Reading Notes: the Mahabarhata Part B

These are notes over the PDE of the Mahabarhata. The fact that the lower caste woman and her sons were killed instead of the royal family is a real tragedy. These people are still very important and should not be treated as disposable in the stories. I would like to make one of my characters that is a reincarnated form of mother earth (in my storybook) be a person in the lowest caste. Showing someone with such a simple life being happy could be a very good story.

The journey of finding wisdom through simplicity is a good theme. Simplicity blurs the lines of duality because of the clarity it provides. When the Pandavas are stripped down to their raw necessities, they are forced into the continuity and fluidity of bare existence. The focus is removed from the material side of life and the mind allowed to understand the lack of judgement that can be placed on anything because everything is so fluid. The beginnings of this unpredictability and lack of control are understood through the Pandavas' fear of having to live their lives in the forest among predators.

I like the phrase from the Riddles by the river story that goes, "in truth is the sun established." The sun operates the way it does because that is what experience has shown us. The way to sun goes up and down is the truth of how the sun works and needs no further explanation because it cannot be changed. The idea of emptiness is also a very useful writing concept from this story. Yudhishthira is able to see the emptiness in norman human pursuits so he can focus on compassion and understanding in his answers to The Voice.

River from Pixnio