Putin, Obama, and the Mahabharata’s Forgotten Lesson

I know many bright, articulate people —capable of real thought, analysis, and writing— who believe that Vladimir Putin’s current underhanded war, or Bashar al-Assad’s bloody suppression of his earliest opponents, are the actions of leaders worthy of their office. Some see these men as righteous defenders of their rights, striving to uphold justice for the good of all; others see them as tyrants of the worst kind. There is nothing new under the sun of the Kali-yuga, which began over 5,000 years ago and whose origins the Mahabharata recounts as the birth of this perpetual contradiction. Some claim, with perfect seriousness, that evil and demons do not exist; others insist on the reverse: that demons are the righteous, and the righteous are the demons. Either way, war and suffering always find their defenders, from the lowest ranks to the highest.

I came across an article online that captures this mood perfectly. It began:

“Putin’s interview on June 4, 2014, made me want to write about this singular figure. What can be said about him that hasn’t been said already? To me, he is rational, composed, and very intelligent. He stands apart from other presidents, who seem restless, bitter, hurried, and driven by who knows what dark forces. I wouldn’t call Putin a saint, but he is certainly not the demon the media—whose ‘professionalism’ we all know—make him out to be. He seems more like the ‘last bulwark’ before chaos.”

One reader replied in the same vein:

“Excellent article. To all those who say, ‘Stop worshiping Putin,’ I say: we don’t worship him—we simply notice he’s no more dishonest than the rest. I don’t know him personally, but I can sense the man of power in him, so I’m not naïve: he’s an oligarch like the others. The difference is that he operates on a sense of shame, and if you want to be admired, you have to do some good for others. So here is Putin: a man of power, not very democratic, a bit authoritarian, but an old-fashioned patriot. Certainly the least bad of all those traitors and shameless liars —Hollande, Obama, Merkel, and the rest.”

When I came across that article, I happened at the time to be reading in the Mahabharata the arguments surrounding the fatal blow delivered by Bhima to Duryodhana —knocking him to the ground and breaking his hips.

That’s when I decided to write the lines you read above. In doing so, to illustrate my point, I searched online for an image. I found the right one without effort: the arm-wrestling match between Obama and Putin. If I’m not mistaken, it was the cover of a major American magazine. The accompanying article was revealing, so I copied its opening paragraph.

This is no coincidence: the web —meaning the planet— is saturated with this kind of rhetoric. And that is precisely the psychological problem Bhima and Krishna faced 5,000 years ago against so-called champions of justice. Among them was an exceptional figure who is far from being listed among the “villains”: Balarama.

It was no small matter to persuade Him not to get involved in the quarrel between the two cousins, especially since he was not present at the battle, which lasted 18 days; therefore, He could not judge impartially the mortal combat between Bhima and Duryodhana. Balarama reluctantly accepted his brother Krishna’s advice to return home to Dvaraka —Krishna would join him later. (But something was not quite right between these two deities, foreshadowing other serious incidents and shifts in history.)

Here is the scene where Krishna implores Balarama: “Dear brother, please, calm yourself. Even if one considers Bhima’s act immoral, see it as giving Duryodhana a taste of his own medicine for all the times he sought to harm the Pandavas.” But Balarama was not made of the wood from which flutes are carved. Considering that Krishna (an expert with the flute) was offering him mere excuses, he once again declared in a thunderous voice: “O members of this assembly, know that from this day forward Bhima will bear the reputation of a warrior who does not respect the rules. The people’s perception of this flaw will cling to him for life. As for Duryodhana, he will gain the eternal renown of a virtuous and heroic warrior! Such is my prophecy.” Having said this, he mounted his chariot and left the place in anger.

Because of this hasty departure, marked by discord, the warriors present were filled with sorrow. Yudhishthira, feeling responsible, bowed his head in shame. It should be remembered that this eldest son of Pandu —Maharaj Yudhishthira— is extremely sensitive to anything concerning dharma and cannot tolerate the slightest breach of it. To such an extent that his enemies see it as his Achilles’ heel and always seek to strike at him in this way, even taking advantage of it with impunity. He himself seems predisposed to this weakness, to the point of almost inviting misfortune upon himself and his brothers. So humble by nature, he is always ready, at the slightest fault of his own or if circumstances turn against him, to relinquish his possessions and return to the forest. It is then that his wife Draupadi, his brother Bhima, and Sri Krishna must use every means to dissuade him, reminding him of his duties as a kshatriya and of his royal position.

Let us go back a little to give an example of this unusual and dangerous behavior. We are at the end of the war, and Duryodhana has lost. He has gone into hiding beneath the waters of a lake, in order to regain his strength and reflect on his fate.

The Pandavas learned of this from hunters who happened to pass near the lake, as they were in the habit of bringing meat to supply the army. Footprints in the sand caught their attention, especially since Bhima had issued a wanted notice, promising a huge reward to anyone who would lead the Pandavas to Duryodhana’s capture. The hunters immediately realized they had found their man.

The Pandavas went there without delay. But to force Duryodhana to come out of hiding and fight, they had to resort to various arguments, even going so far as to humiliate him by calling him a coward. And it worked. It should be noted that they could also have used their prodigious powers to keep him trapped underwater until death, for example by thickening the lake’s water or simply freezing it.

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I wrote this in French in 2014 and at no time have I received any 'likes' from my fellow Hare Krishna devotees 😥 How come?