AND SOME MORE STORIES

     Let us look at some more stories in Mahabharata. In Mahabharata when Bhishma falls down in the war , it was 'Dakshinayan ' i.e. Son is moving towards south . According to the Hindu scriptures this not a good time to die . ( As if there is any 'good time ' to die . )Bhishma was given a boon by his father that he can decide the time when he wants to die --when he can allow his soul to leave the body. So he decides to hold on to life till the Son starts ' Uttarayan' -son's movement towards north. This entire story does not make any sense . So it does not matter , 'what ' you did in your life but it matters more as to  the 'time 'when you die.
     Now let me try to explain . The Son ts not the one in the sky. nor is uttarayan and dakshinayan is not the movement of the star son . It has to do with spiritual eye and Son means  self realization . Northward movement is our attention to be towards higher centers while southward movements is our attention towards lower centers. i.e.procreation, excretion , hunger  are lower centers . Think about it . The sexual 'love' is lower than love from 'heart'. So when we are still involved and attached to sex , food indulgence we should not expect to get 'mukti' or ' Nirwana'. But if we start getting better then only we have some chance .So now the story makes some sense.
      Now let us take story of Arjuna winning Draupadi in swayamwar . When he comes home and Kunti knows that Arjuna won Something then she tells him to 'share ' it with other brothers . So then Draupadi stayes with each of the 5 Pandawas as their wife . Second story is that of Amba ,  Ambalika , Bhishma  and, Vyas. In the story Bhishma's half brother Vichitravirya  becomes king  and dies then it is up to Bhishma to get heir to the throne . Since he , Bhishma had vowed to celibacy , he asked Vyas to help. Bhishma kidnaps 2 girls - Amba and Ambalika . Then Vyas the great sage sires Pandu from Ambalika and Dhritarashtra from Ambika . When Amba sees Vyas in her bed room she closes her eyes with fear so the child born is blind , that is Dritarashtra and Ambalika turns white seeing Vyas so Pnadu the child born is White. .
       In these stories there is no respect  or freedom for the women . If this our religion then it is worst than many others. So how do you make any sense out of this . Let me try, The 5 Pandawas represent 5 chakras and 5 elements . Draupadi represents  the Kundalini , the energy that is coiled up in lowest part or the spine .
During the meditation the Kundalini shakti is awakened and rises from one center to other to the highest centers. So this Draupadi staying with each of the Pandawas for part of the time and being their shared wife. Now about Amba and Ambalika . Vichitravirya is Divine Ego , It dies , means it is covered by outside deformities of the consciousness . Amba represents perception without clear discrimination  while Ambalika is perception with clear discremination . So from union of Vyas -the consciousness in relativity  with Amba  'BLIND MIND ' is produced and with Ambalika 'WHITE -PURE  INTELLIGENCE' is produced. . This at least gives us some understanding of the symbolism in Hinduism . May be this will help one to think in terms of symbolism when we try to understand these stories.