Upa-Parva:
(95) Svargarohana------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECTION 1
ॐ Having bowed down into Narayana, and to Nara, the foremost of men, as
also to the goddess Sarasvati, should the word "Jaya" be uttered.
Janamejaya said, "Having attained to Heaven, what regions were
respectively attained by my grandsires of old, viz., the Pandavas and the
sons of Dhritarashtra? I desire to hear this. I think that thou art
conversant with everything, having been taught by the great Rishi Vyasa
of wonderful feats.
Vaishampayana said, "Listen now to what thy grandsires, Yudhishthira and
others, did after having attained to Heaven, that place of the deities.
Arrived at Heaven, king Yudhishthira the just, beheld Duryodhana endued
with prosperity and seated on an excellent seat. He blazed with
effulgence like the sun and wore all those signs of glory which belong to
heroes. And he was in the company of many deities of blazing effulgence
and of Sadhyas of righteous deeds. Yudhishthira, beholding Duryodhana and
his prosperity, became suddenly filled with rage and turned back from the
sight.
"He loudly addressed his companions, saying, I do not desire to share
regions of felicity with Duryodhana who was stained by cupidity and
possessed of little foresight. It was for him that friends, and kinsmen,
over the whole Earth were slaughtered by us whom he had afflicted greatly
in the deep forest. It was for him that the virtuous princess of Pancala,
Draupadi of faultless features, our wife, was dragged into the midst of
the assembly before all our seniors. Ye gods, I have no desire to even
behold Suyodhana. I wish to go there where my brothers are.
"Narada, smiling, told him, It should not be so, O king of kings. While
residing in Heaven, all enmities cease. O mighty-armed Yudhishthira, do
not say so about king Duryodhana. Hear my words. Here is king Duryodhana.
He is worshipped with the gods by those righteous men and those foremost
of kings who are now denizens of Heaven. By causing his body to be poured
as a libation on the fire of battle, he has obtained the end that
consists in attainment of the region for heroes. You and your brothers,
who were veritable gods on Earth, were always persecuted by this one. Yet
through his observance of Kshatriya practices he has attained to this
region. This lord of Earth was not terrified in a situation fraught with
terror.
"O son, thou shouldst not bear in mind the woes inflicted on thee on
account of the match at dice. It behoveth thee not to remember the
afflictions of Draupadi. It behoveth thee not to remember the other woes
which were yours in consequence of the acts of your kinsmen,the woes,
viz., that were due to battle or to other situations. Do thou meet
Duryodhana now according to the ordinances of polite intercourse. This is
Heaven, O lord of men. There can be no enmities here.
"Though thus addressed by Narada, the Kuru king Yudhishthira, endued with
great intelligence, enquired about his brothers and said, If these
eternal regions reserved for heroes be Duryodhanas, that unrighteous and
sinful wight, that man who was the destroyer of friends and of the whole
world, that man for whose sake the entire Earth was devastated with all
her horses and elephants and human beings, that wight for whose sake we
were burnt with wrath in thinking of how best we might remedy our wrongs,
I desire to see what regions have been attained by those high-souled
heroes, my brothers of high vows, steady achievers of promises, truthful
in speech, and distinguished for courage. The high-souled Karna, the son
of Kunti, incapable of being baffled in battle, Dhrishtadyumna, Satyaki,
the sons of Dhrishtadyumna and those other Kshatriyas who met with death
in the observance of Kshatriya practices, where are those lords of Earth,
O Brahmana? I do not see them here, O Narada. I desire to see, O Narada,
Virata and Drupada and the other great Kshatriyas headed by Dhrishtaketu,
as also Shikhandi, the Pancala prince, the sons of Draupadi, and
Abhimanyu, irresistible in battle.
