ADVENTURES IN THE UNDERWORLD

It is their adventures in the Underworld that tell us a great deal of its being the hiding place of abnormally formed people, derelicts, etc., which was certainly a hell they feared.

Its abode as the place of evil people is certainly proved by their wanderings and why hell became the place everyone feared. The Egyptians called it the Tuat, the Hebrew, Geshianna, which is also the name of its evil Queen paralleling Sumerian literature. What saddened the Pandavas was that these evil seeds now walked upon the earth and would effect their people.

The Pandavas entered through the "Vardhamana Gate," perhaps the opening dug out by the gods that reached to the Underworld from Egypt; perhaps where the disc went in and out. All our fantasies of netherworlds, of gnomes and monsters, seems to stem from here.

Traveling northward with them was their royal entourage who went faithfully with them - fourteen men with their wives who traveled on "swift carts" which the text implies were not driven by animals.

When it was quickly learned Enlil and his family were abdicated the people of his land, thrown in a panic, followed him.

How astute is the following as the people spoke.

"This dynasty is not secure, not are we. nor are our houses, if the evil Duiyodhana, abetted by Saubala, Kama, and Duhsasana. aspires to the kingdom! If there be no dynasty, no morality, no Law. how can there be happiness, with that ruffian, abetted by ruffians, pretending to the kingdom? Duiyodhana hates his betters, he abandons both morality and his kinsmen, he is greedy and arrogant, mean and by nature cruel.

 

This earth is not whole as long as Duiyodhana is king! We all better go where the Pandax'as are going. They are compassionate, of great spirit, masters of their senses as well as their enemies, modest and famous, and bent upon the practice of the Law."

The earth was definitely not whole as this outlook attests.

They went on in even more revealing passages that self is more stronger than religion and the latter is for those who are not "masters of their senses,"

"one should cultivate those whose birth, knowledge, and action are all three pure. For union with them is more important even than the Scriptures. Even if we do not perform the rites, we may yet find merit with the good whose habits are meritorious, just as we find evil by cultivating the wicked.

 

By seeing, touching, conversing, and sitting with the wicked, law-abiding people lower themselves and do not succeed.

 

By consorting with the lowly a man's insight declines, by associating wilh the middling il becomes best by meeting with, the best. The qualities that are hailed in the world as sources of Law, Profit, and Pleasure, which result from proper practice in the world and are set forth in the Veda and approved by the educated, all those good qualities are found in all of you, together and separately. We wish to dwell amidst the virtuous, as we wish for our well-being."

Enlil's reply to his people was very poignant,

"Fortunate are we that the subjects led by the brahmins, being moved by their love and compassion, speak of our qualities, although we lack them. Tlxerefore, I and my brothers request all of you: do not, out of love and compassion for us, make matters worse. Bhisma the grandfather, the king. Vidura, and my mother, as well as my friends in general, live here in the City of the Elephant. (Devasena and some of her brothers held captive. - A.N.)

 

If you have our well-being at heart, you must, ail of you, protect them wilh your best effort, for they are anguished by grief and sorrow. You have come far, pray return now, we swear that we shall meet again. And turn your loving thoughts to my kinsmen, whom I entrust to you. For that is the task that lies highest in my heart, and with that you will content me fully aid pay me homage. "

Did you ever see the God of the Bible speak with such familial sympathy and love as Enlil?

The people understood, but brahmin "out of love" followed with fires, some without their "pupils and kinsmen. "

But the following morning Enlil turned them back,

"Robbed of all our wealth, robbed of our kingdom, robbed of our fortune, we shall now in our sorrow go into the forest and live on fruit, roots, and meat. The wilderness is full of danger and teeming with beasts of prey and snakes. There will certainly, I think, be great hardship for you there. The hardship of brahmins oppresses even the Gods, how much more then me! Turn back, brahmins, if you so please!"

It was only with much persistence that he was able to turn them away.

A wise Brahmin, Saunaka, approaches him and the two speak for awhile, reflecting on the events, fearful that the people of the earth would experience sporadic flows of flowering and decay and Sanuaka says so profoundly and, oh so true that,

"sex, food and folly always comes when extinction is near. Alas, great woe! This world has been overturned; the wicked delight in what frightens off the good.

