26

The Divine Pool

The Pandavas moved to another part of the Kamyaka forest to avoid being found out by Duryodhana. Although summer had not yet set in, the weather that year started to become quite warm and sultry. While the days were getting longer, the nights shrank to just a few hours. Every evening at dusk, Yudhishthira would sit on a rock near their cottage and watch the sun sinking gradually on the horizon, its copper turning to orange and then grey, till darkness enveloped the entire forest.

Since they had now completed the twelfth year of their exile, Yudhishthira felt somewhat buoyant up. Just a year more, he consoled himself, and they would return to Indraprastha. But a dark thought also haunted at him at times. What if Duryodhana’s spies somehow located them during the thirteenth year when they had to remain incognito? That would be a disaster, as they would then have to go through another full cycle in exile.

As Yudhishthira was lost in these musings while sitting on his favourite rock, a Brahmin stopped by. At once, he got off the rock and bowed to the man who looked tense.

‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ asked Yudhishthira.

‘Yes, you could perhaps help me retrieve my fire-kindler,’ answered the Brahmin. Then pointing towards a deer leaping over a bush some distance away, he said, ‘There is the thief!’ He explained how the animal had sneaked into his hut and run away with his fire-kindler in its mouth while he was deep in prayer. ‘So now there will be no fire for me, and no food.’

Immediately, Yudhishthira called Sahadeva and directed him to chase the deer and retrieve the Brahmin’s fire-kindler. But it turned out to be an exasperating pursuit. The animal would leap over rocks and bushes, get lost behind trees, only to emerge again on the main pathway. Teasingly, it would look back at Sahadeva, as if inviting him to play a game of hide-and-seek with it. Was it like the golden deer that had tempted Sita, Sahadeva wondered. As he kept chasing the animal, the sun reached its midday height, making the ground burn under his feet. It was now so unbearably hot that his tongue went dry like an autumn leaf. So he decided to stop for a brief rest. As he stopped in the shade of a tree, he noticed that the animal also stood on a rock. It was as if both of them needed a short respite before resuming the race.

Sahadeva now climbed up the tree to see if there was a stream or a pool anywhere around. He was delighted to spot a lake a short distance away. He jumped off the tree and made for the lake. As he got there, he found its water crystal clear.

But as he bent to pick up a palmful of water, he heard a voice from the hilltop on the other side of the lake. In the stillness of the noon, it rent the air.

‘Stop there, O young man,’ boomed the voice. ‘Before you drink from this lake, which is my preserve, you must first answer my questions. If you persist in drinking the water without answering my questions, death will strike you, and your body will lie like a log of wood where you are now standing.’

Though dazed momentarily by the dreadful threat, Sahadeva decided to brush it aside.

‘Water and air are God’s free bounties for every human being,’ responded Sahadeva, and gathered a palmful of water. But just as his lips touched it, he fell unconscious on the ground, lifeless.

When Sahadeva did not return to the cottage for quite some time, Yudhishthira got worried. He now asked Nakula to go out in search of Sahadeva. After winding through a maze of trees, he reached the same lake. He recoiled with shock as he recognized Sahadeva’s body lying on the ground by the lake. Who could have killed his brother? Looking closely at the body, he noticed that it carried no scars or wounds. Since he felt awfully thirsty, he decided to first drink from the lake and then look around in the forest for his brother’s killer.

But just as he was about to drink the water, the same voice shouted from the hillltop across the lake. ‘Do you wish to follow the same path to death, like your brother?’ If you also insist on drinking from my lake without first answering my questions, you will meet the same fate.’

Pointing his finger angrily at the voice, Nakula replied, ‘You seem to be some evil spirit, destroyer of innocent humans. My twin brother was chaste like a lotus, fragile and beautiful like a flower. No, I will not answer your questions and I will drink from this lake, which is open to all denizens of this forest – humans, beasts and birds.’

But as he knelt to drink the water, he too slumped on the ground, lifeless.

Yudhishthira’s anguish now rose to a high pitch. Tormented by anxiety, he asked Arjuna to use his Gandiva to eliminate anyone who might have captured or killed the Asvini twins. Hot blood racing in his veins, Arjuna set out to find his two brothers, lost somewhere in the forest. Following their footprints, he also reached the same spot and broke into tears to see the bodies of Sahadeva and Nakula lying on the bank of the lake.

