What happened after the Bhagavad-Gita?
The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the most-read books in the history of humanity. We know the story, but what happened after it?
The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the most-read books in the history of humanity. It was spoken by Sri Krsna to Arjuna, right before the beginning of the Kurukṣetra war, 5158 years ago, and recorded by the celebrated sage Vyāsadeva, who also compiled the other books that comprise the Vedic literature, in a monumental contribution.
The Gītā was originally written on palm leaves and was carefully passed from generation to generation, inspiring many philosophers, sages, great thinkers, and also regular people, helping all to find a solution for their life problems and attain transcendence.
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna surprisingly tells Arjuna to fight in the battle, fulfilling his duty as a Kṣatriya, by fighting for the right cause and defending the principles of dharma, instead of going to the forest and living as a mendicant as he was originally inclined to do. Fighting in war is often considered immoral, but Krsna gives a higher perspective, showing that sometimes wars are necessary, and in the specific case of Arjuna, fighting was the right thing to do. Everyone has a special talent, and the Gītā explains how it can be properly used for both personal and collective benefit.
We have the tendency to want to leave everything when things become difficult, but the Bhagavad-Gita gives us the correct perspective about what to do in difficult situations.
The Gita ends with Arjuna reinvigorated, free from doubt and determined to fight, and Sañjaya concluding that “Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality.”
However, what happened after this? What happened with the Pandavas and the Kurus? Who won the battle? How do these events connect with known history?
After the Bhagavad-Gita was spoken, the Kurukṣetra war began. It was a very difficult battle for the Pandavas that lasted for 18 days. As He promised, Krsna didn’t fight or interfere in the battle, but He helped the Pandavas as an advisor. It was due to the transcendental advice of Krsna that the Pandavas were able to counter the cunning military tactics of the Kurus and, one by one, defeat powerful generals, like Karna, Bhisma, Drona, and Duryodhana. However, the price was high. By the end, practically only the five Pandavas survived.
As revealed in the Mahabharata, the Kurukṣetra war was a cosmic battle. The demigods supported the Pandavas, while the asuras supported the Kurus. Being at the frontier between the two spheres, our planet is frequently a stage for battles between the two groups. As Krsna reveals in the Gītā (4.7-8), He personally advents when the asuras are at their strongest to curb their influence: "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself. To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."
After the battle ended, Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira was installed on the throne and reigned with the assistance of his brothers. He executed great sacrifices to bring auspiciousness to all, and the earth flourished under his reign.
However, 36 years later, having finished His pastimes, Krsna decided to leave this planet and go to perform His pastimes in another universe. Just as the Sun rises and sets, Krsna appears in one particular universe, executes his pastimes, and then moves to the next, just as the sun sets in one place at the same time it rises in another. At every Kalpa, each cycle of creation and destruction, Krsna appears once in each of the numerous material universes. How He can be present in different universes and at the same time remain present in the transcendental realm is a great mystery, another demonstration of His mystic potency.
To bewilder the atheists, Krsna used the pretext of a great fight between the members of his family, the Yadus, to withdraw the whole dynasty. All his eternal associates moved with Him to the next universe, while the demigods of this particular universe (who had taken birth in the family to participate in Krsna’s activities) returned to their respective planets. Krsna’s city, Dvārakā, was then immediately swallowed by the ocean and disappeared without a trace. This dramatic event created a strong impression in the collective imagination of all people at the time. The legend of the lost city of Atlantis is nothing more than a tentative way to explain these amazing events from the perspective of ordinary mortals.
As soon as the Pandavas heard the news, they decided to also leave this world. Installing Pariksit, the grandson of Arjuna and the last surviving member of the dynasty on the throne, they accepted the renounced order of life and traveled to the Himalayas to practice austerities. Pariksit was the son of Abhimanyu, the powerful teenager warrior, who held his own when attacked simultaneously by all the Kaurava generals, using the wheel of a chariot as a weapon.
Pariksit was an extraordinarily powerful king, and people were happy under his rule. However, by this time, the age of Kali had already begun. Being the last cycle of the cosmic cycle of four eras, Kali-yuga is not a very bright period for humanity. During this age, all virtue gradually diminishes, and humanity descends into barbarism. It's described that by the end of Kali-yuga, people will be much smaller in stature, will have gray hair in their 20s, and work for just a morsel of food. Cannibalism will be the norm, and kings will be nothing more than professional plunderers.
Pariksit tried to check the nefarious influence of Kali-yuga to his best capacity, but he ended up being defeated when, by the influence of Kali, Sringi, a brahmana boy cursed him to die in seven days, bitten by a snake. Leaving the throne for his son, Janamejaya, Pariksit used these last days to hear the Srimad Bhagavatam from Śukadeva Goswami, which brought another priceless treasure of knowledge that is now widely available. Prabhupada stated that while the Bhagavad-Gita is the ABCD of spiritual knowledge, the Srimad Bhagavatam is the graduation and post-graduation. Suta Goswami stated that: “This Bhāgavata Purāṇa is as brilliant as the sun, and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa to His own abode, accompanied by religion, knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance in the age of Kali shall get light from this Purāṇa.”
By the end of the seven days, Pariksit was bitten by the snake and attained liberation, dying in the most beneficial circumstances: at the banks of the holy Ganges, surrounded by saintly persons and with his mind firmly situated in transcendence. Actually, it was a plot organized by Krsna Himself, so the saintly Pariksit could leave this world in the most glorious circumstances and join Him in the transcendental world.
After Pariksit left, the darkness of Kali-yuga engulfed our planet. The saintly dynasty of the Pandavas gradually declined, with the kings governing progressively smaller tracts of land, gradually becoming limited to parts of the Indian subcontinent, and the rest of the planet becoming fragmented and descending into endless wars. Gradually, humanity lost its memory, forgetting about the grandiosity of the past, leading to recent history.
However, there is hope. We are living in a small bubble in the midst of Kali-yuga, an auspicious period that started 539 years ago and will continue for 9462 years more. During this period, the influence of Kali-yuga diminishes, and humanity will have the opportunity to evolve, both individually and collectively, with the possibility of a golden age manifesting. How soon this golden age will manifest and to what extent depends on us.
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