 

For the sake of his penis and his belly, the fool lays out a rich repast, being beset by confusion and passion and swayed by the objects of the senses. Even the man who is alert to them is seduced by his rapacious senses, as an unconscious driver by vicious, bolting horses. When the six senses each get hold of their objects, then the mind's plan, which has grown from a prior intention, becomes clear through them.

 

When a person's mind is directed toward the objects of all the senses, desire springs up in him, and he acts toward those objects. Then, pierced by desire-whose strength is the intention - with the arrows of sense objects, he falls into the fire of greed, as the moth falls because of its desire for light.

 

At last, crazed by his sports and meals, he drowns in the maw of madness and does not know himself.

 

Thus, in the runaround, he falls here into womb after womb, spun around like a wheel by ignorance karman, and thirst. He rolls about in creatures, from Brahma down to a blade of grass, born over and over again, in water, on land, or in the air."

I can think of no better reflection of man's predicament today.

This certainly reflects the world situation where erotism and food are horns on the same evil goat, all affecting the senses. He will pursue his sports and erotism before he will that which will keep him alive until the "wheel of ignorance" comes down upon him. If there is one immutable fact in this world, when a people are in extinction, erotism is uppermost in their minds for this is nature's paramount way to end the lineages through overpopulation but also, more profoundly, through disease and the gestation of corrupt genetic flesh.

Procreation, not erotism, is the key to life that is viable. The pattern through the ages is always the same, each germ plasm worse than the one before until it all comes down upon itself, with perpetual death lining the spokes of the great wheel. From womb to womb the misery goes on until it just ends in a huge catastrophe.

Life would be hard for the Pandavas for they had many enemies in the Underworld. The "Lord Pandavas," the "Travelers of the Sky," arrived to try and assist them, "ablaze like a flowing fire."

Either they were officers of theirs, or their fathers had managed to briefly reach them only to be thwarted in the attempt. They promised to provide food for twelve years. Do we have the manna here?

The God told them,

"the four kinds of food-fruit, roots, viands, and greens that are prepared in your kitchen - will be inexhaustible for you; and so shall be all manner of riches."

He then disappeared. Another God, Kannteya, "rose from the Water, "and showed Draupadi how to prepare the food. It was apparently dehydrated food of some sort as the food, once cooked, "multiplied" and "grew to be inexhaustible."

They fed their followers first then the brothers and Draupadi.

Meanwhile, Indra still brooded over his wisdom in taking over the two earths by having provoked the Pandavas, asking Vidura,

"So declare what is right for them and forme. " He wanted to subdue the people, yet make them think the Pandavas were still in command saying, "in this pass, tell, Vidura what is our task? How may the town folk be loyal lo us lest they uproot us with roots and all? Nor do I wish them to perish instead!"

 

Vidura, replied, "King, rooted in Law is man's threefold goal, and they say this kingdom is rooted in Law. King living by Law as much as you can, protect all your sorts and the sons of Kunti.

 

Let Pandu's sons regain it all what you yourself took beyond your deserts, for this is the sovereign Law: that a king be content with his awn and not covet another's. They whose champion the left-handed archer is whose bow is Gandiva unique in the world, whose champion the big-armed Bhima is - what is in the world beyond their reach?"

This answers why we see a great deal of confusion in Egypt and the Bible between the Gods for at this time they masked their dealings letting the people believe it was the Ennead.

Vidura then hits Indra with what he knew all so well millennia ago,

"I said, long ago, your son barely born, what at that time would have been to your profit: 'Abandon your son, The scourge of his line!" "And yet, my king, you failed in the deed. If this time, king, you again fail to follow the same advice, you shall later repent"

Vidura advises they install Enlil as king again.

Indra says he does not favor his son's cause as he knows he cannot pass his son for a Pandava yet Siva is his blood, "without misdoubting, they are my own sons, (he is speaking of the Pandava - A.N.) yet Duiyodhana is my body's offspring. And who if he wants to be equable says,

"I abandoned my body in another's cause?"

