Karma and Lila

Meenakshi suggested I start a thread on karma and lila.  I have a Tantric perspective, while Meenakshi has been speaking from a Vedantic perspective.  There are many similarities, and I thought I’d give a quick outline here first.

The first thing to understand is that Tantra comes after Vendanta in
history, gaining popularity (so to speak) somewhere around the 1300’s I
believe.  There are similarities, and the Tantrikas are great
assimilators, so they took what worked for them from a variety of
traditions and left the rest.  From the Vendanta they took the
understanding that we are all One– there’s no Two.  The Tantrikas
disagree that anything that is not One is illusion,
they say instead that it’s all real, there’s just an experience of
separation because within the One there is differentiation.  The 
Tantrikas came up with a revolutionary idea, that
there might be an agency of the Divine that allows it to intervene with
karma.  This Divine Intervention is called Lila.  Prior to the Tantrikas, all Hindu and Buddhist philosophy was strictly karmic (to the best of my understanding).  The Tantrikas further suggest that the Universe consists of a
fabric woven of karma and lila, each moving throughout a person’s life in tandem.  Lila can be defined as Divine Play, a capricious intervention unrelated to whether you’re creating positive, negative or neutral karma.
 
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to study with Douglas Brooks, a Tantric philosopher/teacher who works with the yoga community a lot, about Stories of the Heroines.

The
HERO solves problems, fixes things, and saves people.  He is focused on
the destination, the end result.  He is the essence of Karma– cause and
effect, probabilities, and consequences.

The HEROINE embraces the
paradox and searches for the midline, the opening through which we
receive the experience, she is simple and authentic in her experiences
and her emotions.  She is the essence of Lila– entanglement (the idea
that A can change B by merely observing it, kind of the original
Quantum Physics!) not causality, randomness not probability, and luck
vs consequences. 
We do the Karma and receive the Lila. 
 
The
Yoga of Lila is to be open to receive it, and then to recognize it when
it shows up.  To be receptive to lila, we have to be aligned with
creating auspicious karma.  In other words, if you don’t do your karma,
you’ll miss lila when she shows up.  And conversely, you can royally
mess up on your karma, and still be saved by lila.  It is the unpredictablitly that is the hallmark of lila.  Lila is acausal; when bad things happen to good people and vice versa, that’s the hand of lila.
Lila is the force behind the lottery, for example.  Several years ago, when I was first exploring my psychic gifts, my husband said, “prove it.  Win the lottery!”  I sat down and received a set of numbers, and played them.  The next day, I had a winner.  4 out of 6 numbers were right.  The message, “enough to prove the point, not enough to change your life.”  (darn it!!)

Later I’ll share some of the Heroine’s stories to further point out lila and karma… and why it’s difficult sometimes to tell the two apart!

Re: Karma and Lila

Lelazjia,
 
Oh what a delight and I’m indebted to Meenakshi for suggesting this.  This should be quite interesting and perhaps a bit of fun as well.
 
Thank you so much for taking on this task -
Deb

Re: Karma and Lila

My pleasure Deb!  I’m glad Meenakshi suggested it, and I’m looking forward to others’ contributions to the thread.  I’m exhausted tonight, but I’ll post one of the stories tomorrow.
Love,
Johanna Lelazjia

Re: Karma and Lila

Yes, this will be a treat! In the folklore of India; vedanta and tantra intertwine; as does much else! So I’ll enjoy this perspective of separating them, Johanna. I would love to hear more…

Re: Karma and Lila

The Heroines have 3 qualities about them. 
The first is a sense of yearning– both in her herself and in our response to her.  We understand she holds something valuable, and we yearn for it to be revealed.
The second is irresistability; she provokes a response.  There’s a love/hate quality, but nobody remains neutral to the Heroine (again, both within the story and as readers/listeners).
And the third is grace.  She has the ability to provoke change, and this grace gives her the capacity to recognize the gift in her situation–always, even when the change wrought might appear to be negative or difficult.
 
The Goddess and Heroine stories show us the yoga of Lila.  These women are not passive or submissive.  They are deferential to karma in a receptive way rather than a passive way.  They are open and receptive, and then they recognize the opportunity presented by lila when it arrives.

Re: Karma and Lila

The first story Douglas told was “Abhijnana Shakuntala”, or the Recognition of Shakuntala.  I don’t know how to do the transliteration marks here, so please excuse any phonetic spelling. :-)  Shakuntala means ‘clay bird’, and it’s a play on the word clay as something malleable, moldable–aka receptive. 
 
One day the Dharma King Dhashanta found himself at an ashram in the middle of the woods.  He spends days there waiting for Kunva, the guru of the ashram, to return.  As he waits, he notices the beautiful daughter of Kunva, called Shakuntala.  She is kumari, or in the maiden phase of life.  Young but ripening, as they say.  Of course, they fall in love.  But Dhashanta is upset because he is a Banron, of the Warrior (can’t remember the Sanskrit name) caste and Shakuntala is of the Bhraman, or priestly caste, so they can not marry– he can’t even ask Kunva. 
 
