WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:09.279 Imaginately unscape stained crimson five lakes, shimmering with the blood 2 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:14.439 of a fallen warrior class. This is Samantha Panchaka, forged 3 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.199 in the fury of Rama, son of Jamadagni, a Brahmin 4 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:24.839 warrior whose rage against the Shatriyask reshaped the earth in 5 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:29.320 the sacred name Issha forest. The Rishis ask a simple question, 6 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:35.119 tell us about Samantha Panchaka, A question that sounds geographical, 7 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.479 but it isn't. They are not asking for coordinates. They 8 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:44.039 are asking for meaning. Places have meaning to them. They 9 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:50.359 hold memories. That's called energy, and Suta revives the meaning 10 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.200 out of memory of this place Samantha Panchaka. Suta is, 11 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.119 of course, the son of a bard. Suta again, remember 12 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:04.000 is Sauthi Ugrashrava. And he replies not with maps, but 13 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.519 with memory. Here he speaks of a time when the 14 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:11.760 earth drank blood, the blood of kings, the blood of ego, 15 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:16.280 the blood of imbalance. I'm reminded here of that scene 16 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.519 in the Hebrew Bible. You know, God says that after 17 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:26.079 King's murders his brother Abel. God says, now the ground 18 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.920 will swallow up and eat the blood, or drink the 19 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:32.640 blood So the earth here drinks this blood, the blood 20 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:35.319 of kings, the blood of ego, the blood of imbalance, 21 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:40.000 all of these expressions of the mind of ego right 22 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:45.359 super ego id. These are made visible in the form 23 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:49.799 of blood that is shed by warriors on the battlefield 24 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.680 in this place, Samanta Panchaka, those are the physical marks 25 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:58.439 that carry the memory of the psychology of the human 26 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:03.760 intelligence of that time, or of these warriors. Here stood 27 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:08.159 a rama of the axe Barashurama, who saw the corruption 28 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:13.479 of the warrior class. The Shatrias, their arrogance had overflowed. 29 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.639 Their swords, once for protection, were now for conquest. In 30 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:23.400 that rage, he perched them not once, not twice, but 31 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:28.599 twenty one times. He filled the land with crimson waters, 32 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:34.120 five lakes of blood. That land again was Samantha Panchaka. 33 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:40.000 The text tells us that he eradicated an entire lineage, 34 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:44.319 not once, but repeatedly, filling these lakes with their blood. 35 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.719 But this isn't just a story of a vengeance. It's 36 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:53.400 a crucible of transformation. And here lies the paradox. Right, 37 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:58.520 the same act that drenched the soil in violence became 38 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:05.360 a sacred a pilgrimage of purification. How can blood become 39 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:11.680 holy water? Because when Bashurama realized what Rage had done, 40 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.240 he stood in those waters, not to boast, but to repent. 41 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:22.000 Rama realized what Rage had done, he offered blood to 42 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:28.280 his ancestors, and from remorse the divine appeared. Even God's 43 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:34.120 respond to sincerity. They don't respond to perfection because in 44 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.439 a lot of ways, when we have perfection or there 45 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:41.439 is perfection, which quite frankly, because of what I know, 46 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.280 I wrote in my book Who God Really Is, perfection 47 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:49.360 is really never a state that exists in the universe. 48 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:55.280 But God doesn't respond to Let's say, if there was perfection, 49 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:58.759 he wouldn't respond because there's no need. What need is there? 