Vidura then travels to the Underworld to relay the information to the Pandavas and there tells them Siva is adamant.

Indra misses Vidura however and bids him return,

"My brother and friend is like the God of Law incarnate; as I remember him now. my heart is lorn apart. Quickly bring him back, my low-wise brother!"

When he returns he asks forgiveness of him, Vidura explained that he was just concerned for the Pandava who are relatives too.

However, Siva "the evil-minded prince" then "burned with rage," and he again threatened to take his life,

"If I see the Parthas somehow return here, I shall dry up, lifeless and penniless. I shall take to poison, or the noose, or the sword, or the fire, for I cannot bear to see them here rich again!"

Vidura faced Siva saying,

"Why do you, a king, a lord of your people, give in to these childish thoughts? They made their covenant and went! Tltey will nol return. All the Pandavas, bull of the Bharatas, abide by the truth of their word, my son. They will never accept the king's invitation."

The brothers then planned to attack the Pandava and kill them in the forests.

At that, the,

"blessed lord, who is worshiped by all the world, halted them, then hastened lo the king whose eyesight was insight, and spoke to him where he was sitting."

Whomever this was certainly gave Indra and his son a sound tongue lashing:

"Dhroraslra, man of wisdom, listen to my word, I shall speak to the highest benefit of all the Kouravos. It does not please me, strong-armed king, that the Pandavos have gone into the forest and that they were defeated by Duryodhana's henchmen with trickery. When the thirteenth year is full, they will angrily let loose their poison on the Kouravos, remembering their hardships, Bhoroto.

 

Why does this wicked and feeble-minded son of yours in his perpetual rage want to kill off the Pandavas for the sake of the kingdom? The fool must be slopped, once and for oil; your son must colm down! If he wants to kill them in the forest, he will lose his life. Do rightly what the wise Viduro has said, and Bhismo and we and Krpa and Drona.

 

War with one's own kin is condemned, wise king; do not perpetrate lawless infamy! Such is his obsession with the Pandavos, Bharata, that if it is disregarded it will skirt disaster. Rather, let your feeble-minded son go to the forest, king, and live with the Pondavos, alone and without his helpers.

 

Then if from their association love were to spring up in your son for the Pandavas, you would have succeeded, lord of men. Still, the character that is inborn in a man at his birth, that, they say, great king, does not leave him before he dies.

 

What does Bhismo think, what do Drona and Vidura? And you yourself? The right thing must be done before the matter is out of hand."

Indra, true to himself, states he was against the dicing, which he was, but when his son won the kingdom he quickly changed his mind.

Another 'Lord' appeared this time, directing his vehemence against Siva:

"Big-armed Duryodhana, listen, you best of arguers, as I speak my word for your own good. Do not offend the Pandavas, king. Do what is best for yourself, the Pandavas, the Kurus, and the world, bull among men! All of them ore men like tigers, champions, valiant warriors, all of them have the vigor of a myriad elephants, and ore as hard as diamonds.

 

They are all avowed lo the truth, and they oil pride themselves on their manhood. They are killers of the foes of the Gods and of proteon Roksosa like Hidimbo and Baka and others, and of the Raksosa Kirmiro, the one who terrifyingly stood in the path of the great-spirited men like an immovable mountain, when they trod, fallen from here into the night.

 

Bhima, boastful in battle, in brawn the best of the brawny, strangled him like a beast at a sacrifice, as a tiger kills small game."

Siva acted the complete fool, acting very childishly,

"pretended a smile and drew patterns in the dirt with his foot. Saying nothing, the fool sat tltere with his head slightly bent. When Moitreyo saw that Duryodhana wos not obeying and was drawing patterns on the floor, onger seized hold of him, king. "

Moitreya then put a curse on him by touching water, saying,

"Because you ignore me and refuse lo obey my word, you shall soon reap the reward of your insolence! Through your offense a great war will flare up and during it the brawny Bhimo will smash your thigh with the blows of his club."

Maitreya then states that the curse will not happen if he seeks peace. He does not want peace.

