EPILOGUE

1st Wise Man

Kaliyug was born out of the ashes

Of the devastation of Kurukshetra.

Nothing has ended, it’s always a new start.

Do you know of any age when evil did not

Rear its ugly head or sin did not prevail?

The same greed, the same lust, the same power madness,

That’s the Mahabharat, the tale of life and death.

The story of the daily life of humankind.

2nd Wise Man:

And sure enough, Kurukshetra did not

Disappear with the fall of the Kauravas.

As Krishna had augured, millions of Duryodhans

Have been born throughout the dark corridors

Of Kaliyug, and millions are striding

The world even now, and will continue

Till eternity to inflict distress,

To crush the weak, the poor, the destitute.

3rd Wise Man:

Man is daily waging his own Mahabharat

As he is in perpetual conflict with himself.

His mind and his heart are locked in constant combat.

Man’s ego is bringing him to his downfall.

Man is ever building his own Kurukshetra

Where he is devising his own weapons

Of stress and tension and self-destruction.

Man is engulfed in a sea of confusion.

1st Wise Man:

The world is falling apart, shattered to pieces.

Of all the marvels that God has created

Man is the only specimen that’s ardently

Pursuing the fine art of self-destruction.

No creature can outdo him in this exercise.

Man is ever busy constructing, and

Having constructed, is very eager

To burn whatever he has so fondly built.

2nd Wise Man

The unprecedented violence and destruction,

The growing chaos that is taking mankind

Closer and closer to doomsday and extinction,

Rabid materialism, the pursuit of wealth

Are all wrecking and engulfing humanity.

Man has acquired the false perception that progress

Can only be measured by the yardstick of wealth.

All is false! All is sham! All is make-believe!

3rd Wise Man:

Man is engaged in an eternal quest

For an elusive something which he hopes

Will bring him full happiness, infinite bliss.

Greed and the spirit of acquisitiveness

And hunger for power have resulted

In great misery for the common people

And violence and chaos throughout the globe.

Which way should we turn? Whither is the light?

1st Wise Man:

Corruption fills the air, values thrown to dogs;

Worms of anger and greed gnaw at society

Fraud and deceit have become a way of life.

Hatred, hypocrisy, lust for power,

Vanity and double-standards are guiding

Men’s actions, leading them to doom and destruction.

Leaders are false, followers are stupid.

Where will it all end, O God, when will it end?

2nd Wise Man:

Abominable crimes are perpetrated,

Each new day that God gives takes its heavy toll

Of rapes, drugs trafficking, burglaries and assaults.

3rd Wise Man:

War, violence, destruction, have been let loose

Man has lost his balance, and humanity

Has vanished. Man has become his own enemy.

1st Wise Man:

The world has been getting more than its share

Of Krishna’s predictions for Kaliyug.

But where is Krishna? Whither has he gone?

2nd Wise Man:

O Krishna, where are you? When will you come?

3rd Wise Man:

You had saved the honour of Draupadi once.

Why have you deserted the other Draupadis

Who are being today brutally raped

And atrociously murdered by savage beasts?

1st Wise Man:

What has happened to your great undertaking

And to your vow to come down to the earth

Whenever there’s a decline in the pursuit

Of dharma and a rise in godlessness?

2nd Wise Man:

You had given your solemn word, O Krishna,

To come in person to deliver the just

And the pious and to annihilate

The perverse, the vile and refractory

And to restore the principles of dharma.

3rd Wise Man:

The world needs you, O Krishna, where are you?

(Blackout. Thunder and lighting. Sound of strong winds and rain. when the light is on, Krishna is on the stage)

Krishna:

Seek and you shall find, look and you shall see.

I’ve always been with you, never have I left,

Never have I forsaken, or deserted.

It’s rather humankind that has forgotten me

Lured by an ardent urge for materialism.

The violence, the hatred, the atrocities

That reign in the world today are the result

Of man’s own pursuit of false values and paths.

But man need not despair, for Kaliyug

Is also an age of enlightenment.

Suffering, distress and pain will spur man to seek

The answers deep down his heart and he’ll mend his ways.

1st Wise Man:

What kind of enlightenment is this, O Krishna

When man is everywhere in utter darkness

And constructing the weapons of his own doom?

Krishna

Man’s ever striving to expand the scope of life.

He is exploring the unknown, and reaching

Further and further into the infinite

Through his flights around the earth and in outer space,

As also by plumbing the depths of the seas.

He’s developing his mind and making

Remarkable progress and inventions.

But, in the process, he’s also indulging

In mass murder, violence and destruction.

Man, however, has a different mission,

He has a divine destiny to fulfil.

Only a few know the goal of their existence,

The average life is spent in caring

For the needs and pleasures of the body,

In fulfilling responsibilities

Set by the exigencies of the moment.

The average man takes birth, lives and dies

Knowing not whence he came, why he is here,

Ignorant of whither he is heading.

Religious history has left a legacy

Of intolerance, prejudice and bloodshed.

But this is the work of misguided men

Who have deviated and left the true path.

The so-called men of religion are themselves

Responsible for this mess and confusion

In which the great universe has been plunged.

Teachers, political, social, religious

And other leaders have miserably failed

In providing the right sort of leadership.

2nd Wise Man:

What must be done, O Krishna, in order to

Bring man back on the road to salvation

And to save him from total damnation?

Krishna:

All religions urgently need to unite

In order to check the downward slide in values

So that a new and better world may emerge.

The communalized and commercialized

Society needs to change its direction

Through the transformation of individuals

And the inculcation of the true values

That will usher a just social order,

Honest governance and value-based life.

True spirituality is of the soul

And it has no labels, clichés or creeds,

It consists of righteousness, peace and love;

Duryodhan badly lacked these qualities.

These values help one to rise above narrow

Religious and communal distinctions,

And in communion with me, man can be

Spiritually empowered to build a world

Where peace, justice and liberty will prevail.

3rd Wise Man:

O Krishna, man still does not find happiness

Despite great advancement in the world today. Why?

Krishna:

Because people are in the frenzied pursuit

Of material success by any means.

But they should know that the really successful

Man is the one who loves, cares and shares the most.

The forces of good outnumber those of evil

But they are disorganised and disunited.

Man badly requires a common target

A common agenda for a better world.

Man has the ability both to survive

And to annihilate himself and his kind.

The decision is his, the choice too is his.

1st Wise Man

Tell us, O Krishna who exactly are you?

Krishna:

I am the bright rays of the rising sun

I am every drop of water that gives life

I am the breeze, I am all the seasons,

I am the fragrant perfume of the flower

I am the smile of the innocent baby,

I am the moon and the stars, I am the world.

I have no beginning, nor do I end

I carry all the sufferings of the world

I die with every victim who falls in war

Or is violently assassinated

It’s me they hurt each time they rape, kill or plunder.

I’m the dagger that stabs and the bullet that kills.

I’m the gash that it makes, I’m the blood that oozes.

All life comes from me, all life returns to me

I am the ocean to which all the rivers

Of humanity’s souls flow and become one.

I Am the Ultimate, I am the Supreme

I am the Absolute, I am Infinite.