Rajsooya Yagnya

Pandavas had won the entire universe. Bheema was the chief instrument in this feat. He had won, garuda ,shesha ,Rudra, and kichaka,paundraka vasudeva,Karna ,baksura,Jarasndha who were undefeated till then and even Arjuna was not capable of  winning them . Rajasooya cannot be performed without winning everyone. Thus chief fruits of yagnya goes to Bheema . earlier bramha had done this yagnya , now only pandavas could do it.

Arjuna went to north regions and won indra , sapta dweepas, patala etc adholokas ,trigarta etc.

Nakula went to paschima disha and won all the kings. Sahadeva went to south and won all the countries. He sent ghatotkacha to  lanka and asked VIbhishana to accept superiority of Panadava as an order from Krishna . He accepted. All the kings sent their share of wealth as taxes. This wealth when collected appeared as a mountain 600 yojanas in height and width , this exceeded the size of Indraprastha. but yet by the technology of Vishwakarma this could be accommodated in a store.

Pandavas after vanquishing all by the grace of Vedvyasa ,prepared for Yagnya. All were invited to the yagnya.

Brahma , shiva, indra kama other deities came to the yagnya ,mantapa. All the kings came to the function.They had brought many gifts to Pandavas . Duryodhana was appointed to collect all the gifts. Gandharvas were singing , Apsaras were dancing , the whole universe had gathered.

1. God was present in the triple role in the yagnyashala
2. parashurama
3. vedvyasa
4. Krishna

a debate was organised to decide who is the supreme GOD. A hot discussion ensued and finally Vishnu was declared  supreme. Now Yudhisthira asked BHeeshma as to who should be first offered prayers to kick off the proceedings. Bheeshma declared Krishna should be first offered prayers.

Note: there were Bramha ,shiva  munis [saints] like durvasa ,shaunaka maitreya etc were also present etc why these were not consulted to give decision on Agrapooja ,why only Bheeshma was consulted by Yudhisthira?

Ans: Though Bramha etc were present they were appearing as humans to common men , hence decision would not be acceptable to commons who were present. Munis and rishis were all residents of forests , commoners never had a chance to see them ,hence their views would not be held in respect .Bheeshma was eldest among kuru family and was known among kings and commoners as a respectable ,knowledged and great , his decision would be acceptable and conclusive .

Why did Bheeshma declare Krishna to be worshipped first ? even Parashurama and Vedavyasa were also rupas of Vishnu . they could have been also offered worship first?

Ans. The idea was to create a controversy and give grief to those who did not consider Krishna as God. Offering worship to Parashurama or Vedvyasa could not have met with resistance as these were bramhins. Krishna appeared as Kshatriya and many did not believe he was GOD. To prove that Krishna was supreme lord and avatara of Vishnu , Bheeshma said so.

Shishupala did not like the idea and created a scene by hurling abuses on Krishna . after 100 abuses Krishna killed him through Sudarshana chakra.

Thus Krishna was offered first worship and Rajsooya yagnya was completed  with blessings of Parashurama ,Vedavyasa and Bramha and other devatas exhibiting the insurmountable grandeur of Pandavas  under the guidance of Krishna and Bheemasena.

krishnarpana

Akshouhini

Akshouhini is the term described for chaturanga sena[army].Chaturang sena means one which has ,chariots ,elephants ,horses and soldiers.One akshouhini is

1. 170 sets of 21000 elephants
2. 170 sets of 21000 chariots
3. 610 sets of 65000 Horses
4. 9350 sets of 100000 soldiers Army.

• That makes up 108 crores of  Army in one akshouhini.
• Mahabharath was fought among 18 akhshouhini army
• Kauravas had 11 Akshouhini army
• Pandavas had 7 Akshouhini army
• some people opine akshouhini means around 200000 army
• But this does not seem to be correct as this gives as total army in Mahabharath as roughly 360000 only . But Kauravas had raised army from all over the world .And each country was known to have more than 1 lakh of army .
• Also Srikrishna was 68 years old at the time of mahabharath war. He had 16108 wives . each had borne him 10 sons and a daughter. These themselves make a 1 lakh 61 thousand + their armies ,ie Yadavas + [1000000 Narayani sena ] which fought from Kauravas side.
• Thus akshouhini cannot be just 200000 soldiers.
• Bheemasena alone single handedly killed 6 akshouhini sena in 10 days.
• that is 648 crores in 18 days
• 36 crores in a day[ average]
• 36 crores in 12 hours [ 6 am to 6 pm]
• 3 crores per hour
• around 5 lakhs per minute.
• 85000 in a second [warriors and equal amount of elephants horses]
• What kind of martial arts this could be.
• Fighting non stop 12 hours in a day and on a killing spree
• killing not just ordinary but well trained warriors
• This speaks of immense strength of Bheemasena.
• Bheeshma killed a 1 akshouhini sena in 18 days
• 120 years old man killing so many people in a war speaks a lot about yogic powers and divine nature of these yodhas.
• Indeed entire kshatriya clan was wiped out in the war .
• Most of the people born then as warriors were Devatas .
• Their offspring would be also divine in nature
• But God wanted Kaliyuga to start immediately after Mahabharata .
• These divine offsprings would never let that happen .
• hence he eliminated them in the name of war, left this world for the ordinary , and for kali to take over .
• Pandavas ruled for 35 years.
• Their son Parikshit carried on, and dynasty lasted for 1000 years.

Krishnarpana