The Pandavas received their first encounter with the cannibals they sent years before to the bowels of the earth. The Raksasas were their first encounter who roamed at night and if yon will remember from the beginning of our story. Sounding much like the descriptions of Bigfoot they had copper red eyes, fangs, hair standing up and screaming, barred their way.

Draupadi "of the lotus eyes trembled and fearfully closed her eyes," and then fainted. (I would have too!) The demon they ran into could assume any shape but one of the brothers deployed his "wizardry." It was then found it was an illusion from whom he belonged, and Enlil had attempted to break the hologram. A battle royale commenced, the Pandavas even unrooting trees to throw at the demon as likewise did the demon, but he soon left the forest looking "like discarded toilers," Bhima had struggled hand to hand with him.

The power of the demon had emanated from the "Krasna eye," a satellite whose rays were as "scattering arms" which "storms upon the sun," another reference to a disc and these arms are often represented as coming from the disc in the Egyptian art of Akhenaten. Bhima attacked "as- an elephant whose temple glands have burst falls upon another."

A whistle sounded in the reed and the fight continued again but its powers soon faded and Bhima, roared, as he did so often, "like a burst kettledrum," which numbed the demon and he fell dead to the earth. It was found he was sent by an old adversary of their father's who had been committed to the Underworld by Rama who had killed members of their family.

It was an apparition controlled by the latter for he was "bared of clothes and adornment, empty of mind." When told his devious plan failed, Siva, "sank in thought and sighed as though in anguish."

Many of their direct relatives, the Bhajas, Vrsnis, and and Mahas came to help them in the Underworld. While there, another of their original ancestors appeared, one of the "first born."

Apparently, Draupadi had never seen him and she was trembling and nervous as she approached her great kinsman and said to the "lotus-eyed one,"

"they say that you were the sole Prajapati at the first creation of creatures. The seers have said that you are the earth, O Supreme Person, and the truth... You fill heaven with your head, earth with your feet, ubiquitous lord; these worlds are your belly, you are the eternal Man... The world Guardians, the worlds, the asterisms the ten directions, sky, moon, and sun are all erected on you. T

 

he mortality of the creatures and the immortality of the Celestials, and all the business of the worlds, are erected upon you, strong-armed one. And here am I, about to tell you of my grief, out of love - for are you not the lord of all creatures, whether human or divine, Madhusudana?" She then goes on telling of her misfortune to which this "Krsna" answered.

 

"Weep shall the women of those that have angered you, angry woman! Weep over their men as they lie on the face of the earth, covered by the Terrifier's arrows, showered by a rain of blood, cut down to relinquish their lives! I shall do whatever the Pandavas can do; do not sorrow! I make you a promise: you shall be a queen of kings! Let Sky fall down, let Himalaya break, let Earth splinter, let Sea dry up, Krsna - my word shall not be false!...

 

If we rely on Rama and Krsna, we are invincible, sweet-smiling sister, were we to face the Slayer of Vrtra himself in battle, so what of Dhratarastra's brood!"

Then they prepared for war.

The Pandavas established their headquarters at Lake Dvaitavana in the forest. Men were collected from those who had followed them and from those in the Underworld discontented with Indra's rule there. The Brahmin's were the priests and as in Egyptian texts and the Bible, they were nothing close to holy; they were skilled technicians and soldiers trained in the use of armaments, technical equipment and communication as the Pandava had instructed them.

They intended to "bum down the enemies as fire and wind bum down the woods."

At the first council at twilight, Baha Dalbhya addressed his sons and the Brahmins on their battle plans. Later, he took Enlil aside and counseled him privately,

"Do not wish to remain without brahmins, son, if you wish to win this world and the next; with a brahmin learned in Profit and Law, who has shed his confusion, a king removes rivals."

The Brahmins would be paramount to them as the people would be hit hard by EMR and the Brahmins, established clandestinely among the people, would be of outmost benefit and Enlil was told how important they were after the Flood when the opposition tried again to take control.

He reminded him of what Indra had done before,

"Virocana's Asiira son never lacked in comforts, his fortune was never wanting; he gained all earth allied with the brahmins; when he did them ill, he came to grief."