50 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:05.240 God response to needs, needs, desire, wants. That's where how 51 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:09.159 he intervenes, and he responds to our knowledge of Him 52 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:12.240 with respect that need. When we know we have a 53 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.759 need and we also know that we need to reach 54 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.720 out to God to fulfill that need, then we get 55 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.800 a response. Then we get or we experience intervention from God. 56 00:04:22.519 --> 00:04:24.759 We have to be open to seeing it though right 57 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:29.519 when it occurs. But usually people who have a need 58 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.199 and then also know that they need to reach out 59 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:35.720 to God to have that need fulfilled. They will also 60 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:39.120 usually be aware of, really awake, you know, they'll be 61 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.319 aware of when that need is, of when God is 62 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:47.920 intervening to fulfill that need, whether instantly or gradually. Okay, 63 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.519 usually those are the those are you know, spiritually evolved 64 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.040 people who will know, you know, they will know, so 65 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.720 they'll be aware. But here, so we have Rama, this 66 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.160 warrior who has killed so many, and he wants to 67 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:04.040 repent because he knows that what the result in front 68 00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:08.000 of him, all this blood that drenches this field, you know, 69 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:11.120 this this land. He knows that it's a result of 70 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:16.519 his anger, his rage. He he knows it's not good. 71 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:20.000 This is not exactly a grand holy war carried out 72 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:24.879 by the fierce form of the female face of God, Durga. 73 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:29.000 So we have a need for repentance, and this is 74 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.279 what God responds to. Again, Gods don't respond to perfection, 75 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:38.040 but to need and sincerity and Rama's ancestors. This is 76 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.199 how God speaks through through Uh, through to Rama, through 77 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.879 the ancestors. His ancestors say, your devotion has pleased us, 78 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:51.279 what shall you ask? Ask for a boon? Rama didn't 79 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:54.160 ask for glory. He asked to be freed from the 80 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:57.759 sin of anger, and for the world to remember not 81 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:03.759 the killing, but the cleansing, the forgiveness. That's Samantha Panchaka. 82 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:07.920 That's the memory that the land holds, the karma right, 83 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:15.079 the karma dash memory, or the memor memorialized karma, memorialized karma. 84 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.079 I should say a battlefield became a mirror in that 85 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:23.480 moment that Rama asked for forgiveness. This is actually what 86 00:06:23.639 --> 00:06:26.800 is being conveyed to us in these first you know 87 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:31.000 and a few scenes in the introduction to the mahabarata 88 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:36.319 A geography remembers the moral transformation of a man who 89 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:41.040 realized that anger cannot purify the world. The land holds 90 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:45.279 too much blood. The land is has swallowed too much blood, 91 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:50.120 and only his awareness of the difference between right and wrong, 92 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.839 his recognition of what is right and what is wrong, 93 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:59.000 can lead to purity, can lead to good things, can 94 00:06:59.079 --> 00:07:03.439 lead to what does not need to be forgiven. Rama's 95 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:08.120 act is more than slaughter. It's an alchemical process because 96 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:11.560 as soon as he acts, he puts into also motion 97 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.480 the need for forgiveness. As I mentioned in my book 98 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:18.279 what is God Good for evil? Karma, sin and suffering 99 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:24.279 correctly explained Finally, in many mystical traditions, blood actually symbolizes 100 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:29.839 life force, the raw material of creation and destruction. Rama, 101 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.839 standing in these crimson waters, crimson because they have blood 102 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:39.480 in them, now offers oblations to his ancestors, transmuting violence 103 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:44.839 into devotion. His ancestors, led by Richica, appear in grant 104 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:50.720 a boon, turning these lakes into sacred tirthas places where 105 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:56.879 you know purification, where forgiveness can occur, true forgiveness can occur. 106 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:03.639 This mirrors the tantric idea of channeling primal emotions anger, 107 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.720 passion into divine source energy. Divine source energy, the energy 108 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.680 that I explain in complete detail, in complete thorough detail, real, 109 00:08:14.839 --> 00:08:19.519 thorough detailed, sensible detail in my book Who God Really Is, 110 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.879 which I encourage you all to pick up today on Amazon. 