Passage 10

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

In the same way, to laugh too one must have a fitness. Draupadī had that fitness. She lived her life by words of Satya. She dedicated her life to the practice of Dharma. Once Durvāsa came into the forest with a great many disciples. He came to put the Pāṇḍavas to shame. However great a ṛṣi a man may be, no one can do anything to those who are Dharma embodied. Durvāsa came with thousands of disciples. They had to be given food. "What are we to do? I have fed all those thousands upon thousands of people; and now I am left unable to give alms to a few," he grieved. Draupadī: "We need not grieve at all. My lord, there is the Friend in need, there is the Protector of the helpless. There is the Lord who protects us with presence of mind. Why grieve any more? We must pray to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa! At this time we have no one but You. You alone must protect us. Durvāsa is a man of great anger. My husbands must not fall victim to his anger. It does not matter even if I fall victim." She sacrificed her own self-interest. She begged Him to protect them. That very moment Kṛṣṇa appeared. As if He had set out long before and come, He tells Draupadī, "Ever since you came to the forest I have wanted to see you." He went on talking like an ordinary man. He went on putting on a new act. Draupadī, I am very hungry. "We cannot even give food to Durvāsa. Where shall I serve You food? And You Yourself come and say You want food. 'You who hold the whole cosmos in Your belly: is it fit to set food and dainties before You?' Where would we bring it from? We have been thrown into the forests. We are living on roots and tubers. Kṛṣṇa, You Yourself tell me, and I will surely give it. I will give You even fruit," she said. "Draupadī, bring the vessel you cooked in this morning. See whether anything is left over," He said. Whatever work Draupadī did, she did it spotlessly. When she cleaned the vessels they were spotless. The house was always spotless as a mirror. "Kṛṣṇa! Do You not know? I have scrubbed the vessels well and put them away. I have not left anything at all," she said. "Bring it," He said. She bowed to Kṛṣṇa's command. To do whatever she was told was Draupadī's nature. Kṛṣṇa turned the vessel this way and that; at the neck, behind the vessel, a leaf of greens was stuck. She had cooked leafy greens, poor woman. He told her to put that in. She put it in, saying, "Eat it, Kṛṣṇa," poor woman. "Akṣayam!" He said. With that Kṛṣṇa's stomach was filled.