He then warned him that the baronage of the earth, those lower than the Brahmin's, man, in general would have to be guarded closely and he harkened back to the time when "The Placer" was installed, a disc, or satellite which Indra had used to subdue man making them as,

"wooden puppets, by which he could lead man, restrained like a bird that is tied to a string, is not master of himself; remaining in the Lords' power, he is master of neither himself nor others."

He warned that all manner of tricks would be used to subjugate the people and that people who "are in the power of the Lord and have none on their own."

Our entire world history had rested on this demagoguery. This "Placer" controlled the body's electromagnetic fields by which the Lord could have his way.

"This body they call "field" is merely the Placer's tool by which the ubiquitous Lord impels us to action that ends in either good or evil.

 

Behold the power of wizardry that the Lord displays; confusing them with his wizardry, he kills creatures with creatures. Hermits with insight into the Vedas see things one way, then they change course, like wind gusts.

 

People see things one way, and the Lord alters and changes them. As one breaks wood with wood, stone with stone, iron with iron, the inert with (he insentient, so the blessed Gods, the self-existent great-grandfather, hurts creatures with creatures, hiding behind a disguise, Yudhisthira."

As we will see, the changing of the environment would alter man as he was after the original Fall.

Let us see, how many religions are in the world today? And, how many cultures? Let us sec what else he warned Enlil about,

"Joining and unjoining, the capricious blessed Lord plays with the creatures like a child with its toys. The Placer does not act toward his creatures like a father or mother, he seems to act out of fury, like every other person!

 

When I see noble, moral, and modest people harassed in their way of life, and the ignoble happy, I seem to stagger with wonder. Having witnessed your distress and the wealth at Suyodliana's I condemn the Placer, Partha, who allows such outrages!"

How much we will see how the disc, the Placer, was perverted to evil use!

A rivalry developed as many wanted Enlil to use 'Placer's' and electronic wizardry as the opposition. Even Draupadi demanded it. She seemed to be acting erratically for which Enlil set her back but it can be reasoned the environment they were in was disturbing all, as he said,

"I obey the Law, full-hipped woman, not because of its rewards, but in order not lo transgress the traditions and to look to the conduct of the strict."

However, he started to speak as if the Placer was the supreme Deity as he drifted himself into a psychotic stupor.

Said Draupadi,

"I do not revile or condemn the Law in any way, Partha; why should / revile the Lord, the Father of creatures? Know me, Bharata, I am babbling from grief; listen with kindliness as I complain some more."

She started to catch herself for she was drifting too and replied,

"As I see it, the creatures live off their own resurrection, so does the Placer and Disposer, as does this crane in the water. Do your own desire! Do not falter! Be armed by your deeds! For he who knows what his task is, is one in a thousand if that!... The man who believes that everything in the world is fate and the one who professes that it is chance are both apostate; it is the spirit to act that is extolled.

 

He who obediently sits by fate and sleeps happily without acting, that hedonist of malicious spirit will sink like a jar in water. Likewise, the believer in change, who, though capable of acting, fails to act will not keep his seat too long and live as long as a feeble man without a protector."

The Ennead frowned on fate as already stated, being "master's of their senses."

This is an excellent example of their beliefs.

Let us read on,

"If a man unexpectedly achieves some purpose and people think, "It was just chance," his efforts have been wasted. If a mm obtains anything labeling fate, then, Partha, by divine ordinance they just decide it was fate! But what a man himself, by his own acts, obtains as the fruit of his. acts, that is known, clearly for every eye to see, as that man's own doing.

 

A naturally active man may obtain things for no visible reason - that, best of men, is the result that is natural. So, what a man gets from chance and divine luck, from nature and plain hard work, is the fruit of his previous acts. The Placer himself, the Lord, ordains any one's acts, for whatever reason, and distributes the fruits of what men have previously done.

 

When a man does anything, whether good or bad, know that it was ordained by the Placers, arising as the fruit of acts done before. In any act this body is but the tool of this Placer, and as he moves man, so man acts, helplessly.

