Reading Diary A: The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant Week 14

I am reading The Story of the Great War: Some Lessons from the Mahabharata by Annie Besant.  My favorite story in this chapter is the story of Yudhishthira sinning.  I found it interesting that even when he sinned he told the truth.  Another part of the story that was interesting was that Krishna advised Yudhishthira to lie but in actuality, he was testing Yudhishthira’s love for the truth. In the end Yudhishthira decided to lie but at the same time he committed a crime far worse than just lying by telling the lie in his heart and out loud but at the end of it whispering “the elephant”.  It was sad to read that after he told the lie his chariot, which had previously been floating above the earth, had dropped back down to earth signifying his fall from grace.  It was a nice touch at the end of the chapter to include part of Yudhishthira’s future.   It talked about how at the end of his life he was once again tested by a god.  This time however Yudhishthira did the right thing.  He was told by a god to desert his faithful dog in order that he could enter heaven but instead of deserting the dog he decided that he would instead not enter heaven and stay with his dog who had remained faithful.  Then the god revealed it was a test and they both entered into heaven.  That was a touching end to his life.  He had earlier in his life made the wrong decision but in the end he made the right one.

Yudhishthira entering into heaven (Source: Wikimedia)