Lesson 2: Closure

"How much longer until we arrive?" Arjuna asked his brother Yudhishthira.

"Just over this hill and we should be able to see their campsite. It's adjacent to the sea."

The Pandavas and their wife Draupadi were making the trek to visit their elders, Dhritarashtra, Kunti, and others. The elders had chosen to live a quiet life in mourning of their loved ones who were lost during the great Kurukshetra war. Years had passed since the elders made their long journey to the forest, and the Pandavas missed their family and friends. Some of the brothers felt as though something was calling for them to make the visit, so they set out as soon as they could.

The travelers reached the top of the hill where the thick forest finally gave way, and a large blue glimmer filled their view from the right.

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"I see the sea! Look, there they are!" Draupadi yelled to her husbands. They quickly approached the camp and were warmly welcomed by Kunti and the others.

"It is so great to see all of you," Kunti smiled warmly at her sons and their wife. "Vidura would like to see you all as well. He's at the shore of the Ganges. We should all go out to meet with him. He's been very detached lately." Her face slowly turned to a worried look for her brother in law.

The small camp's dwellers and the Pandava family joined together and walked to the shore of the Ganges. Once they arrived, they saw Vidura meditating near the water. His body was frail from old age, and his face wore deep trenches where tears from his eyes and water from the Ganges had continuously run. He could not speak, for the depression of the loss of his loved ones had taken his voice. The Pandavas and the forest dwellers silently sat around him, and once he passed over they wept for him and his loss. The brothers then understood that it was Vidura that called them to make the visit.

As they mourned, Vyasa, the great sage, appeared among them.

"Do not cry. Vidura chose to spend the last of his days mourning. It is what he wanted. You all have experienced great pain of losing loved ones. Cleanse yourselves in the Ganges, and you will see your loved ones for one last goodbye." One by one, the Pandavas and the forest dwellers stood up and walked toward the Ganges to cover themselves in the water.

By the time the last person had come back to shore, the sun was setting. They all looked out to the sea and watched the sun dip into the ocean. Suddenly in the distance, foam began to spring forth from the Ganges, and figures walked toward them. As the figures got closer, they could make out chariots and their riders. Their loved ones had come at last. Men from the Pandava and Kaurava families returned from heaven to spend one last night on earth.

Everyone danced, played music, ate delicious food, and talked all night long. This party was not to welcome the ghostly figures home, but to celebrate the lives that they once lived. Arjuna was reunited with his son, wives were reunited with their husbands, and Bhishma was reunited with his great-nephews, the Pandava brothers. Soon, the sun peeked over the eastern horizon, and their night was quickly coming to an end. Silence filled the air and the ones alive looked longingly at the ones who were already gone.

Final goodbyes were said, and many made promises to do their best in this life even though some of the ones they loved would not be there physically to accompany them. The lost ones returned to their chariots and rode off into the Ganges. The Pandavas and the forest dwellers embraced each other as they watched the foam of the chariots slowly vanish and the Ganges became still once again.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

I kept pretty close to the original story line. The Pandavas go to meet with their mother Kunti and the other elders in the forest, and are told that Vidura is down at the Ganges. When they arrive, they see he has starved himself and has become quite old and frail. They sit with him until he passes, and they all mourn until Vyasa comes. To soothe them, he tells them to bathe in the Ganges and their loved ones will come back for a time. They do, and their loved ones come back and they all are together for a night.

I decided to change the end, where Vyasa originally tells the widows that they can jump into the Ganges if they want to be with their husbands, and most do. I didn't like the message that told. I changed the story to where the widows and other mourners made promises to their loved ones lost. After someone has died, it is hard to know how to go on, but I do not think the answer is to also end your life so you can be with them. We should choose to do well as possible in life so we can make them, and ourselves, proud. I also tried to make it seem as though everyone who was still alive grew closer because of the deaths of their loved ones, because I do believe death happens to strengthen certain relationships.

Bibliography: "The Forest and Its Ghosts" from Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie, via PDE Mahabharata

Image Information: Woman Standing on a Shore, Pexels