‘Where are you, O killer of my brothers?’ Arjuna yelled. ‘Come out into the open and fight with me.’

‘O Arjuna, I admire your unrivalled skill as an archer. But this is not the moment to use your Gandiva, for how could your arrows kill a spirit? If your brothers voluntarily chose death at my hands, it was because they refused to accept my condition before drinking from my lake. I advise you also to first answer my questions, otherwise…’

But before the voice could round off its threat, Arjuna interjected: ‘I’m not used to yielding to threats. I am for action, not verbal wrangling. I defy you, O stranger.’

But he too fell dead as he tried to drink from the lake.

It was now Bheema’s turn to unravel the mystery surrounding the sudden disappearance of his three brothers. Guided by their footprints and brandishing his mace above his head, he also reached the lake where lay Sahadeva, Nakula and Arjuna. Stricken with grief, he caressed their bodies and cried out bitterly. He could not believe that a mighty archer like Arjuna had been killed without a wound on his body. As he stood there dumbfounded, the same voice rumbled from the hilltop: ‘I empathize with your sorrow, O Bheema, but I am also helpless. I am bound by my word not to let any man drink from my lake unless he first answers my questions. Like your brothers, if you choose to defy me, you will also die. I hope you will not be foolhardy like them.’

Raising his mace above his right shoulder, Bheema challenged the speaker to come down from the hilltop.

‘Why do you speak from across the lake, like a coward? I will let you choose any weapon for a duel. But I will not submit to your idle threat. Don’t forget that since I am Vayu’s son, I can blow you off into the air if you come within my reach.’

Then he defiantly raised a palmful of water to his lips. But instantly, his mace slipped from his hands and he collapsed by the lakeside, like a tree uprooted by a strong wind.

Now it was Yudhishthira’s turn to go himself and investigate what might have happened to his brothers. Draupadi pleaded with him not to venture into the unknown. She advised him to wait patiently for his brothers’ return. But he turned down her plea, saying that since the sun was already losing its glow, he must hasten to track them down. Following the same route, he also came to the lake. His heart sank when he saw the bodies of his valiant brothers lying by the lakeside. Without a bruise on their bodies, they seemed to have simply fallen asleep. Shedding tears, he looked about in deep agony and puzzlement.

Then echoed the same voice from across the lake: ‘So now it is your turn, O my child. You know that death is inevitable for every mortal, but your brothers summoned it of their own volition. If only they had chosen to answer my questions, I would have let them drink from my lake. My questions, O Yudhishthira, are designed only to provoke human beings into self-knowledge. I am not a mindless killer.’

Utterly mystified, Yudhishthira wondered who the speaker was.

‘Are you a human being, a god or just a spirit?’ he asked humbly, without any tinge of pride or defiance in his voice.

‘Does it matter who I am?’ came the answer. ‘I just want to know if, unlike your brothers, you are willing to answer my questions. I would then let you drink the water, which you would find delicious, like nectar.’

‘Although I am very thirsty, I am willing to first answer your questions.’

There was a brief pause, as if the voice was now arranging the order of its questions. Then it flung its first question at Yudhishthira.

‘What is it that flies faster than the wind?’

‘The human mind,’ answered Yudhishthira promptly, ‘vagrant and restless as it is. Supreme is the man who can bridle his mind.’

‘What is it that makes a person truly wealthy?’

‘Contentment – for an avaricious man is like someone riding a tiger from which he cannot dismount. The more wealth one acquires, the greedier one feels.’

‘What is the essence of happiness?’

‘A man’s ability to transcend all opposites – success and failure, light and shade, birth and death, gain and loss.’

‘Who is a man of faith?’

‘One who surrenders his will to the Supreme Creator without any reservation. Such a person does not lend himself to argument or dissent.’

‘What is heavier than the earth?’

‘Mother.’

‘What is loftier than the sky?’

‘Father.’

‘Who is truly virtuous?’

‘One who practises what he preaches, for the gap between precept and deed is often unbridgeable.’

‘Which of the two is the greater asset – wealth or health?’

‘Health, for even a pot of gold cannot salvage a patient from certain ailments.’

‘What is it that makes a true Brahmin and a true Kshatriya?’

