Ques on MahaBhrarta. Peep in/ DT Nt pg 25 - Page 16

Originally posted by: paartha

Thanks for sharing an interesting post. Since, I don't know much about astrology/houses and all, so I will not comment on that aspect.

But, as I understand reading the blog, the gist of it says that, Yudhistir intentionally destroyed his poorva punya.

Assuming Yudhistir had +100 in his Poorva Punya account and then he committed sins by staking his brothers/wife in dice game and thus accrued -100 in his current account, thereby cancelling out the plus/minus in his respective accounts to ensure he doesn't take any more births in future. Not sure, this aspect could be the reason for Yudhistir's decision. If that is so, then it could be termed as pretty selfish decision on Yudhistir's part, just to relieve himself of not taking any future births, he caused severe distress to his wife and brothers in the process.

Actually, I feel your earlier post regarding karma and saguna brahmana and so on, makes more sense to me, than this poorva punya concept of reduction on will and thus foregoing future births.

Thus reading earlier posts, the one which makes sense to me is, we will have births, till we have exhausted all our bad deeds/sins in all our previous births by cancelling out with good deeds. So, to me, at all times, in the account it will be -ve and only when the current total becomes 0/+ve, we will not have any more births and attain liberation.

Originally posted by: mnx12

Checking an event from different perspectives can give a different understanding or may make things simpler to understand.

Yudhisthir his brothers & Draupadi were connected to each other through Destiny. Hence one's karma affects others. Its more of all were experiencing their combined Destiny.

Karmic account can not be seen with normal pov. Hence a different knowledge is required.

There is an interesting concept of Karma-kshaya, in Spirituality.

After knowing about Ashwathhama's curse, rishi Durvasa taught him a powerful worship system to ease his pain & get his karmas nullify during the long years of his punishment.

Ashwathhama is cheeranjeevi. Due to punya of his tapa of the system rishi Durvasa taught him, he is going to be one of the Saptarishis in next manvantar. So an overall view indicates- a rishi, who helped Kauravas, committed crime, got cursed as a result, was able to clear his bad deeds with the help of our rich Spiritual system.

Originally posted by: paartha

I think the reason Ashwathama got such a deadly punishment from Lord Krishna, was because of lack of repentance on his part. Already he massacred Upapandavas and Panchala princes in the night, and after doing that he hid fearing for his life. And, instead of feeling guilty and remorseful for his actions of earlier night, he again tried to destroy Pandavas and their future progeny the next day. He did all this, despite hearing Vyasa's counsel on not to commit such a sin.

So, I think, even after studying Vedas, and knowing about Dharma and so on, Ashwathama was not able to control his senses and committed gross sins. Lord delivers those, who do true repentance but Ashwathama failed to do that, hence he had to endure such deadly punishment.

Doing mistakes is not an issue, as most of the human beings are prone to it, but feeling remorseful and repenting for the committed mistakes and not repeating them again in future, that is what separates an individual getting the mercy of Lord or not.

And, being a Brahmana who was versed in Vedas and Dharmic texts, he had an extra responsibility on acting with senses under control, but he failed to do that. Hence, I think he had to suffer such a punishment.

Originally posted by: mnx12

Curse & boon are special powers that changes life. Curse can be seen as an impending action of karmas, which may look like an over reaction of the giver. But the receiver's destiny demands an extreme karma. It depends on who is giving the curse. Rishi Durvasa's power of penance must be very high, as there is no mention in scripture of his power getting reduced due to curse.
Receiver of curse repents at times & changes course of action, improving his destiny in long run. Its nothing but clearing mass karmas & becoming a better human at the end.

Originally posted by: ..RamKiJanaki..

I agree; it's said that a Brahmana who is well versed in all the shastras who still commits horrible sins is punished more severely that an individual who is not well versed in the shastras, because having such knowledge of paap, punya and karma, he should know better.

Also, there are some sins that are considered worse than others. Killing children is one of them. The Upa-Pandavas were considered children in that era, despite being in 30s, due to the longer life expectancy of Dwapara yuga. Also, Uttara was in her final trimester of pregnancy, making her unborn fetus count as a real live child also. Ashvatthama's rage against the innocent child who never did him any harm was unforgivable. Crimes against children are always punished severely by God, as they are innocent and know no wrong.

Duryodhana did suffer the result of his actions. After all, he saw every member of his family die in the war before suffering defeat himself. His arrogance and ego were finally broken, but even he was horrified with Ashvatthama's actions when he heard of them. Even he knew where the lines were drawn in terms of how far a person can go for revenge.

Originally posted by: ..RamKiJanaki..

I agree; it's said that a Brahmana who is well versed in all the shastras who still commits horrible sins is punished more severely that an individual who is not well versed in the shastras, because having such knowledge of paap, punya and karma, he should know better.

Also, there are some sins that are considered worse than others. Killing children is one of them. The Upa-Pandavas were considered children in that era, despite being in 30s, due to the longer life expectancy of Dwapara yuga. Also, Uttara was in her final trimester of pregnancy, making her unborn fetus count as a real live child also. Ashvatthama's rage against the innocent child who never did him any harm was unforgivable. Crimes against children are always punished severely by God, as they are innocent and know no wrong.

Duryodhana did suffer the result of his actions. After all, he saw every member of his family die in the war before suffering defeat himself. His arrogance and ego were finally broken, but even he was horrified with Ashvatthama's actions when he heard of them. Even he knew where the lines were drawn in terms of how far a person can go for revenge.

Originally posted by: Y12345

Guys, I have a technical basic issue that I wanted to clear up. Maybe i didnt grasp some concepts properly, sorry if I sound stupid, and thought the best is to ask. So, when we say that someone will continue to take birth until he exhausts his bad deeds, then what is the use of hell and heaven?

What I mean is that, if someone will reborn again to face his karma and suffer, so what is the point of hell?

Also, MB doesn't say much, but according to a wide general sources, it says that people suffer in hell to pay their sins, but once they are dead how can they suffer. They do not their physical body(+brain), the medium through which they feel pain, they are just souls waiting to take birth again.It is also believed that death is the most peaceful thing, the end of suffering, but then as souls, how can we feel pain in hell?