Mahabharata – Stairway to Heaven – {Ep.277}

Today’s episode is from the very end of the Mahabharata when the Pandavas are ready to retire, and make their way to heaven. Involving Mountain climbing, an unexpected companion, and many surprises in the afterlife.

Namaskar and welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

In this episode, we’re back to the Mahabharata.

But before we jump into today’s story, I just want to repeat the recent announcement in case you haven’t heard the last two episodes. In just 1 more week, we will have completed 5 years of this podcast. And at that point, this podcast is going to go on a hiatus. I will not be releasing any more new episodes.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to each and every one of you. Whether you’ve been a long time listener or whether you’ve only just started tuning in – your support, feedback and engagement mean the world to me, and I’m deeply grateful and humbled by all your love and encouragement.

While I’m away doing my regular Narada duties – you know, visiting Gods and Goddesses, playing concerts in Swarg and so on, feel free to catch up on any of the 300+ episodes in this catalog, and stay connected with me on social media. You just might hear from me soon about a new project I’m starting on.

And now, let’s jump back into the Mahabharata. This story is at the very end of the Mahabharata, after the main storyline has passed. As such we don’t need to go into all the details of the story so far. Just the gist of it, which I’ll provide right now.

There were two sets of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, and the entire epic revolves around a dispute about who got to be the next Emperor of Hastinapur. There were 5 Pandava brothers, and over a hundred Kauravas. There was a massive war between the two sides. And those hundred Kauravas were supported by the foremost warriors of the era – their grandpa Bhishma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya, and Karna – a superb archer, who was a Pandava though he himself didn’t know it. 

The only on the Pandavas’ side was Krishna, and Krishna was enough to help them win this war. Krishna was special because he was an avatar of Vishnu. If you haven’t heard of Vishnu before, he is one of the holy trinity of Indian mythology. He’s the preserver of the Universe, along with Brahma the creator and Shiva the destroyer. I’m never tired of saying it, but I’m Vishnu’s number one fan and president for life of his fan club. And Brahma is my dad. And I visit Shiva regularly at his home in Mount Kailash. So you know that this show is about as authentic as it gets.

Anyway, one final thing to know about the Mahabharata before we begin the story – there are no heroes or villains in the Mahabharata – there are people who sometimes act in morally objectionable ways and at other times they don’t. Basically the characters in the Mahabharata are just being people. 

Back to the Pandavas. After killing a hundred cousins, their own secret brother, their grandfather, their guru, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers, the Pandava brothers finally were at peace. Yudhishthir was crowned Emperor of Hastinapur and began to govern the whole Empire. Though with so many casualties of the war, you might wonder if there was anyone left to govern at all. Things had not been easy for the Pandavas. Their own children were killed as well. Arjun’s son Abhimanyu, Bheem’s son Ghatotkach had fought valiantly but perished in the war. Their 5 sons the Upapandavas had perished as well, in a last gasp cowardly attack by Ashwatthama in the dead of the night. And Ashwaththama had also killed the Pandavas’ only heir – Arjun’s grandson – the baby Parikshit. Luckily for them though, Krishna managed to miraculously bring Parikshit back to life.

Gandhari, Dhirtarashtra, parents of the Kauravas and Kunti, the Pandavas’ mother had moved out of the comforts of palace life and embraced the simple life in the countryside. They passed away in a forest fire. 

Gandhari who had to witness the destruction of almost every single one of her children had cursed Krishna that his entire clan would perish before his eyes. She could have directed her curse towards those who actually did the killing, but she instead chose the person who acted as charioteer to Arjun. And that’s what happened. After that Krishna himself passed away.

Kripacharya who had helped in the last-gasp killing of the Pandava children and their armies at the end of the war, had been serving Yudhishtir as an advisor, until he too retired into the forest. He’s a chiranjeevi, so he’s around and rumor has it that he’s in line to be one of the Saptarishi during the next cycle.

36 years had now passed since the great war. After leading the Empire through a quiet period, some reasonable expansion and general prosperity, the Pandavas were ready to retire. Parikshit was the new Emperor and he’d take on the heavy weight of the crown, the mounting national debt and the reparations to the families that perished in the Great War. Just kidding, there were no reparations.

And now, the Pandava brothers and Draupadi felt that their time had come, and it was time to retire from public life.

They were going to get to the gates of Heaven, or Swarg. Sahadeva tried to suggest a holiday at the beach first. He had heard of this place – Goa with its magnificent beaches which might make for a relaxing stay.

But that idea was quickly shot down by Yudhishthir. They had done everything they wanted to in this mortal life, he suggested. “We haven’t been to Goa,” grumbled Sahadeva, but only in his head.

