Chapter
11
When the Lord left - the Pândavas'
Grief
Dharmaraja,
who was lost in contemplation, recapitulating the advice,
the help, the grace, the love, the sympathy, that they
had earned from Lord Krishna, suddenly raised his
head and asked, "Arjuna, what did you say? What
calamity overtook you on the way? Tell us in full, dear
brother", slowly lifting the chin of Arjuna while asking
so. Arjuna looked his brother in the face and said,
"Brother, all my skill and attainments have departed with
Lord Krishna. I am now without any powers,
incapable of any achievement, weaker than the weakest,
indeed lifeless.
Brother, listen. This
most unlucky fellow did not have the chance to be with
Lord Vâsudeva when He left for His abode, even
though he was in Dvârakâ at that time.
I had not earned enough merit to get that chance! I could
not have the darshan
of our Divine Father before He left. Later, the
charioteer of the Lord, Dâruka, gave me the
message He had given for me when He departed. In that
message, He had written thus with His own
Hand".
Saying thus, he took
out from the folds of his dress the letter which he
considered more precious even than life, for it was from
Krishna and written by His own hand. He gave it
into the hands of Dharmaraja, who received it
reverentially with alacrity and anxiety. He pressed it on
his eyes, which were full of tears. He tried to decipher
the writing through the curtain of tears, but with no
success.
It began, "Arjuna, this
is My command; carry it out without demur, to the full.
Execute this task with courage and earnestness." After
this express injunction, Krishna had elaborated on
the task in the following words: "I have accomplished the
mission on which I had come. I shall no longer be in this
world, with body. I am departing. Seven days from today,
Dvârakâ will sink into the sea; the
sea will swallow everything except the house I had
occupied. Therefore, you have to take the queens and
other women who survived, along with the children and
babies and the old and decrepit to Indraprastha.
I am leaving, placing all responsibility for the women
and other Yadava survivors in your hands. Care for
them as you care for your own life; arrange for them at
Indraprastha and protect them from danger." The
postscript said, "Thus, writes Gopala on leaving
for His home."
Dharmaraja
finished reading. He noticed that Bhîma,
Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva were
shedding copious tears and squatting like rocks,
oblivious to everything else. Arjuna said, "Brother, I
had no desire to live for a moment more without the Lord
in our midst and so I resolved to drown myself in the sea
that was to swallow Dvârakâ; I decided
to split my own head with this bow and die. But this
command forced me to desist; the order from Him who
ordains the universe tied me to this earth. I had no time
to plan out any line of action, everything had to be done
quick."
"So, I got the last
rites done for the dead, according to the
Sastras;
then in great anxiety lest the sea swallow
Dvârakâ before the women, children and
old people were evacuated, I hurried them to come out and
started for Indraprastha, as commanded by
Krishna. We left Dvârakâ with
no mind to leave it. We managed to reach the borders of
Panchanada (Punjab) with hearts heavy on account
of the absence of Krishna, but I was urged forward
by the need to obey the divine injunction, and to carry,
according to that injunction, the burden of those
people."
"The sun was setting
one day; we dared not cross at that late hour a flooded
river that impeded our progress. I decided to encamp on
the bank of that river for the night. We collected the
jewels and valuables of all the women and kept them in a
secure place; the queens alighted from the palanquins and
the maids scattered themselves for rest. I approached the
river for the evening rites, dragging myself along with
the sadness of separation from Krishna. Meanwhile,
pitch darkness pervaded the place and soon we heard wild
barbarian war cries from the surrounding darkness. I
peered into the night and found a horde of
forest-dwelling nomads rushing upon us with sticks,
spears and daggers. They laid hands on the jewels and
valuables; they started dragging away the women and
binding them hand and foot."
"I shouted at them and
threatened them with dire consequences. 'Why do you fall
like moths into fire' I asked them. 'Why be like fish
that meet death craving for the angler's worm' I told
them. 'Do not meet death in this vain attempt to collect
loot', I warned them. 'I imagine you do not know who I
am. Have you not heard of the redoubtable bowman,
Pându's son Arjuna, who overwhelmed
and defeated the three world-conquerors, Drona,
Bhîshma and Karna? I shall now
despatch the whole lot of you to the kingdom of death,
with a twang of this bow, my incomparable
Gandîva. Flee before you meet destruction,
or else, feed with your lives this hungry bow', I
announced."
"Nevertheless, they
went about their nefarious task undismayed; their cruel
attack did not abate; they fell upon our camp and dared
attack even me. I held myself in readiness and fitted
divine arrows to efface them all. But alas, a terrible
thing happened; I cannot explain how or why! Of the
sacred formulae which fill the missile with potency, I
could not recall a single one! I forgot the processes of
invocation and revocation. I was helpless."
"Before my very eyes,
the robber bands dragged away the queens, the maids and
others. They were screaming in agony, calling on me by
name 'Arjuna, Arjuna, save us, rescue us; do you not hear
us? Why are you deaf to our cries? Are you giving us over
to these brigands? Had we known that this would be our
fate we would have died in the sea like our dear city,
Dvârakâ.' I heard it all, in terrible
agony; I saw it all. They were screaming and fleeing in
all directions, women, children and the aged and the
infirm. Like a lion whose teeth have been plucked out and
whose claws have been sheared, I could not harm those
ruffians. I could not string my bow. I attacked them with
the arrows in my clasp. Very soon, even the stock of
arrows was exhausted. My heart was burning with anger and
shame. I became disgusted with my own pusillanimity. I
felt as if I was dead. All my efforts were in vain. The
greatly blessed 'inexhaustible' receptacle of arrows had
failed me, after Vâsudeva had
left."
"My might and skill had
gone with Krishna when He went from here. Or else,
how did this misfortune occur of my being a helpless
witness of this kidnapping of women and children
entrusted to my care? I was tortured on one side by the
separation from Krishna and on the other by the
agony of not carrying out His orders. Like a strong wind
that fans the fire, this calamity added fuel to the
anguish of my heart. And the queens - those who were
living in golden palaces in the height of luxury; When I
contemplate their fate in the hands of those fierce
savages, my heart is reduced to ashes. O Lord! O Krishna!
Is it for this that you rescued us from danger in the
past - to inflict on us this drastic
punishment?"
When
the Lord left
Arjuna wept aloud and
beat his head against the wall in despair, so that the
room was filled with grief; every one shivered in
despair. The hardest rock would have melted in sympathy.
From Bhîma's eyes, streams of hot tears
flowed. Dharmaraja was overpowered with fear when
he saw him weeping so. He went near him and spoke
lovingly and tenderly to him in order to console him.
Bhîma came to himself after some time; he
fell at Dharmaraja's feet and said, "Brother, I do
not like to live any more. Give me leave. I shall go into
the forest and immolate myself with the name of
Krishna on my lips and reach Home. This
world, without Krishna, is hell to me". He wiped
the hot tears with the cloth in
his
hand. [See also S'rîmad
Bhâgavatam, Canto
11:30-34]
Sahadeva who was
silent so long approached Bhîma and said,
"Calm yourself, do not get excited. Remember the reply
Krishna gave Dhritharashtra that day in the
open assembly when He proceeded thither to negotiate
peace between us."
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