Emperor of Kuru dynasty; grandson of Arjuna and son of Abhimanyu. (Glossary for the Vahinis)
After the coronation of Parikshit, many people advised and assisted him. They wanted to help him to become an able and successful ruler. But it was not an easy task since Parikshit was merely a boy of tender age when he ascended the throne.
There were no elders left in the lineage of the Pandavas. Dharmaraja, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva had already decided on their final journey to the Himalayas. Young Parikshit was the lone survivor of the Pandava clan. There was none who could ascend the throne except him. The young lad was thus faced with a heavy responsibility. Dharmaraja realised the gravity of the situation and advised him that the consequences of the passage of time were inescapable. Even Krishna who was their constant support had left them. They also had no choice but to follow in the footsteps of Krishna. After all, they had always adhered to the advice and guidance of Krishna. Krishna treated them as His intimate friends. He had reared them like His own children. He had been their closest relative. In fact, he had sustained them in every manner of relationship. He alone was their refuge. In this manner Dharmaraja advised Parikshit to face his responsibilities with courage, confidence and faith in God. Both Dharmaraja and Draupadi were eager to know how Parikshit would conduct himself in such a situation. Parikshit replied bravely that he would not shirk his responsibilities nor let down the glory of his lineage. ‘I shall rule this kingdom with your blessings and Lord Krishna’s grace’, he averred. He was full of confidence and courage. Dharmaraja and Draupadi were happy and relieved. They were astonished at the courageous demeanour of the young lad.
Parikshit was then reminded of the happenings prior to this. He had gone to end, of the Pandavas and asked them to take up the responsibility of ruling the kingdom. But all of them had declined. Others insisted that Dharmaraja alone was qualified for ruling the kingdom, which was also the wish of the people. There were some who even thought that Draupadi herself might rule the kingdom But in those days it was not possible for women to become rulers of kingdoms. It was thought that women were soft by nature and could not take hard decisions where such situations arose in the management of the affairs of the kingdom. They only advised the king as to what was right to do. They strengthened his faith in God and led him on the right path. It was Draupadi who spoke reassuring I words to Parikshit to infuse courage and confidence in him. Finally, they settled on the young Parikshit as the only suitable person. Thus, the: crowning of Parikshit as emperor took place.
Unwavering Faith of Yudhshthira in Krishna
After this, the Pandavas and Draupadi made preparations for their departure. People closed their eyes when they saw them leaving the kingdom. Their mind was filled with anxiety, worry and fear. Then Draupadi said, ‘Please do not worry; worry is the worst enemy of mankind.’ Birth is worry, death is worry. Future is the cause of worry. In fact, life of man is full of worries. The only way to escape from worries is contemplation of God. Devotion to Swami will make you free from all worries (loud applause). Follow the Godward path and act in the righteous way. Then God will help you at all times. The entire universe is under the control of God. But people fail to see this truth. Everyone only thinks of the body, which is made of five elements. It is bound to fall and disintegrate some time or the other. But the In-dweller is eternal. It is beyond birth and death. Draupadi said, ‘Oh! people, at least from now onwards develop faith in the In-dweller. Of what use is the Deha (body) without the Dehi (In-dweller)? Therefore, contemplate on the In-dweller. It is the In-dweller that protects all.’ Dharmaraja turned to Draupadi and said, ‘‘Truly, it is Krishna Himself speaking through you - such is your faith in Him.’ Dharmaraja felt as if he was hearing all this from Krishna Himself who seemed to promise him that He would be constantly overseeing the situation in the country. With this, Dharmaraja felt greatly reassured. He prayed to Krishna, ‘You are everything for us. It was Your power that helped us in war and peace. Of what value is power and kingdom without You? Hence, we want to come to You leaving all our worldly possessions. We leave the responsibility of looking after child Parikshit with You.’
Dharmaraja then went before the people and reassured them not to be afraid of anything. He said, ‘Oh people! Krishna is always with us. He is protecting us, and all that is happening is the Will and play of Krishna. It is beyond our ordinary understanding because the ways of God are inscrutable and inexplicable. God is all-pervasive and indwells all beings though He cannot be seen by the physical eyes.’ Listening to t’jese reassuring words of Dharmaraja, the people were infused with confidence and courage.
