Week 13 Story: Pandavas Reborn

Week 13 Story: Pandavas Reborn

(Good Place Points)

[Dharma sits across from the Pandavas at his desk with a stack of files in front of him. The celestial sires of each Pandava are standing around Dharma.]

DHARMA: I don't typically do this because I'm not supposed to reveal too many details about your next life, but your fathers asked me to help you earn permanent residence here in Indra's Swarga with them. Sahadeva, we'll start with you. The thing that brought down your karmic balance the most was your pride and vanity. You were very wise because of your past life, but unfortunately you were aware of your wisdom and you used it as a standard to compare yourself to others.

SAHADEVA: How will I fix this in my next life if I don't remember this conversation?

DHARMA: Hopefully your new life will help teach you this lesson. You will be born into a poor family. You will have a lower social status, but your parents will be humble and raise you with humility. If you adhere to the Vedas, you will live an honorable life and earn yourself enough good karma to remain in Swarga.

SAHADEVA: Thank you for this opportunity.

DHARMA: Nakula, now we'll review your file. Pride and vanity were also what brought down your karmic balance. You were indeed very handsome, but you thought you were the most handsome person in the world, so you treated others that were not as handsome with less respect. To help you, in your next life, you will be ugly.

NAKULA: If I am ugly how will I ever be happy? No woman will ever want to marry me!

DHARMA: Hopefully you will learn in your next life that physical appearance is not everything. You will be blessed in many other aspects of your life, and many women will desire you because of things other than your beauty, but you will still struggle with confidence because of your ugliness. Maybe then you will learn humility and see that you are not defined by your exterior.

NAKULA [hesitantly]: Thank you for this opportunity.

DHARMA: Arjuna, you're up next. You also struggled with pride and vanity; you thought you were the greatest archer in the world. This lead to some drastic karma deductions during your life as Arjuna. You desired so much to be the greatest, but instead of working for it, you destroyed others that threatened to be better than you. You robbed the world of many great archers. Defeating Karna earned you more points because he used his skills for evil, but you didn't earn as many points as your brothers for this act because your intentions were partly fueled with jealousy. Your part in killing Ekalavya drastically decreased your points. If you weren't so prideful, you could have allowed Ekalavya to live and you could have joined forces to defeat evil together. He would have pushed you to be an even better archer by training side by side. In your next life, you will be born into the warrior class again, but you will be surrounded by students that are more skilled than you. Hopefully, you will learn humility by having to earn your status as the best archer in your class.

ARJUNA [concerned]: How could I be a great archer without skill?

DHARMA: You were Arjuna; the skill is still within you. You just have to reveal it through dedication. Hopefully, your humility from being the worst student will drive you to become an even better archer than you were as Arjuna.

ARJUNA: Thank you for this opportunity.

DHARMA: Bhima, your turn. Your biggest downfall was gluttony. You ate without thinking of the hunger of others, which earned you a tremendous amount of bad karma.

BHIMA [interjecting]: But I was a large person and needed to eat to get strong!

DHARMA: Indeed, you were a big and strong person, which means you could have survived in certain instances without food while scrawnier people would have died from hunger without proper nutrients. The deeds you committed with your strength earned you many good point, but you were greedy when it came to food. In your next life, you will be born into a poor family that will struggle to feed you. Your family will neglect themselves trying to feed you and you will watch them wither away if you don't start thinking about them. Hopefully, your family will help you learn to put the well being of others before yourself.

BHIMA: Thank you for this opportunity.

DHARMA: Now on to you, son. Yudhishthira, you were a very wise and honest man. In every situation, you showed a broad understanding of the laws of karma and dharma. You knew when to accept fate and when to intervene to stand up for the helpless, even when they were your enemies. Your biggest flaw was your gambling problem, but after you gambled your life away, you showed that you learned your lesson when you answered my riddles at the lake. Your karmic balance wasn't perfect when you died, but your actions here in Swarga to help your family paid off the rest of your karmic debt. Because of this, you are worthy to stay here with me in Swarga immediately. I want you to use your understanding justice to rule with me here.

YUDHISHTHIRA [humbly]: Wow, father. I don't feel as though I deserve such an honor.

DHARMA: Which is exactly why you do deserve it.

YUDHISHTHIRA: I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity. I do have one concern though.

DHARMA: What is it?

YUDHISHTHIRA: If I remain here and my brothers are reborn on earth, will they remember me and our lives together when they return to Swarga?

DHARMA [looks behind him at the other celestial sires, then looks back at the Pandavas and smiles]: Typically not, but we might be able to make an acceptation for you guys. Now get ready for your next lives.

[The Pandavas stand up and hug each other with tears in their eyes, then go over and hug their celestial sires.]

PANDAVAS: We're ready.

[Dharma snaps his fingers and the Pandavas enter their new lives.]




Author's Note: This is somewhat a continuation of my storybook and I'm not sure if I want to add it yet, but I had the idea so I wanted to make it a story in case I didn't. It's based on the Pandavas Depart portion of the Mahabharata where Yudhishthira reveals why Bhima and Arjuna died. Sahadeva and Nakula's explanations come from Wikipedia and partly from Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik (2010). Their rebirths are not mentioned in the Mahabharata, so I just came up with some situations that might help them fix their biggest flaws that were mentioned. Riddles at the Lake portion of the Mahabharata is what Dharma is referring to when he speaks to Yudhishthira. This story makes more sense in relation to my storybook, which could fill in some blanks.