YAKSHA PRASNA

Recently, a friend of mine posted the following status on facebook

“This if for an old buddy: To all my friends (including me) who are going through some issues right now--Let's start an intentional avalanche. We all need positive intentions right now. If I don't see your name, I'll understand. May I ask my friends wherever you might be, to kindly copy, paste, and share this status for one hour to give a moment of support to all those who have family problems, health struggles, job issues, worries of any kind and just need to know that someone cares. Do it for all of us, for nobody is immune. I hope to see this on the walls of all my friends just for moral support. I know some will!! I did it for a friend and you can too. If you want, you have to copy & paste this one, no share.”

Many of my friends copied and posted the same on their wall and I too did. 

As mentioned in the above message, none of us are immune to problems.  When we go through a crisis, normally we lose motivation, confidence, belief, focus, equilibrium and feel disillusioned and insecure. 

One of my greatest regrets in life is not having read the Ramayana and Mahabharata during my childhood, when I had a lot of time and energy at my disposal.  While my siblings were very thorough with every episode and character in the Epics, I had (have) very superficial knowledge of the same.  I had lot of reservations on the genres and was averse to religion.  Though I am still not open to religious activities, I have started enjoying listening to Upanyasams and Pravachanams (lecturing/story telling in an analytical manner) thanks to my parents, who now watch only Bhakti channels day and night on the television.

As I listen to these Upanyasams I don’t experience the usual feeling of Bhakti, but I try to assimilate the information, analyze and later look for solutions in real life situations. The advantage is that, I can listen to these, as I carry on with my other chores.

A couple of years ago, I had listened to a famous Pediatrician speak about an episode from the Mahabharata, on a television show.

During their exile in the forests, the Pandava princes come across a Brahmin who complains that a deer has taken away his Arani (The pair of wooden blocks to generate fire by friction) on its antlers and therefore he is not able to light the fire for the performance of Vedic rituals. The valorous Pandava princes set out to retrieve the Brahmin's Arani and follow the hoof-marks of the deer.

In the quest of the mysterious deer, Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) becomes exhausted and thirsty. His brother Nakula ventures out to fetch water and finds a beautiful lake. The lake is devoid of any living creature except a crane (Baka). When he attempts to take water from the lake, the crane speaks, "O Nakula! The water of this lake will turn into poison if you take it without satisfactorily answering my questions." Nakula, in arrogance, does not pay heed and hurriedly takes water from the lake. Upon drinking the crystal clear water, Nakula instantly dies of poisoning. Nakula's twin Sahadeva, comes in search of brother, also finds the same lake, sees Nakula dead, and is also warned by the crane. But Sahadeva again ignores the crane and dies after drinking the water. In the same manner, both valiant Arjuna, and powerful Bheema meet the same fate.

As none of his brothers return with water, Dharmaraja embarks in search of them. Upon following the same path, Dharmaraja too comes across the lake and finds his brothers lying dead. Before searching for the killer of his brothers, Dharmaraja decides to drink some water from the lake. But when the crane warns him, the virtuous Dharmaraja proceeds to answer the questions put forth by the crane.

Before putting the questions to Dharmaraja, the crane reveals itself as a Yaksha. The Yaksha asks questions with philosophical and meta-physical ramifications. This dialogue between the Yaksha and Dharmaraja is known as the Yaksha Prasna or the Dharma-Baka Upakhyan (Legend of the Virtuous Crane).

The orator discussed three questions and I don’t remember two of them.  The one question that remained in my memory is

“What accompanies human beings till death? And the reply was “courage and confidence”.

I was so impressed with this question and answer session, I discussed it with many of my friends and also occasionally quoted and every time I felt low or lonely, I told myself that only courage and confidence are inseparable from me till death and every time I felt charged. 

When I saw the facebook status update cited above, I thought of quoting this, but decided to refer before I made a statement on a social forum as the lecture in reference was in Tamil and I did not want to mess up with the translation and so googled for the same.   

The nearest question available on the internet is “How does a man become secure? And the reply to the same is; “man becomes secure by courage.”

I am not sure if this is what the Doctor discussed.  Those who have read the Mahabharata, kindly enlighten me.