The witness Lord Krishna defends himself

The witness  Lord Krishna  defends   himself

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I have  written it in a summary form   from the face book post of my learned friend  Rajagopal   Srinivasan (my deep sense  of gratitude to him.)  .  Though  it is a conversation   is between Udhava   and Lord  Krishna  before  Lord Krishna’s departure  from the world  , this is not the Udhava  Gita  , which is spread over 22 chapters ,   in the eleventh  Skandha  of Bhagawatha  Purana. Udhava  Gita  also called   Hamsa Gita  explains why the Yadhu race   should be completly detstroyed. I am  not sure whether this conversation  forms a part of it. But the  principle   expounded in this small   work is simply great , It tells us that  God is the witness   of everything  and when a human being   fogets this he commits    sins. It also tell that  God does  not interefere  in   any one’s  life  unless   he wants it.  )

Lord Krishna    was about to leave  this world ,

And he asked  Udhava    who was   his great friend,

“My dear friend  , I am about   to leave this world,

Can I do  something    for you  , please  ask.”

With great  hesitation   Udhava   asked Krishna ,

“ My dear God,  who is   my friend , for quite  some time,

I am not able    to understand you at    all,

Would you permit me to ask you? And  the lord said “By all means.”

Udhava     “ People call you   the friend   of those  who are in trouble.

How come  , you did not   tell   Yudhishtra    not to gamble?”

You could  have blessed  Pandavas  , so that  they win in the gambling,

YUdhishtra   lost all his   assets   and himself  and was    about  to keep,

His brothers  as wager  and you   could  have gone  in  and prevented it  .

When he kept  Draupadi  his  mascot of luck as wager  , you could have ,

Made the  time lucky  for the pandavas  and made  them win.

When Draupadhi lost   all her respect and  was  dragged  in to the  royal assembly,

You waited till , Duschasana  tried   to dirobe her  to help her, Was this right?”

And  after  these  harsh   questions   with tears  Udhava  asked  “Why?”

Lord Krishna smiled   and replied  “ It is a universal law    that the one,

Who uses   right judgement wins and Yudhishtra   lacked it   ,

And Duryodhana   had it in plenty, and that is  why Yudishtra lost.

Duryodhana  had money   and no skill   to gamble   and so  ,

He provided   that money   and asked  Sakuni to play,

If only Yudhishtra had asked  me to play instead of him.”

“Not only that  , Yudhishtra   knew  that  he was taking a wrong decision,

And knew that  I would have prevented  the play   and so he  prayed God,

“Let  not Krishna   knew   about it and he should not come to the  gambling hall.”

And I was  just  waiting  outside    the hall  , waiting for  somebody  to call me.”

“When their elder brother  kept them as wager  all younger Pandavas ,

Were cursing their brother  but never once prayed me   to come and help them.

And when Duschasana  dragged her in to the gambling   hall  ,

Even Draupadhi    failed  to call me for help , thinking  she could manage .

But when Duschasana   started   disrobing her  , she called  me,

And I went  in and helped    her  , so that further problems were  not there.”

Udhava replied  “Very well explained  my lord   but can I ask   another  question?”

And when Lord Krishna nodded  Udhava asked    the lord  ,

“Does that  mean you   would   come and help people  only when they call you?

Wouldn’t  you for establishing  Dharma, come   to help   your devotees  in trouble.?”

Lord Krishna   replied , “  Human life   goes  on according  to their karma,

And I only remain there   as a witness  , never  interfering  in what is happening.

And I believe   that  it is the  Dharma  of Gods” Hearing that  Udhava  laughed and said,

“And so you will allow us to   to accumulate mountain of sins, never  interfere and allow us to suffer  more.”

My dear friend, “ Krishna told , “ when a human being realizes   that,

For all his actions  I am a witness, He would not be able to do evil acts.

When they forget about it ,  they forget my presence  and  decide  to do sins,

And  feel they  can hide it from me,  and they  would take  wrong decisions and commit sins.

Had Yudhishtra realized  that I am a witness   to what he  did  ,

He would not have done  the mistakes  and things would be different.”

Udhava clearly   understood   what  Lord Krishna   was trying to tell him ,

And knew that  after doing  all ills   , keeping God   as   witness near him,

When  he   fails   or when he   undergoes   suffering   as a punishment ,

Calling  that  witness   to come  and help him  was a wrong strategy.