FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON MAHABHARATHA/RAMAYANA

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Below are the answers for some of the frequently asked questions on mahabharatha/Ramayana
collected from authenticated resources:

1) Why did Krishna fight with Jaambavaan without knowing that he is a devotee of Raama?

Jaambavaan was a close friend of Raama in Thretayuga. He had a fantastic desire. He wished to
fight a duel with Raama. His wish could not be fulfilled. Lord Vishnu fulfills even the strange
wishes of his devotees by creating situations to meet it. In Dhvaaparayuga when Krishna was
accused by the king Sathrajith of having stolen his Shyamanthaka gem when it was actually lost
in the forest, Krishna had to prove to him that he has not robbed it, so he went in search of the
gem. He went to the forest and followed the spoors leading to a lion's den. There He found the
Shyamanthaka gem in the possession of a bear - Jaambavaan. He challenged him to a duel to
return it. The duel lasted for 28 days. At last by a sudden flash of illumination Jaambavaan
realized that His adversary was his friend Raama. At last his wish was fulfilled. Although
Jambavan is the bear and looks old, he doesn't die. He is a chiran-jiva. He is also called as oldest
living being created by Brahma. That is why you find Jambavan in both ramyana and
mahabharatha.

2) How can the Raasa Leelaa or Raasa Kreeda of Lord Krishna be justified?

This indeed is a much misunderstood and misinterpreted episode. The Lord Krishna was dancing
in moonlight with the cowherdesses, each Gopika dancing with a Krishna. The Lord multiplied
Himself into many and stood beside every cowherdess. There are actually five kinds of
Bhava(feelings) in Bhakti(love of God) and according to that there are 7 kinds of devotions. The
five kinds of Bhavas(feelings) are Shanta(peaceful attitude of devotee ), Dasya(servant attitude
of devotee), Sakhya (friendly attitude of devotee), Vatsalya(devotee looks upon God as his child)
and Madhurya Bhavas (a devotee regards the Lord as his spouse). Madhurya Bhava is absolutely
different from conjugality of earthly experience. Earthly conjugality is most of the time is purely
selfish and is undertaken only because it gives pleasure to one's own self. But in Madhurya
bhakti it is because it gives pleasure to God and not for the sake of the devotee. Madhurya bhakti
is considered to be supreme way of loving the God. When Lord danced with his devotees, there
was no tinge of lust. It is the people who see it that way.

Gopikas and Gopaalas in their previous birth were Rishis in Kritha Yuga. When Lord himself
takes avatara(coming down to earth in human form) many of the Rishis who are His devotees
and even demigods also come down to earth to participate with God in the leela(divine play).
However, most of them do not get chance to mingle with Lord always. When Vishnu appeared as
Rama, He had got many proposals to marry from devotees who were born as women. However,
He was not ready to marry anyone after marrying sita because the purpose of rama-avatara was
to teach how a perfect gentleman should be (maryadha purushothama). However, Rama
promised them that He will marry all of them in his next incarnation (krishna avatar). It is said
that humans should listen to krishna's words but should not imitate him (marrying many women),
because humans cannot be God.

 
3) Why did Krishna stole butter and gave trouble to gopikas?
Krishna is described as a butter thief. Krishna did not actually desire butter - but He desired the
pure mind kept in the heart-pot of the Gopikas. Usually you can find a lover doing pranks with
his beloved one, or a husband with his wife. It is not done with the intention to give trouble to
their consort. Since gopikas were eager to share the madhura bhakti(amorous devotional love)
with Lord, Krishna doing such pranks was out of love with his devotees. That is why Krishna is
called Navaneetha chora. Navaneetha means pure mind. So krishna stealing the butter was out of
love but not out of childish behavior.
 
4) Why Lord Krishna first drank the milk from Putana and then killed her?

After consulting with his demoniac ministers, Kamsa had instructed a witch named Putana, who
knew the black art of killing small children by ghastly sinful methods, to kill all kinds of children
in the cities, villages and pasturing grounds. Such witches are called khecari, which means they
can fly in the sky. They can transfer themselves from one place to another on the branch of an
uprooted tree. Putana came to take Krsna on her lap and offer her breast's milk(which was
actaully poison). Krisna first drank the milk and then killed the demoness Putana. Some people
who do not understand the divine play of God think that this scene is very indecent. They think
that why the God didn't kill Putana immediately. Krsna is so merciful that because the demon
Putana came to offer her breast-milk to Him, He took her as His nurse or mother. But to stop her
from further nefarious activities, He then immediately sucked all her blood and killed her.
Krishna also closed the eyes when sucking the blood. There is a reason He closed His eyes: He
had to kill a nurse or mother.
 

5) Why draupathi married pancha pandavas?

