Palace of Illusions

I recently read a book called “The Palace of Illusions” written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  The author beautifully narrates the story of the Mahabharat from the eyes of Draupadi. As I read this book, I realized that there are so many ways in which this mythological story written thousands of years ago can be related to even today. The situations that the characters face and the way they react to them are lessons to learn from.

After being allotted their own kingdom, the Pandavas called on the services of a craftsman called Maya to build their palace in Indraprastha. This palace was said to be very beautiful and the work of the craftsman was very great and unique. Draupadi took great pride in her grand home and called it ‘The Palace of Illusions’. It is here that when Duryodhana stepped into a pool of water, Draupadi mocked him, and thus started a chain of events leading to the battle at Kurukshetra.

All of us have built our own Palace of Illusions some time or the other. Our palace is what we perceive as ideal. And when we start to differentiate between the ideal and the real, that’s when we get our palace of illusions. 

Building the palace of illusions is no easy task. It is built only after you have earned something. When you know you possess something or when you have something that others see as perfect. When what you have with you, is almost faultless. Little problems can come and go, but the big picture is rosy. All the pieces of the puzzle are in their right places and they make a beautiful landscape. However this palace is highly volatile, one small mistake, or one little oversight and you could trigger something you never thought could happen to you.

So what happens when one day you realize that the whole thing is coming apart? What you thought was true, is only a façade. Everything you worked for and everything you dreamed of has been flattened in just one moment. That’s when you realize that maybe you were living a dream.

Walk around your palace and you’ll see. The paintings on the wall now show a different picture, the glass ceiling is actually thin ice, the doors and windows have turned into walls and the flower buds in the garden have withered away. In front of your eyes, your palace has turned into ruins.

So do you wait there, lying in the ruins, hoping that the palace will rebuild itself? Or do you get up and do it yourself? This is the time to get up. The palace must be rebuilt, not with glass and mirrors, but with bricks and mortar on a solid foundation. So that next time around, there is no illusion.