Before the arrival of Kaliyuga, At the time of Mahabharata war, many brave men from both the Kaurava and Pandava sides had attained martyrdom. Duryodhana’s thigh was broken due to the blow of Bhimsen’s mace. Then Ashwatthama considered it a favourite act of his lord Duryodhana and cut off the heads of Draupadi’s sleeping sons. Draupadi, the mother of those children, became extremely saddened to hear about the demise of her sons. Arjun consoled her and went to bring Ashwatthama.
The power of Brahmastras
Even Ashwatthama’s mind was disturbed by the murder of children. When he saw that Krishna and Arjun were coming rushing towards him, he ran as far as he could to save his life. He considered Brahmastra as the only means to save himself. Although he did not know the method to return the Brahmastra, yet seeing his life in danger, he meditated and searched for the Brahmastra. A very strong light spread in all directions from that weapon. Arjun saw that now his life was in danger and bramastra can only be stopped using another bramastra. So he started meditation to get rid of the Brahmastra.
The brilliance of those two Brahmastras, adorned with arrows, collided with each other. Like the sun and fire of the doomsday, spread in all the sky and directions and started destroying everything. Seeing the destruction of people by that fire, Arjun, with the permission of God, brought both of them back. Arjun’s eyes were turning red with anger. He quickly caught hold of that cruel Ashwatthama and tied him just like someone tied an animal with a rope and took him towards the camp.
Seeing her Guru’s son Ashwatthama insulted in this manner, Draupadi’s tender heart was filled with compassion and she greeted Ashwatthama. Draupadi could not bear the Guru’s son being brought tied in this manner. She said- ‘Leave him, he is a Brahmin and is highly revered by us.His mother Kripi could not follow her husband out of love for her brave son, she is still alive. Just as I am crying in sadness due to the death of my children, in the same way his mother should not cry.
Punishment to Ashwatthama
Draupadi’s words were in favour of religion and justice. There was no deceit in it, there was compassion and equality. So all the men and women present there supported Draupadi’s statement.
Then to punish Ashwatthama, Arjun immediately removed the gem from Ashwatthama’s head along with his hair with his sword. He had already become devoid of glory by killing children, now he has also become devoid of divine gem and Brahmatej. To decapitate, snatch away the wealth and throw them out of the place – this is the killing of Brahmin religions.
Protection of Parikshit in the womb
Krishna boarded the chariot to go to Dwarka along with Satyaki and Uddhava before the arrival of kaliyuga. At the same time, he saw that Uttara, distraught with fear, was coming towards him. Uttara said – protect me. Apart from you, there is no one else in this world who can make me fearless; Because here everyone is a mutual cause of death. You are all-powerful. This blazing iron arrow is running towards me. It may burn me, but please don’t destroy my womb.
As soon as he heard her, he came to know that Ashwatthama had used Brahmastra to destroy the lineage of Pandavas. He covered Uttara’s womb with the armour of his illusion to continue the lineage of Pandavas. Brahmastra is infallible and there is no way to stop it, still it became calm after coming in front of the glory of Lord Krishna. This should not be taken as a surprise; Because God is the most amazing, He creates, protects and destroys this world despite being unborn by his own power Maya.
The signs of arrival of kaliyuga
Uttara’s womb was destroyed by the extremely powerful Brahmastra fired by Ashwatthama; But God brought him back to life. Subsequently, in the auspicious time Pandu’s descendant Parikshit was born. King Yudhishthir felt very happy after hearing about the birth of his grandson. This child became famous in the world by the name of Parikshit.
Kaliyuga, which traps thoughtless people in unrighteousness, comes and threatens. Yudhishthira could not hide the arrival of Kaliyuga. He saw that evils like greed, untruth, deceit, violence etc. have increased in the country, in the city, in homes and among living beings. Then he decided to set out for the great journey. He anointed his humble grandson Parikshit, who was similar to him in qualities, as the emperor of the land surrounded by seas in Hastinapura.
About King Parikshit
After the great sacrifice, King Parikshit, a great devotee of God and truthful like king Harishchandra started ruling the earth as per the teachings of the best Brahmins. Whatever the astrologers had said about him at the time of his birth, in reality all those great qualities were present in him. He married Iravati, daughter of Uttar. From her he gave birth to four sons. By appointing Kripacharya as Acharya, he performed three Ashwamedha Yagya on the banks of Ganga.
The only step of Dharma in Kaliyuga
Once Parikshit saw that a man dressed in royal attire was holding a stick in his hand and was beating a pair of cow and bull as if they had no owner. That bull, which was white in colour like a lotus flower, was standing with one leg trembling due to the chastisement of Shudra and was frightened. That cow, was also becoming very poor after repeatedly getting kicked by the feet of that man. King Parikshit, mounted on a golden chariot, raised his bow and challenged him with a voice as solemn as a cloud. Who are you, who despite being strong, is forcefully killing these weak creatures of my kingdom? Like a drama, you have dressed up like a king, but due to your actions, you appear to be a coward man.
He asked Dharma, who was in the form of that bull, The ultimate duty of a king is to relieve the suffering of the oppressed. So I will kill him right now. You are a four legged creature. Who cut off your three legs? Dharma said- Rajan! You are a descendant of king Pandu. It is worthy of you to give such assurance to the suffering people. In Satya Yuga penance, purity, mercy and truth were my four legs.