There were actually five women in one body of draupadhi. The presence of Parvati,Shyamala
and Usha with Bharathi in the same body has a background. Once upon a time, these four got
into one body and moved before Brahma as a matter of fun. Brahma became angry and cursed
them to be born as human beings thrice as they cheated him thrice being in one body. To
overcome the hardship of contact with some man other than their husbands during these births,
Parvathi ,Shachi etc approached Bharatidevi also to be born with them so that nobody would
dare to touch them, accordingly these were born. In the first birth these were born as daughter of
Brahmana. During this birth these performed penance to Shiva. Bharathi performed the same to
Vishnu present in Shiva. They were told by Shiva and Vishnu respectively in one of their human
births they will live with their husbands. Later they were born as Nalanandini and Indrasena.
Nalanandini was the wife of Mudgala while Indrasena was the wife of his son Maudgalya. In
these two births also they were in one body, Finally , these were born as Draupadi, It is only in
this birth that they met their husbands. Arjuna succeeds in hitting the mark and qualifies himself
to seek the hand of Draupadi. When Pandavas return home and inform Kunti about their gain, a
ticklish situation arises. Without knowing the nature of the gain, Kunti tells her sons that "you
five share itÂ". How could five brothers share one wife? This problem was solved by Sri
Vedavyasa who arrived at that time. He informed Drupada, that the Pandavas are really Yama,
Vayu, Indra and Ashwini Kumaras born as men. The wives of these are present in the body of
Draupadi. Therefore, the marriage with Draupadi is really the marriage with their respective
wives. With the grace of Vedavyasa Drupada saw their wives in the person of Draupadi and
prostrated at the feet of Vedavyasa. The marriage was organized in a splendid way by Drupada.
The way in which the Pandavas dealt with Draupadi is quite interesting. In the person of
Draupadi four women viz shyamala, Bharathi, Sachi and Usher were present. These were the
wives of Yama, Vayu, Indra and Ashwini Kumaras who were now born as Pandavas. When
Dharmaraja was in contact with Draupadi, Shyamala used to be actively present and others used
to be in dormant state. Similarly when Bhimasena was in contact with Draupadi, Bharati used to
be actively present and others in a dormant state. This process continued in other cases also. This
avoided the overlapping of the contacts of these couples. The physical personalities of the wives
were one but their actual presence was relative to their husbands. However, in the case of Vayu
and Bharati, these were exclusively present when Bhima was in contact with Draupadi and were
also present along with others when others were in contact. However, there was no overlapping
of these two and the respective others so far as the contact is concerned. It only means that Vayu
and Bharati were never dormant. The whole set up seems to be beyond human logic and human
understanding. That is why it is called atimanusha.

 
 

6) Why did Krishna kill Karna un-righteousness?

Most of who were on the side of kuaravas were actually demons and the people who were on the
side of pandavas were demigods. Here, Krishna the Supreme God came on the side of demigods
to protect them and relieve the burden of the earth. When Karna's chariot wheels were struck, he
pleaded with Arjuna that he could give him time to retrieve it. That was the rule of the righteous
war. At that Krishna said, "You talk of righteousness does not behave like that. You have been
the part of evil Duryodhana's all sinful schemes, you never protested against the insulting
treatment given to Draupadi in their court, rather you were a party to aggravate it by your
insulting remarks. We cannot forget the recent killing of Abhimanyu. Do you think that was
righteous?" Although killing of Karna was un-righteousness, Krishna clarifies this part in the
above sentence. On the Kuaravas side there were many great heroes including Karna. Some had
actually received several boons and killing of them was not an easy task for pandavas without
Krishna. Krishna used tricks to kill Kuaravas after finding the weakness of Kuaravas. When an
enemy is repeatedly not following the principles of warfare, the warrior can follow tricks that are
not as per rules of warfare to kill the enemy. However, this is an exceptional rule. When a
warrior follows the principles of warfare that is laid down in the Hindu scriptures and fight with
the enemy it is called dharma yuddha. However, the main purpose of such a war is to establish
justice and peace by killing the demonic class of people. Krishna didn’t fulfill the principles of
warfare but fulfilled the purpose of a war. Thus the war of Mahabharatha represents the eternal
conflict which goes on in every soul between the forces of righteousness and wickedness; to the
extent that righteous succeeds, the soul is said to come out victorious on its onward march
towards final release. Sri Narayana Himself present in every soul directs this internal war just as
Sri Krishna He did in the field of Kurukshetra. The main reason for the Krishna avataaar was to
reinstall righteousness in the world and protect his devotees and good people.

