I read this amazing version of how Mahabharata relates to modern day world and was so appalled by it.A great read!
It is not written by me but what I found online.
Mahabharat: The Eternal Conflict
EPILOGUE
1stWise Man:
Kaliyug was born out of the ashes
Of the devastation of Kurukshetra.
Nothing has ended, it’s always a new start.
Do you know of any age when evil did not
Rear its ugly head or sin did not prevail?
The same greed, the same lust, the same power madness,
That’s the Mahabharat, the tale of life and death.
The story of the daily life of humankind.
2nd Wise Man:
And sure enough, Kurukshetra did not
Disappear with the fall of the Kauravas.
As Krishna had augured, millions of Duryodhans
Have been born throughout the dark corridors
Of Kaliyug, and millions are striding
The world even now, and will continue
Till eternity to inflict distress,
To crush the weak, the poor, the destitute.
3rd Wise Man:
Man is daily waging his own Mahabharat
As he is in perpetual conflict with himself.
His mind and his heart are locked in constant combat.
Man’s ego is bringing him to his downfall.
Man is ever building his own Kurukshetra
Where he is devising his own weapons
Of stress and tension and self-destruction.
Man is engulfed in a sea of confusion.
1st Wise Man:
The world is falling apart, shattered to pieces.
Of all the marvels that God has created
Man is the only specimen that’s ardently
Pursuing the fine art of self-destruction.
No creature can outdo him in this exercise.
Man is ever busy constructing, and
Having constructed, is very eager
To burn whatever he has so fondly built.
2nd Wise Man
The unprecedented violence and destruction,
The growing chaos that is taking mankind
Closer and closer to doomsday and extinction,
Rabid materialism, the pursuit of wealth
Are all wrecking and engulfing humanity.
Man has acquired the false perception that progress
Can only be measured by the yardstick of wealth.
All is false! All is sham! All is make-believe!
3rd Wise Man:
Man is engaged in an eternal quest
For an elusive something which he hopes
Will bring him full happiness, infinite bliss.
Greed and the spirit of acquisitiveness
And hunger for power have resulted
In great misery for the common people
And violence and chaos throughout the globe.
Which way should we turn? Whither is the light?
1st Wise Man:
Corruption fills the air, values thrown to dogs;
Worms of anger and greed gnaw at society
Fraud and deceit have become a way of life.
Hatred, hypocrisy, lust for power,
Vanity and double-standards are guiding
Men’s actions, leading them to doom and destruction.
Leaders are false, followers are stupid.
Where will it all end, O God, when will it end?
2nd Wise Man:
Abominable crimes are perpetrated,
Each new day that God gives takes its heavy toll
Of rapes, drugs trafficking, burglaries and assaults.
3rd Wise Man:
War, violence, destruction, have been let loose
Man has lost his balance, and humanity
Has vanished. Man has become his own enemy.
1st Wise Man:
The world has been getting more than its share
Of Krishna’s predictions for Kaliyug.
But where is Krishna? Whither has he gone?
2nd Wise Man:
O Krishna, where are you? When will you come?
3rd Wise Man:
You had saved the honour of Draupadi once.
Why have you deserted the other Draupadis
Who are being today brutally raped
And atrociously murdered by savage beasts?
1st Wise Man:
What has happened to your great undertaking
And to your vow to come down to the earth
Whenever there’s a decline in the pursuit
Of dharma and a rise in godlessness?
2nd Wise Man:
You had given your solemn word, O Krishna,
To come in person to deliver the just
And the pious and to annihilate
The perverse, the vile and refractory
And to restore the principles of dharma.
3rd Wise Man:
The world needs you, O Krishna, where are you?
(Blackout. Thunder and lighting. Sound of strong winds and rain. when the light is on,
Krishna is on the stage)
Krishna:
Seek and you shall find, look and you shall see.
I’ve always been with you, never have I left,
Never have I forsaken, or deserted.
It’s rather humankind that has forgotten me
Lured by an ardent urge for materialism.
The violence, the hatred, the atrocities
That reign in the world today are the result
Of man’s own pursuit of false values and paths.
But man need not despair, for Kaliyug
Is also an age of enlightenment.
Suffering, distress and pain will spur man to seek
The answers deep down his heart and he’ll mend his ways.
1st Wise Man:
What kind of enlightenment is this, O Krishna
When man is everywhere in utter darkness
And constructing the weapons of his own doom?
Krishna
Man’s ever striving to expand the scope of life
He is exploring the unknown, and reaching
Further and further into the infinite
Through his flights around the earth and in outer space,
As also by plumbing the depths of the seas.
He’s developing his mind and making
Remarkable progress and inventions.
But, in the process, he’s also indulging
In mass murder, violence and destruction.
Man, however, has a different mission,
He has a divine destiny to fulfil.
Only a few know the goal of their existence,
The average life is spent in caring
For the needs and pleasures of the body,
In fulfilling responsibilities
Set by the exigencies of the moment.
The average man takes birth, lives and dies
Knowing not whence he came, why he is here,
Ignorant of whither he is heading.
Religious history has left a legacy
Of intolerance, prejudice and bloodshed.
But this is the work of misguided men
Who have deviated and left the true path.
The so-called men of religion are themselves
Responsible for this mess and confusion
In which the great universe has been plunged.
Teachers, political, social, religious
And other leaders have miserably failed
In providing the right sort of leadership.
2nd Wise Man:
What must be done, O Krishna, in order to
Bring man back on the road to salvation
And to save him from total damnation?
Krishna:
All religions urgently need to unite
In order to check the downward slide in values
So that a new and better world may emerge.
The communalized and commercialized
Society needs to change its direction
Through the transformation of individuals
And the inculcation of the true values
That will usher a just social order,
Honest governance and value-based life.
True spirituality is of the soul
And it has no labels, clichés or creeds,
It consists of righteousness, peace and love;
Duryodhan badly lacked these qualities.
These values help one to rise above narrow
Religious and communal distinctions,
And in communion with me, man can be
Spiritually empowered to build a world
Where peace, justice and liberty will prevail.
3rd Wise Man:
O Krishna, man still does not find happiness
Despite great advancement in the world today. Why?
Krishna:
Because people are in the frenzied pursuit
Of material success by any means.
But they should know that the really successful
Man is the one who loves, cares and shares the most.
The forces of good outnumber those of evil
But they are disorganised and disunited.
Man badly requires a common target
A common agenda for a better world.
Man has the ability both to survive
And to annihilate himself and his kind.
The decision is his, the choice too is his.
1st Wise Man
Tell us, O Krishna who exactly are you?
Krishna:
I am the bright rays of the rising sun
I am every drop of water that gives life
I am the breeze, I am all the seasons,
I am the fragrant perfume of the flower
I am the smile of the innocent baby,
I am the moon and the stars, I am the world.
I have no beginning, nor do I end
I carry all the sufferings of the world
I die with every victim who falls in war
Or is violently assassinated
It’s me they hurt each time they rape, kill or plunder.
I’m the dagger that stabs and the bullet that kills
I’m the gash that it makes, I’m the blood that oozes.
All life comes from me, all life returns to me
I am the ocean to which all the rivers
Of humanity’s souls flow and become one.
I Am the Ultimate, I am the Supreme
I am the Absolute, I am Infinite.