Now Swarg was a logical place to go, Yudhishthir explained, because they had an in.

Arjun’s dad, Indra, was the King of Swarg. Arjun had even visited Swarg before. So it was reasonable to expect that they would be welcomed in. The only question was logistics. The last time Arjun had visited, he had a personal escort – his own dad had come down in a chariot to get him. The Pandavas had a lot of remarkable abilities and remarkable gifts, but they didn’t have a flying chariot. Their R&D division had been working on it for a while, but with little success. 

So the only way was to go into the Himalayas, and reach Swarg that way. Apparently the top of Mount Meru had an escalator that led to Swarg. No one knew, but everyone thought it was worth a try. Sahadeva too agreed though in his mind, it made even more sense to go someplace warm like Goa before going through extreme cold.

So the Pandavas and Draupadi began their trek. They had a chariot ride to the base of the mountains. They camped there for a couple of days to get acclimatized to the altitude. Altitude sickness wasn’t something to be messed with – it could kill you. They didn’t want altitude sickness to interfere with their plans to die in the way they chose.

While camping there, a stray dog came to join them. Probably attracted by the scent of their cooking, the likes of which he had never smelled before. Not surprising. Most people who came here to the Gateway to Swarg in the Himalayas were not the rich types who could afford a private chef with his own massive cooking tent, and who was whipping up all kinds of rich food for their journey up the mountain. 

The Pandavas and Draupadi took a liking to the dog. He was very friendly.

The third day 6 of them began their ascent. They had no specialized climbing equipment or ropes, just the layers they had on their body, and some basic footwear. Interestingly, the dog joined them. Nakul guessed it was because their chef had packed up his tent and gone home while the dog was sleeping. Now this dog had attached itself to this group, probably in the hope that the chef would come back to them at some point. They had no food to share, but the dog didn’t seem to mind. It kept them company, and entertained them with its playful behavior.

They kept climbing. The biting cold winds would have frozen ordinary humans like a popsicle. But they kept going. Remarkably, the dog didn’t run away to safety. He was with them. Yudhishtir had a sudden thought, had they lost their way? He couldn’t see anything ahead or above him. Maybe the snow covered mountain continued, or maybe it was just an illusion. Or was it possible they had taken a wrong turn and were now on a different mountain altogether?

It was when he had this chilling thought that Draupadi fell. She didn’t just fall, she passed away on the spot.

“She was the first amongst us to fall because she was impure,” Yudhishtir reasoned.

Arjun took offense at that, so Yudhishtir tried to mollify him by saying that her only flaw was that she loved Arjun more than the other Pandavas.

Arjun would have vigorously defended that. Had Yudhishtir forgotten the circumstances of the swayamvar? But there was a bigger problem now – what to do with her body. They were fighting and squabbling over whether they should go back down and give her a proper cremation, or whether to carry her body and continue going up. This went on until Bheema intervened. “We should leave her here.”

The rest of them looked at him with shock. Except the dog. He was perfectly content sitting next to Sahadeva as the youngest Pandav stroked his head.

Bheema didn’t provide an explanation, but he pointed them to a signpost. Oddly enough no one had noticed it before. 

The sign said “Attention Travelers to Swarg! Should anyone in your group passes away, regretted by all, you may avail of the free cremation service courtesy of the Friends of Mount Meru charitable trust. We have booths both on Earth and in Swarg where you can view paintings of the ceremony of your loved ones. We sweep this path for remains every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9:30am and 3:30pm. Licensed and Registered. All donations are tax deductible”

Well that settled it. With the next collection happening in just a few hours they could indeed leave Draupadi here.

“Besides,” Arjun reasoned. “She’s just taken the shortcut. We’ll meet her when we get to Swarg.”

They carried on. The five brothers and the dog. A few hours later, Nakul fell.

Yudhisthir again had an explanation. He was vain, proud of his looks. Which made Sahadev worried because he was proud of his looks too. “His” meaning Sahadev’s looks, not Nakul’s. Though on second thoughts, they were identical twins. So you could say Sahadev was proud of Nakul’s looks.

But again, they left his body to the Friends of Meru charitable trust volunteers to find, and carried on.

Sahadev was next, naturally. Again, Yudhishtir provided an explanation and carried on.

Arjun challenged Yudhishtir’s idea that those with the biggest flaws were falling first. To him it seemed to be the other way around. Was it a flaw to love someone too much? How could that be the worst sin across all the wrongs they had done? And besides, some of the biggest problems were actually caused by Yudhishtir, like the gambling, for example.

Bheema had to agree with Arjun that it wasn’t actually the order of flaws. It was their age. They were dying in order from youngest to oldest. His conviction was only strengthened when Arjun fell next.

