The 5th Veda - Mahabharata

[arunadasi]

I do hope that this post is favourably received; I realise I have not been an active member of the forum but I have been a lurker for some time and a poster for a short while.
I have a blog running based on the Mahabharata and the questions and themes arising out of this great book; the blog is at www.sonsofgods.blogspot.com. I have also written a new version of the Mahabharata, a work that took me 30 years. writing on and off! I do hope some of you will check it out. I can maybe arrange for free copies; at some point there will be a giveaway and I would love you to participate.
Thanks for reading!

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�


In the final days of the pāṇḍava's , they headed on their final journey. During this travel a dog accomplanies them. He continues as each of the pāṇḍava fell to earth, dead. Yet yudhiṣṭhira and the dog continued the journey.

We find that the dog happens to be dharma personified. Something I find interesting, why did veda vyāsa use a dog to symbolize dharma ? If I were writing this epic I would have suggested an elephant or a white bull, but why a dog?



praṇām

[charitra]

[/quote]

If I were writing this epic I would have suggested an elephant or a white bull, but why a dog?

Vedic sages were promoting the canine as the man's most trusted friend. The noticed that somehow dog was not accompanying any devata in puranas, whilst even a mouse gets to sit alongside Ganesha, so they corrected the the injustice meted out to the four legged gentile. Today dog is the commonest pet animal on planet earth. Lets remember those ancient sages were much wiser and more animal friendly than any of us living now on this planet

[Sahasranama]

We find that the dog happens to be dharma personified. Something I find interesting, why did veda vyāsa use a dog to symbolize dharma ? If I were writing this epic I would have suggested an elephant or a white bull, but why a dog?

This is to test Yuddhistira's adherence to righteousness, the dog has been loyal to him all the way. Now when he standing at the gate of heaven, will he recognise the dog's loyalty or will he abandon the dog, because he is considered impure. This is the test of Yuddhistira's character.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

This is to test Yuddhistira's adherence to rightiousness, the dog has been loyal to him all the way. Now when he standing at the gate of heaven, will he recognise the dog's loyalty or will he abandon the dog, because he is considered impure. This is the test of Yuddhistira's character.

Yes, you are correct and yudhiṣṭhira did not abandon the dog.


charitra writes,

Vedic sages were promoting the canine as the man's most trusted friend. The noticed that somehow dog was not accompanying any devata in puranas, whilst even a mouse gets to sit alongside Ganesha, so they corrected the the injustice meted out to the four legged gentile. Today dog is the commonest pet animal on planet earth. Lets remember those ancient sages were much wiser and more animal friendly than any of us living now on this planet

This could be, yet I it is rare to never ( in india) that dogs are allowed in the home, yet we welcome cows as we find them throughout the veda-s.
I think there is something more to dogs then meets the eye. 'Dog' as man's best friend ( I believe ) is relevatively new ( in hundreds of years vs. thousands).

praṇām

[Sahasranama]

It is important to note that Vyasa is not merely picking random symbols. He has to adhere his poem to the events that have occured (itihasa). It is very unlikely that an elephant would have followed Yuddhistira everywhere, but it is not hard to imagine that a dog would have followed him. Dogs have always been considered loyal, we can find dogs as well in the depiction of Dattatreya. The ancient Greeks also described the loyalty of dogs, in the Oddyssey the story is told how Oddysseus' dog recognises him after 20 years of absence.

There is a video online of a dog reuniting with an army soldier. http://www.killsometime.com/videos/8...h-Army-Soldier

[Believer]

Namaste,

If memory serves me right - it has become feeble of late - the Pandavas were walking in the Himalayas during their final journey. Don't know if an elephant or a bull would follow anyone walking on the trails of the ever ascending mountains of Himalayas.

Pranam.

[Sahasranama]

If memory serves me right - it has become feeble of late - the Pandavas were walking in the Himalayas during their final journey. Don't know if an elephant or a bull would follow anyone walking on the trails of the ever ascending mountains of Himalayas.

