by Bhadase Maharaj

Created on: January 28, 2009   Last Updated: October 07, 2010

The revered sage Vyasa who is the compiler of the eighteen Puranas which are the simplified forms of the Vedas, is the one accredited for the composition of the divine epic called the Mahabharata. Vyasa was the son of the great sage Parasara. This epic is approximately eleven thousand couplets long which make it about seven times longer than the Greek legends Iliad and Odyssey combined. It tells the tale of the Bharata dynasty and is based on events which took place from 1400-1000 B.C.

It is accepted by those who follows the path of bhakti or devotion that at the behest of Vyasa, Lord Ganesha was the one who wrote the Mahabharata. When Ganesha appeared before Vyasa and the request was made to write the epic, Ganesha's condition was that Vyasa must dictate without any pause such that his pen (Ganesha's) must continue writing from start to finish, without any interruption or pauses. Vyasa accepted with a counter proposal that Ganesha must first understand what was being dictated before actually writing it down. It is believed that some of the long Sanskrit verses in the Mahabharata were composed on account of these conditions. Ganesha agreed to Vyasa's condition and the compilation began.

In a general sense the morals of the Mahabharata are that righteousness and justice will always conquer greed and evil. However, there are several other individual lessons that are taught in a variety of ways in many different circumstances. Hunting for example although allowed for kings was considered to be an idle sport. King Pandu was hunting one day and by an act of indiscretion shot a sage who was spending time in the forest with his wife. Before dying the sage imprecated a curse on Pandu that if ever he was to engage in sexual pleasures he would die. Surely the next time that Pandu succumbed to his erotic desires, he became a victim of death.

Bhishma who was the grandfather of the Pandava and Kaurava princes took an oath without considering the ramifications of doing so. While he became renowned for upholding his oath, he paid a very heavy price for doing so. He became a victim of mental anguish and at times he had to tolerate wrongdoings because he became a slave to his oath. Even though he was one of the finest personalities of all time and led an upright life and was a mentor to many, he unfortunately became a victim of circumstances beyond his control.

Kunti the mother of the Pandavas, was a virtuous woman by all means. Her life story demonstrates what deception

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