Speaker 1: When we think of the Mahabharata, we often think of
Speaker 1: great wars, divine weapons, and cosmic debates. But before the
Speaker 1: clashing of armies, the story of the Mahabhadata opens in
Speaker 1: a quiet moral storm, a curse born not from kings
Speaker 1: or gods, but from the tears of a dog, tears
Speaker 1: of a mother dog. It begins with Janimajaya, who is
Speaker 1: actually the great grandson of Arjuna. He's performing a grand
Speaker 1: sacrifice at Gurukshetra, the same field that once drank the
Speaker 1: blood of his ancestors. The ritual is perfect, the offerings
Speaker 1: are precise, and then enters a puppy, a cute little puppy,
Speaker 1: a male puppy, a small creature of Sarama, the divine
Speaker 1: hound who guards cosmic truth. And just like that, the
Speaker 1: sacred is interrupted by the innocent. Notice that's actually what
Speaker 1: is happening in the Mahabadada. Here, the sacred is interrupted
Speaker 1: by the innocent. When the brothers strike the puppy, something
Speaker 1: subtle shatters. The story forces us to ask how sacred
Speaker 1: can a ritual be if it hurts the harmless. Sadama's
Speaker 1: arrival is astonishing. A goddess does not thunder with power,
Speaker 1: she asks a question, why was my son struck? When
Speaker 1: there is silence, she curses, misfortune shall befall you unexpectedly. Right,
Speaker 1: the curse is introduced right at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: episode that I am published earlier this week for Part
Speaker 1: three of the Mahabadata. So this moment is the see
Speaker 1: the curse is the seed of the serpent sacrifice that
Speaker 1: is to come Janamajaiya's later obsession with revenge with Dakshaka. Right,
Speaker 1: Dakshaka begins not from his father's death, but from this
Speaker 1: exact moment of moral blindness. That's something that a lot
Speaker 1: of readers of the Mahabadata do not realize. Sadama's curse
Speaker 1: is not merely divine retribution. It's the voice of Karma
Speaker 1: correcting arrogance. It's the reminder that purity and ritual means
Speaker 1: nothing if the heart has not learned compassion and other
Speaker 1: lessons that it needs to. If the human heart has
Speaker 1: not learned the lessons that it needs to. You know,
Speaker 1: all the rituals that you can do for God mean
Speaker 1: nothing spiritually. The scene here teaches us that the universe
Speaker 1: watches not your fire, but your tenderness in our postmodern world.
Speaker 1: This really does echo how you know and how many
Speaker 1: religious people, including those who run religious organizations, pursue success
Speaker 1: or spirituality while neglecting empathy. Right, they don't. There's something
Speaker 1: incorrect about, you know, some of the things that religious
Speaker 1: organizations engage in. So every unjust act, every unjust act,
Speaker 1: no matter how small it is, ripples into destiny because
Speaker 1: it will have an impact on some other conscious being,
Speaker 1: just like you know, her puppy being struck caused Sadama
Speaker 1: to be irritated, and she put out a curse. She
Speaker 1: put out this hope, this wish, this curse unto Jhanamagaya
Speaker 1: and his brothers, his bloodline. Why does this happen? Ultimately,
Speaker 1: it's because the divine, this divine realm, as I explain it,
Speaker 1: which is actually intelligence, as I explain it in my
Speaker 1: book Who God Really Is, which I encourage all of
Speaker 1: you to pick up on Amazon today, the divine realm
Speaker 1: observes through the eyes of the voiceless. That's the test,
Speaker 1: right through the eyes of the voiceless. It reminds me
Speaker 1: of that very popular quote of Mahatma Gandhi as well,
Speaker 1: something along the lines of You can tell a lot
Speaker 1: about a nation by the way it takes care or
Speaker 1: does not take care of its animals. Janamajaya and his
Speaker 1: brothers are conducting a grand sacrificial ritual at Kurukshetra, a
Speaker 1: place steeped in spiritual significance. When that puppy belonging to Sarama,
Speaker 1: the divine she dog, is struck right by Janamajaya's brothers.
Speaker 1: The puppy is innocent. Here it flees to its mother right,
Speaker 1: who confronts these princes with fury. Now Here is where
Speaker 1: her fury is righteous. There is sometimes a place for anger,
Speaker 1: you know, in various circumstances, and it's okay. Sadama isn't
Speaker 1: just a dog. She's not a dog. She's a divine entity,
Speaker 1: a guardian of cosmic justice. In Vadic mythology, Sdama is
Speaker 1: linked to the dawn, a symbol of truth and illumination.