One more thing about Karna is that he was not given the social status like pandavas. When Karna
lay wounded on the battlefield waiting for the messengers of death, he asks Lord Krishna the
reason for suffering in his life, because Karna was actually belongs to kshathiya clan and son of
Kunti. Krishna reminds Karna of all the evil deeds he did when he was Dambhodabhava and
how he fled from the battlefield and took refuge in Lord Surya and was destined to be slain at the
hands of Arjuna. Although Karna is partial amsa of Sun God He faced lot of bad luck and
disgrace in life due to giving protection to a demon Dambhodabhava. The story goes like this:
Once upon a time, there was an evil demon king Dambhodabhava, in pursuit of attaining the
boon of immortality does penance and pleases the Sun God. Unfortunately for the demon, the
Sun God refuses to make him immortal but grants him any other boon. So the witty demon
conceives a plan and asks for such a boon that would indirectly grant him immortality. The boon
he asked was to have 1000 Kavachas(armours) and it must take 1000 Years to break each
Kavacha, and the one who would break a Kavacha would instantly die. Nara and Narayana was
the avatar of Lord Vishnu. The twins were sons of Dharma and his wife Murti (Daughter Of
Daksha) or Ahimsa. These two sages take avatars on earth for the welfare of mankind .The
demon Dambhodabhava was named Sahasra Kavacha now. To fit to the boon, first Narayana
pennaced for 1000 Yrs and Nara fought 1000 Years with ShahasrKavacha and after 1000 Years,
Nara was able to break his one Kavacha. As Nara broke the Kavacha,he died. But Narayan due
his penance of 1000 Yrs could get back life of Nara and Narayan starts fighting and Nara starts
penance for the next 1000 years.Nara and Narayana alternatively penace and fight for 1000 years
and the cycle continued. At last, when they both were able to break 999 Kavachas. Petrified by
the very thought of death, the wicked demon fled from the battlefield seeking refuge with the
Sun God who had given the boon. ShahasraKavacha hides himself behind the Surya with his last
Kavacha due to fear that he would be killed by Nara and Narayana then. Both the heroes of the
war, Nara and Narayana chased him and demanded Lord Surya to return the demon to them. But
Lord Surya who had given Dambhodabhava the promise to protect him, refused Nara and
Narayana to hand over the demon. At this time, there was Pralaya on Earth due to the change of
the Yuga. Thus ShashtraKavacha escapes death. In Dwapar Yuga, amsa of Lord Surya and
Dambhodabhava was reborn as Karna with Kavacha and Nar and Narayan as Arjun and Krishna
respectively. Hence, Karna was affected with "split personality". Finally it was Narayana who
declared that the last of the thousand kavachaÂ’s would be broken by Nara in the Dwapara Yuga
when Nara would be born as Arjuna and the wicked Dambhodabhava as Karna. The incarnation
of Krishna was to relieve the burden of the earth. The Earth was overpowered by hosts of demon
armies like Daityas and Danavas who descended to the Earth taking birth as kings in royal
families although previously killed also as demons battling the demigods. In order to lessen this
burden of the Earth, the Supreme Lord Krishna descended and manifested Himself in the Yadava
dynasty.

The confusion over one's own action arises in an individual when he is not able to identify his
sva-dharma. Arjuna was clearly in this jumble. Dharma is further classified as mukhya-dharma
(Main) and gauNa-dharma (Subsidiary).
These change based on the circumstances of the individual. Take the example of a school
teacher. His mukhya-dharma and gauNa-dharma change according to the situation. Suppose his
own son is a student in his class. The same person has the dharma of a teacher and that of a
father. When he is in the classroom, his mukhya-dharma becomes that of a teacher and gauNa-
dharma that of a father. Only then will he be able to conduct the class in an impartial manner as a
teacher.

The mukha and gauNa dharma-s for him change outside the classroom. There, his mukhya-
dharma become that of a father and gauNa-dharma that of a teacher. So we should be able to
identify our mukhya-dharma according to the circumstances we are in.

Now take the case of Arjuna. He is basically a kShatriya(to protect the ) whose dharma is to
fight. On the other hand, he is also a student, an uncle, a brother and a friend to many in the
kaurava army. These are also his dharma in their respective realms. However, in the battlefield
his mukhya-dharma is that of a kShatriya and all other dharma-s take a back seat. We can see
from the gItA that Arjuna clearly failed to recognize this and this made him to drop his bow and
arrow. He forgot his dharma to fight as a kShatriya when confronted with attachments.

7) Why drona didn't teach archery to ekalavya?

When we hear the word Ekalavya, Guru Bhakti will come to our mind immediately. He gave his
thumb, an important finger as Guru Dhakshina for the education obtained from Guru. Before
practicing the shastras (shastra vidya) in front of Drona's idol, earlier he learned Paishacha vidya
from group of devils (pishachi). From this force only, he fought against Sri Krishna with
Jarasanda and got defeated. Ekalavya attacked Krishna for the second time and got defeated.
Ekalavya thought that it's not possible to kill Sri Krishna using Paishacha Astra. In order to get
Divine astras, he came to Dronacharya with bad intention. Acharya Dhrona had promised to
Arjuna that he would make him as supreme in Dhanur vidya after liking his conduct. To keep the
promise Acharya Dhrona didn't taught it to Ekalavya first. Also Ekalavya came to learn archery
with the bad intention. When Dronacharya came to know that Ekalavya was worshipping him to
obtained Astra Vidya, Dronacharya went and got Ekalavya's thumb as Gurudakshina to teach
him the Astra Vidya. After Dronacharya obtained the Guru Dakshina, he then started to teach
Ekalavya the Astra Vidya. Here, Dronacharya didn’t violate the promise of Arjuna (because
Ekalavya cannot be as efficient as Arjuna) but at the same time he (as a guru) didn’t disappointed
his disciple.

Ekalavya was an amsha of Manimanta, the leader of a certain group of demons although he was
talented and came from hunter family. Even demons show devotion towards their master but
their actions are demonic and their intentions are against what is good for the society. You will
find many demons who worship demigods but they dislike Vishnu because He is in charge of
reducing the burden of earth. Earth was actually filled with demons at the time Krishna
incarnated. If you read the story of Krishna, you will see many demons planning to kill Krishna
since His birth without knowing that He is the cause of all causes. One can have peace only
when one develops faith in Absolute God and dedicates all his actions for the good as well as to
that God.

You will find devotion, talent and hardship even in demons but we cannot support them because
they can misuse the skills that are taught. Regarding the social status of Ekalavya, one has to
understand the hindu caste system properly.