At this time, the three stages of unrighteousness, pride, attachment and intoxication have been destroyed. Now in my fourth step only ‘Truth’ is left. I am living on its strength. This unrighteous Kaliyuga, strengthened by untruth, wants to engulf him too. This mother cow is the earth in person. God had removed their heavy burden and like an unfortunate woman, she is worrying with tears in her eyes that now by pretending to be a king, the Brahmin-defying Shudra will torment me.
Assigning of Places to Kaliyuga
Parikshit thus consoled religion and the earth. Then he picked up a sharp sword to kill Kaliyuga, the cause of unrighteousness. You should not live in my kingdom at all. By living in the bodies of people, greed, lies, theft, wickedness, apostasy, poverty, deceit, discord, pride and other sins are increasing.
Kaliyuga realised that now he wanted to kill me, so he immediately in fear placed his head at his feet. Parikshit was very famous, humble and a protector of refuge. When he saw Kaliyuga lying at his feet, he mercifully did not kill him, but laughed.
Kaliyuga said- Wherever I think of staying with your permission, I see you standing there with an arrow on my bow. Please tell me the place where I can remain stable following your orders.
After this, King Parikshit gave him four places – gambling, drinking, company of women and violence. In these places reside the four types of unrighteousness – falsehood, pride, attachment and cruelty respectively. He asked for more space. Then Parikshit gave him another place ‘Suvarna’ (wealth) to live. In this way, Kaliyuga has five stages – lie, pride, lust, enmity and passion. Kali, the root cause of unrighteousness, started residing in these five places given by Parikshit, following his orders. Therefore, a person seeking self-improvement should never consume these five places.
Curse on King due to Kaliyuga
One day King Parikshit had gone to the forest for hunting with a bow. He got tired while running after the deer and felt very hungry and thirsty. When he could not find any pond anywhere, he entered the ashram of a nearby sage. He saw that there a sage was sitting peacefully on the throne with his eyes closed.
King Parikshit asked him for water in such a state, because his throat was becoming parched due to thirst. When the king did not even get a straw seat to sit there, no one even asked him to sit on the ground – where could he get prayers and sweet words of respect, then he felt insulted and became angry. He was suffering from hunger and thirst, so suddenly he became jealous and angry towards the Brahmin.
This was the first such occasion in his life. Due to the effect of Kaliyuga, while returning from there, out of anger he picked up a dead snake with the tip of his bow and put it around the sage’s neck and returned to his capital. This thought came to his mind that since he has closed his eyes, has he actually restrained all his senses or has he pretended to be in a false samadhi.
The son of Shamik Muni was playing nearby with other Rishi Kumars. When the boy heard that the king had misbehaved with his father, he started saying this. ‘These people, who are called human beings, have started doing so much injustice by being as mean as gluttonous crows. There Having said this to his fellow children,he cursed King Parikshit.
“Parikshit has violated dignity by insulting my father, hence with my inspiration, on the seventh day today, he will be bitten by the Takshak snake.“
Feeling of Remorse by Shamik
After this the child came to his ashram and seeing the snake around his father’s neck, he felt very sad and started crying. Hearing his son’s crying, Shamik Muni slowly opened his eyes and saw that there was a dead snake lying around his neck. Throwing it away he asked his son – why are you crying? Who has done you a disservice?’ On his asking like this, the child told the whole story. Shamik did not greet his son after hearing the king’s curse. In his view, Parikshit was not worthy of the curse. Emperor Parikshit is very famous and religious. He has performed many Ashwamedha Yagyas and is very dear to the Lord.
That same Rajarshi came to our ashram distraught with hunger and thirst, he is never worthy of a curse. This foolish child has committed a crime against our sinless servant Raja, may Almighty God please forgive him. The devotees of God also have the power to take revenge, but they do not take any revenge for the insults, deceptions, abuses, insults and beatings done by others.Shamik felt great remorse for his son’s crime. He did not even pay attention to the insult that King Parikshit had insulted him with.
Parikshit’s fast and Lord Shukdev’s arrival
On reaching the capital, King Parikshit felt great remorse for his condemnable act. He became extremely sad and started thinking – ‘I treated the innocent Brahmin, who had hidden his glory, in a very despicable manner. While he was worrying like this, he realised that Takshak would bite me due to the curse of Rishi Kumar. He thought that for a long time he was getting attached to the world, now got the reason to become renunciation soon.
Now, renouncing his form and considering the service at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna as supreme, he took a fast unto death and sat on the banks of Ganga. He abandoned all attachments and accepted the vow of the sages and started meditating on the lotus feet of Shri Krishna with full devotion.
At the same time, Lord Shukdev appeared there, roaming freely on the earth. King Parikshit bowed his head to Shri Shukdev who had come as a guest to preach him for last seven days of his life.
Being bitten by snake Takshak
Now Parikshit was not afraid of any death caused by Takshak or any group of deaths, he became fearless. By becoming immersed in the knowledge and science preached by lord shukdev, his ignorance was destroyed forever. Now the snake Takshak came towards King Parikshit to bite him. Parikshit had already become established in Lord Krishna before being bitten by Takshak. Now his body was burnt to ashes in front of everyone by the fire of Takshak’s poison. Gods, demons, humans etc. all were astonished to see this.