Speaker 1: Her puppy represents innocence, and the brother's violence against it
Speaker 1: disrupts dharma, harmony, the cosmic order, the way everything should be,
Speaker 1: the way everything should flow, is disrupted. The curse that
Speaker 1: Saddama pronounces isn't petty vengeance. It's a recalibration of balance spiritually.
Speaker 1: This suggests again that no act, however small it is,
Speaker 1: escapes the universes ledger. There is some sort of ledger here, right,
Speaker 1: So we humans are building this blockchain ledger on Earth,
Speaker 1: but there's a spiritual ledger in existence as well, that's
Speaker 1: been with us for you know, since the since the
Speaker 1: beginning of all beginnings. As I indicate, and as I
Speaker 1: explain in my book, who God really is? The ge
Speaker 1: sacred clarified butter, symbolizes purity and offering to the divine.
Speaker 1: By striking the puppy, the brothers symbolically taint their ritual,
Speaker 1: inviting misfortune. The puppy did not even look toward the gee.
Speaker 1: It did not even pounce on the ge or try
Speaker 1: to aim for it, try to gain it. At least
Speaker 1: that's what the puppy tells her his mother, Sadama. And
Speaker 1: yet the puppy was struck. You know, in many spiritual traditions,
Speaker 1: harm to the innocent, even if it's something minor as
Speaker 1: a you know, as a puff, as a tiny puppy,
Speaker 1: it ripples. It has an effect on the moral fabric
Speaker 1: of the world. Now, imagine Sarama as the embodiment of
Speaker 1: the Earth's sentience a Gaya like figure. The puppy could
Speaker 1: symbolize vulnerable ecosystems they care about, endangered species or fragile habitats.
Speaker 1: The you know, Janamagaya's brothers thoughtless act mirrors humanity's often
Speaker 1: reckless treatment of its most valuable surroundings, natural surroundings. Just
Speaker 1: think about all the chemistry and medicine that we are
Speaker 1: able to produce because of what's been offered to us
Speaker 1: by God. What has been allowed to come into creation
Speaker 1: by God in the plant kingdom, right, So, Sarama's curse
Speaker 1: becomes the planet's warning harm the innocent and consequences will
Speaker 1: eventually find you, not through magic, but through the natural
Speaker 1: fallout of imbalance, through the natural imbalance that is put
Speaker 1: into effect resource depletion. This perspective invites us to see
Speaker 1: the Mahabha data also as an ecological parable, where divine
Speaker 1: justice mirrors the self regulating systems of our world. The
Speaker 1: scene that I introduced to you from the Mahabharata in
Speaker 1: yesterday excuse me earlier this week right in the episode
Speaker 1: from earlier this week about the story featuring the story
Speaker 1: that's early scene screams a leadership accountability. Jhanamajaya and his
Speaker 1: brothers are royalty, wielding power in a sacred context. Striking
Speaker 1: the puppy reflects a lapse in emotional intelligence and ethical responsibility.
Speaker 1: Leaders today, whether they are CEOs, politicians, or community figures,
Speaker 1: can learn from this story. A single thoughtless action, like
Speaker 1: dismissing a quote unquote small complaint or ignoring a marginalized
Speaker 1: voice can escalate tarnishing reputations or sparking backlash. Sadama's confrontation
Speaker 1: is like a whistle blow or calling out injustice. Now,
Speaker 1: Johana Majaya, he gets it because notice you know, earlier
Speaker 1: in the episode, Yes, from the earlier this week, mahabadat
Speaker 1: the number three episode, he searches for stages for priests. Right,
Speaker 1: he starts searching for anyone who can remove the curse.
Speaker 1: He understands something wrong has been done. Janamajaya gets it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, you know, in our modern world,
Speaker 1: you know some leader scrambling to mitigate a pr disaster.
Speaker 1: But the lesson is always clear. You have to try
Speaker 1: to prevent harm before it's spirals. Right, you want to
Speaker 1: try to not bring stress into your life that is
Speaker 1: that you don't need to that could have been prevented.
Speaker 1: Life is stressful enough anyways, Otherwise we would have no
Speaker 1: reason to even participate in spiritual rituals, worship rituals, the
Speaker 1: kind of you know, sacrificial rituals that even Janamejaya and
Speaker 1: his brothers are participating in, at least in his time.
