Chapter 31 of 35

When Does God Perform a Miracle

1 part·2:47·Hindi audio · English subtitles

Chapter 31 of 35 — a single teaching, 3 min in total.

Play

2:47

Background

Miracles, and how rarely the epic uses them.

For a text of its scale the Mahabharat is sparing with divine rescue. People die who could have been saved, and the war is not prevented by anyone who could plainly have prevented it. Krishna's presence is constant and his intervention is almost entirely persuasion.

The famous exception is Draupadi in the assembly, and it is worth noticing what it is an exception to: the room is full of men with the standing to stop what is happening, and none of them does. The epic reserves its one great intervention for the moment human dharma has completely failed.

Background on where this theme sits in the Mahabharat — not a summary of the teachings above.

Chapter 31 of 35

When Does God Perform a Miracle

1 part·2:47·Hindi audio · English subtitles

Chapter 31 of 35 — a single teaching, 3 min in total.

Play

2:47

When Does God Perform a Miracle

Background

Miracles, and how rarely the epic uses them.

For a text of its scale the Mahabharat is sparing with divine rescue. People die who could have been saved, and the war is not prevented by anyone who could plainly have prevented it. Krishna's presence is constant and his intervention is almost entirely persuasion.

The famous exception is Draupadi in the assembly, and it is worth noticing what it is an exception to: the room is full of men with the standing to stop what is happening, and none of them does. The epic reserves its one great intervention for the moment human dharma has completely failed.

Background on where this theme sits in the Mahabharat — not a summary of the teachings above.