the ashvathama story..

कुर्याद्वियोगदुःखेषु धैर्यमुत्सृज्य दीनताम्।

अश्वत्थामवधं श्रुत्वा द्रोणो गतधृतिर्हतः॥ ३७

क्षेमेन्द्रप्रणीते चारुचर्यायाम्॥

kuryādviyogaduḥkheṣu dhairyamutsṛjya dīnatām|

aśvatthāmavadhaṁ śrutvā droṇo gatadhṛtirhataḥ|| 37

kṣemendraprṇīte cārucaryāyām||

A very sane reminder from Kshemendra in his great and crisp compendium.. Charucharya

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A sensible person should never get completely pulled down by grief and separation from loved persons or things and he should never abandon his composure and indulge in lamenting and grieving forgetting the realities of the circumstances..

Dronacharya, when informed of the death of his son Ashvathama, was overcome with grief and laid down his bow and arrow even in the midst of Mahabharatha war.. And Dhristadyuman seized this opportuniy and beheaded the elder warrior. 

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When misfortune strikes we may be shocked for some moments.. 

That is natural.. 

But we should not carry such grief too long..

And realities of life should never be forgotten..

People around may show sympathy.. and would try to share the grief to some extent.. Agreed.. 

But the world is so curious.. 

Surely there would be people biding for time to exploit any situation.. 

Such people can have access to our valuables, and our secrets when we are just spending our time grieving excessively..

If a loss has happened and the situation is beyond repair, no amount of crying is going to help.

Of course, human nature as it is would make us wail..

But we have to recover as quickly as possible.. 

Or else the process of grieving would claim more victims..

Dronacharya was a rock solid warrior in the Kaurava side in Mahabharatha war.. 

It was just impossible to defeat him in a face to face battle.

It was unthinkable that Pandavas could win if Drona was alive and fighting

Drona's one weakness was his blind affection for his only son Ashvathama , another great warrior.

So the Krishna- Pandava Combo hatched a plan to demoralize the great Archer

An elephant was named Ashvathama..

This elephant was slain by Bheemasena.. 

And Yudhistira, the truthful, was asked to announce aloud the death of Ashvathama the elephant.

While the announcement of death of the elephant was made, the part of the announcement implying that the dead Ashvathama was an elephant was obliterated through loud drumbeats..

Drona heard only the announcement that Asvathama is killed.. and the announcement came from the epitome of honesty Dharmaputra.. 

Drona took the announcement at face value.. and believed that his only son and his only dream, Ashvathama was gone

This news reached Drona while he was engaged in a fierce battle.. 

Overcome with intense grief, Dronacharya threw down his bow and arrows and sat down mute and broken in his chariot.

His lifetime enemy Dhristadyumna, saw this..

He jumped into the chariot, caught the unarmed and grieving Drona by surprise and chopped off his head with a sword.. 

The rules of fair and just war were forgotten for a moment.. 

But that moment was fatal for Drona and the Kuravas too

Too much of grieving thus cost his life for Dronacharya..

Indulging either in pomp or in grief.. should be moderate and sensible..

why Krishna cursed Asvatthaama.......

why Krishna cursed Asvatthaama.......

Even the Merciful Lord Krishna was angry beyond limits when Ashvathama sent the Apandava Astram on the Foetus growing inside the womb of Uttara, the widow of Abhimanyu... 

In fact after all the children of pandavas were either killed or murdered as a consequence of the Mahabharatha War, the only hope left for the race of Kurus was this child growing in Uttara's womb..

The cruelty of Asvathama was beyond endurance and pardon..

The Blessed Lord, of course revived and rejuvenated the child which was born dead.. and this Child grew as the great Emperor Parikshit.

Given below the extract from Mahabharatam..

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"I am giving an extract from Mahabharaatham of Vyasa, Saupthika Parva.Aishika parva chapter Sixteen Slokas 8 to 12

The blessed Lord Krishna Said

You, Son of Drona, You may note that the powerful arrow (theApandava Astram) which you have sent will have impact on the foetus growing in the womb of Uttara (the widow of Abhimanyu..the sole progeny for the race of Kurus)...The foetus will be born lifeless but it will be blessed with long life (by My Divine Will)

But you take note that the whole world will deride you as cruel, cowardly perpetrator of unpardonable sins.. In addition, you will have to face the consequences of your most sinful deed. 

From this day onwards, for three thousand years, you will be wandering on this earth aimlessly and falteringly..

You will not have the relief of having conversation with anyone in this world, and no one will talk to you even if you try to talk to him

You will be wandering aimlessly across lands which are never populated by human beings.

The places wherever you wander would have no other living being other than you.

You wretch, you will never be able to mingle with human being in society.

Your body will be filled with wounds which would never heal and you will be oozing stale blood and pus through those wounds (including the would inflicted by Bhimasena when he plucked the birth gem which had grown as a part of your head)

Because of your ghastly wounds and the foul smell spread by those wounds, you would be forced to withdraw from places where other human beings reside.

You sinner, you will be afflicted with all the diseases that anyone can have on earth and would be wandering senselessly hither and thither for ever and ever..