Speaker 1: For his time, Jana Majaya, terrified of the curse, seeks absolution.
Speaker 1: This begins his long search for priests, spiritual authority figures
Speaker 1: who can undo his karma. Here enters Somashrava, the priest
Speaker 1: born of a serpent mother, a hybrid who is actually
Speaker 1: a hybrid of ascetic wisdom and serpentine instinct. Okay, ascetic
Speaker 1: wisdom and serpentine instinct. Those are actually two very valuable
Speaker 1: characteracteristics to have or to be marked by, even in
Speaker 1: our postmodern world, which is, let's be honest, not paradise, right,
Speaker 1: We're not living with only goodness surrounding us. So Mashava's
Speaker 1: father warns he can absolve you of all sins except
Speaker 1: those against Shiva, Lord Shiva. Now why Lord Shiva, Because
Speaker 1: Shiva is the witness of cosmic justice, the one who
Speaker 1: transforms poison into power, and sin against him means sin
Speaker 1: against transformation or change itself. It means the refusal to change,
Speaker 1: and that is against the fundamental framework or design of
Speaker 1: all of existence, including the universe. As I state in
Speaker 1: my book and as I explain in detail very clearly
Speaker 1: and easy to understand terms in my book Who God
Speaker 1: Really Is, which I encourage you all to pick up
Speaker 1: on Amazon today. Change cannot be breached, meaning that you
Speaker 1: cannot refuse. You can refuse to change, but it does
Speaker 1: not mean that you will be able to overcome the
Speaker 1: phenomenon of change. So Maashava's condition that he will grant
Speaker 1: any request made by a brummin is a spiritual metaphor.
Speaker 1: It tells us even divine wisdom, when bound by unthinkable obedience,
Speaker 1: becomes dangerous. The test of spirituality is discernment, not rule following. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's a discernment, not rule following. Too many people pray
Speaker 1: to God, worship God, go to the temples and all
Speaker 1: different house kinds of houses of worship to obey, you know,
Speaker 1: to follow the rules, to obey, to tell God, I'm
Speaker 1: going to be obedient. But Hinduism is powerful in that
Speaker 1: it teaches us we have to become one with who
Speaker 1: we seek to follow or be obedient too. We have
Speaker 1: to be like him or her right in the case
Speaker 1: of Dudgad Davy, but essentially God, we have to be
Speaker 1: like God. We have to be more like God, meaning
Speaker 1: our own being must reflect God. And God is of
Speaker 1: course a wise judge. Discernment is part of his name.
Speaker 1: Let's put it like that. Discernment defines one of his characteristics.
Speaker 1: So the test of spirituality is not it is not
Speaker 1: following the rules and saying I'm going to be obedient
Speaker 1: to this rule and be obedient to this ritual and
Speaker 1: this timing and the timing of the moon and the
Speaker 1: timing of this ritual, and what the Hindu scripture state
Speaker 1: it's about, you know, it's really about the discernment, or
Speaker 1: at least having that quality of wisdom discernment as part
Speaker 1: of your own being natural to you, like second nature
Speaker 1: to you. Almost right, Janamajaya accepts, he accepts Somashreva's condition,
Speaker 1: and with this choice, he invites both salvation and danger
Speaker 1: into his kingdom. For every bargain with power carries a shadow. Okay,
Speaker 1: every bargain with power carries a shadow. Somashreva's origin story
Speaker 1: is actually quite wild. He was born of a serpent woman.
Speaker 1: He embodies a bridge between human and divine realms. In
Speaker 1: Hindu spirituality, nagas or serpent symbolize primal energy, the Kundalini,
Speaker 1: and the mysteries of creation. His birth via ascetic potency
Speaker 1: suggests that spiritual power transcends conventional morality or biology. His
Speaker 1: flaw unquestioning obedience to the Brummins reflects the tension between
Speaker 1: blind devotion and discernment spiritually, again, how do we balance
Speaker 1: we're being called or we're being asked here, how do
Speaker 1: we balance surrender to higher authority, to a higher intelligence,
Speaker 1: as I explain in my book, who God really is
Speaker 1: with critical thinking. Of course, I explain it all in
Speaker 1: my book, So it's a very easy question to answer
Speaker 1: if you read my book. But here, just from the Mahabadata,
Speaker 1: this very ancient spiritual text, we understand that Somashava's role
Speaker 1: as a purifier points to the limits of even divine intervention.