The caste system was actually called as swa-dharma. It means duty( dharama) according to one's
swabhava(nature). There are 2 types of dharmas according to Vedic system. Samanya (Normal)
and vishesha(Special) dharma. Samanya dharma is common to all. It includes being kind,
courteous to all beings, etc. Vishesha dharma is what differs and it is also called swa-dharma.
Vedic scriptures has explained to us that our actions must match our energy-nature, our prakriti.
Our actions, including our livelihood, must be consistent with our state of conscious, our
swabhava. Our swadharma, the mode of life and duty that is natural to us, being based on our
karma(deeds of previous lives) and samskaras (impressions in our mind). 

According to the Hindu religion, the 3 types of natures of the human being are: mode of
goodness, mode of passion and mode of ignorance. Hence, the class of people who are
completely in mode of goodness (brahmana=one who has gained the brahma gyana (one who has
the correct knowledge about the brahmanda(everything about the universe))) are considered as
intellectual class since their mind is not biased towards bad things. That is why they were
ministers or priests in the king's court in olden times. The class of people who are in mode of
passion and goodness is considered to be belonging to administrative class(kshathriya). That is
why they were kings or warriors because the rulers and warriors have to be very active and
brave. They must not only be good towards their citizens( mode of goodness) but also should
have the courage to punish the culprits (mode of passion). If a king loves even the criminals like
a saint, then the society will not be peaceful. The third class of people is a businessmen (vaishya)
who is in the mode of passion and ignorance. The last class of people is ones who are driven by
immoral thoughts or who do not have control over their mind to decide what right or wrong or
even lazy people. They are worker class(sudra). They were not given highest position because
they can misuse the powers. For example, the knowledge about making the bombs/guns is
misused by terrorists by killing innocent people. This is because they are in the mode of
ignorance. By doing manual work, they would gradually rise above the mode of ignorance and
would be getting the higher posts in the future or same life. Hence, this system also worked as
purification process for the human beings.

If this division is not done properly in a society, there will be no peace, prosperity as well as
spiritual progress of individuals. That is why the meaning of Dharma is that which is meant for
the stability of the world. It is also means to be both secular and spiritual welfare of living
beings.

The 3 natures explained before are found in 'varying degrees' in all individuals, be they Indian,
American or British. So the God made a broader classification of the individuals. The natures
present in individuals fall under the various people in the order of predominance as follows:
BrAhmaNa: sattva-->rajas
kShatriya - rajas-->sattva-->tamas
vaishya - rajas-->tamas-->sattva
shUdra - tamas

In the satya, dwapara and tretayugas it is told that God was helping us to establish good
governance in the world. You may ask how God was helping us. The four divisions of human
beings were originally done by God to divide the people according to their quality so that there
won't be any waste of time or confusion in selecting the right candidate for different positions in
society. God used to fully control the births of the people in previous yugas and decide who has
to take birth in which family. We all say that God is the controller of everything but we cannot
admit this truth. In the previous yugas, only a pure man, when his punya [karmic merit] becomes
exhausted, descends from heaven to earth and is born in kshathriya(administrative class of
people) lineage and such man was selected as a king. Such a person is indeed great and is a
portion of God on earth. Because Lord Vishnu entered the body of that monarch and helps the
citizens to give good governance. Hence we can see the God's responsibility for the welfare of
the world or society. The form of government that is the oldest, most prevalent down through the
ages, and most widely found around the globe is that of the divine monarchy. These were found
in India, China, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Ur, Egypt, Ethiopia, the
Sudan, in ancient Greece, as well as in Scandinavia and Celtic Europe. In all these civilizations
the king was spoken of as divine representatives. That is why we can see great kings like shibi,
Satya harishchandra in earlier yugas. There are also instances of sudra getting purified in the
same life and getting all the respect. For example, Sage valmikki who came from hunter family
has written epic historical book ramayana. Also Vidura the son of a maid-servant has served as
minister of Hastinapura. In Mahabharatha, Krishna has even declined the gorgeous feast of
Duryodhana, who came from kshathriya clan and went straight to the hut of Vidura who was
born from Sudra mother. Vidura had nothing to offer Krishna except some plantain fruits. In his
joy, which made him lose his body-consciousness, he offered the peels to Krishna and threw the
pith away, not knowing what he was doing. Such was the delight he was immersed in, on seeing
Krishna in his cottage. Sri Krishna uttered not a word. He went on swallowing the peels. He
noted that the plantain stuff was being thrown off, but said nothing. At that time, it appears, the
wife of Vidura was taking a bath. When she heard that Sri Krishna had come, she ran without
even dressing herself properly. She forgot herself equally. When she saw Vidura giving peels to
the Lord, she yelled, "Oh! What are you giving?" The moment she uttered these words, Vidura
came to consciousness and he immediately told her, "Go and put on your clothes, please."
Neither she knew that she had no proper clothes, nor Vidura knew that he was feeding the Lord
with peels. When both began to realise the mistake they had made in their overwhelming joy, the
one rushed to put on decent clothes and the other offered the fruit instead of the peels. But Sri
Krishna is reported to have smilingly remarked, "Now the taste of the fruit has gone. The peels
were tastier." God loves only himself. He cannot love anything else, because anything else does
not exist.

