Aṃśa and Aṃśī: The Heroes Return to Their Source

An aṃśa is a portion, and the aṃśī is the whole from which that portion comes. The Mahābhārata teaches that its great warriors were aṃśas of devas and other great powers who had come down to earth. This teaching is given by Sauti (Ugraśravā, the storyteller), with Vyāsa’s approval, in the last chapter of the Svargārohaṇa Parva, the final book of the Mahābhārata.

When their prārabdha karma (the karma that had brought them into this life) was used up, those who were fit merged back into their aṃśī, their source. But Sauti is careful to teach that not every being merges in this way. If all souls returned to their source when their deeds were done, everyone would be liberated at once and saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) would come to an end. The rules of scripture about what to do and what not to do would lose their meaning, and deeds done would be wasted while deeds not done would bear fruit. So only the fit return to their origin; the others rise step by step.

Janamejaya’s Question

King Janamejaya had heard how each hero, being a portion of some deity, reached his own place in svarga. Then a doubt arose in him. Would these portions now live on separately, like trees grown from scattered branches, each with its own continuing saṃsāra? Or did they dissolve back into their sources?

If they lived on as separate souls in bodies, then without tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the truth) their round of births could not be cut, and they would be like ordinary beings, always bound. But if they simply dissolved into their sources, what would happen to the karma they had gathered in their human lives, and how would it be worked out? He put this question to Vyāsa, and Vyāsa allowed Sauti to answer.

The Teaching: Not All Merge

Sauti praised the question as well asked and revealed the hidden truth. It cannot be said that every being dissolves into its own source when its karma ends. If that were so, every creature whose prārabdha ended would be freed, all would be liberated, and saṃsāra would have a beginning and an end. Then what had been done would be destroyed and what had not been done would bear fruit, and the rules of scripture would have no meaning.

So only some, who are fit for it, reach their source when the deeds that carried them to svarga are finished. The others reach svarga but in time fall from it again. They rise instead by stages, reaching higher and higher states, until at last, together with Brahmā, they gain release. This is exactly why yajña (fire offering), dāna (giving), tapas (spiritual discipline) and the other prescribed works remain duties to be done: through them the state of the devas is won.

Where Each Hero Went

Vyāsa, who has divine sight, had revealed to the devas, and Sauti now revealed to the king, which source each of the great ones entered when his work was done:

  • Bhīṣma, of great tejas (radiance), entered among the Vasus, of whom eight are now seen.
  • Droṇa entered Bṛhaspati, the foremost of the Āṅgirasas.
  • Kṛtavarmā, son of Hṛdika, entered the hosts of the Maruts.
  • Pradyumna merged, as before, into Sanatkumāra.
  • Dhṛtarāṣṭra, with his glorious queen Gāndhārī, reached the lokas (worlds) of Kubera, which are hard to reach.
  • Pāṇḍu, with his two wives Kuntī and Mādrī, reached the palace of Mahendra (Indra).
  • Many kings and princes, namely Virāṭa, Drupada, Dhṛṣṭaketu, Niśaṭha, Akrūra, Sāmba, Bhānu, Kampa, Vidūratha, Bhūriśravas, Śala, Bhūri, Ugrasena, Vasudeva, and Uttara with his brother Śaṅkha, all reached the Viśvedevas.
  • Abhimanyu, who was Varcas the son of Candra, fought as no other man could and fulfilled the dharma of a kṣatriya (warrior). He merged again into Candra.
  • Karṇa, after his death, reached Sūrya.
  • Śakuni entered Dvāpara; Dhṛṣṭadyumna entered Agni.
  • The mighty sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, purified by the weapons that killed them, reached svarga.
  • Vidura and King Yudhiṣṭhira entered Dharma himself.
  • Balarāma, who is Ananta, went down to Rasātala (the lower world) at Brahmā’s command, where by the power of yoga he bears the earth.
  • Vāsudeva (Śrī Kṛṣṇa), the portion of the eternal Nārāyaṇa, the Deva of devas, finished his work and merged once more into his own svarūpa (true form).

The sixteen thousand wives of Vāsudeva in time entered the Sarasvatī river, gave up their bodies and rose to svarga. Later they became apsarās and joined Vāsudeva again. The mighty Ghaṭotkaca and the other heroes killed in the great war reached the devas and the yakṣas. Duryodhana’s allies, known as rākṣasas, reached by stages the lokas of Mahendra, Kubera and Varuṇa.

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 4–5