Speaker 1: Some transgressions, like those if they are against Lord Shiva,
Speaker 1: are beyond absolution. Okay, even he is limited because he
Speaker 1: is not God himself. He is not God himself. As
Speaker 1: one to one, he is like God, we can say
Speaker 1: by not God himself. And I explain the importance of
Speaker 1: acquiring a greater and greater resemblance to the nature of
Speaker 1: God in my book Who God Really Is, Which, when accomplished,
Speaker 1: actually does not cause us to become God. Therefore we
Speaker 1: are always limited. Now picture Somashrava. Just picture him as
Speaker 1: an AI program with immense knowledge but a hard coded
Speaker 1: directive to obey certain users like the Brummins Janamajaya. Hiring
Speaker 1: him is like a CEO deploying a powerful algorithm to
Speaker 1: solve a crisis, knowing that it has a glitch that
Speaker 1: could be exploited. This raises questions about trust in systems,
Speaker 1: be it priests or tech, be it you know, spiritual
Speaker 1: systems or tech modern tech. If Somashreva's flaw is his
Speaker 1: blind obedience, what happens when AI blindly follows flawed human
Speaker 1: commands or reasoning? This ancient Mahabadata tale feels eerily relevant
Speaker 1: to debates about AI ethics, where when they are unchecked,
Speaker 1: you know, like unchecked power or code, can amplify human
Speaker 1: biases and really lead to tragic consequences. Jonamajaya's choice of
Speaker 1: Somashreva is a calculated risk. He's hiring a specialist with
Speaker 1: a known quirk, much like when a company might hire
Speaker 1: a brilliant but eccentric consultant. The condition is, of course,
Speaker 1: Somashreva's obedience to bruhm Min's that mirrors, and it really
Speaker 1: does mirror real world scenarios where talent becomes baggage, right,
Speaker 1: like a star employee with a tendency to overpromise. Later
Speaker 1: on in the story, we see that Jonimajaya's success in
Speaker 1: conquering Takshashila suggests that embracing imperfect allies can yield results,
Speaker 1: but only if you manage their quirks. Right. Somashreva was
Speaker 1: highly obedient to Brummin's but he had that limitation as well,
Speaker 1: with he cannot breach sin committed against Lord Shiva and
Speaker 1: absolve it, you know, with the with the with some
Speaker 1: magic wand or something like that. Right, he cannot do that.
Speaker 1: But he's also he's overly giving by being so obedient
Speaker 1: to anything that Brummins want. Now, john Imajaya was successful
Speaker 1: later on in conquering tak Shashila, suggesting that well, you know,
Speaker 1: his his decision to use Somashrava ends up down the
Speaker 1: road producing good results for him. But John Imajaia had
Speaker 1: to be very careful, right especially he did not want
Speaker 1: to who did not want to commit any sin against
Speaker 1: Lord Shiva. He wouldn't want to do that because that's
Speaker 1: not something that Somashreva can clear. So this king John Imijaya's,
Speaker 1: you know, a whole part in these early scenes of
Speaker 1: the Mahabarata is very it's it's quite fascinating. Really does
Speaker 1: reflect to us the way we see CEO's modern you know,
Speaker 1: postmodern world CEOs, tech CEOs managing the complexities, the conditions,
Speaker 1: the complexities of the modern corporate world. You've got to
Speaker 1: know your people's strengths and flaws and set clear boundaries
Speaker 1: to harness their potential. Now, the Mahabarata features this sort
Speaker 1: of school of life that is run by Sage Ayoda
Speaker 1: Domya and his three disciples Aruni, Upamanyu, and Veda. These
Speaker 1: stories are miniature panishads in the Mahabarata, teaching through lived obedience, suffering,
Speaker 1: and moral awakening. Aruni is asked to repair a water channel.
