--Thread on Curses in the Mahābhārata--

The mahābhārata is an upāsaṇa śāstra. Every word of the ithihāsa has an inner meaning, even if the description is as commonplace that of mere foliage or flowers or environment.+

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The udyoga parva clarifies that the battle is upāsaṇa, the self is Yudhishthira, bhīma is meditation on Brahman, arjuna is the mind, nakula and sahādeva are the sama- damādi guṇās, Duryodhana is the body, Karna is lust or Kāma..+

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One needs to read the text carefully to glean such meanings. Thus, let us focus on one – curses. The war is a precursor to and outcome of curses on participants by others. Knowing that the war is upāsaṇa, the curses are known to have inner meanings +

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Thus, in this thread, I will explain the unique, inner meanings of some famous curses in the Mbh - Curses on Pandu, Karna, Arjuna, Ashvattama and even Krishna, the Lord himself.+

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The first curse is that of Kindama Muni on Pandu. Attached screenshot provides – 1) Details of link to general eng translation of section for searches, 2) superficial English translation of the curse, 3) the inner (Adhyātma) meaning of the curse.+

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The next curse is that of Parashurama on Karna. Karna signifies lust/desire as per Udyoga Parva. That is why he mainly had enmity with Arjuna who symbolized mind meditating on Brahman (Krishna). Karna was allied with Duryodhana who signifies the body.+

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Karna was also cursed by a Brahmana for inadvertent go-hatya. The inner meanings of that curse are covered in the screenshot+

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The next curse is that of Urvashi who cursed Arjuna for rejecting her advances. Though Arjuna mainly signifies the meditating mind throughout the work, here, in the context of the curse, he signifies the self that is the meditator+

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Curse of Krishna on Ashvattama. Latter signifies the senses, when empowered by mind (rudra), destroyed punya-phalas of bhakti yoga (sons of Pandavas) by indulging in sense objects. Krishna thus restrains the senses for the self by cursing Ashvattama+

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Finally, curse of Gandhari on Krishna. This one is a bit complicated to understand, as it primarily describes the jivatma in its' inner meaning, referring to the Lord as antaryAmin.+

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Thus, each and every curse in the Mahābhārata has deep meanings//

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