The Mahabarata A

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RESPONSE TO THE MAHABHARATA Considering that heaven is a place where supposedly no enmities are allowed, it is very surprising that even in this place the most righteous man among the Pancalas, Yudhisthira, refuses to see Duryodhana. Although one might expect a sage such as Narada to disapprove this behavior considering the holiness of heaven, the wise sage consents the king of Pancalas to adopt this attitude. This led me to think about how ambiguous one's view of what is wrong or right can be. Thus, as Indra, the supreme god, told Yudhisthira "there is some good and bad in all things" (Narasimhan 213).

Furthermore, the Mahabharata presents a society in which traditions are followed strictly. However, the idea of relative good and evil exposed by Indra does not reflect the firm way of thinking of this culture. Thus, if there is always some good and bad in all things it should be hard to judge somebody's actions.

Nevertheless, heroes were punished when they did not follow the their code of honor. At the same time, punishments and rewards should not exist if an action has some positive and negative sides. However, throughout this book we have encounter several events in which sages have either cursed or attributed a boon to people based on the their behavior.

I strongly agree with the Sage Indra and his perspective about things. Nevertheless, I think that we have been raised thinking the opposite. Thus, instead of trying to understand other people, we become their judges. It is very hard to omit our own opinion about others because as humans we only see on others what we want to see.