Speaker 1: Unable to fix it, he lies down in the ditch
Speaker 1: to block the flow with his body. He becomes the bridge,
Speaker 1: literally merging with the element he serves. When called by
Speaker 1: his master, he rises, reborn as Udalaka. This moment whispers
Speaker 1: a profound truth. True service dissolves the ego until nature
Speaker 1: itself flows through you. In our real world, Aruni's act
Speaker 1: resembles those moments when one sacrifices comfort or pride for integrity,
Speaker 1: like a teacher working late, or a parent holding the
Speaker 1: line of truth, or a healer staying up through the
Speaker 1: night to serve as a client. When the self forgets itself,
Speaker 1: the divine current moves again, because it's always in the in,
Speaker 1: within the scope of service, within the scope of helping others,
Speaker 1: within the scope of some form of sacrifice. Upamanyu's test
Speaker 1: is more subtle. It's hunger. Ayoda Damia strips away every
Speaker 1: form of sustenance from him, alms milk, even the froth
Speaker 1: from the calve's mouth, of the milk that the calves
Speaker 1: have drunk from the mother cow. Right starving, Upamanyu eats
Speaker 1: poisonous arga leaves, and he's blinded, falling into a well. Right,
Speaker 1: both literally and symbolically, he's kind of spiraling down into
Speaker 1: a well. Both literally and symbolically. His blindness is the
Speaker 1: blindness of the seeker, the loss of worldly sight before
Speaker 1: inner sight awakens. The Ashwin Twins appear offering divine nourishment,
Speaker 1: but Upa Manyu refuses until his master permits him to
Speaker 1: engage to accept that nourishment. Obedience here is not submission,
Speaker 1: it is alignment. That's actually what is trying to come,
Speaker 1: you know. Through to the scene in the Mahabarata, Upa
Speaker 1: Manyu is saying, I will not taste heaven if my
Speaker 1: guru is left behind. The Ashwan twins are impressed. That's
Speaker 1: why they are impressed. So they restore his site and
Speaker 1: grant him golden teeth, which are all symbolisms excuse me,
Speaker 1: which are all symbols of illumination through discipline. Through Upa
Speaker 1: Manyu's story, we see Bukti meeting Tapasia, devotion fused with endurance,
Speaker 1: with strength. Upa Manyu's story is about integrity and isolation,
Speaker 1: staying true even when unseen, unacknowledged, or deprived. You've got
Speaker 1: to stay true, even when you feel unseen, unacknowledged, or deprived.
Speaker 1: You've got to stay true to integrity. Don't take you know,
Speaker 1: criminal or quick easy shortcuts to try to escape that
Speaker 1: scarcity state or condition of scarcity. The spiritual path does
Speaker 1: not first open the eyes, It first takes away what
Speaker 1: you know you crave to see now. Ayoda Damia's third
Speaker 1: Disciples story is interesting. Vida Vida endorres silent service. He
Speaker 1: doesn't complain through hardship. He becomes a gentle teacher, one
Speaker 1: who does not test his own students harshly. In Vida,
Speaker 1: we see the alchemy of suffering. Pain when digested becomes
Speaker 1: compassion when digested. Every master is shaped not by what
Speaker 1: they've learned learned, but by how they've been broken and mended.
Speaker 1: This section of the episode of Naked Hindu Tales from
Speaker 1: earlier this week. It's a masterclass in Guru Shishia teacher
Speaker 1: student dynamics, which are a cornerstone. They really are a
Speaker 1: cornerstone of Hindu spirituality. The Disciples trials here aren't just tasks,
Speaker 1: their alchemical processes burning away ego to reveal inner wisdom.
Speaker 1: They're very dynamic. Runi's act of lying in the ditch
Speaker 1: symbolizes surrender to duty, merging with the earth, to serve
Speaker 1: a greater purpose. Upamanu's blindness and restoration by the Ashwins
Speaker 1: divine healers reflects the spiritual journey. Suffering leads to insight
Speaker 1: when guided by faith, or when you stay true, when
Speaker 1: you just stay true and you don't take a shortcut,
Speaker 1: or you don't engage in a criminal act. Despite hardship
Speaker 1: and scarcity, always you will arrive at something good. Always
Speaker 1: you will be blessed. Later on he was blessed. Upamanyu
Speaker 1: was blessed with gold, gold teeth, gold and vidas. Endurance
Speaker 1: without complaint embodies karma yoga selfless action. The vidas and
Speaker 1: Dharma shastras shining in them signify enlightenment, signify that they
Speaker 1: have become beacons of light. They are walking, talking beacons
Speaker 1: of light, of divine light which actually has no relation
Speaker 1: to visible light or the visible light rainbow spectrum. As
Speaker 1: I explain in my book Who God Really Is, which
Speaker 1: I encourage you all to read on Amazon. Grab your
Speaker 1: copy from Amazon and start reading today. It's an excellent
Speaker 1: book to understand reality as it is and yourself. The
Speaker 1: disciples are like the hero archetype of Jungian or Carl
Speaker 1: Jung you know philosophy facing the shadow. They face their
Speaker 1: limitations in the wilderness of trials. Ioda Doomia is the
Speaker 1: wise old man, guiding them through tests that forge their individuation,
Speaker 1: the process of becoming whole. Upamanyu's blindness is again a
Speaker 1: literal and metaphorical descent into depression, into darkness. It's a
Speaker 1: classic dark knight of the soul. The Ashwins, as divine physicians,
Speaker 1: are like the self archetype, restoring balance. This perspective frames
Speaker 1: the story right the Carl jung perspective. The Jungian archetypes
Speaker 1: frame the story in the Mahabarata in this early chapter
Speaker 1: as a early section, I should say as a universal
Speaker 1: quest for self discuss or external obedience to a guru
Speaker 1: mirrors the inner work of aligning with one's higher self.
