Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya: Chapter 14: Part 3

• 41) Lord Krishna then made Pradyumna re-enter His body again. With a flood of arrows, He destroyed the entire army of Jarasandha. Lord Krishna, the One who always does excellent work, the One who does not have a material body, the One whose valour never decreases, let Jarasandha go without killing him so he can bring more of his armies.
• 42) Jarasandha bowed his head down with shame and his face lost all its lustre. Jarasandha, who had foolishly crowned his daughter’s son as the leader of the Bhojas, made him lead the return to his city and followed him.
• 43) Brahma, Rudra and all the other devatas praised Lord Krishna, the One who defeated the very powerful Jarasandha, and showered flower petals on Him. Sri Krishna, along with Balarama and others, entered his city quickly thereafter and enjoyed His time there, all the while being woshipped by sajjanas (in the city).
• 44) The Pandavas, on the other hand, were growing up well, and on one day, the 14th year janma nakshatra of Arjuna, the son of Indra, came about. At that time, Kunti, who was well versed in dharma, was engrossed in serving a large group of saints, and in other related work.
• 45) At the same time, Pandu was in a forest full of nightingales, along with Madri. The scent of the air in Vasanta rutu caused Pandu to be taken over by lust instantly.
• 46-47) He copulated with Madri at that very moment. Immediately he passed away and reached yama loka. He had caused (in his moola roopa) disturbance to Indra and Shachi’s intimacy. Therefore, he met this fate. It shows mistakes done towards superiors, especially devatas, become very costly.
• 48) Seeing her husband dead, Madri started crying loudly. Kunti and the sons of Pandu heard the same. All of them started rushing towards Madri. However, based upon the words of Madri, Kunti stopped the Pandavas and went there alone.
• 49) Kunti saw the dead body of her husband. She got to know the reason from Madri and felt extremely dejected in her heart. She berated Madri and decided to end her life. The Pandavas heard the sounds of the crying (of Kunti and Madri).
• 50) When the Pandavas reached there, the sounds of crying increased even more. The excellent rishis who were around heard the same and a few of them, the most compassionate ones, came there. Both the wives (of Pandu) started quarrelling amongst themselves on who would end their life with Pandu.
• 51) The rishis, who were well versed in the excellent bhAgavata dharma, stopped Kunti. They noticed the mistake of Madri, and also listened to her repeated pleas for permission and allowed her to commit saha-gamana.
• 52) Even though higher than self, she had invited Ashwini devatas for having children knowing that they were lower in hierarchy than her husband. Therefore, she became the reason for her husband’s death. Even though she was a lady of excellent character, due to this reason, she ended up not getting enough recognition in the world.
• 53) The sons of Pandu got together with the munis there and performed the pitru shraddha rituals as per shastras. Along with him (Pandu), Madri also sacrificed her body in the fire and lost all the maha-paapa she had committed and reached her husband’s abode.
• 54) Being the direct son of sri veda vyasa, and also being a devotee of His feet, Pandu obtained the lokas which was well respected by elders, due to the guNas of his sons and also his own. Since he was always immersed in thinking of the Lord’s feet, this was not a surprise.
• 55) After that, the sons of Pandu, along with their mother Kunti left the Narayana ashrama with the great sages and quickly reached their city. Over there, the great sages narrated all the incidents, along with the news of his brother’s death, in front of Dhritarashtra.
• 56) King Dhritharashtra and Bhishma remained silent. Vidura felt extremely happy (at the arrival of Pandavas). Duryodhana and his brothers, who were extreme sinners, got together with Shakuni, and said “Pandu had died long ago; Where did he have sons?”
• 57) “Even though they were born to the wife, if the niyoga wasn’t obtained from relatives under proper procedure, after the death of the husband, such children cannot qualify to be sons” – as soon as they said thus, Vayu spoke (through ashareera vaani) to the group of Kauravas.
• 58) “These (children) were born from Yamadharma, Vayu, Indra and Ashwini devatas, even as Pandu was alive. They are extremely righteous. It will be impossible for you to give up on these people, who are always protected by Lord Narayana”
• 59) Even has the Kauravas started doubting the words of the invisible Vayu, Sage Vyasa, who is Lord Himself, who has all auspicious attributes as His body, and One who is the same as the lotus-born Padmanabha, appeared there. He gathered the Pandavas and went to the house of Pandu.
• 60) As soon as He accepted them, Bhishma, along with others, got together with Dhritharashtra and accepted them and Kunti with a lot of respect. The Kauravas, along with Shakuni, went through a lot of agony.