A major belief addressed is the notion that reading or keeping the Mahabharata within the home will lead to fights or conflict:

The Myth: The belief holds that the Mahabharata should not be read or kept because it means "fight," and possessing it will cause household conflict.

The Rebuttal: The source states this first myth "has to be busted". If this logic were followed, one should also not read the Ramayanam, as the Yuddha Kandam alone contains 5000 verses describing war.

The speaker notes that there are already households that "appear like Kurukshetra" without having the Mahabharata.

Furthermore, the belief that "we should not read Mahabharatam... needs to be busted, we should". The Mahabharatam is described as a "treasure trove". If this text were avoided, one would miss important works contained within it, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Vishnu Sahasranamam, both of which are housed inside the epic.

Since the Bhagavad Gita (which is found within the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata) was delivered on the battlefield while everyone was waiting to fight, the sources discuss various interpretations regarding the length of the discourse:

Myth of Stopping Time: Some people believe that Krishna "intermittently stopped the time cycle" so that the two hours required for the Gita discourse passed instantly, and the timeline returned to 10:45 AM after the teaching concluded.

The Rebuttal: The source dismisses this as "improbable" because "even Bhagavan will not go against Srishti rules".

Alternative Explanations 💡

The speaker offers alternative explanations to clarify how the lengthy philosophical exchange could occur in a wartime setting:

Arjuna's Intelligence: Arjuna was so intelligent that he could understand Krishna's complex teaching at the exact same pace in which Krishna spoke, suggesting the actual verbal exchange was much faster than typically assumed.

Knowledge Transfer (The One-Minute Download): The third, and most interesting, interpretation is that while the Bhagavad Gita recitation might take two hours, Krishna transferred the entire knowledge (Karma Yoga, Gnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga) to Arjuna in only "a minute" or "a second". The extended text we read today is the expansion provided by Vyasa for us, the consumers.

While not a myth about the structure or historical nature of the Mahabharata, the sources dedicate significant time to correcting the misinterpretation of the Charama Shlokam (Bhagavad Gita 18.66), underscoring the potential for the Gita to be "an easy work to misinterpret" if not learned properly.

The Misinterpretation: The phrase Sarva dharman parityajya is often literally translated as "abandon all Dharma".

The Clarification: The source explains that Krishna is not asking Arjuna to abandon all Dharma, but rather to "abandon the worry or concern regarding the successful completion of Dharma" for that Dharma to succeed. The instruction is to surrender unconditionally to Krishna (Mam Ekam Sharanam Vraja).

This blog post is based on notes taken from the following video : Video Source: Watch on YouTube For a more detailed explanation, I highly recommend watching the original video.

These articles are based on discourses by Sri Dushyanth Sridhar, who renders discourses in English & Tamil on Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, Bhāgavata, Vishnu Purāna, Bhagavad Gitā, Vishnu Sahasranāma, and Divya Prabanda in the upanyāsam, pravachanam, or kālakshepam style. Visit https://desikadaya.org for more information. These notes are presented solely for educational purposes to help viewers download and benefit from these teachings. Any incorrect interpretations or inaccuracies are mine and unintentional—please forgive me. For any feedback, please send an email.