Speaker 1: So here is where it is sometimes necessary for us
Speaker 1: to understand when obedience is valuable. In the scene of
Speaker 1: King John Imajaya's sacrificial ritual, no fruits come about for
Speaker 1: obedience to a ritual. When an innocent is harmed. You
Speaker 1: know his obedience in his brother's obedience to the ritual.
Speaker 1: Sure it's great, but if it involves hurting the innocent
Speaker 1: it is, there's nothing great to be gained from it,
Speaker 1: because that kind of obedience reflects still a blind spot
Speaker 1: in intelligence, something lacking in intelligence, a lack of wisdom.
Speaker 1: There whereas the obedience in the stories of Ayoda Domia
Speaker 1: and his Three Disciples involves wisdom very much, so wisdom
Speaker 1: is integrated with the obedient acts. And through this ancient
Speaker 1: you know Mahabadata scene, we can see these trials of
Speaker 1: the Three Disciples resemble the grind of mentorship and personal growth.
Speaker 1: Aruni's ditch lying is like an in turn pulling an
Speaker 1: all nighter to fix a crisis, proving loyalty under pressure,
Speaker 1: upaman used missteps, begging twice, sipping milk, all of that
Speaker 1: taking what he shouldn't be taking from others mirror a
Speaker 1: young professional learning workforce ethics, through through trial and error,
Speaker 1: and through you know his boss teaching him what is
Speaker 1: right and what is wrong. Vidas endurance reflects the quiet
Speaker 1: resilience needed in toxic work environments or rigorous training programs.
Speaker 1: Ru's blessings are like a mentor's endorsement, opening doors to
Speaker 1: even greater success. But of course here it's about personal
Speaker 1: success right in the Mahabarata itself. These scenes with these
Speaker 1: three disciples of Ayoda Ayoda Damya. They teach us that
Speaker 1: growth often comes through discomfort, but only only if we
Speaker 1: learn from that discomfort and stay committed to the right path.
Speaker 1: Veda's disciple, Utanka, inherits the torch and his story shifts
Speaker 1: the tone of the Mahabharata section from ashram humility to
Speaker 1: mythic adventure. He is asked to bring earrings from Queen
Speaker 1: Poshia for Veda's wife, a seemingly simple errand that spirals
Speaker 1: into cosmic revelation. On his path, Utanka meets a mysterious
Speaker 1: man on a bull who tells him to drink dung
Speaker 1: and urine. It's really a shocking image. Believe me. When
Speaker 1: I read it for the first time, I was pretty shocked.
Speaker 1: But he obeys. Utanka obeys, later discovering that it was
Speaker 1: divine nector Amrita. And you often have this happening in
Speaker 1: Hindu mythology, where these you know, characters pop out of
Speaker 1: nowhere and they are disguised. You know, they're often like
Speaker 1: divine beings disguised as abnormal, kind of weird or wandering
Speaker 1: creatures or wandering humans. It's fascinating. Now the lesson here
Speaker 1: does pierce through logic. What seems impure in the world
Speaker 1: may hide the essence of goodness or immortality. Even Utanka's
Speaker 1: reaction is not to display like a nasty disgust. Right,
Speaker 1: he doesn't display any mean faces or disgusted faces. He
Speaker 1: doesn't put judgment upon this mysterious man who asks him
Speaker 1: or tells him to drink the the you know, the
Speaker 1: waste right of a cow. I believe the waste of
Speaker 1: a cow. So Utanka doesn't do that. Now we humans would.
Speaker 1: I mean, even I reading it for the first time
Speaker 1: was like, oh ew so, but Utanka doesn't do that.