However, this caste system is distorted in kaliyuga because it is controlled (partially) by great
demon called kalipurusha. Hence, determining the quality of a human cannot be determined
merely from birth or caste in this yuga. The entire system has also collapsed because the caste
system is no longer formulated as per the inherent guNas in an individual. It is now a caste
system based on the individual's birth. Even now, if an individual objectively examines his
nature, he will come to know of his real dharma (duty that purifies oneself).

In the beginning of satya yuga, there was actually no such caste system. Because all the people
were thinking well about others and were pure in heart. As people started to think unethically
there was a need to divide the people according to their nature.

In the Bhagavd-Gita Lord has told: "Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature,
for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. Thus, from this sloka it is
clear that even if we educate a person who is in the mode of ignorance he will still act according
to his nature. Even if his intellect says that it is wrong to do the misdeeds, he will still do it
because of the impulse of the sense organs.

8) Why did Sri Rama killed Vali?

[After Mother Sita was kidnapped, Sri Rama was wandering in the forest looking for her.
Although Sri Rama is supreme lord, he wanted to get a good freind to help him to find Sita. This
is part of Sri Rama's leela(divine play). On the way, Sri Rama met Hauman and Sugriva.]
Sugriva explained his pitiable condition on account of his brother's aggressive posture. [Sugriva
wanted to rescue from Vali and Vali was ready to kill Sugriva. Sri Rama decided to help Sugriva
becuase Sugriva's wife was also kidnapped by Vali and he came to conclusion that Sugriva is the
right person to help him. This is something to be learnt from God. When we are in difficulty, we
have to make freinds who have expierinced the similar difficulty.] Sri Rama promised to him that
his aggressive brother Vali will be killed (as kidnapping somone's wife is a big sin and culphrit
has to be punished as Sri Rama himself was a king duty and punishing is his duty. Although Sri
Rama was not a king after he came to forest, he was a shatriya by birth and punishing the
culphrit is his duty) and the kingship will be restored to him. Sugriva also agreed to help Sri
Rama to find out Sita. However, he wanted to know whether Sri Rama had a sufficient amount
of strength to fight Vali. Therefore, he showed Rama the body of Dundubhi killed by Vali. Sri
Rama threw that dead body a hundred yojanas away by the very toe of his feet and killed by it a
number of demons living on Rasatala. Then, Sugriva showed Rama seven demons present in the
form of seven Tala trees and said that if you can destroy these by one arrow, then you can kill
Vali. Sri Rama destroyed all of them by one arrow, which, after destroying the Tala trees pierced
into the seven underworlds viz., Atala, Vitala, etc., upto Patala and also destroyed the demons
known as Kumiudi. This is the strength of the God. Then, Sugriva took Rama to the city of
Kishkindha to kill Vali. Vali pounced on Sugriva and beated him. But Sri Rama did not kill vali
for the first time pretending that he could not distinguish between the two. The real reason was to
give an opportunity for the brothers to reconcile and to avoid a confrontation. Even the long
enmity among the brothers vanishes when they reach the point of crisis. Since rama has taken the
vow to help sugriva when vali tries to attack him, rama became confused on what action to be
taken. Rama was sugriva's ally and rama must help Sugriva as Ram needs some help in return.
When Sugriva again appealed to Sri Rama to kill Vali Sri Rama threw a strong arrow at Vali and
killed him. When compromising of the brothers was not possible, Rama thought of keeping his
promise instead. It is said that Sri Rama killed Vali from behind a tree. The reason for this was
neither fear nor treachery. If Vali would have prostrated at the feet of Sri Rama then, it would
have been a dilemma whether to stand by his promise to Sugriva or to stand by Vali who had
prostrated at his feet. According to the rules of warfare, warrior must not kill the enemy if he
surrenders. Although Sri Rama punished Vali by not fighting face to face like a real warriors,
there is an exception for the warriors to kill an animal (sugriva was a monkey) when it attacks a
person who has to be saved. The bottom point is that when it comes to rescuing a person and
there is no enough time to reconcile with the enemy, first we have abide to protect the person.

sugrIva and karNa were both amshAs of the sun, yet they met with different treatments at the
hands of the Lord; sugrIva benefited immensly from rAma, whereas karNa was punished. The
answer to this seeming paradox is given by srimadAchArya "sa mArutikrutE ravijam raraksha"
(MBTN canto 5 verse 46) child of sun (sugrIva) was protected (by rAma) only because he was
with hanumantA. "bhImArthamEva ravijam nihatya" (MBTN canto 5 verse 47) It was because of
(enimity with) bhIma that offspring of the sun (karNa) was killed (by krishna). A similar reversal
is seen in the case of vAli and arjuna. Here again, the key was the relationship that vAli and
arjuna had with hanumanta and bhIma respectively. This illustrates the point that getting the
grace of devotee of the Lord (vayu) or association of the devotee of the Lord (vayu) is a sure-
shot way of getting the grace of hari.

9) Karunanidi has once told that valmikki ramayana says that Rama is fond of wine. Is it true?

