SIGNIFICANCE OF SHAMI

On this Vijaya Dashami day, there is a tradition of offering worship to Shami Vruksha and exchanging the leaves of Shami by reciting the following  Shloka:

Shamee shamayatE pApam Shamee shatruvinashanam|Arjunasya DhanurdhAree RAmasya priyadarshini||

Shami eradicates sins, destroys enemies. It was bearing the bow (Gandeevi) of Arjuna and showed Seetha to Hanumantha.

Arjunasya Dhanurdhari: Arjuna, before joining the services of the King of Viratanagara as Bruhannale to spend one year without getting identified, packed all his weapons, including the Great Gandeevi, in such a way it looked like a packed corpse. He kept the packed weapons on a Shami tree. This tree has thorns and hence  nobody dares to climb it and steal the package. Shami is a rare tree and hence, it was easily identifiable. The package was shaped like a corpse because none gets attracted by a hanging corpse. In fact, a hanging corpse might trigger fear in the minds of onlookers.

When Bheema killed Keechaka for behaving mischievously with Draupadi, who was in the guise of Sairandhri in the court of King Virata, Duryodhana immediately guesses that Bheema was there. This was because, there was a divine truth that whoever kills one of the two Asuras namely Bakasura and Keechaka would invariably kill the other. Bheema had already killed Bakasura and it was known to the entire universe. When Keechaka too was killed, Duryodhana guessed that only Bheema had killed Keechaka and to bring either him or, if his guesswork was right, all the Pandavas would be exposed so that he could send them all for yet another term of exile for twelve years and one year of living incognito as per the agreement. That is why, Duryodhana orders for confiscation of all cows belonging to King Virata. He knew very well that to get the cows released for their king, Pandavas would certainly plunge into war and therefore it would be easy for him to identify the Pandavas.

One portion of his guesswork was right as Arjuna plunged into war, discarding the attire of Bruhannale. Originally Uttarakumara, the son of King Virata, was supposed to do the fight. Arjuna had one quality or boon. Whoever is behind him would lose all their strength, power and valor. When Uttara starts off for war, Bruhannale volunteered to be the chariot. As Arjuna was driving the chariot, Uttara lost his power and strength. As a result of this, Uttara started escaping from the battlefield. Arjuna emerges from his Bruhannale attire and takes the weapons from the Shami, combats Kaurava army.     

Karna's stoic nature - one

IIn this story let us know Karna's reaction to Kunti.  Kunti, the mother of Dharmaraya, Bheemasena and Arjuna, apart from Madri's sons Nakula and Sahadeva, meets Karna during the Great War Kurukshetra. At first, Karna was astonished by her arrival at his war-shelter. Collecting his nerves a bit, Karna expresses his surprise over her 'untimely and unwarranted' arrival. Kunti sobs, erases the tears from her cheeks and reveals to Karna that she was indeed his mother. She explains to Karna the circumstances under which she was forced to discard the just-born son with the chanting of Surya Manra. She tells that he was the eldest and appeals him not to kill any of the Pandavas. She was perhaps aware of the bravery of Karna and was believing that Karna might vanquish Pandavas or at least kill Arjuna, the bete noir of Karna. Karna listens to Kunti silently and questions her: 

"Why are you telling these things to me at this juncture?" Kunti says she wanted him to either abstain from war or join Pandavas. Karna says "Mother, I have a huge debt of gratitude to repay Duryodhana. I can neither abstain from war nor shift loyalty. Duryodhana has more faith on me than Bheeshma and Drona. I can assure you one thing. At all events, you will be left with five Pandavas as I am going to either kill Arjuna in the war or get killed by him. I will not kill anyone else in the war. This is my promise." Kunti ponders over the matter for a while and then takes leave of Karna, who looked at her with all respect and affection. Kunti was satisfied with his answer as well as his facial expression.as perhaps aware of the bravery of Karna and was believing that Karna might vanquish Pandavas or at least kill Arjuna, the bete noir of Karna. Karna listens to Kunti silently and questions her: "Why are you telling these things to me at this juncture?" Kunti says she wanted him to either abstain from war or join Pandavas. Karna says "Mother, I have a huge debt of gratitude to repay Duryodhana. I can neither abstain from war nor shift loyalty. Duryodhana has more faith on me than Bheeshma and Drona. I can assure you one thing. At all events, you will be left with five Pandavas as I am going to either kill Arjuna in the war or get killed by him. I will not kill anyone else in the war. This is my promise." As desired by Kunti, Karna also promises her that he will not reuse any arrow during his war with Arjuna. Kunti ponders over the matter for a while and then takes leave of Karna, who looked at her with all respect and affection. Kunti was satisfied with his answer as well as his facial expression.

Krishna tests Karna (stoicism two)

After Kunti meets Karna and returns with an assurance from him that he would not kill any Pandava except Arjuna and that he would not reuse any arrow during his war against Arjuna, Lord Krishna meets Karna. Sri Krishna tells Karna very clearly that Pandavas would win the war and become the emperors. Krishna asks Karna to join Pandavas so that he (Karna) could become the next emperor. Krishna tells Karna that irrespective of whether he joins Pandavas or not, Pandavas would emerge victorious. But, Karna flatly tells Krishna that he would not shift loyalty. Why Krishna tried to entice Karna at such a critical stage of the war was to show Karna’s stoicism to the world. Krishna wanted the world to know the character of Karna.

HAPPY DURGA ASHTAMI, AYUDHA PUJA AND VIJAYA DASHAMI TO ALL

This is the day on which Sri Durgantargata Mahalakshmi becomes cool and calm to bless everyone after massacring several demons who were tormenting the universe on the strength of various boons they had obtained from Lord Brahma and the belief that they were from death. The Ayudha Puja is performed in a symbolic manner as the Goddess washes and cleanses the weapons she had employed in the war against demons. However, since we do not use weapons in our daily life, we should worship vehicles, gadgets and all other daily-use materials as tokens or emblems of weapons and representatives of the Goddess. Vijayadashami is the celebration of victory of Pandavas over Kauravas and restoration of Dharma.