Yes, that would be very unrealistic.

[Mana]

Namaste, All

If I might add a few words.

To my mind the domestication of wild animals, animal husbandry, has been of considerable impact upon the human condition, our very direction and path through kali yuga has been aided and affected greatly by this.
Our very traditions are born from it.

The thought occurs that Cows bulls nor elephants are never tamed, Cows are fully domesticated in that we have total adopted them we help with their birth, right through till their death they graciously give of their milk with no complaint, the Bull is brought to submission via the ring though his nose; an elephant is never domesticated, with great difficulty do they reproduce in captivity, yet still they chose to assist us, this is more an mutual agreement, heavily weighted (by their heavy weight ) to their disposition, it is their choice rather than our mastery over them.

Dogs, as pack animals behave very much like humans, under certain conditions. It is interesting to note that a well trained dog an its master can communicate with even the slightest body language.

Dogs understand little yet we perceive them as intelligent, why this? Maybe it is their connection to our feelings which give this impression. There is in fact an eagerness to please, unless they have the higher ground, by dominating they might feel that they are "Alpha" in which case you would have an animal that bites barks and misbehaves.

Who, and with what, trains these animals?

Jared Diamond wisely states in his fantastic book Guns, Germs, and Steel.

That "... if any human tribe had succeeded in taming the rhino; they would have conquered all of Eurasia ..." (Please forgive me any mistake, I am quoting from memory).

A most timely and thought provoking thread, thank you ...

I should one day like to read the Mahabharata to soak in its wisdom.

praNAma

mana

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
　
namasté

In post number 7 ,32 & 41 above I offered my view on why 18 is a significant number in the mahābhārata i.e. 18 chapters, 18 days of fighting, etc.

Let me extend this idea just a bit more: What of this 18 ? I still continue to think of this and what vyāsa-ji (kṛṣṇa dvaipāyana) wishes to tell us.

Within the mahābhārata he informs us:
Whatever is here ( in the mahābhārata) is found elsewhere. But whatever is not here (in the mahābhārata) is nowhere else."

This again stimulated some thought. It suggests the mahābhārata must then be complete and full knowledge. It then must cover the full range of knowledge.
Within sanātana dharma we recognize 14 branches of learning (catur-daśa vidya); if we add-in the foundational 4 veda-s we come to this number 18 once more.

Hence it just could be that vyāsa-ji is informing and reminding us just how splendid and full this mahābhārata is by using this 18 again and again; even nārada has called it the 5th veda i.e. itihāsapurāṇaṃ pañcamaṃ vedānāṃ ( see post 32)

4 veda-s
6 vedāṅga
4 upaveda
4 upāṅga
18

4 veda-s ( considered śruti , revelation , cognized by the acient ṛṣi-s within the field of pure consciousness. It was considered 'heard' (śruti) and not composed or authored by men)

• ṛg-veda
• sāma-veda
• yajur-veda

(These 3 used to be considered trayam brahma sanātanam or the triple eternal veda )

• atharva-veda

6 vedāṅga-s 'limbs of the veda'

• śikṣā or phonetics
• kalpa or ritual
• vyākarṇa or grammar
• nirukta or etmology
• chandas or meter
• jyotiṣh astronomy and astrology

4 upaveda-s 'secondary or applied knowledge'

• āyur-veda , or science of life, longivity i.e. medicine
• dhanurveda or science of archery
• gāndharva-veda or science of music
• śastra-śāstra or science of arms or military

Some suggest sthāpatya-veda or science of architecture , and śilpa-śāstra or knowledge of arts , are the fourth upa-veda

4 upāṅga-s ( some spell upāṃga ) 'supplementary or additional work ; a limb (aṅga)'

• purāṇa-s
• nyāya
• mīmāṃsā
• dharma-śāstra-s

Some call out the purāṇa-s as itihāsa-purāṇa-s to include the mahābhārata & rāmāyaṇa

praṇām