The Greatness of the Mahabharata
6m 33s
“Whatever is here, may be found elsewhere; what is not cannot be found anywhere else”
Join Murali Venkatrao as he narrates this great epic and transports you to the ancient land of India; be inspired and moved by characters who are strangely familiar and deeply relatable; sing in joy as Krishna guides the Pandavas to eventual victory. And, explore the secret meaning of the Mahabharata which serves as a guidepost to a life filled with devotion and joy.
Mahabharata is the longest epic in the world (7 times longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey combined), within which the famous Bhagavadgita is but a small chapter. It is both a chronicle of morality and fantastic narrative of myth, magic, great heroes, appalling villains, austere rishis and beautiful princesses. It is set in a higher age when men communed with astral beings, evil was rampant, and God himself walked the earth in human form as Sri Krishna. The throne of the great Kuru empire is disputed, claimed by cousins: the 5 pandavas and 100 kauravas. The evil kauravas, led by the greedy Duryodhana, usurp the throne; the pandavas, led by the mighty Arjuna, are reluctantly drawn to fight an apocalyptic battle. Filled with unforgettable characters who are impossibly strong yet deeply flawed, it is a story of the 4 basic human drives: dharma (righteousness), artha (possessions), kama (desire) and moksha (liberation).
But there is more, much more. Carefully encoded in the Mahabharata is hidden layer of meaning. Veda Vyasa, the author of the epic, has given us clues through mysterious verses known as vyasa kutas (“knots of Vyasa”); the meaning emerges when these clues are used to decode the names of the various characters by following their Sanskrit roots.