly the well in the middle of these four overflowing wells was completely empty. Bhima was also puzzled at this sight.

Nakula was returning to the place after picking up the arrow he stopped at a place where a cow was about to give birth. After giving birth the cow started licking the calf but continued to lick it even after the calf was clean, with great difficulty people were able to separate them and by that time the calf was injured badly.Nakula was puzzled by the behaviour of such calm animal.

Sahdev picked an arrow which fell near a mountain and saw a big boulder falling, the boulder was crushing the rocks and big trees on his way down, but the same boulder was stopped by a small plant.
Sahdev was also amazed at this sight.

All the Pandavas asked the meaning of these incidents from Krishna who smiled and started explaining-

" In Kaliyug the priests will have very sweet voice and will also have great knowledge but they will exploit devotees the same way cuckoo was doing with rabbit.

In Kaliyug poor will live among rich, those rich will have enormous amount of wealth which will actually overflow but they will not offer a single penny to the poor same as the four well didn't had a single drop of water for the empty well.

In Kaliyug parents will love their children so much that their love will actually spoil them and will destroy their lives similar to the love shown by cow to her newborn calf.

In Kaliyug people will fall in terms of character like the boulder from the mountain and they will not be stopped by anyone at the end only the name of God will be able to hold them from doom like the little plant held the boulder from further fall.

That's the explanation of Kaliyug from Lord Krishna to Pandavas.