Mahāprasthāna
Mahāprasthāna · mahā-prasthāna, “the great departure”
Mahāprasthāna means “the Great Departure”. It is a sacred practice in which those who have finished all their appointed duties, or who face sorrows they can no longer bear, give up every possession and attachment and set out, most often on a journey to the north, to lay down the body and reach the higher worlds.
It is renunciation taken to its final form. It is not self-destruction born of despair, but a deliberate letting go of the body, in keeping with dharma (right order), once its purpose in the world is fulfilled. The Mahābhārata sets out this practice through the example of the Pāṇḍavas, who undertook it after the destruction of the Vṛshṇis (Kṛshṇa’s clan) and the departure of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa from the world.
The Meaning of the Great Departure
The Mahā Prasthānika Parva, the seventeenth book of the Mahābhārata, opens by stating the principle behind mahāprasthāna. For those whose duties are done, and for those overwhelmed by unbearable sorrow, laying down the body by such means as the great journey is a fitting path.
The word prasthāna here means leaving one’s home in order to reach the higher world. Pra-vrajana means going forth toward death after casting away every feeling of “mine”. It is undertaken dharma-kāmyayā, out of the wish to fulfil dharma, and never out of agitation or impatience.
When Yudhishṭhira resolved on it, he told Arjuna that Kāla, Time, brings all beings to their ripening. He said he now willingly accepted the noose of Kāla and wished to give up the body.
The Proper Order of Steps
The Pāṇḍavas’ departure shows the ideal order of the rite:
- Settling worldly affairs. The kingdom is made secure through rightful heirs, Parīkshit at Hastināpura and Vajra at Indraprastha, and those who depend on the renouncers are provided for.
- Honouring the departed and giving gifts. The funeral rites owed to those who have died are carried out, and gifts are made to the brāhmaṇas and ṛshis.
- Outer renunciation. Ornaments and royal clothes are cast off, and garments of tree bark are put on.
- Letting go of the household fires. The closing utsarga-ishṭi (the rite of release) is performed according to the śāstras (sacred texts), and then the sacred fires are reverently cast into the waters.
- Setting out. Only then do the renouncers set out, fasting, with minds fixed in yoga, having taken up the dharma of the saṃnyāsin (one who has renounced the world).
The Journey and the Testing of Attachment
The great departure is also a journey of purification, in which every lingering fault and attachment falls away.
On the road to the east, Arjuna must give up even Gāṇḍīva, his divine bow, at the command of Agni. Attachment to such a treasure is itself a bond that must be loosened.
On the road to the north, as the travellers cross the Himavat (Himālaya) and draw near to Meru, the companions fall to the earth one by one as their yoga weakens. For each, Yudhishṭhira names the single fault that keeps them from finishing the climb in the body:
- Partiality
- Pride in wisdom
- Pride in beauty
- Pride in valour, together with a broken vow
- Greed for food, and disregard of others
The mahāprasthāna shows that even the most virtuous carry subtle flaws, and that reaching the goal in one’s own body is kept for the one whose dharma is without flaw. Yudhishṭhira alone, refusing to abandon even a devoted dog, completes the journey and is taken up in his human body. This is the highest fruit of the great departure rightly performed.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapter 1
- Mahābhārata, Mahā Prasthānika Parva, Chapters 2–3