Dhritarashtra and Shri Krishna

The Mahabharata war had ended. Lord Shri Krishna foiled Dhritarashtra’s attempt to kill Bhima by pressing him in his arms. Dhritarashtra was embarrassed. Vidurji explained to him that Shri Krishna is God. Take knowledge from them in the last moments of your life.

Dhritarashtra asked Shri Krishna- You are God, please tell me why so much injustice happened to me. I was born blind, my hundred sons were killed. Now no one from my clan is left with a name. God, what sin have I committed for which I am being punished?

Lord Shri Krishna started telling – Maharaj Dhritarashtra, you were a king in your previous life. An extremely ascetic Brahmin lived in your kingdom. The Brahmin had a pair of swans. Who had four children.

The Brahmin had to go on a pilgrimage but was unable to go because he was worried about the care of the swans. The Brahmin expressed his concerns to a sage. The sage said- By calling swans an obstacle in the pilgrimage, you are doing injustice to the birds and spoiling their next birth.

Brahmins became worried. He asked the sage – Why would I want to spoil the next birth of my beloved swans? The sage told that his next birth is being spoiled because the swans are being blamed for being an obstacle in the Lord’s work.

The Brahmin understood the matter. He requested the sage to show him the way. The sage said- The king is the protector of the people. Both you and your swans are his subjects. Keep the swans under the protection of the king and go on pilgrimage.

Shri Krishna continued talking to Dhritarashtra – Maharaj Brahmin left his pair of swans and their children with you and started on the journey. One day you felt like eating meat. You thought that you have eaten the meat of all creatures but not the meat of a swan.

You roasted two baby swans and ate them. You got the taste of goose meat. One by one the swan had a hundred children and you kept eating them all. In the end the pair of swans died.

Many years later, when the Brahmin returned from a pilgrimage and asked about his swans, he told him that the swans had fallen ill. You got him treated but he did not survive.

The Brahmin blindly trusted what you said and you took advantage of that blind trust. That is why you had a hundred sons. You betrayed the person who had blindly trusted you when you went on pilgrimage. You did not even fulfill your royal duties by robbing the people’s heritage.

Because of the sin of roasting and eating a hundred baby swans, you had a hundred sons. Because of lying to someone who blindly trusted you and not following Rajdharma, you became blind and a failure in governance.

Shri Krishna said- The biggest deceit is betrayal. You are suffering the consequences of that sin.
Hail lord krishna