The war at Kurukshetra. They say it is a mythical war.
What if Kurukshetra is nothing but our inner self?
Peter Brooks Mahabharata is a very short 5 and half hour dramatised version of a spectacularly big epic. Shorn of all distractions of costume, glittering sets and excess verbiage, the succinct words have a way of penetrating deeply.
I first saw this version of Mahabharata nearly two decades ago, and I remember it for very different reasons. Perfect choice of actors, minimalistic sets, and terrific screen play.
I watched Peter Brooks version over 2 days, completely mesmerised and taken in by the sheer magnitude of the lessons embedded in the poem.
The entire poem comes together in the last frame. When all are dead, Yudhisthira finds himself alone with his dog searching for the gates to heaven. When he is taken in, he is appalled to find Duryodhana and his brothers in heaven, and asks to be united with his brothers and wife. He is then taken to a dark and dingy place where he is informed that he will find his family. He is horrified. He prefers neither heaven nor hell; chooses to sit outside.
At the point, Vyasa tells him that there is no hell or heaven, and that it "this" was his last "illusion."
Isn't the war of Kurukshetra a war that we fight every single moment of our lives. We are not "all good". We are not "all bad". That, at every turn, we are confronted with situations that call for actions. Some motivated and some not.
What if Kurukshetra is nothing but our inner self?
Peter Brooks Mahabharata is a very short 5 and half hour dramatised version of a spectacularly big epic. Shorn of all distractions of costume, glittering sets and excess verbiage, the succinct words have a way of penetrating deeply.
I first saw this version of Mahabharata nearly two decades ago, and I remember it for very different reasons. Perfect choice of actors, minimalistic sets, and terrific screen play.
I watched Peter Brooks version over 2 days, completely mesmerised and taken in by the sheer magnitude of the lessons embedded in the poem.
The entire poem comes together in the last frame. When all are dead, Yudhisthira finds himself alone with his dog searching for the gates to heaven. When he is taken in, he is appalled to find Duryodhana and his brothers in heaven, and asks to be united with his brothers and wife. He is then taken to a dark and dingy place where he is informed that he will find his family. He is horrified. He prefers neither heaven nor hell; chooses to sit outside.
At the point, Vyasa tells him that there is no hell or heaven, and that it "this" was his last "illusion."
Isn't the war of Kurukshetra a war that we fight every single moment of our lives. We are not "all good". We are not "all bad". That, at every turn, we are confronted with situations that call for actions. Some motivated and some not.
And when our actions do not have any ulterior motive, we experience harmony in ourselves. And when they are, we experience discord, disharmony within ourselves by way of fear, anger, jealousy.
Yudhisthira is but a metaphor for you and me. The war that will be waged within us and the lessons that will come to us from various actions, and the choices we make.
To do and not be attached to the results.
To see and not be attached to what we see.
FG
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