111 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.279 Rama's fury becomes a catalyst for sanctities, suggesting that even 112 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:33.519 our darkest impulses, when offered to a higher purpose, can 113 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:37.639 birth something holy, or can become the start of a 114 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.279 renewal that's needed by humanity or the people around us. Now, 115 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:48.039 let's ground this further into reality. The creation of Samantha 116 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:54.039 Panchaka reflects humanity's recurring pattern of destruction and renewal. Think 117 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:59.360 of historical purges, revolutions, wars, or even modern quote unquote 118 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:04.720 cancelations right cancel culture on platforms like let's say x 119 00:09:04.840 --> 00:09:09.720 or Instagram meta, you know, where entire ideology or YouTube 120 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:15.080 where entire ideologies are metaphorically slain to clear space for 121 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:21.039 new orders. Ramas act extreme as it is. It's definitely extreme, 122 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:23.639 almost like surreal but it's extreme, right, I mean, this 123 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:25.919 is what Hindu mythology is a lot of it is 124 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.000 very surreal, very it seems very extreme. But look at 125 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.080 how much I'm able to reveal to you is truth 126 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:38.360 underneath all that surrealism and intricacy and kind of longevity 127 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.320 of these texts, and not only in length longevity, but 128 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.279 just how long they've lasted, right, thousands of years. We 129 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:48.120 still find value in them. But look at how much 130 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:50.279 I've been able to reveal to you is actually being 131 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:53.080 conveyed to us. That's so relevant to us and our 132 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:57.120 nature that will forever be what it is right through 133 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:01.559 this surrealism, right underneath all this realism that look at 134 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:04.600 how much I've revealed to you, is there that's valuable, 135 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.679 that's treasure for us and that's realistic to us, to 136 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:12.879 our modern lives. Again, ramas act extreme as it is, 137 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.080 it's very extreme. Parallels moments when societies hit reset, often violently, 138 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.240 to correct perceived imbalances. Right, think of very sudden changes. 139 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:26.879 Think of like how even in the United States we 140 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:31.399 have four years of one kind of ideolog ideological presidency, 141 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.559 then we flip in the next four years into something 142 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:38.480 completely different. Right, So, I mean things happen very fast. 143 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.919 This is not something that's surreal if you really think 144 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:45.159 about it. This whole thing with Rama, this warrior right 145 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:48.559 drenching the land around him with so much blood. It's 146 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:52.000 the land has drank so much of this, the blood 147 00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:55.120 of humans and all the animals that were slayed, and 148 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:00.200 you know, through this war, through these battles, skirmishes, and 149 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:04.039 then suddenly there's this, all of a sudden, there's just 150 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:08.799 this redemption, this repentance, this redemption, this forgiveness that occurs 151 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.039 not so suddenly, but it comes about pretty quickly. In 152 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:17.279 the Mahabadata introduction, it's not new to us. I mean, 153 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.399 we go through four years of one type of ideological 154 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:22.960 presidency in the United States. In the next four years 155 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:28.000 we flip. We flip suddenly, Yeah, I mean, this is real. 156 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.039 What's happening in our lives, what's happening in the Mahabadata 157 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.879 in these ancient hin Hindu, ancient Indian scriptures is relevant. 158 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.759 It makes sense. We experience it in the twenty first 159 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:44.679 century in our own ways, right within our modern systems 160 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.919 and structure. So it's not so surreal, you know, it's 161 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:52.960 not so removed from reality. What happens in these Hindu mythologies. 162 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:59.159 The lakes now sacred remind us that even chaos can 163 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:04.200 leave behind places of healing, like postwar reconciliation efforts or 164 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:09.720 community rebuilding after crises. Now here's a twist. What if 165 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.000 the land itself is the character or is a character. 