The explanation from Yudhishtir was that Arjun was too proud of his archery skills.

Bheema dismissed that theory. “He was no more proud of my archery skills than I am of my strength. And I can prove it.”

He never got to prove it. Because Bheema fell next. There was one thing that didn’t fit Bheema’s age theory. The dog was clearly younger than all of them, knowing the lifespan of dogs. It was doing just fine. 

And now Yudhishtir and the dog continued together in silence. They reached the top finally and found the escalator that took them right up to the gates of Swarg. 

Surprise when Indra himself appeared at the gates to welcome in Yudhishtir. 

“Yudhishtir, you finally made it! Come on in, my boy. We’ve got a party lined up for you. There are games, Narada’s doing a concert, and the Gandharvas and Apsaras have been rehearsing all day to put on a special performance just for you.”

It was true. I had prepared a special set just for Yudhisthir’s arrival. But then again, I’m often doing concerts in Swarg. It’s just a regular thing for me.

Yudhishthir hesitated at the gates of Swarg as Indra tried to usher him in. He had seen the dog. It stood quietly at the threshold. Yudhishtir asked Indra if the dog could come in too.

“No, but don’t worry. We’ve got other dogs in here”

But Yudhishtir was firm. He wanted this specific dog to come in as well.

“Look, I’ll be straight with you Yudhishsthir. The dog is going to hell. The underworld. But don’t worry it’s not that bad. He’ll suffer for only around a thousand years, and then we’ll have him brought up here. You won’t even know how time flies up here when you’re having fun.”

Yudhishtir made up his mind. “If this dog isn’t allowed in, I won’t come in either. He was loyal to us throughout our journey, even when we had nothing to offer it in return. I can’t repay its kindness by abandoning him now”

Indra said the only way to not abandon the dog was for Yudhishtir to go to hell as well. Yudhishtir was okay with that. That’s when the dog transformed. Turns out, he was Yama, the God of Death, in disguise. Yudhishtir wondered, but did not ask, if that was the reason the others had died in the order that they did. Now that he thought back on it, Draupadi had played with the dog the most, and so had the most exposure to the God of Death. Was Yama playing favorites because he was Yudhishtir’s dad?

“Well, now are you satisfied to come in?” Indra asked petulantly.

But Yudhishtir wanted to know if his brothers and Draupadi were in there. Turns out they weren’t. Again, Yudhishtir insisted on going to hell. Yama was happy to take him there. 

Yama did, and Yudhishtir saw his brothers and Draupadi in agony, suffering in the underworld. Sahadev alone said it wasn’t all that bad. After the biting cold ascent up the mountain, this was a welcome change. The brothers and Draupaid also said their sentence was almost up, Yudhishtir could go on ahead, save a few good seats for them at the rock concert that Narada was going to do. They had been dying for the pleasant sound of my veena.

Okay, I made that last part up, but regardless. Yudhishtir was satisfied to go back up to Swarg. And after a while, the Pandavas and Draupadi did join him up there. 

One day, when strolling around in the Princely precinct in Swarg, the 6 of them were shocked when they came face to face with the last people they expected. Duryodhan, Dushasana, all of their brothers, and Karna too. All the warriors they had slain on the battlefield were here. 

The Pandavas struggled to grasp this situation but the explanation was actually simple. Any warrior slain on the battlefield got an automatic ticket to heaven. All other crimes meant nothing.

By that right, Abhimanyu was here as well.

Over time and in the mellow environment of Swarg, with no direct competition for a throne or a crown, the Pandavas and the Kauravas got along. They didn’t become BFFs, but they did learn to live and let live. You could say they had no choice since it was impossible to die in the afterlife. But hey, you know what I mean.

Though I have to say there was one incident that night we played Bingo where there was a heated exchange between Bheema and Duryodhan about who had called out bingo first. But that was quickly water under the bridge when it was revealed the prize was a free weekend stay at a diet farm. Bheema and Duryodhan each insisted that the other person had won; and if I hadn’t been there in person to witness it, I would never have believed it happened.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Previous Mahabharata episodes are linked in the show notes and on the site sfipodcast.com. Check them out:

https://sfipodcast.com/category/mahabharata

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

The next episode might be the last one. The very first episode on this show was about Vishnu and about me. We’ll come back full circle next week. Because that story is an eyewitness account from myself, and Vishnu features in it. To be more accurate, it’s Vishnu’s avatar Krishna. And to be even more accurate, it’s not Krishna, but Krishna’s son – Pradyumna. 

Feedback

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A big thank you to each of you for your continued support and your feedback.

The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next week!