Exemplary Qualities of Draupadi
After his coronation, Parikshit called an assembly of all his vassal kings. Some of them wrongly thought that the young king was fear stricken and that was why he was summoning all of them. When all the kings were seated in the chamber of the court, Parikshit spoke to them with full confidence without even a trace of fear. He saluted all and said, ‘You see a young boy as the king of this great empire. Though I have no experience of ruling the Kingdom, I shall not shirk my responsibility nor should you from yours. I extend all help and support to you and seek your help and support. We are together committed to see to the welfare of this empire.’ All the kings then assured him that they would accept him as their leader and extend all help to him. After deliberating on the affairs of the kingdom, all of them left for their respective places.
In spite of Parikshit’s reassurance to all the Kings under his empire, some evil-minded kings got together and started a war against him thinking that the youthful king lacked determination and could be vanquished easily. However, many other kings came to support him. He fought the battle with the name of Krishna as well as all the 12 names of his grandfather Arjuna on his lips - Arjuna, Phalguna, Partha, Kiriti, Swetavahana, Bhibhatsu, Vijaya, Krishna, Savyasachi and Dhananjaya. He prayed to Krishna and Arjuna as also to all the Pandavas as well as his grandmother Draupadi. This infused all the more courage and valour in him and he felt as if Krishna and all the Pandavas along with Draupadi were present around him.
Draupadi was not an ordinary woman. She was a great leader in her own right and al’’ ideal for the entire womanhood. In fact Draupadi was Parikshit’s mentor, both at worldly and spiritual levels. She advised him ‘Dear child! You should love your subjects like your life-breath. Provide comfort and happiness to them. You are young and should avoid involving yourself in war, because war is harmful for the country. Draupadi’s advice to Parikshit stood him in good stead. All his subjects young and old stood by him addressing and adoring him as Maharaja (the king of kings) with affection and awe. They were happy and proud that they were under the rule of a virtuous and valorous king. With such a king presiding over their welfare, where was the room for any fear? And Parikshit reassured them that in spite of his being so young, there was no power on earth that could vanquish him because he was the recipient all the blessings of his elders and grace of God. God alone was his refuge. He undertook the administration of the empire with full faith God.
Draupadi had unmatched devotion for Krishna who showered His grace on her. He was always ready to grant her whatever she prayed for. Her grooming of Parikshit in administration helped him to become a successful ruler. Even before the formal coronation of Parikshit, Draupadi along with Dharmaraja used to address the people of Hastinapura, saying that this young child was their future ruler. They would say, ‘Do not be misled by his youthful looks. Parikshit might appear to be young, yet he was endowed with a sharp and mature intellect. He is blessed with the grace of God and is replete with all kingly virtues. At present he is a small child and needs your support and protection. Take this up as a duty given to you by God. In due course, he will be the king and will look after your welfare. When the time ripe, you shall be protected and provided with your needs by him. He is not an ordinary child; he is verily a gift of God to us and to all. When you follow him sincerely, he will look after you with the same earnestness. Everything happens according to the Will of God. The Will of God cannot be tampered with by any other force.’
Thus, Draupadi and Dharmaraja paved the way for the crowning of Parikshit. That was the manner of political administration in those days. The king used to treat the people as his own children. The people had also great and respect for the king. When such a loving and noble king rules over such loyal and obedient subjects, the country will not lack anything. Thus, Parikshit became a great emperor. Are there any parents who can bring up their children in this way? Even if you are prepared to train them in the right way, the children will not be ready to listen. But Parikshit was not such a child. He was intelligent and courageous. Courage is the means of success in life. This is also a true spiritual practice. That is the true strength. Armed with such divine and spiritual strength, Parikshit achieved greatness. And the whole empire prospered thereby. Such a great benefactor is very rare to find.
Unity of the Country under Parikshit
Parikshit summoned all his ministers as also representatives from the subcontinent and spoke to them on the importance of unity. The unity achieved by Parikshit in his empire was indeed unmatched and rare. When there is the spirit of unity in the community, purity will prevail there. Bharat is suffering today because there is lack of unity in the country. Where there is unity, there is purity. And purity is the way to divinity. With divinity, all tasks will be fruitful. It is essential to sustain and maintain purity both at the individual and at the community level. In this way, people were taught the ideals of unity, purity and divinity. Thereby, an ideal community was created in his empire. The young king Parikshit smilingly approached his people and even apologised to them for any mistakes that he might have unwittingly committed. The type of communication that should exist between the ruler and his subjects was exemplified by Parikshit par excellence. Young Parikshit had full faith in God whose benevolence and grace ensured the welfare of his subjects. He treated his subjects with kindness and love and made them happy. The people also loved and respected him. They were totally loyal to him. It is a matter of great significance that Parikshit ruled over this country. You should have the same firm faith in God and purity of heart as exemplified by Parikshit.
