Krishna A King

Don’t go only half way, three quarters way,
or almost to the end and then quit. Go all the way in this
incarnation. ~ Yogananda

"In ancient India, at Hastinapur, there lived a king of the solar dynasty whose name was Santanu. The first of his two queens was named Ganga. When she deserted him under unusual circumstances, he wed Satyavati. While walking beside the Ganges River, King Santanu met Ganga and asked her to be his wife. He did not then know that she was actually a manifestation of the river in human form.

Ganga agreed to his proposal only after the King promised not to interfere with anything she might do after they married. If he ever questioned her actions, she declared, she would forsake him immediately. When their first son was born, Ganga carried the infant from the palace and threw it into the river. The King, although much disturbed by her behavior, because of his prior promise not to interfere did not attempt to prevent it. Six more sons were born, and each of them was given to the Ganges by the Queen. When the eighth son was born, the King implored her not to do with that infant as she had done with the first seven.

True to her word, Ganga left her husband and her eighth son. Rushing to the Ganges River, she threw herself into it and merged in the waters. King Santanu lavished affection upon his remaining son, Devavrata, providing for his education and training in all arts and skills befitting a prince and heir.

One day, the King went hunting in the forest. Resting under the shade of a tree by a river, he saw lotus petals floating on the waters. Following the stream of petals to their source, he saw a charming damsel, Satyavati, putting them into the river as a ritual offering. Remaining out of the young woman’s sight, the King followed her when she returned home, where she lived with her father, Dasa Raja, known as the fisher-king because his main activity was fishing. Santanu talked with Dasa Raja, requesting consent for Satyavati to be his wife.

Dasa Raja agreed, insisting, however, that his daughter must be the principal wife and that her son must be the successor to the throne. King Santanu refused the terms of marriage and returned to his palace. As time passed, everyone around him became aware of his unhappiness. Prince Devavrata decided to do something about the situation.

Without telling anyone of his plan, he went alone to Dasa Raja and asked him to consent to the marriage of Satyavati to his father. To reassure Dasa Raja about his daughter’s future and that of any future sons, Prince Devavrata promised that he would not himself claim the throne, and that he would never marry or have any children.

Because of these two awesome vows, Prince Devavrata thereafter became known as Bhishma (the formidable). King Santanu and Satyavati were married. Two sons were born of their union: Chitrangada, who died at an early age, and Vichitravirya, who was peculiar and weak. After Santanu’s demise, Vichitravirya became King, but because he was weak, the kingdom was really ruled by Bhishma.

When Vichitravirya grew to adulthood, Bhishma decided that he should have a queen. With this plan in mind, he went to the court of the King of Kashi, where a gathering of royal families assembled for the purpose of having their daughters choose husbands from among the princes who were invited to be there. The King of Kashi had three marriageable daughters.

In keeping with the tradition of that time and culture—of sometimes kidnapping women for the purpose of marriage—Bhishma waited until the King’s three daughters wandered away from the larger group, put them into his chariot, and rushed back toward Hastinapur. The princesses’names were Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. Amba prayed to be released because, in her heart, she had already promised herself to another. Bhishma let her go and continued on with the two remaining sisters. King Vichitravirya, because of his weak constitution, died soon after marrying Ambika and Ambalika.

His two widowed wives were then introduced to the sage Veda Vyasa, and by him each had a son. Ambika’s son, Dhritarashtra, was born blind. Ambalika’s son, Pandu, was of light complexion. Bhishma continued to rule the kingdom. When the sons grew to adulthood, Pandu was put on the throne because Dhritarashtra, his older half brother who would have otherwise ruled, was blind. Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri. Before her marriage, Kunti, testing the power of a mantra she had learned from a sage, inadvertently invoked the blessings of the sun and gave birth to a male child. Because it was considered to be illegitimate, the child was adopted by a carpenter and later became known as Karna, a hero of the Kaurava clan.

After her marriage, Kunti invoked the gods who controlled dharma (righteous actions), prana (vital forces), and Indra (the god of fire, the power of transformation). From these unions were born Yudhisthira, Bhima, and Arjuna. Kunti then taught the mantra to Madri, who could only use it once. Madri invoked twin gods and begat twin sons, Nakula and Sahadeva. Because they were considered to be the progeny of Pandu, the five sons were known as the Pandavas. When the five Pandava brothers grew to adulthood, they participated in a contest arranged by King Drupada for the purpose of having a husband chosen for his daughter, Draupadi.

Participants in the contest had to lift a heavy bow, string it, and shoot an arrow through the eye of a fish that was hanging above a revolving wheel with a hole in the center. More, they had to aim at the target by looking into a reflection pool below. Arjuna, among all of the contestants, was successful. Returning to their home with Draupadi, the brothers asked Kunti, their mother, to come outside of the house to see what they had brought. She said, “Whatever you have brought, share among yourselves.”Draupadi thus became the wife of the Pandavas. The blind Dhritarashtra, half brother to King Pandu, fathered one hundred sons and one daughter, cousins to the five Pandava brothers.

When King Pandu died, Duryodhana, the firstborn son of Dhritarashtra, sought the throne which he felt was rightfully his because his blind father had been denied it. When Yudhisthira, the eldest Pandava, was put on the throne instead, Duryodhana conspired to remove him from rulership of the kingdom. To do this, advised by a conspirator in the plot to use loaded dice, he challenged Yudhisthira to a dice game. It was agreed that whoever should lose would have to go into exile for twelve years, plus retire into seclusion for one year. Yudhisthira lost the game, and with his four brothers and their wife, Draupadi, departed for the agreed upon period of time. Duryodhana assumed rulership of the kingdom.

After thirteen years, the Pandava brothers returned to Hastinapur to reclaim their rights, but were refused them. Civil war was declared. All of the royal families of that region of India took sides and gathered their armies. Krishna, a king, and cousin of the Pandavas, asked the opposing factions to choose either him or his army. He would not participate in the battle, but would put his army at the disposal of whoever wanted it, while remaining with the other side."