The verse that comes in question in this regard in the Valmiki Ramayana, Sundarakanda, Skanda
36, Sloka 41, says: Â"Na mamsam Raghava bhunkte, na chaiva madhu sevate, Vanyam
suvihitam nityam bhaktamsnati panchamam.Â" The literal translation of this verse is: Â"Sri
Rama does not take meat or honey. He partakes everyday of wild fruits and boiled (wild) rice
fully sanctioned (for an ascetic) in the evening.Â" Faulty English translations have put it as
something like this: Hanuman to Sita, Â"When you were away, Sri Rama did not even take deer
meat.Â" This incorrectly implies that Rama normally may have ate meat but did not do so while
Sita was away from Him. Now in this verse, the Sanskrit word bhunkte is a verb that means
strong desire for eating. It comes from the Sanskrit bhaksha, which means voracious eating.
When you say Na bhunkte, as we see in the line that says Â"Na mamsam Raghava bhunkteÂ", it
gives a complete negative connotation, meaning that Lord Rama abhorred meat-eating. On the
other hand, if the words were Â"Na mamsam Raghavo khadateÂ", it could then mean that
Raghava may have engaged in meat eating before, but had stopped it at this point. However, this
is not what is said, but is where some English translations present a similar confusion, or are
simply unclear about this issue. Nonetheless, by analyzing the correct view of the proper
translation, it indicates clearly that the Valmiki Ramayana shows how Lord Rama not only did
not eat meat but greatly disliked it. There is also a verse where Lord Rama laments with his
Mother, Kausalya that he is going to be exiled from the palace at Ayodhya into the forest for
fourteen years. Below is the misinterptreted verse: 'I must to lonely wilds repair, abstain from
flesh and wine and living there on roots, fruit, hermit's food, pass twice seven years (14 yrs.) in
solitude. The actaul meaning of the sanskrit verse is that even after living in forest, Lord Rama
didn't like to depend on meat of animals(by hunting) or bee-honey(misinterpreted as wine). This
is the greatness of Sri Rama.

10) Why Rama killed Shambuka who was doing penance?

We are told that Shambuka was a shudra who was doing penance to attain salvation or some
othe reason and he did not like the shudra aspiring for salvation so he was killed off. But the real
reason was that Shambuka was an asura (who is in the mode of ignorance) and he was aspiring
for IndraÂ’s (who is in charge of heaven) position and he was doing penance for that. It was
required to protect devatas (demigods) from the asura that Rama destroyed his penance. It is the
job of the king to prevent a person who is in the mode of ignorance to take charge of the society
or world. It is also the Vishnu's job to prevent an unqualified (who is in the mode of ignorance)
person to take the demigod position. Indra padavi is a position like prime minister of demigods
and heaven. In order to gain that position one has to do lot of sacrifices. Shambuka was trying to
acquire this position through wrong means as it is not according to his own merit. In earlier
yugas, whenever a person who is in the mode of ignorance takes charge of society or world, the
demigods gives hint to the humanity about the future calamity. They are also in charge of
maintaining the stability(dharma) of the world. That is how a newly born baby died instantly.
That gave clue to King Raama that is there is something unjust that is going in his territory. In
kaliyuga, untimely death is so common that people do not consider it seriously. However, in
satya yuga and other yugas, there was no or few untimely death because the dharma was so
stable.

Narada was a dasi-putra, the son of a maidservant. He has also done penance. Srila
Vyasadeva was also (born from the womb of a sudra mother) had done penance. Hence, the
conclusion is caste is not by birth. In order to understand the so called caste system properly,
read the question 7.

This is not about racial discrimination. If Rama is supporting Racialism, why did He ate the half-
eaten fruits given to him by Shabari(who was a Scheduled Tribe) who was aspiring for
salvation? He also blessed king of vultures, Jatayu, one who is born in the family of eating dead
bodies and flushes etc and Vibhishana, the one who is born in the family of demons. In the end
of Ramayana, Sri Rama assures Hanuman, who is from Vanara community, that He will be given
the Brahma padavi (designation) in the future. Hence, Hanuman is going to be the next Brahma
of this universe.

11) Why Sita was banished by Rama to forest?

Before we go further we should know the story of Ramayana. Rama is the avatar of Lord Vishnu
and he came to this world as Rama to set an example to human kind. And in the case of the
Avatar his consort Sri Lakshmi also descends to aid the Lord in his divine works. She had
incarnated as Sita to fulfill His plan. As the omnipotent Lord, Rama certainly knows that Sita
was untouched otherwise omnipotence is meaningless. Neither can Sita be touched by any mortal
or immortal , asura or rakshasha or man as she is the adhipathi of this universe. Thus the concept
of his suspecting is wife here is a meaningless one. Clearly Rama was eager to establish that his
wife was pure and fit for the throne of Ayodhya. And it was to this end that he asked her to
undergo the Agni Pariksha which was meant to elevate the status of Sita amongst his subjects.
Thus he actually shows how an ideal King should be, one who keeps the feelings of the public in
mind. We must realize that in those days much was expected of kings , quite unlike todayÂ’s
elected democratic rulers whose misdemeanor we have come to expect. Rama has thus
established the code of conduct for an ideal king and by his act becomes flawless and worthy of
respect. There is the wise saying of Hanuman told in the Bhagavatha, that the Avatar of the Lord
as man in this world is intended indeed for the edification of mankind and not merely for the
destruction of the Rakshasas. How can there be grief caused on account of (the separation of)
Sita, to this Lord who enjoys Himself in His own form? The idea is that Lord Vishnu takes
another form as female in Lakshmi and enjoys by giving pleasure to her.
 

