After Krishna
and Arjuna had finished their conversation, they engaged spirited and
energetic in the battle with their nephews. Arjuna therein took,
together with his four brothers, up his arms against also de army of
the Yadus of Krishna himself which fought at the side of the Kauravas.
Before the battle began had Krishna in a diplomatic meeting offered the
Pândavas and the Kauravas a fair choice with the words: "You
either fight against me or against my army".
The
battle
between the family members lasted for eighteen days. In these
days , one after the other, all their opponents were defeated. While as
good as every Kaurava found his demise in the fray because of the karma
which, exposed with it, had led to a corruption of skills and concrete
support, doubtful presentations, bad association, envy, anger and a
poor spirituality, this was not so with the well trained Arjuna and his
army of insurgents who were constantly advised and protected to the
perfection by Krishna's spiritual power, control and personal presence
on the battlefield as a charioteer. Together with him was no enemy
spared, and found even, some time after the battle, the Yaduclan of
Krishna himself its demise in a collective fight against itself,
exactly the way Krishna had planned it for all the ruling powers of the
time.
Duryodhana,
Arjuna's
archenemy, fell, hit on the battlefield by Bhîma's club,
with a broken spine and thus had to pay for all the foul tricks and
schemes he with his brothers had employed in his repressive campaigns
in the past. The blind uncle Dhritarâshthra lost his credibility
and authority as a founding father and man of wisdom and withdrew to
Himalayas where he literally burnt up in the flames of penance. Thus
ended also his life together with his destructive family attachment.
Yudhishthhira, the eldest Pândava, became, with the support of
Krishna, the new king. But never again was the honor of the family
definitely restored. The closed ranks they had always formed, had
collapsed and so had the public morality associated with it. Kali-yuga,
the age of quarrel had commenced. Whereas in the old days of the yugas
before, there had been an undisputed rule of emperors and great kings
representing the four legs of the bull of dharma, the four values of
truthfulness, faithfulness, sacrifice and compassion, these values were
ever since found in decay.
The
break
the traditional family rule had suffered was that severe, that
the close association of the dynastic religiousness of sacrifices,
welfare activities, charity and public ceremonies at the one hand and
the secular rule of the state at the other hand, definitely had
alienated into two separate societal worlds. The righteous rule and the
brahmin intellect had separated. Arjuna's grandson Parîkchit,
who, born with a fine intelligence and character, had a keen eye for
everyone and everything, and personally never missed an opportunity to
defend the dharma, had followed in uncle Yudhishthhira's footsteps in
his acceptance of the by his uncles arranged transference of the throne
when he was still a boy. That rule of his was was also the last rule
representative of the old age. Because of a conflict which had risen
between his person and a representative of the brahmin class, he, as
the last great ruler of the family, withdrew also, having fallen from
public grace. He stood back after having been cursed by the son of a
meditating sage, who was insulted by Parîkchit because he hadn't
properly welcomed him at his hermitage.
Parîkchit in his insult had maintained that the
alienated intellectuals and the priesthood were all too lax and
uncommitted escapists, locked up in their own self-righteous ivory
towers. But later on he could no longer maintain this offensive
position. In the end he turned out to be a staunch and dedicated
brahmin himself, after he, because of the curse, had given up his rule.
He sat himself down at the feet of S'ukadeva, the son of
Vyâsadeva, who in the week of fasting which he according to the
curse had to fulfill until his death, enlightened him on the entire
history of the Vedic culture including the story about the life of
Krishna, the fortunate one, which later on was handed down in disciplic
succession as the Bhâgavata Purâna, the most
important collection of stories or bible of the Hindus (there are
eighteen big ones and small ones). The integrity of the dynasty had
definitely died along with him and could in its full glory only be
retraced in the closed circles of the religious communities of the
priests, sages and scholars who today are called the teachers, the
gurus of example, or the âcârya's, who traditionally are
divided in different schools of learning or sampradâyas.
Because the classical rule of the dynasty of Bhâratavarsha, or
India, was never again restored to its original glory, and, in that
sense, the world order it stood for definitely had fallen apart,
continued the common man worldwide, without much honor and decency,
quarreling in the political age of Kali-yuga until that ego struggle
had reached the end of its synergy, and a new era for the planet earth
had dawned.
Modern
version
epilogue
| Download
