The Mahabharata

Written by the poet Vyasa, The Mahabharata is a book of legends. It is the epic tale of a quarrel between the Pandavas and the Kauravas that culminated in a terrible fratricidal war. While primarily a book concerned with the acts of mankind, it had a major impact on Hindu belief because of the role that Krishna plays during the climax of the epic. He acts as a counsel to the hero, Arjuna, on the way of the cosmos.

The longest poem in the world, The Mahabharata is filled with many plots and sub-plots. It becomes difficult to describe any one character as hero or villain, because the boundaries between right and wrong become blurred. It seems to raise more questions about righteousness than it answers.

In the Mahabharata, Pandu, father of the Pandavas, was crowned king of Hastinapur because his elder brother, Dhritrashtra was born blind and therefore unfit to rule. Pandu however was forced into exile after accidentally killing a sage while out on a hunt. In his absence, Dhritarashtra was appointed regent.

When Pandu died, his sons were brought to Hastinapur to be raised along with the sons of Dhritarashtra, the Kauravas. On coming of age, the Pandavas asked that the city of their father be restored to them.

Dhritarashtra, unwilling to give away what the Kauravas had come to believe was their birthright, decided instead to divide the kingdom. The Pandavas were given the wilderness of Khandavaprastha, on which they established the rich and prosperous city of Indraprastha.

The Kauravas, envious of the Pandava fortune, invited them to a game of dice, where the Pandavas foolishly gambled away the rights to their city for a period of thirteen years.

After thirteen years, however, the Kauravas refused to part with the land. And so a battle was fought on the fields of Kurukshetra, raging for eighteen days, until the earth was soaked with the blood of a hundred thousand warriors.

At the crucial moment when the battle is about to start, the Pandava Arjuna loses his will to fight, realizing that he would be forced to kill his half-brothers. Krishna, serving as his charioteer, restores his confidence, not by justifying the war, but by explaining to him the significance of action in the cosmic plan.

Krishna's counsel to Arjuna is revered as, 'Bhagavad Gita,' the song of the lord. Krishna states that there is more to life than empirical reality. He says that the aging body and the wavering mind ensheath a divine essence - the serene soul. He explains how the immortal soul can be liberated from its mortal confines by realizing that all turmoil experienced by the body and the mind is a product of ignorance and attachment.

To facilitate this realization, Krishna offers the technique known as yoga, explaining its three different forms.

1) gyan yoga, logically becoming aware of the reality beyond perception

2) bhakti yoga, humbly accepting every situation as the will of the divine

3) karma yoga, fulfilling one's commitments without an eye on the results

Krishna explains that karma yoga is the best way to attain oneness with god, because it helps society function and it maintains worldly order, while also ensuring individual salvation.

While the Vedas may be the ultimate authority in Hinduism, epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have had a more significan impact on the culture and behavior of Hindus.

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