Speaker 1: And that's where, you know, God, That's what God wants
Speaker 1: us to realize from this scene, this bizarre scene, kind
Speaker 1: of bizarre scene, is that Utanka's response is not to
Speaker 1: place all these like judgments immediately upon this mysterious man
Speaker 1: that we would do in our world. Right today, the
Speaker 1: sacred often wears the mask of the profane, because in
Speaker 1: even the profane, there is a test for us, a
Speaker 1: test of our spirituality, a test of how much we
Speaker 1: resemble God. Spiritual maturity is learning to recognize divinity and
Speaker 1: it's learning to recognize how we must respond with more
Speaker 1: divine nature rather than well, let's put it a lower
Speaker 1: human nature. At Poshia's palace, Utanka's inner purity is tested
Speaker 1: through external cleanliness, ablution's direction precision. The story reaffirms the
Speaker 1: body mirrors the mind. Purification is a discipline of both.
Speaker 1: It's a discipline of the mind and the body. Please
Speaker 1: remember to leave a rating or review on Spotify or
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. I really appreciate your rating or review for
Speaker 1: this podcast. Naked hind details. Then this scene in the
Speaker 1: Mahabada that ignites into full on myth. Takshaka, the serpent King,
Speaker 1: steals the earrings Queen Possia's earrings. Utanka chases him into
Speaker 1: the underworld, aided by demigod Indra and ugny cosmic forces,
Speaker 1: ultimately of courage and purification. There, Utanka sees the wheel
Speaker 1: of twelve months, the weaving of time, and the horse
Speaker 1: of fire. It's almost like he's seeing these secrets right.
Speaker 1: It's not a spectacle. This is not like a circus
Speaker 1: spectacle or something he's viewing. It's metaphysical secrets. He sees
Speaker 1: the machinery of existence, time as fabric, elements as tools,
Speaker 1: divinity as rhythm. It reminds me a lot of what
Speaker 1: I write about in my book Who God Really Is,
Speaker 1: when I explain the fabric of consciousness and that of intelligence,
Speaker 1: and that time itself is just a human construct. Time is,
Speaker 1: in fact, a affixation onto the continuous presence. Do read
Speaker 1: my book Who God Really Is? Now? Utanka, despite seeing
Speaker 1: all these you know, metaphysical secrets, so to speak, he's
Speaker 1: driven to get the earrings back from Takshaka. He stays
Speaker 1: focused on his mission. But Utanka's victory is incomplete. The
Speaker 1: story ends not with peace, but with revenge. Revenge reborn.
Speaker 1: Utanka returns to King John Imajaya, urging the serpent's sacrifice,
Speaker 1: the very fire of destruction that will later draw Viasa's attention.
Speaker 1: What began with a curse on a puppy now circles
Speaker 1: back as a fire for snakes. The wheel turns. Compassion
Speaker 1: is lost. See Utanka. He's remaining devoted to what his
Speaker 1: human master commanded him to do, which is get those earrings,
Speaker 1: bring them for my wife. Right. He continues to be
Speaker 1: devoted to the human voice, the human command, even when
Speaker 1: he sees these great spiritual mysteries around him, almost like
Speaker 1: the fabric of the fundamental framework of the universe, as
Speaker 1: I describe it in my book Who God really Is.
Speaker 1: It's what has God's imp imprint or fingerprints on it,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't care for that as much as he should. Instead,
Speaker 1: he keeps chasing for those earrings. He chases the human
Speaker 1: command and does not embrace God's fundamental framework of the universe,
Speaker 1: these mysteries of God when they are literally staring at
Speaker 1: him as much as he should and from the human command.
Speaker 1: Humans being imperfect, we cannot expect peace to be born
Speaker 1: and continue. Instead, we have revenge being reborn. Utanka's mission
Speaker 1: to fetch Potia's queen's ear rings is a mini epic, right.
Speaker 1: It's packed with cosmic encounters. It's like he hits literally
Speaker 1: the jackpot. He does hit the spiritual jackpot. He sees
Speaker 1: all the secrets of God, God's design, and yet he
Speaker 1: keeps chasing the earrings because he has to follow to him.