Dussehra celebrations will have significance life all of you imbibe virtues and adopt the path of righteousness. I bless you all to achieve this great ideal. If all of you acquire the greatness land idealism of Parikshit, the country will achieve rare glory. It is your great good fortune that you are listening to these words of Swami. Besides, you have the opportunity of listening to the chanting of the Vedas and singing of the glories of the Lord. All these merits will help you to cross the ocean of Samsara (worldliness). I exhort you to continue these spiritual practices throughout your life. Women should also participate in these spiritual practices and follow the ideals of Draupadi. Draupadi could achieve great heights of nobility because of her faith in God and firm devotion. You should also attain such nobility of character and mould your family to attain this greatness. (SS March 06 , pp. 79-83)
Having received the protection of Krishna even while he was in the mother’s womb, Parikshit was a very learned person and was governing his kingdom very wisely. It is natural that we get a doubt as to how such a good and noble king could lose control over himself in a fit of anger and place a dead snake over the shoulders of Sami. However great a man may be; however great a devotee he may be, he will lose control over himself when he gets angry. Anger is the greatest enemy of man. In a fit of anger, Parikshit put a dead snake round the shoulders of Sami, but this cannot be treated as a wanton act of arrogance or carelessness. It was a genuine mistake committed in a weak moment. When Parikshit found that the rishi Sami and the other rishis did not care to receive him and attend to him, he was very agitated; and while returning from there, he picked up a dead snake and put it round the shoulder of Sami. This enraged Sringi, son of Sami, who saw this a little later and as he saw King Parikshit leaving the ashram, he cursed him saying, ‘Within seven days, Parikshit will be killed by a snake bite.’ Here, we should recognise that what happened was a passing state of Parikshit’s anger, and there is no cruelty or evil intention in his action. However, when Sringi saw this, he became very angry and in his anger, he cursed the king. The king was not aware of this curse. Here we must carefully examine the reason for Sringi’s curse and understand how Dharma really works in such situations. If a righteous and benevolent king commits a mistake unintentionally, the consequences will affect only the king and not the people. In the king, who was a Rajarshi, there is a little of rajas left and hence he was angry in a weak moment. Sringi brought about a lot of confusion, because as a result of his curse, the people will also suffer and remain unprotected. Thus the consequences of the king’s fault were also affecting the people. In fact, Sringi had no right to curse. Here we notice that a person like Sringi, who has no right to curse, gave a curse. Indeed, this is the subtle aspect of Dharma. The fact that a good and noble king lost his temper and insulted a Brahmarshi and the fact that a rishi gave a curse though he did not have the right to do so are symbolic of the decline of the accepted norms of Dharma. Indeed, at this time was the advent of the Kali Yuga.
Here we see that as a result of Kali, certain blemishes are coming into Vasudeva Upasana and Vishnu Upasana. When Sami came out of his deep meditation, he quickly realised all that had happened; and he took steps to reprimand his son. He said, ‘The king is a very noble and kind man and he takes good care of all of us. Just because in a weak moment, he did something rash, you should not have cursed.
By this act of yours, you have lost all the good that you have accumulated because of your tapas. Have you undertaken to do all your tapas only to misuse it in this manner? In this context, it appears natural for the king to occasionally lose his temper in this manner, but a tapasvi like you should not have lost balance and given the curse. Our kingdom will now be without a leader, it will be like a night without a moon.’ After reprimanding his son in this manner, he thought it best to send word to king Parikshit and let him know the nature of the curse. He also undertook to tell king Parikshit about the evil consequences of anger. ‘One’s wealth and prosperity will be destroyed by anger. It will destroy whatever honour and reputation that one has. It will separate him from his own people.
By pride and anger, everything will be destroyed and one who has anger will not be able to achieve anything. He will be humiliated. He will always be committing sin and everyone will admonish him. Anger will promote sin.’ Having told Parikshit about the evil consequences of anger, as conveyed by Sami, the messenger further told the king as from Sami, ‘It is quite natural that you lost your control at a weak moment, but it was necessary for you to attempt to overcome your anger and behave in a responsible manner. Instead of overlooking your mistake and controlling himself, a sacred tapasvi like my son cursed you that you will die by a snake bite within seven days. During these seven days, think of the Lord always and promote the goodness in you.’ As soon as Parikshit heard these words from Sami, his own mind was completely transformed and he conveyed his respectful pranams to Sami, the Brahmarshi, and said, ‘This is not a curse to me, it is a great gift. I cannot escape the consequences of my karma and what I had done. I am grateful to you for making me realise this.’
