There are many instances in Mahabharata of surrender to the will of the Lord. The disrobing of the chaste queen – Draupadi is one the best instances where we can learn lessons on what is surrender; where and how ego subtly overtakes us and why the process of surrender remains unsuccessful for most of us. Draupadi was a great devotee of Sri Krishna and he called her his sister. Even then, there have been times when ego and hesitation had overtaken Draupadi and she was corrected and set on the path of surrender and bhakti by her beloved brother Sri Krishna.
The Pandavas and Kauravas were cousins and always enemies. Duryodhana of Kauravas knew of the weakness of Yudhisthira of Pandavas for gambling. He set up his maternal uncle Shakuni to load the dice against Yudhisthira so that the dice would dance to his whims. Then he invited Yudhisthira for a game of dice. Yudhisthira went for the game much against the wishes of his brothers and wife. The game was held in the official court of King Dhritarashtra – the father of Duryodhana. All the minsters, teachers and elders were also present. Shakuni played the loaded dice expertly and Yudhisthira began to lose. He lost his wealth, his kingdom, his brothers and even himself. He was now a pauper and a slave. He had nothing more to lose. Duryodhana cunningly reminded him that his wife Draupadi was still a free woman. If he wagered her and won – all that was lost would be returned to him. Yudhisthira accepted the bet and lost it.
Duryodhana asked Vidur, his uncle and chief minister to order Draupadi to join the group of maid servants. Vidur refused to do it. So a guard was sent to escort Draupadi to the court. She refused saying that she was in her menstrual cycle and it was inauspicious for her to appear in the court before her elders. Duryodhana then ordered his brother Dushasan to bring Draupadi to the court and if necessary drag her by the hair. Dushasan dragged Draupadi to the court, taunting her with all the happenings of her husband’s losses in court. The elders in the court like Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and others were angry and fumed. But they did not have courage to intervene and put an end to the disgraceful behaviour of Duryodhana. The Pandava brothers Bhima and Arjun objected vociferously but were asked to shut up as they were slaves and slaves had no right to any opinions.
Duryodhana asked Draupadi to sit on his thigh. He was focussed on dishonouring her. He called her a whore as she had five husbands. Such a woman had no honour and hence it was not inappropriate if she was asked to disrobe and stand naked in front of all. The Kauravas wanted to demean the Pandavas by insulting their wife in the worst possible manner. Duryodhana ordered Dushasan to strip off Draupadi’s clothes. Dushasan grabbed the upper edge of the garment that was wrapped around her waist and gave it a tug. The garment loosened and he began to pull it off her. Draupadi held on the garment with both the hands and called out to Sri Krishna. She addressed him as Dwarkadeesh- meaning the King of Dwarka which was very far away from where she was then. As she battled helplessly to hold on to the cloth protecting her body, she raised one hand in surrender and prayed to the Lord and held on to cloth with the other. When the strength of her tormentor proved too much, she raised both hands in surrender and called out to Sri Krishna as Antaryami – meaning one who resides within the self. The grace of the Lord manifested immediately as Draupadi had let go her ego and raised both her hands in surrender. She had invoked the Lord as one who was within showing no distance between her and Him.
Miraculously the cloth extended and Dushasan pulled at it for hours until he collapsed in exhaustion next to a mountain of cloth that he had pulled off her body. Endless quantity of divine cloth kept covering her body till he let the cloth go and Draupadi was spared further humiliation and her modesty was protected. Draupadi then gave one of the best monologues in Indian mythology and her husbands swore vengeance on the Kauravas. Draupadi and the Pandavas had to undergo their karma but due to Draupadi’s wholehearted surrender, she was protected by the Lord. The lesson for us to learn here is that we must surrender totally to the Lord without any trace of ego or self and He manifests immediately and does what is essential to protect and safeguard us.