166 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:19.159 Samantha Panchaka described as even and without ruggedness absorbs the 167 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:23.600 blood and becomes a tirtha, a crossing point to the divine, 168 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:28.679 a portal you know, almost like holy water, right, holy 169 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:33.600 water a portal to forgiveness. And when there's forgiveness, there's 170 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:37.159 an element or there wherever there is forgiveness, there is 171 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:40.039 this purity. And purity of course, we associate with the 172 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.519 divine to understand what purity really means, though it really 173 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.639 relates to you know, the scale of heaviness or weightiness 174 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:51.440 as I call it in my book Who God Really Is? 175 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:54.200 So do pick up my book to really understand what 176 00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:00.799 purity actually is, what the experience of it is. In 177 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:05.879 indigenous spiritualities, land holds memory bearing witness to human triumphs 178 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:12.639 and tragedies. Samantha Panchaka is a geological diary. It's flatness 179 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:16.600 a canvas for cosmic dramas. Right, and today we see 180 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:21.080 it as a metaphor for Earth itself, scarred by human conflict, 181 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:26.279 yet enduring as a sacred space for reflection. We all 182 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.159 you know, incarnate or reincarnate to Earth to live out 183 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:34.240 a kind of learning experience, as I explain it in 184 00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:38.039 my book Who God Really Is. Fast forward to the 185 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:43.200 cusp of the Dwapara and Gali Yugas, and Samantha Panjaka 186 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:48.919 hosts another cataclysm, the Mahabada the war. Right, so now 187 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.480 this battle that occurred with drama is in the past 188 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:57.720 in Samantha Panchaka, and now Samantha Panchaka becomes another you know, 189 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.720 yet again, a place of great important war. The story 190 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:08.440 doesn't stop there. Ugrashrava or Suta reminds the Rishis. It 191 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:13.159 was here again at Samanta Panchaka, that another flood came, 192 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:18.919 not of one man's anger, but of collective karma, memorialized 193 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:23.279 karma that will be memorialized as it is in the Mahabarata, 194 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:26.720 which we are all listening to. Thousands of years later, 195 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:31.440 at the edge of Dwapara and Kali Yugas, eighteen massive 196 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:37.720 armies gathered here, eighteen Akshauhinis. The mathematics of destruction, or 197 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:42.120 there's mathematics here involved in this destruction. This was the 198 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:47.279 Kurukshetra War, the echo of the same imbalance, but Ashurama 199 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:51.120 or rama once fought to end. It's as though the 200 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:55.000 Earth chose the same stage twice to remind humanity that 201 00:14:55.080 --> 00:15:02.240 we don't learn through information. We learned through repetition, repetition, recycling, 202 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:08.240 repetition cycles again and again occurring here time loops back 203 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:12.519 on itself. And this actually reminds me of a vision 204 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:14.759 that God gave me when I was writing the book 205 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.480 Who God Really Is, and it was this of a loop. 206 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:20.639 But the loop wasn't There wasn't just one loop. There 207 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.279 were like three loops before. And that's how we move forward. 208 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.480 It was like a forward moving arrow, but it had 209 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.159 three loops in it, and that's it how we learn. 210 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.000 So that's the vision I received from God when I 211 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.840 was writing my book Who God Really Is, precisely related 212 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:42.879 to this phenomenon of how we learn, how human humanity learns, 213 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:46.440 how the creatures of the universe learn, how the aliens 214 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.519 who exist in this universe also learn. It's through repetition 215 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.799 of these cycles that also are actually moving us forward, 216 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.440 even though they seem to keep us in a repetitive 217 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.000 state too, which is fascinating. But again you'll have to 218 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.720 pick up my book Who God Really Is to understand 219 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:10.960 all of those truths. The warriors of Dwapara are haunted, 220 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.840 descendants of the violence of the Trita Yuga. The lakes 221 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:19.120 that once held the blood of arrogance now reflect the 222 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:24.440 blood of destiny. In every yoga, Samantha Panchaka becomes a 223 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:30.080 metaphor a place where humanity meets its own shadow. Eighteen 224 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:35.399 uk shohinis. Massive armies of chariots, elephants, horses and foot 225 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:40.360 soldiers clash on this sacred plain. The rishis then ask 226 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:44.799 what is an What is an ak Shohini? A simple 227 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:51.480 question right, Yet Suta answers with stunning precision. He speaks 228 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:56.080 like an engineer of the cosmos. A putti, one chariot, 229 00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:00.960 one elephant, five soldiers, three horses, three putties, make a 230 00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:04.960 sena