‘Knowledge of the Vedas and the power to translate their teachings into righteous conduct is what makes a genuine Brahmin. A Kshatriya is one who is fearless, and is always willing to protect the weak.’

‘What is equal in size and amplitude to the sky?’

‘The ocean.’

‘What is it that excels even the sun’s brightness?’

‘Truth, for its light shines perennially, during day and night.’

‘What is it that keeps its eyes open even during sleep?’

‘The fish.’

‘Who is the source of solace to a traveller?’

‘A fellow traveller, for his company helps him lighten the boredom of a long journey.’

‘Who is a true companion to a householder?’

‘His wife.’

‘Who is a friend to a sick man?’

‘His physician.’

‘What offers solace to a man on his deathbed?’

‘Dharma – the good deeds he has done during his lifetime.’

‘What is it that sojourns alone?’

‘The sun.’

‘What is it that changes its face too often?’

‘The moon.’

‘What is it that makes one’s life pleasant and enjoyable?’

‘Friendship with a virtuous man.’

‘What is the source of ultimate knowledge?’

‘The Vedas.’

‘What is it that makes a man agreeable to others?’

‘Abandonment of pride.’

‘What emotion may be likened to madness?’

‘Anger, for it makes one lose one’s mental balance.’

‘What is it that would prevent a man from entering the portals of Heaven?’

‘Attachment, for the way to divine bliss is disengagement from all worldly entanglements.’

‘What is the source of water?’

‘The sky, which carries clouds of rain.’

‘What is poison?’

‘Lust, which destroys both the body and the soul.’

‘What is true knowledge?’

‘Realization of one’s own self. The voyage within one’s own being alone leads one to true knowledge.’

‘How can one recognize a true Brahmin?’

‘By his righteous conduct, not by his birth or caste.’

‘What is the great wonder of human existence?’

‘While every man sees death striking others day and night, he fantasizes that his own end will not come so soon – that he may live a hundred years or even longer.’

‘What is it that uplifts a man?’

‘His gratitude to others for the favours received.’

‘What is it that enriches one’s soul?’

‘Charity for while giving enriches the soul, taking impoverishes it.’

‘What is it that sustains a man through every crisis?’

‘Patience and faith in God.’

‘Which of the two – thought or action – helps a man achieve divine bliss?’

‘Either of them, for both are interrelated. Thought is action in an embryonic form.’

The speaker then went mute for a while. Then the voice said: ‘O Yudhishthira, I am very pleased with your answers. You have indeed vindicated your name, Dharmaraja, the king of truth and righteousness. You certainly deserve a boon from me. You may now not only drink water from my lake, but I will also bring back to life any one of your four brothers. Which one of them would you like to be salvaged from death?’

‘Sahadeva,’ came the prompt answer.

‘I am surprised at your choice,’ said the speaker. ‘I thought you would choose Arjuna, the invincible archer, or Bheema, the mightiest of you all.’

‘Because I love Madri, my stepmother, as much as Kunti, my own mother. When I finally close my eyes, Sahadeva would continue his mother’s bloodline. Also, being the younger son of Madri, he has a long life ahead of him.’

‘Blessed is Kunti who gave birth to you – so wise, just and blemishless.’ The voice paused. ‘So impressed I am with your response that I will infuse life into all of your brothers. Take them home to Draupadi, who must be waiting anxiously for her husbands’ return.’

As Yudhishthira turned back, he saw his brothers opening their eyes.

‘It is time to go back home,’ he said to them, and then added, smiling, ‘Since you have had your nap, you should now be up and about.’

When Draupadi, who had stood all this time at the door of their cottage, saw them all walking up, she wanted to leap like a deer.

‘Today, I have learnt something about life,’ she said to Yudhishthira. ‘The agony of waiting and the joy of reunion.’

As all the brothers now sat together, happy and relaxed. Yudhishthira said, somewhat pensively, ‘I wonder if it wasn’t all an illusion. I suspect that the Brahmin who sent us all chasing the deer was, in fact, some mysterious visitant from heaven, who led us into self-realization. Presumably, there was no fire-kindler lost, and the Brahmin himself was a sort of kindler, who wanted to awaken us to self-knowledge. You see, this is how God’s design unfolds itself to the utter amazement of mortals like us.’

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