The clipping from the epic is attached

                                                

श्रीभगवानुवाच

अमोघः परमास्त्रस्य पातस्तस्य भविष्यति । स तु गर्भो मृतो जातो दीर्घमायुरवाप्स्यति ॥ ८ ॥

श्रीभगवान् बोले- द्रोणकुमार! उस दिव्य अस्त्रका प्रहार तो अमोघ ही होगा। उत्तराका यह गर्भ मरा हुआ ही पैदा होगा; फिर उसे लंबी आयु प्राप्त हो जायगी ॥ ८ ॥

त्वां तु कापुरुषं पापं विदुः सर्वे मनीषिणः । असकृत्पापकर्माणं बालजीवितधातकम् ॥ ९ ॥ तस्मात्त्वमस्य पापस्य कर्मणः फलमाप्नुहि । त्रीणि वर्षसहस्राणि चरिष्यसि महीमिमाम् ॥ १० ॥ अप्राप्नुवन् कचित् काञ्चित् संविदं जातु केनचित् । निर्जनानसहायस्त्वं देशान् प्रविचरिष्यसि ॥ ११ ॥

परंतु तुझे सभी मनीषी पुरुष कायर, पापी बारंबार पापकर्म करनेवाला और बाल-इत्यारा समझते हैं। इसलिये तू इस पाप-कर्मका फल प्राप्त कर ले। आजते तीन हजार बर्धेतक तू इस पृथ्वीपर भटकता फिरेगा। तुझे कभी कहीं और किसीके साथ भी बातचीत करनेका सुख नहीं मिल सकेगा। तू अकेला ही निर्जन स्थानोंमें घूमता रहेगा ९-११

भवित्री न हि ते क्षुद्र जनमध्येषु संस्थितिः । पूयशोणितगन्धी च दुर्गकान्तारसंक्षयः ॥ १२ ॥ विचरिष्यसि पापात्मन् सर्वव्याधिसमन्वितः ।

ओ नीच । तू जनसमुदायमें नहीं ठहर सकेगा। तेरे शरीरसे पीव और लोहूकी दुर्गन्ध निकलती रहेगी; अतः तुझे दुर्गम स्थानोंका ही आश्रय लेना पड़ेगा। पापात्मन् ! तू सभी रोगोंसे पीड़ित होकर इधर-उधर भटकेगा ॥ १२३ ॥

वयः प्राप्य परिक्षित् तु वेदव्रतमवाप्य च ॥ १३ ॥ कृपाच्छारद्वताच्छूरः सर्वाखाण्युपपत्स्यते ।

परिक्षित् तो दीर्घ आयु प्राप्त करके ब्रहाचर्यपालन एवं वेदाध्ययनका व्रत धारण करेगा और वह शूरवीर बालक शरद्वान्‌के पुत्र कृपाचार्यते ही सम्पूर्ण अन-शब्र्बोका शान प्राप्त करेगा ॥ १३३ ॥

worst sins

worst sins
अकार्यकार्यवकीर्णो स्तेनो भ्रूणहा गुरुतल्पगः।
वरुणोऽपामघमर्षणस्तस्मात् पापात् प्रमुच्यते॥
akāryakāryavakīrṇo steno bhrūṇaha gurutalpagaḥ|
varuṇo'pāmaghamraṣaṇastasmāt pāpāt prmucyate||

महानारायणोपनिषत्  १-----६८
mahānārāyaṇopaniṣat  1-----68
 
the Lord of Waters and the destroyer of Sins Varuna, will expiate one who worships the gods of water, of even the five mahaapatakas or most heinous sins , 
(1) working contrary to the dictates of the scriptures, 
(2)  being disloyal to one's own promises out of cowardice 
(3) causing destruction to the human foetus in the womb 
(4) indulging in robbery or coveting the wealth of others and 
(5) causing disrespect to the preceptor by entering his bed .

This mantra has twin  purpose. First, to extol the greatness of  water... it is said to  release one from the panchamahapaatakas themeselves.  

However,  it should not be taken as  a licence  to commit sins.  One should not think that he can gleefully commit all the sins and wash off his hands. 

 Secondly the moral standards of our ancestors were of the highest order. 
One can feel here the absolute faithfulness to the Vedas. 

 Our ancestors strongly believed that if solemn promises made by the constituents of the society are not kept it would lead to imbalance even in the working of natural forces.  
When Yudistira lied even once partially, it is said that his chariot which always moved floating about one foot above the ground suddenly dropped down to the earth with a thud.  

At present  our society is very permissive about termination of pregnancies but our ancestors could not condone it. 
They believed more in continence. 
In fact sexual copulation was ordained to be limited only for the furtherance of the race. 
The fate of Aswathaama who  directed the Brahmasiraastram and Apandavaastram  on the womb of Uttara to annihilate the foetus of Abhimanyu's son growing there is well known.   The foetus was protected by the Lord and Ashwathama was cursed suffer eternal pain,
And unfaithfulness to Guru.. is never to be tolerated..
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