Yudhishthira turns his back on heaven

Illustration by Gemini AI

Yudhishthira hesitated at the threshold of heaven.

They had won the war. But what did they really achieve?

Behold this field teeming with kinsmen and friends, Yudhishthira had lamented looking at the mutilated corpses on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Vultures and jackals had started feeding on the bodies of people he knew, he loved, he never wished to kill. What glory lies in a kingdom won at such a cost?

His brothers looked at one another. They had no answer to their eldest brother’s, the new King’s, question. The immoral Kauravas had been routed. Duryodhana’s arrogance and egotism lay crushed in Kurukshetra’s dust. Even the mighty Karna, with his nobility that had deserved acknowledgement and appreciation, was decimated. Immorally.

A lot of adharma was perpetrated by the Pandavas in the name of Dharma! Even Krishna couldn’t win it without some adharma. Much adharma! Yudhishthira bowed his head in shame. What did our victory mean? He knew that it wasn’t a victory of dharma at all.

War is not the solution for evil. War is another evil. You can’t defeat evil with more evil.

Yudhishthira hesitated at the threshold of heaven.

He was alone, save the dog that joined him somewhere on the way. All his brothers and his wife fell on the way, succumbing to their own personal flaws. Draupadi was felled by her partiality for Arjuna. Pride on his wisdom brought Sahadeva down. Personal vanity undid Nakula. Even Arjuna and Bhima, with all their might and greatness, fell. The war didn’t mean ultimate victory.

What did the war achieve?

Disillusionment.

The Pandavas didn’t even want their kingdom now. Political power looked hollow in the face of all the loss that the war had brought. Loss of people, more than anything else. Loss of relationships. Loss of love.

What is life without love and relationships? Yudhishthira hesitated at the threshold of heaven.

Even Krishna perished. His entire clan did too. Dwarka sank into the sea.

Kurukshetra was not a victory. Kurukshetra was wicked, more wicked than Dhritarashtra’s Hastinapura.

I seek not heaven tainted by injustice. Yudhishthira hesitated at the threshold of heaven.

If my brothers and wife are not here, let me rather dwell in hell with them.

Heaven means nothing without the presence of people you love. Without relationships.

Yudhishthira turned his back at the threshold of heaven. Kurukshetra was a huge blunder.