12) Why Bhima played the foul game by hitting Duryodhana below the waist?

Vishnu as both Rama and Krishna upheld the divine law. As Rama he upheld it by his actions
and as Krishna he did not directly participate in the wars but he always advised his devotees to
kill the asuras by trickery because the kaurava's team were very strong due to receiving several
boons from demigods. When a warrior follows the principles of warfare that is laid down in the
Hindu scriptures and fight with the enemy it is called dharma yuddha. However, the main
purpose of such a war is to establish justice and peace by killing the demonic class of people.
Krishna didn’t fulfill the principles of warfare but fulfilled the purpose of a war. Thus Bhimasena
was advised by Krishna to hit Duryodhana below the waist and kill him.

There is also one more main reason. When Bhishma objected to the act of killing Dushashana by
tearing the body to pieces and Duryodhana by hitting below the waist (as it is not according to
the rules of warfare) Krishna clarifies the point that a sinner likes Dushashana or Duryodhana
deserves that kind of a death. We can fight decently and according to the principles in the
battlefield only if the opponent does follows the rules of the warfare properly. Madhvacharya
states it is a sin to kill a sinner dharmically. It is like shooting a most wanted terrorist or don
without warning or without asking them to surrender. Duryodhana has crossed all the limits of
good conduct and behavior. All his attempts to kill the Pandavas have failed but still he was
jealous of the Pandavas.

In Aurobindo’s view Krishna came to complete an evolutionary task, the establishment of an

orderly society where a sattwic(mode of goodness) type was established firmly over and above
the Rakshashic(mode of ignorance and demonic) type.

 
Duryodhana was actually the incarnation of Kali represents evil. Many people consider
Duryodhana to be good person because he supported Karna. After seeing the arrow skills of
Karna, Duryodhana considered Karna to be friend because he can help to fight him to conquer
Pandavas. He was actaully in the evil policies of politics.
 

13) Is it true that urvashi was created by Lord Narayana?

 In the fourth incarnation, the Lord became Nara-Narayana, the twin sons of the wife of King
Dharma. He undertook severe and exemplary penances to control the senses. Their penances and
austerities was so intense that it alarmed the Indra. Indra the King of Devas was not knowing that
lord of lords has incarnated as Nara-Narayana. Sometimes Indra with the fear of losing his
position sends apsaras to disturb the penance of human beings. Here, Indra was concerned about
protecting his throne from possible contenders and he sent Kamadeva(Lord of desire), Vasanta
(Lord of spring) and apsaras (nymphs) to inspire Lord with passion and disturb Nara-Narayana’s
penance without knowing that they are the incarnation of Lord. There are many instances in
which Apsaras, heavenly angels, have descended to this earth by the order of a superior
demigods like Lord Brahma or Lord Indra, have followed the demigod's order by distracting the
ascetics. The material attractions are created by God only to check one's advancement in spiritual
life. Once a devotee is fixed in God's consciousness, however, these attractions will not agitate
his mind. The illusory potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead acts on behalf of God
only.

They tried all their tricks to disturb the penance of Lord. Lord didn’t get disturbed even a bit.
They got tired because of this. Then Lord Narayana took a flower and placed it on his thigh.
Immediately there sprung from it a beautiful nymph whose charms far excelled those of the
celestial nymphs. Apsaras who had came to attract the Lord felt surprised at the charm of nymph
and felt shame at their beauty. This story shows the power of the Lord. Even the most beautiful
and attractive things are under the control of God. This story is being misinterpreted by many.
From this story, we can understand that Narayana is more powerful than demigods. We should
also understand that Lord has created both good and bad things in this world. Bad things are
created as the counter-force against the good. Just like barriers are placed as the obstacle for the
runners from reaching the destination in hurdle race, bad feelings like lust, hatred, etc are
created.

Apsaras can be compared to fairies of Western folklore. One popular Western belief is that
fairies had been thrown out of heaven, not being good enough to live in heaven, but they were
not evil enough for hell too. They are also called fallen angels. According to hindu dharma,
Apsaras are the wives of the Gandharvas, court servants of Indra. Indra the chief of demigods
and Svargaloka(heaven) is the abode of demigods. One of the duties of Apsaras is to guide to
paradise the heroes who fall in battle, whose wives they then become. They mainly act as the
handmaidens of Indra or as dancers at his celestial court. Apsaras are also referred in the ancient
stories of Greece and Buddhist.

It is said that the standard of living in the heaven is thousands and thousands of times higher than
the standard of living on this planet. That is how there are more attraction in heaven. According
to the Bhagavad-Gita going to or living in heaven has limitations too. Beings who go to these
worlds are bound to return to earth once the merits of their previous karma are exhausted. Life in
these worlds is also not permanent but the life-span or 'time to live' in the heaven is very very
large. Complete liberation is possible only when the humans transcend their lower and higher
desires and withdraw into themselves to attain the highest world of Supreme Lord.

14) How can the kidnapping of rukmimi by Lord Krishna be justied?  

Rukmini was the incarnation of Godess laxmi. She is the incharge of material nature and
personfication of material energy. Living beings are created by the interplay of material
nature(that gives us the body) and the souls(living force) that emanate from Vishnu. Thus,
Godess laxmi is called the mother and Vishnu is called father of the universe.

