Imagine Draupadi as the humanbody. The Pandavas, the five senses, are wedded to it. Their first cousins, ahundred in number, the Kauravas, are present in the form of the tendencies ofthe mind.

Yudhishthir thinksthat he is a good gambler and so would win over the Kauravas. The senses alsothink that they can win over the tendencies of the mind. The Pandavas keepgambling till they lose everything, including themselves and their beloved wife,Draupadi. Likewise, we lose everything when we gamble with our tendencies, and,like the Pandavas, end up in spiritual exile. The body is demeaned, likeDraupadi was, and only divine intervention can save it. However, our body doesnot abandon us, even when we lead it intoexile.

However, there are somegood tendencies also. There are many good people in the Kaurava camp. But,Krishna advises Arjuna to kill all of them, implying that all tendencies, bothgood and evil should be exterminated. They are already dead, he says. You areonly an instrument in making thisevident.

If a person has togain enlightenment he must overcome all the tendencies of the mind, good or bad.These do not have an existence, apart from what we have given them they arealready dead. However, we keep them alive by our own acts, and, by our own acts,we can kill them all. Only then will we be free.

Kurukshetra is the world inwhich we live this life, witnessing a war between our senses and our mind'stendencies.

Dhritarashtrasymbolises the mind, which gives birth, in a sense, to our tendencies. He wasblind ^ as the mind is to its tendencies. His wife, Gandhari, was not blind butchose to blindfold herself. Even when we have a choice to see, we choose not tosee.

None of the Pandavas wereborn of their mother's husband, Pandu. Their mother, Kunti, had been given achant, which invoked various gods who fathered the Pandavas. The Sun was thefather of Karna. Dharma, the god of duty was the father of Yudhishthir and Indrathe king of gods was the father of Arjuna. The god of wind, symbolisingstrength, was the father of Bhishma and the Ashwini Kumars were the fathers ofNakul and Sahdev.

Our sensesare basically part of our divinity, the instruments born to keep us in thisform. The original name of their mother was Pritha, signifying Prithvi, theEarth, and she took the name Kunti when Kuntibhoja adopted her. So, the Pandavaswere born through the conjoining of the Earth and the divine ^ the body and thespirit.

Karna was born of theSun-god and the Earth mother. He is a symbol of our ego. Like him, our ego isalso armoured. Only the guru's intervention could get the armour removed.Similarly, the guru helps the seeker in killing his ego.

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