DISROBING OF KAURAVAS

After detecting that the Pandavas were in the land of Virata, Duryodhan decided to identify them before they could complete their incognito, so that they could be sent to the forest for 12 more years and another year of incognito. He thus attacked the Matsya Desha from both sides.

The Pandavas came to help King Virata, and Arjuna single-handedly defeated all the great heroes of Kuru, including Bhisma, Drona, Karna and Ashwattama. With the Samhohini Astra, he made them unconscious and asked Virata’s son to collect the upper cloth of them all. The upper cloth carried the virtues of dignity, value, honour and pride of the family; it was as shameful as being naked without clothes. And unlike Draupadi, they did not enjoy the privilege of having Krishna rescue them, neither could they protect themselves.

Unfortunately, Duryodhana learned no lesson from this. After the gambling match the Pandavas lost everything but not their confidence. The defeat only made them bigger and stronger than ever before. Similarly, after this disrobing, Duryodhana was left with a hurt ego, but did not change. Instead, he became even more determined to fight the Pandavas and restore his glory.

Both faced very testing times. But it’s the way the responded to their respective situations is what set them apart. The Pandavas illustrate that when a person learns from his mistake, he grows in positive direction and becomes a bigger, better person in life. And Duryodhana demonstrates that there is the other kind too, who grow but in the opposite direction. Losing their upper cloth was only the beginning, which eventually led to losing everything, even the body that is the covering of the soul. But this is not like the realized soul that quits the body to experience Atma Jnana, this is the corrupt person who loses everything including his body being caught by the agent of Government. 

We live in a world that is equal to everyone. It robes us all of our comfort zone. What determines our strength and character is what choice we make, how we respond. Do we idolize the Pandavas, who chose to grow despite being dishonoured, or are we aspiring to be like the Kauravas, who were already defeated by losing the battle to Arjuna but chose to lose further by responding with vengeance, immersed in pride.