 

The Great Lord, who enjoins us to this or that task, makes all creatures act, Kaunteya, whether they want it or not ... /I sagacious man knots together time and place with his intelligence and according to this might and capacity, knots together the various means and the Godspeed for his well-being.

Many words to ponder here as to our own stations in life, but when we discuss the pathologies of Egypt, the Placer will become even more clear to us.

Enlil it seems was still in his stupor, perhaps by the positive ions and air quality of the Underworld. Bhima then attacked him verbally in the hopes to awaken him for which Enlil apologized.

Bhima then said how all would be affected,

"for death is sure to befall the bodies of all who have bodies; therefore, before we die, let us work for the kingdom."

He also warned that many were in opposition as "we have exiled many kings and kings' sons from their kingdoms, and they are now avowed to Dhratarastra."

Enlil then stated that now that all their bases were in the hands of Siva they were better armed,

"that is why all those experts on divine weapons, all those followers of the Law, will lay down their lives in battle, however precious to them. I do not think they can be defeated, even by the Gods led by Indra. Among them is the resentful warrior Kama, always excited, expert on all weapons, unassailable, covered with impenetrable armor.

 

You cannot kill Duiyodhana without allies, before you have defeated all these notables in battle, too. Wolf-Belly, I cannot get to sleep from worry over the deftness of the suta's son, who surpasses all who handle bows."

One of their fathers arrived and was distraught at their arguing.

He then took Enlil aside and gave him the "magic knowledge," whereby caches of weaponry were revealed and for him to go and obtain the weapons. The "World Guardians" would assist him and told him to find a place from which to campaign from, a new earth base. Everyone then moved to the Kamyaha woods where a training camp was established and they learned the "on of archery."

Soon Enlil was his old commanding self and "pulling his officers in charge," Arjuna was sent for gold, (reminiscent of Moses' request for gold at Exodus which would have the same reasoning as here we shall see) the perfect conducting agent for their instruments and he left on "his journey for gold coins."

One of the father's then told Enlil,

"I have a secret knowledge that I acquired from Dvaipayana, my friend; if you employ ii the entire universe will become visible to you."

He then again reminds him that Siva is well equipped, and to,

"journey lo The North, allowing no one lo pass you. For with India are all The weapons of the Gods, Dhanamjaya; the Gods gave Indra all their strength out of fear of Vrtra. You will find all the weapons assembled there in one place. Go to Sakra, and he shall give you the weapons. Be consecrated and set out today to find the God Sacker of Cities'."

The men were sorry to see Arjuna leave on Ins quest and said,

"go a safe and healthy path. Be safe from the creatures of earth, sky, and heaven, and all others that may waylay you!"

Arjuna had gone above to earth in his ship that circled the camp to try and establish a base and in one day reached the holy mountain, the area dubbed Indrakila, we know it as Jerusalem, of which much will be said.

Brahmins it seems had, at On's fall, scurried lo the mountains surrounding Jerusalem and slacked an arsenal full of munitions. At first, the guard there challenged Arjuna, but seeing he was a God, he then proceeded to joke with him and of the passivity Brahmins were thought to have by the common people.

He said to the "thousand eyed God,"

"Who are you, son, arriving here in armor, with bow and arrows, with sword and wrist guards tied on, who follow the Laws of the baronage? Weapons ore of no use here; this is The land of the serene, of ascetic brahmins who control their anger and joy. There is no use for bows here, nor for any fighting. Lay down your bow, you have reached the end of your journey."

He then started to laugh and further said to Arjuna.

"Choose a boon, bless you! I am Sakra. enemy-tamer!" and bowing with folded hands said further, "This is my desire, and grant it lo me as a boon; I wish lo learn from you, lord, all the weapons that exist!" (See, I told you, you have to watch the priests!)

Arjuna laughed and then said.

"If I leave my brothers in the wilderness without avenging the feud, I shall find infamy in all the worlds for time without end."

Then very seriously he said,

"When you have seen the Lord of Beings, three-eyed, trident-bearing Siva, then I shall give you all the weapons of the Gods, son."

REFERENCES

1 - THE MAHABHARATA - VOL. 2 & 3 - All quotes from here.

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