Speaker 1: He chooses to follow the human master's command. Utanka journeys
Speaker 1: into Nagaloka, aided again right by Indra's thunderbolt, Demi God
Speaker 1: Indra's thunderbolt and it's like a shamanic descent into the underworld,
Speaker 1: confronting He's confronting chaos dakshaka to at least restore order
Speaker 1: to his life, to his environment that he's known, which
Speaker 1: is he wants order to remain between himself and his master,
Speaker 1: Vida and Vida's wife. Utanka's quest is a case study
Speaker 1: and mission driven focus, but also a foolish one because
Speaker 1: he doesn't he doesn't buy into, he doesn't embrace, he
Speaker 1: doesn't immerse himself in the secrets of God, literally God
Speaker 1: when they are staring at him, you know, the these
Speaker 1: weaving of time and the seasons and the structure of
Speaker 1: the of the universe. Instead, he stays focused on getting
Speaker 1: those earrings to fulfill his human master's command, ultimately leading
Speaker 1: to revenge being reborn. Every layer of this section of
Speaker 1: the Mahabadata mirrors the journey of the human soul Johnimajaya
Speaker 1: the ego seeking purification through power, Sarama's puppy innocence, wounded
Speaker 1: by righteousness, Somashrava intellect half human, half serpent, our reason
Speaker 1: tinged with instinct right. That's Somashrava for us Aruni, the
Speaker 1: self sacrificing heart, Upamanyu, faith tested through deprivation. Utanka, the
Speaker 1: seeker who learns that the world's impurities are the universe's disguise.
Speaker 1: Each figure is a fragment of consciousness, and together they
Speaker 1: narrate the evolution of spiritual maturity, from ritualistic correctness to
Speaker 1: compassionate wisdom and also then ultimately from perfect obedience to
Speaker 1: imperfection being reborn. That's what we have with Utanka at
Speaker 1: the end of this section of the Mahabarata episode three.
Speaker 1: And in our postmodern world, these archetypes they appear daily.
Speaker 1: When someone justifies cruelty in the name of belief, that's
Speaker 1: when Johanimajaya lives again. When someone holds back judgment to
Speaker 1: seek truth, that's when Sarama speaks again, or Utanka speaks
Speaker 1: again to us. When someone endures hardship with trust in
Speaker 1: higher order, that's Upamanu's hymns echoing through to us. And
Speaker 1: so the Posha Parva of the Mahabharata ends with the
Speaker 1: fire smoldering, the serpent sacrifice yet to begin. But beneath
Speaker 1: the myth, the Mahabharata whispers a timeless truth. Every curse
Speaker 1: begins with a wound left unanswered. Every blessing begins with
Speaker 1: obedience to God to love the world. Like Utanka's vision
Speaker 1: is a wheel spun by invisible hands of justice, of mercy,
Speaker 1: and of time. Our task is not to stop it,
Speaker 1: but to see clearly through its motions. Utanka did not
Speaker 1: spend enough time doing so. Therefore revenge was reborn. He
Speaker 1: became vengeful towards the end of disparva, and perhaps like
Speaker 1: Aruni rising from the water's breach, the divine still calls
Speaker 1: each of us by name, not to test us, but
Speaker 1: to lift us from the ditch, and to say to us,
Speaker 1: you have held the flood long enough, Rise now and
Speaker 1: flow escape your suffering. You are free from your suffering.
Speaker 1: The Posha Parva reminds us that every action ripples through
Speaker 1: the cosmic order, demanding accountability. It's a map of growth
Speaker 1: through trials, showing how devotion and resilience forge character. Whether
Speaker 1: you see Sarama as a divine watchdog, Somashreva as a
Speaker 1: quirky ai, or Utanka as a cosmic astrnhaht of some
Speaker 1: sort who seeks more of science than he does. The cosmo,
Speaker 1: the spiritual cosmos This story invites us to reflect on
Speaker 1: our own actions, relationships, and quests. What we value within
Speaker 1: our quests? Are we judging value correctly or are we
Speaker 1: misjudging how we spend our time correctly? Like Utanka did
Speaker 1: at the end, how do we respond to injustice? By
Speaker 1: the way we saw how Sarama, the mother dog responded
Speaker 1: to the injustice upon her puppy, we also see how
Speaker 1: Utanka responded to injustice at the end of the Boshia Parva.
Speaker 1: How do you respond to injustice? How do you balance
Speaker 1: obedience with discernment? And how do you harness divine or
Speaker 1: inner strength to overcome chaos? Learn from these stories from
Speaker 1: the Mahabarata. Continue listening to the Naked Hindoo Tales podcast.
Speaker 1: So thanks for joining me on today's episode. Leave a
Speaker 1: review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and ask me any
Speaker 1: spiritual or non spiritual question you have there. I'll be
Speaker 1: sure to answer your question in a future episode for
Speaker 1: the benefit of all. Thanks for listening and I'll speak
Speaker 1: with you in the next episode.