When Godess laxmi was born as Sita she faced lot of seperation with Vishnu when He was born
as Raama. When Godess laxmi was born as Rukmini, her brother was trying to marry her with
his friend but she was not interested with marrying with anyone other than Vishnu. Even after
knowing that ravana has kidnapped Sita, Raama didn’t attacked ravana directly in rama-avataar.
He first sent a messenger to compromise with Ravana and return Sita. This is because the avatara
of Raama was meant to teach the society how a perfect gentleman should be. However, when
Vishnu was born as Krishna He didn’t followed the guidelines (getting the consent of parents
before marrying) because He didn’t want the Goddess laxmi to suffer like in sita-avataar. He is
now playing the role of protector. The bottom line is that God acts differently as per to the role
he is playing and the situation that demands.

  15) Why did Krishna stole away the saris of Gopikas when they were bathing in the river?  

This is another difficult to understand scene. Gopikas and Gopaalas in their previous birth were
Rishis in Kritha Yuga. They were able to get only the darshan of the Lord Vishnu in krita yuga.
In Thretha Yuga they were born as monkeys (vanara sena of Hanuman) and were able to enjoy
the darshan of the Lord in Rama avatara as well as Sambhashanam (talk). In the Dhwaapara
Yuga they were born as Gopikas and Gopaalas to enjoy darshan(seeing), Sambhashan(talking)
and Sparshan(touch). The love relationship the Gopikas shared with God in Dhwaapara Yuga is
called madhura bhakti (romantic devotion) which devotees such as Meera have developed. When
the Gopikas questioned Krishna whether it was Dharma (righteous) on His part to steal away
their dress and requesting them to come out of river, Krishna wanted to share a light moment
with his devotees. Although the Kritha Yuga rishis were born in female gender now (were in
male gender before), they were shy of coming out without sufficient clothes. The lord Krishna
says that it was the Gopikas who were not observing Svadharma (Aathma dharma or their true
nature that the body or the gender is not associated with the soul (living force)) but observing
Paraadharma (Dehadharma or body consciousness). This has to be understood as leela (divine
play) because God is teaching some lesson to his devotees. Krishna gave away the saris the
moment the gopikas lifted their hands in total surrender and prayed to Him to save them from
shame. This self-surrender is Absolute Love for God exclusively. The meaning is that unless a
spiritual aspirant loses his body consciousness and prays to God for grace. He would not win the
grace of God. In fact Dheha means that which is worn, a Vasthra. The moral of this story is that
doesn’t mean every woman should surrender to lord without wearing any dress. The Gopikas
were advanced spiritual yogis of Kritha Yuga (and eager to share madhurya bhakti) and thus God
taught such lesson to them.

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16) How come Krishna asked Arjuna to fight with his Grandsire, teachers and cousins?

Krishna tried his best to stop the war and even undertook a peace mission. He pleaded with
Dhritharashtra and the Kaurava sons to abandon the path of war. Krishna even took the
Vishvaroopa (absolute form of God) and showed to everyone that he was God himself.
This was a war of Dharma against Adharma, in other words Good against Bad. The dharma
(duty) of a Kshatriyas (warrior and administrative class of people) is not to pardon evil persons.
It is the duty of Kshatriyas to fight with evil persons when they try to control the society so that
the peace remains in the society.
This may confused us why Krishna didn’t suggested Arjuna to put down the arms and follow the
non-violence like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. According to vedic system, the 4 divisions of
human society (called as caste system) are actually 4 social orders or duties. These 4 social
orders are divided according to their nature. Srimad-Bhagavatam the authenticated book declares
that if one shows the symptoms of being a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or sudra, even if he has
appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to the symptoms of classification.
According to Sri Krsna in Bhagavad-gita, the qualities of a brahmana are as follows:
Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and
religiousness — these are the natural qualities by which the brahmanas work. If such symptoms
are found in a sudra, he should never be called a sudra, just as a brahmana is not a brahmana if
he lacks these characteristics. Those who are in tama guna(mode of ignorance) and engaged in
hypocrisy and envy are the sudras.
A kshatriya's dharma is to protect all beings along with fostering the righteous, destroying those
who are cruel, and not fleeing from the enemy. One interesting thing here is that there is no
difference between religion and social responsibility. A warrior who is brave enough to be killed
on the battlefield attains heaven after this earthly life. However, the dharma (duty) of saints or
Brahmanas is to pardon the evil persons.
Many great personalities didn’t want to join Kauravas but due to some reason they had to join
Kauravas. Shalya wanted to join Pandavas; however, Duryodhana had arranged a grand
reception for him all along his way. Without knowing as to who had arranged it Shalya declared
that he would support him who had arranged this reception. Consequently he had to join
Duryodhana. Similarly, Acharya Dhrona who was expert archery was using the provisions given
by Duryodhana. So he accepted Duryodhana’s request to join on kauravas side. Acharya Dhrona
is such a great personality that he even told Yudhistira when He would stop the war and put
down the weapons. That is he taught the way to pandavas how to kill him. Although Acharya
Dhrona, Bhishma and many others fought against pandavas they played a crucial role in God’s
work of reducing the burden of earth. They all died in the battle like martyr.

  

REFERENCES:  

http://www.tatvavada.org/eng/

http://www.indiadivine.org/