Journey

Final day of the Mahabharata reading journey at Hampi - reflecting on overcoming fear, finding courage like Arjuna before the Bhagavad Gita, and the completion of a transformative 20-day reading pilgrimage.

This journey has been relieving. I have done all that I set out to do. I came for a larger purpose, to start writing once again. It has been too long, and I have been scared of something. Fear is a gripping thing, and it has defined a lot in my life. My closest friends know how much I fear some things. When I think about the thing I fear most, my palms sweat, and I begin speaking at five times my normal pace. ...

Day 19 of reading the Mahabharata - the end approaches. Bhishma’s final teachings, the fall of the Yadavas, Krishna’s death, and the Pandavas’ final journey north.

The End. The 1008 names of Shiva, the 1000 names of Vishnu, the Anu Gita and the Purusha Suktam. Bhishma leaves Dharmaraja with this and other words of Dharma. And then, he leaves his body and Ganga mourns her son. As the sun sets on my sojourn here at Hampi, so does the sun set on the story of the Kurus. Dhritarashtra leaves for the forest, losing his life to a fire. Thirty six years after the war, the Yadavas fall, and Krishna too dies. Maddened at the loss of the Best of the Vrishnis, the Pandavas head north. One by one, Panchali and Yudhishthira’s brothers fall. ...