muka, et cetera, et cetera. The numbers multiply until 231 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:10.799 one auk Shohini becomes a colossal organism of war, organism 232 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.920 of war, an entire organism of war. And these are 233 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:20.039 its organs. Twenty one thousand, eight hundred and seventy chariots, 234 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.680 you know, all these different elephants, and the one hundred 235 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.240 thousand plus soldiers and sixty five thousand plus horses and whatnot, 236 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:31.440 And eighteen of these assembled at Gurukshetra, and they all perish, 237 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:36.000 cementing the site's sanctity. What does this tell us about 238 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:40.559 war scale and sanctity? Before I continue, I just want 239 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.000 to ask you to please remember to leave a rating 240 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:47.440 or review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I really appreciate 241 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:52.640 it spiritually. The precise tally of an Ak Shohini reflects 242 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:57.400 the universe's obsession with balance. In Vadic thought, everything is 243 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:01.359 accounted for, every soldier, every horse, every life. There is 244 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:07.039 an accounting here the war's devastation orchestrated by time the 245 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:13.079 great orchestrator suggests a karmic ledger being settled. The slaughter 246 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:18.400 at Samantha Panchaka isn't random. It's a cosmic recalibration where 247 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:24.960 dharma or righteousness, and addharma unrighteousness, clash to restore equilibrium. 248 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.759 Many people actually believe that what's going on in this world, 249 00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:33.240 or since the COVID nineteen pandemic, has been a lot 250 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:36.759 of this karma from the world wars, World War One, 251 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:41.319 and especially World War Two, being revisited by humans who 252 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:46.559 are unsettled, you know, they don't feel settled by the outcomes, 253 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:52.240 the immediate outcomes of World War One and particularly World 254 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.240 War Two, and so as the world order changes now 255 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:01.279 or has dramatically been changing since the year twenty twenty, 256 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:05.119 a lot of people believe that there's this spiritual, you know, 257 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:11.359 kind of stuff going on here where humanity, large swaths 258 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:15.480 of humanity and culture are confronting and trying to resolve 259 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:18.759 or trying to push through or heal through, move past 260 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:22.920 the karma that the world has sat with for over 261 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.440 fifty years since World the end of World War Two, 262 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.720 since the outcomes of World War two. So you know 263 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:35.240 the Vedic scriptures, here, the ancient Indian scriptures, ancient Indian 264 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:39.720 spirituality speaks to our reality in the twenty first century. 265 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:45.079 I cannot, you know, reiterate that enough. And what is 266 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.799 being taught here in the introduction to the Mahabarata resonates 267 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:54.519 actually with also mystical traditions like Kabbala, where divine justice 268 00:19:54.640 --> 00:20:01.599 balances creation through cycles of destruction and renewal. Let's think 269 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:06.440 about the detailed breakdown of an Akshauhini. It mirrors modern 270 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.880 military logistics right, think of troop deployment, tanks and drones, 271 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:15.799 all quantified for strategy. But the brilliance lies not in 272 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:20.839 the arithmetic the mathematics. Here, the ancient sages in the 273 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:25.359 Mahabadata are showing us something deeper, that war itself is 274 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:31.039 a system. Every act of collective destruction begins with a pattern, 275 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:39.039 a precise architecture of ego and pride, structured, disciplined, glorified, until, 276 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:42.799 of course, it collapses under its own design. Because why 277 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:45.319 because as I say in my book and as I 278 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:48.240 teach in my book, it is not the system of love, 279 00:20:48.839 --> 00:20:51.519 which is the system of God. Which is the fundamental 280 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:58.599 framework that is carrying the entire or entire existence. War 281 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:02.880 is a system. Love is a system. Love is indeed 282 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:06.480 a system. You will will understand that entire system in 283 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:11.359 my book Who God Really Is? So war is a system, 284 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:14.559 but it's not God. It's not a system of God. 285 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:18.759 Therefore it doesn't stand the test of time. It just 286 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:24.279 doesn't stand. It collapses really under its own design, under 287 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:27.720 its own weight. And this reminds me of what I 288 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:31.799 just mentioned maybe several minutes ago in this podcast episode 289 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:37.039 about weightiness, right and purity, and how the real meaning 290 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:41.640 of purity lies in the understanding of weightiness, weightiness, weight. 