From that day, Parikshit was thinking of God by giving up the responsibility of his government to his ministers. As soon as this news of the curse was known, several rishis and others came to see Parikshit. They were praying to God that king Parikshit who had a noble and sacred heart could be spared from the curse and that he should live long. But, the curse of the tapasvi could not be atoned and Parikshit was making preparations for the end. The great Brahmarshi Sami, who had considerable equanimity, was also praying for the well-being of Parikshit. Although Sami, for external purposes, had connections with the world; yet in his mind, there was no attachment at all. He merged completely with the Atma. There is no difference between such a Brahmarshi and divinity.
On one occasion, after the battle, Dharmaraja went to Krishna’s mansion to tell him about his despondency and despair. At that time, Krishna told Dharmaraja all the details about the future of Parikshit. He told him how Parikshit would acquire a great name and fame and how he would achieve far greater glory than all his predecessors. He also told him how, because of a curse from a saint, Parikshit would lose his life by a snake bite. While talking thus to Dharmaraja, Krishna suddenly lapsed into a brief silence and Dharmaraja was totally confused. After a few minutes, Dharmaraja asked why Krishna thus became silent in the middle of the narration.
Krishna said that he had to go and respond to the call of Bhishma who was lying on his bed of arrows. Those who have a sacred heart will be able to get the Lord’s grace by praying sincerely. There is no difference between a sacred mind and God. A prayer from a sacred person will go straight to the Lord. Such people are embodiments of wisdom and they are forms of Advaita. They had enjoyed the oneness with divinity.
They firmly believed that there is only one truth in the world and that there is no parallel truth. Such people are always in a state of great ecstasy and are really like children. That is why, it is said that the state of a child, of a person who is in great ecstasy, and of a mad man are alike. Because of the consequences of excitement of one’s senses, man sometimes forgets his true nature. Truly man seeks only ananda. He is also intrinsically a selfless person, but by the pressure of his sensory organs, he gets attached to material desires and he forgets God. For the benefit of such people and with great love and affection, the aspect of Krishna is being taught by Bhagavatam. (SSB 1978, pp. 64-68)
King Parikshit prayed to the ascetics with palms folded in adoration: ‘O best among ascetics! I have just one doubt; please remove it from my mind. Make my days worth while’. ‘Tell me what it is.’ Responded the ascetic. The king asked that he be informed what the man for whom death is imminent can best do. At this, one sage rose and said that, so far as the time permitted, one could perform Yajnas or yagas, or one could engage himself in japa or thapa, acts of charity or pilgrimages, or fasts or ritual worship. Another declared that liberation can be acquired only through the acquisition of Jnana, ‘Jnanadeva tu kaivalyam,’ a third spoke of the supreme importance of holy acts prescribed in the Vedas and Shastra, ‘Karmanyaivahi Shamsiddhi.’ Some others argued that cultivating devotion to God is the best method of using the week, ‘ Bhaktirvasah Purushah,’ the Lord is won over by devotion only. (Bhag Vahini, pp. 172-173)
The king spoke humbly to the great Suka and with evident anxiety, ‘Lord! What should a person facing death and who is aware of the oncoming of the end, engage himself in? What should his mind dwell upon? After succumbing to death, he should not be born again. When that is his prayer, how should he spend the days at his disposal? This is the problem that is bothering me at present. What is my highest duty?’ the King pleaded again and again for Guidance.
Suka answered, ‘King! Withdraw your mind from worldly thoughts and fix in Hari, the Lord who charms all hearts. I shall instruct you in the wisdom of the divine the Bhagavatatattva. Listen o it with all your heart: there is activity holier than that. There can be no greater spiritual exercise, or discipline or vow. The human body is a worthy boat; the story of Hari is the rudder; this world of change, this constant flow, this Samsara, is the sea. Hari is the boatman! Today the sacred equipment is available for you.
The problem you have raised is not concerned with just one individual, the whole world is concerned with it, and its solution. I is the most vital of all problems that deserves inquiry. The Atma principle is the panacea for all ills. That is the ultimate Truth. No one can escape it. To establish oneself in that faith during the final days is the duty of living beings. It is on this basis that status in the next birth is determined. So, the question you asked and the doubt that you raised, are matters of great moment for the welfare of the whole world. The answer is not for you alone. Listen. (Bhag Vahini, pp. 175-176)