sai_pranam

Taneshah and Ramakrishna went inside and Ramakrishna said that he had a doubt as to who would fit in the role of Draupadi.....

All the sacred stories of our mythology and culture contain the experiences of elders. Understanding their significance we should put them into practice. Pandavas regarded Krishna as the Lord at all times irrespective of whether they were in difficulties or not. Even when such mighty persons as the Devas came to oppose him, Arjuna never shirked fighting them. Arjuna fought many wars with great courage. However, it is significant that when he was accompanying the women from Dwarka to Hastinapura after the war of Mahabharata, he became weak and could not fight against even the cowherds. Arjuna understood, that because Krishna was present with him earlier in his mortal form, he could fight so many battles with such courage but now that Krishna was no longer in their midst, he was not able to fight. All the courage of Arjuna had disappeared even as Krishna left this world.

We should understand that where there is no God, there is no courage. All the human bodies will simply be reduced to mere leather bags in which there is no life at all if there is no contact with the divine. Out of such experiences, Pandavas gave many ideas to the world and for this reason, Pandavas acquired a lasting reputation. They set an example worthy of emulation by the rest of the world. Mahabharata is simply the story of the Pandavas and is often referred to as the fifth Veda.

With a view to use the sacred story of the Pandavas for some material purpose, the Taneshah of Delhi once invited to his court the eight renowned poets of Vijayanagar. These poets were asked to describe the distinctiveness of the Mahabharata. They did so in a beautiful and attractive manner. After hearing the story, Taneshah wanted to write a fresh epic in which he would figure as Dharmaja the eldest of the Pandavas, all the ministers whom he liked would figure as the other Pandavas and all his enemies would figure as the Kauravas. In other words, he asked them to write a Taneshah Bharatam. Those poets were not inclined to produce an epic of this kind and were discussing among themselves as to how they can tackle the situation. Amongst them a clever poet by name Tenali Ramakrishna came forward and said that he would undertake preparing this book. He wanted to teach a good lesson to the Taneshah.

The Taneshah then asked him to prepare the text in a week's time. The week was coming to a close and Ramakrishna had not even started writing and the other poets were afraid that the Taneshah would punish them. By the end of the agreed period, Ramakrishna took a few pieces of paper and went to the Taneshah who in turn had invited many friends to listen to this great text. Taneshah asked Ramakrishna if the Bharatam was completed. Ramakrishna said that it was nearly complete but that there were one or two minor doubts which required clarification from the Taneshah. Then the Taneshah asked him what these doubts were so that he could clarify them. Ramakrishna replied that he had some hesitation to raise these doubts in public and he would wish to do so when both of them were alone.

Taneshah and Ramakrishna went inside and Ramakrishna said that he had a doubt as to who would fit in the role of Draupadi. Since Draupadi was wife to all the five Pandavas, the person in this role would have to be the wife of the five Pandavas in the story. This meant that Taneshah's wife would be a wife to the ministers as well. Ramakrishna asked Taneshah if he would agree to give this role to his wife. This was not at all liked by the Taneshah and he told Ramakrishna that there was no need to write such a Bharatam and asked him to clear out, after giving him suitable gifts. Thus we see here that the Taneshah wanted to have the reputation of the Pandavas but he did not want to accept the sacred terms under which the five Pandavas took Draupadi as their wife.

Today, if we want to establish the nobility of our culture, we should realize and accept as a fact that the basis for it is respect for morality and truth. We should follow the path of morality and truth. If we want to have the reputation alone but not follow the path followed by our ancestors, we will only be doing what the Taneshah wanted to do. This will be leading an artificial life. We should not hanker after getting a name and cheap popularity. We should look to the fulfillment of life

Quote :

Today, nobody realizes the greatness of Sathya and Dharma. Whoever follows the path of Sathya and Dharma will never be put to suffering.

Year 2 Volume 1

23rd Nov 2002

Contents:

Prayer

SaiRam

Editorial

Sai Speaks

Saint of Shirdi

Mani Sahukar

Women