291 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:47.839 It's as if the Mahambadata is whispering to us mathematics 292 00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:51.880 can measure men, but not wisdom. It reminds me of 293 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.599 you know, if you read the preview of my book 294 00:21:54.680 --> 00:21:57.640 Who God Really Is, this is exactly what the first 295 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:02.640 two chapters talk about. Mathematics can measure men, but there's 296 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:06.400 no relation that it has to wisdom. There's just no relation. 297 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:10.440 It has to wisdom. Even the perfect order of an 298 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:15.640 AKSHAWHEMI cannot control the chaos born of desire. Today, our 299 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.960 modern armies are not you know, elephants and chariots. They 300 00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:25.400 are algorithms, corporations, information networks. Some might even say the 301 00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:33.599 education system, media ecosystem. Yet the pattern remains. We still 302 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:37.759 calculate victory and loss with numbers, right, We still calculate 303 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:47.279 our victories and losses within these armies with numbers, GDP numbers, views, metrics, casualties, 304 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:52.200 forgetting that the true war is always internal, as I say, 305 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.400 the greatest, as I say in my book Who God 306 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:59.440 Really Is, and through this podcast often the greatest battles 307 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:04.480 on Earth take place for your minds and in your minds. 308 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:10.039 The Mahabhadada's war scale, with its eighteen uk shahinis dwarfs 309 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:15.359 modern conflicts, yet it echoes their futility. Consider World War 310 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:20.119 one's trenches or today's proxy wars. Massive resources are spent, 311 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:25.359 many lives are lost, and for what Ultimately The texts 312 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:27.920 it's all it's like we revisit the same thing over 313 00:23:27.960 --> 00:23:30.200 and over again, and then we're not happy with the outcome, 314 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:32.960 right like we weren't. There were places on this earth 315 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.279 who were not happy with the outcome of World War 316 00:23:35.319 --> 00:23:39.519 two or World War one that then led to World 317 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:41.880 War two. Then World War two. People weren't happy, and 318 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.920 now we're seeing what we have in this world, right, 319 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:50.279 skirmishes between different countries, all with late with relation to 320 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:53.519 the outcomes of world the immediate outcomes of World War two. 321 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:56.079 Who knows if Worl'll be fully happy with what we 322 00:23:56.200 --> 00:24:01.240 get after these skirmishes and battles of the current to 323 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.200 day are settled, then who knows. You know, if we're 324 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.559 not happy, then you know, maybe twenty thirty, fifty even 325 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:11.160 less than that, maybe ten or five years from now 326 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.400 will be added again. Right, so again, for what right? 327 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:24.640 The Mahabharata's mention of leaders like Bishma, Drona and Garna 328 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:29.920 commanding for days only to fall reflect the transient glory 329 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:35.960 of power on x and Instagram and meta and like 330 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:42.960 different social media platforms snapchat, TikTok posts often debate the 331 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:47.160 cost of modern wars billions spent, lives erased, yet the 332 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:53.319 cycle persists, just as it did at Samantha Punchaka. The Mahabharata, 333 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.279 even in its introduction, is all of what I have said, 334 00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:00.680 is this is what I've been able to gather through 335 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:05.119 just the introduction. This is what the words, though simple 336 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:08.079 they might be, are reflecting to us. They want us 337 00:25:08.119 --> 00:25:16.240 to see this through them. The Mahabharata's mention of Ashwatama's 338 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:21.759 night massacre inspired by an owl killing crows is chillingly unique. 339 00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:28.079 Sutta lists the leaders like a eulogy, Bishma, Drona, Karna, Salia, 340 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:35.000 and finally the duel between Bima and Duryodhana. But then 341 00:25:35.079 --> 00:25:39.920 when all is seemingly over comes the most haunting moment, 342 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:44.519 Ashwatama's night of a vengeance. He is inspired by an 343 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:50.799 owl killing crows. What's he inspired by? Nature? The natural world? Right? 