Vidura: Royal Counsellor and Devotee ( II )

From SREE SAJJANA-TOSHANI
THE HARMONIST
September, 1934

The conversation of Vidura addressed to king Dhritarashtra just before the departure of the later from this world are given in the Bhagabatam in a detailed form. The substance of them will be found in the article on Vidura in the previous issue of this journal (Pp. 9-13). Vidura was naturally grieved on finding his aged brother unable to turn his mind to Godhead and to extricate himself from hankering for the enjoyments of life even after the extirpation of his family by his evil counsel. Vidura knew that it would never be possible for king Dhritarashtra to listen good counsel unless he threw himself personally and unconditionally on the protection of Godhead. By a variety of arguments Vidura succeeded in creating in the mind of Dhritarashtra extreme repugnance against his abject mode of living. King Dhritarashtra and his virtuous queen Gandhari were induced to leave the protection of the Pandavas, steal out of their palace and betake themselves to the solitudes of the Himalayas for the undisturbed opportunity of fixing their minds on the mercy of Godhead. Vidura accompanied them to the Saptasrota and helped with his advice up to the last moment of their earthly lives.

But Vidura himself had renounced the world before the great war of Kurukshetra. He had, therefore, had a very much longer period of life of renunciation for learning the tidings of the supreme good from the lips of transcendental devotees. He had met, during his wanderings to the various places of piligrimage, both Uddhava and afterwards Maitreya. Both of them had informed him of the teaching of Sree Krishna contained in four slokas of the Bhagabatam which Sree Krishna had spoken to Brahma.

Vidura had been loved by Krishna. Maitreya was aware that Vidura was an eternal servitor of Sree Krishna. The episode of Sree Krishna preferring the humble meal offered to Him by Vidura to the costly dishes prepared for Him by Duryodhan, the enemy of the Pandavas, shows that Krishna always chooses to abide with the righteous poor by avoiding the homes of unrighteous kings.

But Vidura did not feel that it was proper for him to lead the life of a house-holder in his advanced age. Was he unfit to serve Sree Krishna without renouncing the world? The words of Maitreya, already referred to, do not support such a view. Sree Krishna Himself had accepted the services of house-holder Vidura on terms of loving intimacy. But Vidura also knew that he was not entitled to remain at home by neglecting a duty that he owned to Sree Krishna Himself. That duty was to make known to the world the Teaching of Sree Krishna.

But no one can be preacher of the word of Godhead without also outwardly renouncing the world. In order, therefore, to make himself fit for rendering to Krishna the best form of service, Vidura accepted the life of a Sanyasi.

But Vidura did not think that the mere acceptance of a life of renunciation entitles a person to be a preacher of the word. The Sanyasi is in a position to learn about the Truth. It is the duty of a Sanyasi to seek for spiritual enlightenment from the devotees of the Supreme Lord. Vidura did not neglect to go out in search of the true devotee. It is enjoined by the Scriptures that the Sanyasi must not stay for long at any one place lest he may contract again attachment for the things of this world. The Sanyasi is enjoined to wander to the holy places associated with the activities of the Divinity. This is, however, a preliminary affair. It is of the nature of the means to the end. If the Sanyasi keeps before him, as the end of these holy journeys, the prospect of finding the pure devotee of the Lord he is assured the successful termination of such travel.

Vidura was successful in the quest of the Absolute. He learnt from Uddhava about the transcendental career of Sree Krishna. He was also referred by Uddhava to Maitreya for being enlightened about the Teaching of Sree Krishna that has given to Brahma and which forms the subject-matter of the Bhagabatam.

But the teaching of Krishna is not anything outside the Personality of Krishna. Maitreya told Vidura that he was not ignorant about Krishna. Maitreya also said that he had been commanded by Krishna to describe to Vidura the mystery of creation and the Descent of the Divinity to the mundane plane for the redemption of conditioned souls.

The instructions of Maitreya form the subject-matter of the third and fourth Skandhas of the Bhagabatam. Vidura submitted to be instructed in these matters by Maitreya. This was the process by which the world was made acquainted with that first principle which every seeker of the Truth has to learn from the guru on his first meeting with the devotee of the Lord. The Geeta was told to Arjuna by Sree Krishna. The Bhagabatam opens with the instructions of Maitreya to Vidura. This teaching can be understood in its transcendental sense only by the disciple who, after renunciation of the world, makes the complete submission to the feet of the pure devotee of the Supreme Lord.

It was only after Vidura had been enlightened by the mercy of Maitreya that he was eligible to preach the word of God to the people of this world. Such preaching is consciously controlled by the Will of Sree Krishna. The preacher of the Word is the spiritual agent of Sree Krishna for conveying His mercy to the conditioned soul King Dhritarashtra had not lost his regard for Vidura. After the terrible disillusionment of the great war he was in a position to give his undivided attention to the words to Vidura. His real enemies, his son and kingdom, had been mercifully taken away from him by Krishna. This could produce the vacuum in the place of the objects of his wrong attachment, which demanded to be filled up. This was the psychological moment that was chosen by Vidura, under the direction of Krishna, for effecting the deliverance of King Dhritarashtra. There cannot be conceived a clear exhibition of the supreme excellence and perfect working of the mercy of Krishna than is supplied by the career of Vidura and the deliverance of king Dhritarashtra by his agency.