rkumar
July 12th, 2006, 12:10 PM
There is a nice article today in Economics Times, titled "The importance of dying as a man";
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1733441.cms
Please go through the article. Best portion of the article I liked is reproduced below;
In the Mahabharata, Vyaasa talks of an event, when all the five Pandavas, while in exile and wandering in the forest, were passing through a certain place which was haunted by a spirit. They were all thirsty and one by one, from Sahadev onwards, whoever drank water from the lake without answering the spirit’s queries, fainted.
Till, at last, Yudhishthira himself came in search of water and found all his four brothers lying on the ground. Not realising what had happened to them, he also stepped in to the lake and he heard the spirit’s voice which dared him to drink the water before answering his questions. He was a patient man.
So he started answering the questions. There were almost 127 questions that he asked and which Yudhishthira had answered beautifully, all compiled under the category called – Yaksh Prashna.
In one of the questions, the spirit asks – what is the greatest surprise in this world? “That in this mortal world, every human being behaves as if he is immortal and will never die,” said Yudhishthira.
RK^2
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1733441.cms
Please go through the article. Best portion of the article I liked is reproduced below;
In the Mahabharata, Vyaasa talks of an event, when all the five Pandavas, while in exile and wandering in the forest, were passing through a certain place which was haunted by a spirit. They were all thirsty and one by one, from Sahadev onwards, whoever drank water from the lake without answering the spirit’s queries, fainted.
Till, at last, Yudhishthira himself came in search of water and found all his four brothers lying on the ground. Not realising what had happened to them, he also stepped in to the lake and he heard the spirit’s voice which dared him to drink the water before answering his questions. He was a patient man.
So he started answering the questions. There were almost 127 questions that he asked and which Yudhishthira had answered beautifully, all compiled under the category called – Yaksh Prashna.
In one of the questions, the spirit asks – what is the greatest surprise in this world? “That in this mortal world, every human being behaves as if he is immortal and will never die,” said Yudhishthira.
RK^2