With each passing year, Gandhari had grown more beautiful and talented. She was gifted with the art of words, and was becoming more and more adept at politics and royal duties.
On her 16th birthday, a big yogna and party was organised, in which many important people from near and far were invited. It was a grand success and people could not stop themselves from praising the princess for her beauty and management skills, as she took care of the whole event. The king felt a kind of glowing pride at his daughter. Soon a lot of marriage offers started pouring in from many places.
A few days after the event, Gandhari went to the local Mahadev temple near the palace. The simple structure of the temple always gave Gandhari a feeling of peace and quiet. She loved the simple stark white temple structure, which offered a beautiful colour contrast to the large pure black Shilving housed within. It was part of her daily routine to come to this particular temple every morning, to offer her prayers before starting her daily chores.
Today, however, was a little different for her, because today she had been summoned there by the King who was already present there. Upon reaching her destination, she found her father sitting on the floor with folded hands, looking up at the learned Rishi sitting in front of him. The Rishi sported long , silvery white beard and moustache,wore a simple yellow dhoti and ansavastram, and a sacred thread around his torso. His face was lit up, like there was a burning lamp of knowledge inside him, and a fast ocean of peace.
He was the first to notice Gandhari's arrival. He nodded in approval as Gandhari bent on her knees and touched his feet with respect befitting his strature.
"Ayushmaan bhav!" He blessed her, raising his right hand touching the top of her hand in a gentle fatherly manner, as she rose up. "Come sit here," her father said, inviting her to sit beside him. She did as she was told. Then the discussion between her father and the Rishi started again.
"As I was saying," said the Rishi, " There is nothing more powerful than than the power of Karma. If your karma is not good, then it won't matter how pious you have been. You are a King. It is your duty to put your kingdom first, above everything else."
"But I am also a husband, Oh learned one!," said the King, "As you know, my wife, the Queen of Gandhaar, is very sick. She grows more and more weak everyday. I am unable to concentrate on my duties out of worry about her health. I had promised to take care of her and cherish her all my life. Now she is sick and needs me. But my kingdom needs my time too. I am torn..."
The Rishi smiled. "O Rajan! Pull yourself together! The moment you became a King, your kingdom took precedence over all your other duties. You are a King first and everything else later." Seeing the grief and worry on the King's face, the Rishi continued more kindly, "A king is a father to his whole kingdom and all his subjects. It is a big responsibility to bear. You can not care more for your own family than the rest of your subjects. You can never to partial." The king nodded in agreement, but his expression was very sad. Seeing this, the Rishi softened, "If you wish, I will perform a yagna for the Queen's health."
"It will be a great help, Sir! Will you, please?" The King said, imploringly, to the Rishi. He looked at him with eyes full of hope. The Rishi nodded his agreement.
Soon the charts were consulted and the auspicious date and time was decided for the Yogna. The King immediately ordered his men to make appropriate arrangements immediately. Then he called Gandhari, and told her to take care of all the arrangements for the Rishi's stay. Everyone became buzy with the arrangements, and with the welcoming and stay of the Rishi.
The Rishi was a very learned person, and he had a vast knowledge of many secret sciences. However, he was very particular about his choices and didn't like any changes or disturbances in his daily routine. He had lived in the Himalayas for a very long time, and was therefore accustomed to cold fresh water and damp cool living quarters, like the dens of the Himalayas where he lived. He like his food raw and mostly consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, properly cleaned and cut into small pieces. He liked cold water for his bath, and wore only a clean yellow dhoti with matching angavastram, and a sacred thread. Gandhari learned all of this from his disciples, whom she questioned, and then she made appropriate arrangements. The Rishi had not expected this, and was pleasantly surprised.
"Who made the arrangements?" He enquired, and his disciples informed him how the princess had grilled them all about the Rishi's likings, and how much effort she had made to make the arrangements. Rishi was impressed. "Please ask the princess to come and meet me today, sharp at 4pm," he instructed one of disciples, who bowed to him, and immediately set off to fulfill his task .
He found that the princess was in her mother's chambers, feeding soft small morsels of food to her mother. He sent in his Guru's message in, through one of the female attendents of the Queen, as the guard standing at the entrance of the Queen's chambers, would not let him enter it. In a few minutes, the female attendent came back to inform him that the princess had been informed and will be there on time.