344 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:55.960 He was inspired by animals, which aren't exactly of divine intelligence, 345 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:59.319 let's be honest. And he chooses to take on that 346 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:03.559 animalist nature because he engages in a night of a vengeance. 347 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:08.240 So again, this is reflecting back to us that human 348 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:10.880 nature can be of one kind, doesn't have to be, 349 00:26:11.240 --> 00:26:13.240 but it can be of one kind, and that is 350 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:18.519 of animalistic nature. And it's also an omen that the 351 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.279 natural order has turned nocturnal. It's turned dark, right, owl 352 00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:29.160 killing crows, it's dark in blind rage, in darkness, when 353 00:26:29.240 --> 00:26:33.839 they were sleeping. He slaughters the sleeping sons of Dropadi. 354 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:37.960 The war's blood is not yet dry, and yet another 355 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:41.559 soul breaks under the weight of his grief. This is 356 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:45.559 where the Mahabharata becomes more than epic. It becomes a 357 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:52.960 mirror of mental torment. Ashatama represents the human mind after trauma, 358 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:58.079 rational thought, gone, ethics blurred, haunted by the illusion that 359 00:26:58.200 --> 00:27:03.640 revenge equals justice. Krishna intervenes not by killing him, but 360 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:06.839 by transforming him, and we'll see that as we go 361 00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:12.119 through the Mahabharata. He curses Ashwatama to live eternally, a 362 00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:16.240 wandering lesson that unhealed anger never dies. In a lot 363 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:19.960 of ways, I'm reminded of what God does to Cain 364 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:24.160 in the Hebrew Bible, the famous story of Cain and Abel, 365 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:27.559 where Cain is spared even after he kills his own 366 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:31.680 brother Abel. But he's left wandering, right, He's left wandering 367 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:37.720 the earth as a fugitive forever. Every generation finds it. 368 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:41.880 It's Ashwatama. Ashwaamah is shunned, the part of us that 369 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:46.400 cannot move on. It's forever stuck in wandering. It's lost. 370 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:52.240 In many cultures, owl symbolize death or hidden wisdom. Ashwatama, 371 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:56.720 driven by grief over his father Drouna's death, channels this 372 00:27:56.839 --> 00:28:01.799 omen into a brutal act, slaughtering the Jala's as they sleep. 373 00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:08.839 It actually suggests the shadow side of instinct, when pain 374 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:12.880 distorts instinct or insight into destruction. Right when we are 375 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:17.519 we seem incentivized, or we start to take on this 376 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:22.599 impulse toward further destruction, toward anger and revenge and vengeance. 377 00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:26.599 So today we might see this in how social media 378 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:30.400 amplifies rage. Right, social media can amplify rage in us, 379 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:37.200 turning omens like viral posts into calls for vengeance. Ashwatama's 380 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:41.680 act is a cautionary tale. Unchecked grief can desecrate even 381 00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:47.720 sacred ground. Then, what is fascinating about the Mahabharata is 382 00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:51.359 that it pivots from telling us about, you know, these 383 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.839 scenes that will be coming up in the Bharata itself. 384 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:58.880 It pivots to just the text, talking about the text 385 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:03.160 itself and how it is a just text. I also 386 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:07.640 describe the Bible as a just text right, just as injustice, 387 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:11.480 and I explained that, of course in my books, which 388 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.680 you can discover on Amazon. The Badatha here is described 389 00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:19.359 as the path to liberation, a treatise. Notice the word 390 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:25.359 treaties on dharma arta and Gama. Sutta then says right. 391 00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.640 He says, this story the Baatha was once told by 392 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:33.880 Vyasa's disciple to King Jana Maajaya. So we are hearing 393 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:38.079 a story within a story within another story. Vasa to 394 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:41.680 the disciple, the disciple right to. Then come Sutta to 395 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:45.000 the Rishis, and then the to us. Of course, us 396 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.839 here in this podcast me to you. This is not 397 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:54.680 all you know linear storytelling. It's fractal storytelling. The Maha 398 00:29:54.759 --> 00:29:59.480 Baratha is designed like the universe. Every part contains the whole. 399 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.799 When Suta calls it the atman among things to be known, 400 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:08.279 he is saying that this story is not entertainment, it 401 00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:14.039