The Unraveling of Draupadi: A Tale of Disgrace and Divine Grace
Draupadi took birth from fire with all the sacred mantras her father performed, following the rituals. She was not an ordinary human; she was a divine soul.
In the era of the Mahabharata, there was an incident where Draupadi was disrespectfully dragged to the Rajya Sabha. Draupadi’s five Pandava husbands had lost everything in a gambling game with Duryodhana. Duryodhana commanded his brother Dushasana to forcefully drag Draupadi by her hair and uncover her clothes in front of everyone.
(Duryodhana internationally plotted all of this, as Draupadi had once laughed at him when she saw him fall in the water on a pathway he couldn’t see while walking, saying,
“Andhe ka putra andha,” which means, “the blind—son of a blind father.”
Duryodhana then plotted to shame Draupadi in front of others, taking his revenge in the worst way by attempting to make her naked in front of everyone. He called all the kings and gurus, including Bhishma Pitamah, and played the gambling game with the Pandavas. He defeated them, taking ownership of Draupadi at last when they lost everything.)
Dushasana dragged Draupadi by her hair from her room. Crying for help, Draupadi called to her five Pandava husbands, but none stood up to help.
She called to Ganga Putra, saying, “Pitamah, help me from this evil!”—but Bhishma Pitamah did not stand up to help. Even being the son of the great Mata Ganga, he could do nothing but watch as Draupadi was forcefully dragged to the Rajya Sabha.
She then called for her Kul-Guru, Kripacharya Ji, but he also remained quiet.
She raised her voice for Dronacharya Ji; again, he stayed calm like the others.
She called for help from Maharaj Kripacharya Ji, but the king continued to sit in the Rajya Sabha, watching Dushasana drag Draupadi by her hair to uncover her clothes in front of everyone. Everyone stayed calm and made no effort to stand against Duryodhana.
Seeing that nobody was helping her, Draupadi thought she would tackle Dushasana's evil on her own by making a knot with her sari below her teeth. Dushasana held the power of 100 elephants, and Draupadi could not withstand the force of his push. Upon his forcefully pulling the sari, the cloth was dragged from her teeth.
At the end, she remembered an incident she had with her guru, Rishi Durvasa, who was a great saint.
Rishi Durvasa was meditating far out in the middle of the sea. During his intense meditation, the lower cloth of the Rishi floated away with the water. Durvasa Rishi unknowingly continued his meditation.
Draupadi, when she was about to leave the seashore with her friends, saw a piece of cloth floating near the shore. Being a daughter originated from fire and also having an extremely blessed mind, she saw a sage meditating, standing in the middle of the seashore and this cloth for sure belongs to this saint.
She prayed to the sage from inside, saying, “Hey great Guru, in your meditation, the cloth you were wearing floated and came to this side of the sea. Your honor is very important to us. I am going to float this piece of cloth back into the river. Please, with your meditation energy, accept the cloth back to yourself, covering your body.”
Durvasa Rishi received the message in his meditation, as in earlier times, this conveying of messages, known as telepathy, existed, where people would send messages with just the power of their minds. Durvasa Rishi, with his meditation power, saw that he had been uncovered from his clothes while in deep meditation. He wrapped the cloth and gave a blessing to Draupadi. The blessing the Rishi gave, raising his merciful hand towards Draupadi, was:
“Hey Draupadi, I bless you. When there will be a time in your life that you face a harsh situation for uncovering your clothes, the almighty Narayan himself will come to cover you and protect you from this evil act.”
Draupadi then, at last, remembered this blessing from Durvasa Rishi and called for Lord Krishna, “Hey Krishna, come and help me!”
Lord Krishna immediately gave a divine darshan in the Rajya Sabha and miraculously blessed Draupadi, covering her body. Duryodhana kept trying to uncover her sari by pulling it off, and Lord Krishna kept adding sari cloth.
This incident kept going, and the cloths never ended from Draupadi’s body.
This was how Draupadi was protected from being dishonored in the Rajya Sabha by Lord Krishna’s miraculous Vastra Avtar.
Guru Maharaj Sant Trilochan Darshan Das Ji shares a fact that if Draupadi would have called for Lord Krishna’s help earlier, then it would have been impossible for Dushasana to even touch her.
Draupadi first sought protection from her earthly relations. If she had called upon Lord Krishna from the beginning, the dishonorable act of dragging her would have been an impossibility.
So we all shall keep God at our first place in any situation of our lives.