Mystery of Mysteries🔗

In the grand Hindu epic Mahabharata, the Pandava king Yudhishtra was asked by a demigod: what is the greatest mystery in this world?

Each of Yudhishtra's four brothers were stopped from drinking the waters of a pond that this demigod ruled, until they answered his questions.

Arrogant about their own powers, these princes defied the demigod, started drinking the water of the pond and fell down dead.

When Yudhishtra went looking for his brothers and found them all lying dead on the shores of this pond, the demigod appeared in front of him, and told him to answer his questions first before he drank his water.

Yudhishtra was known for his adherence to righteousness and he agreed to answer the questions posed by the demigod who owned the pond.

The question was: what is the greatest mystery in this world?

Yudhishtra replied, 'The greatest mystery and the greatest wonder in life, as I have seen in my experience is this: thousands of people die everyday, and go to the abode of Yama (God of Death); yet, we people who are living here believe that we are going to live forever!'

The demigod, who was Yama himself in disguise, and in fact the father of Yudhishtra, was pleased with the sagacious response.

He resurrected all the four brothers.

No one believes that he or she is going to die. People live with the idea that they will never encounter death. We always think that someone else can meet with an accident and die, but not us.

A lady was once telling her friend how egoistic her husband was. Her friend asked, 'Why do you say so? What did he do?' The lady replied exasperatedly, 'Instead of saying, 'When I die', he says 'If I die'!

This vital question about the greatest mystery of life elicits different answers from different people. Some say that birth is the biggest mystery, while others say it is death.

My very own experience of death matches the opinions of the rishis, and with the opinions of many who have had near-death experiences (NDE's). Death is the most mysterious of mysteries.