And then LILA intervenes.  As Dhashanta wants to learn more about the lovely Shakuntala, he asks her best friends about “Kunva’s daughter”.  Her friends reply, “Oh, you mean his adopted daughter?”  This opens the door for their romance to progress.  He discovers that she is the daughter of a Baron, who left to fight in a war and never returned.
 
Dhashanta woos Shakuntala, and because Dhashanta still needs Kunva’s permission to marry his ‘daughter’ and Kunva’s still nowhere to be found, they get ‘married’ in the presence of the Ghandarvas, who are these celestial commentators, kind of like the Greek chorus, they keep the rhythm of the Universe.  With the Ghandarvas as their only witnesses, they enter into this contractual, consentual agreement.  Dhashanta gives Shakuntala his ring, with the royal seal, as proof of their agreement.  Apparently, it is their dharma and their karma to be together.  Or is it?
 
Shortly after, Dhashanta is called away to war.  Kunva comes back with a guest (whose name I forget), and the guest is smitten with Shakuntala.  Remember, she’s irresistable!  She spurns him, and he puts a curse on her. (karma-cause and effect)  He tells her she will have great love, but her beloved will fail to recognize her and she will wander, alone, for the rest of her days.  Shakuntala looks to her ring for comfort (for it would be proof if Dhashanta does forget their love) and realizes that it is missing.  She has lost it, most likely while drawing water from the river. (karma again, or maybe lila?)
 
She is with Dhashanta’s child at this point, and when he returns from his battle, she pays him a visit.  He, under the curse, has no recollection of her, and she has no proof, having lost his ring.  She leaves him and goes to live alone, and proceeds to raise their son. 
 
Enter LILA.  Several years later, a fisherman is arrested for trying to sell a ring.  He has found this ring, with a royal seal, in the belly of a fish.  The ring is reunited with its owner, Dhashanta, who then remembers perfectly his love for Shakuntala.  He summons her, and she comes with her son, who is the spitting image of his father. 
 
Shakuntala has raised her son with stories of what a brave, kind, and wonderful man Dhashanta is.  Now, this was her choice.  She did her karma, she chose to remember him in an auspicious light, even through her disappointment at his forgetting her.  She would have forgiven him, but she didn’t even believe there was need for forgiveness.  He was under a curse, that’s life. 
 
Needless to say, they all live happily ever after.

Re: Karma and Lila

This is a beloved tale in India; because the son of Shakuntala and King Dushyant, was Bharat [both “a” pronounced as “u” in “bun”], the brave one after whom India is named. We call our country Bharat [pronounced bhaarat].

The only difference, minor in a way; is that after Dushyanta leaves, she is lost in thought of him, and does not hear the Sage Durvasa when he comes to visit her absent father upon which he curses her: that the one in whose memory she has ignored him, will forget  her. [So, the law of karma, or action-reaction].

I really like the way your teacher has brought in the concept of lila here. We also use the word lila as “God’s play” as in wonders of God’s work ; and this fits in beautifully as you have described. Thank you, Johanna.

Did your teacher say any more abt the inner meanings of this story?

[In case anyone’s interested, here are pictures of this story]

Re: Karma and Lila

Not really a difference at all, just an omission (unintentional) on my part, but it helps people realize why that particular curse was enacted.  Thanks for that, Meenakshi.
I’ve also heard lila defined as “God’s play”, and I really like to think of it as the “wonders” of God’s work.  Whether or not we see the good, it will eventually reveal itself (imho). 
Let’s see what else I can remember from my teacher–he said so much in such a short time!  So please, as I leave out something, add what you know, ok?
 
One of the things the story shows is how dharma and karma ultimately submit to lila.  They don’t have a choice, really.  Karma is man’s intention and creation, or cause and effect; and dharma can be thought of as the soul’s right livelihood, but lila is the hand of God.  Karma and dharma can help us move toward our Divine essence, but lila can pick us up and place us there directly.
(interesting, that just flowed out–hope it makes sense!)
 
Lila engages your true nature; when you try to deny your true nature, either through your own will or inadvertently when cursed, it goes against the nature of lila and she will intervene (as with the fisherman finding the ring).
 
A small point, but Shakuntala’s friend who told Dushyant the truth about her birth– her name was Priyambada (sp??) which means ‘one who improves self-esteem’– I think it’s funny that she was the one who renewed hope for the romance by telling him that she wasn’t Kunva’s birth daughter.
 
One of his main points was about Shakuntala’s innocence.  She’s in the kumari, or maiden stage of life.  Full of innocence and eroticism at the same time, she’s been living in an ashram in the middle of the woods so she doesn’t yet have her own “song of experience”; she hasn’t experienced any deception or real emotional pain yet (in the beginning of the story).  She has to trust in the experience, and is able to because of her previous life experiences.  She can only be authentic in her feelings, and the key to her authenticity is to keep it simple. 
She doesn’t fall into fantasy land worrying about “if-then”; she doesn’t argue with her karma when the sage curses Dushyant.  This is an important part of the heroine’s journey, and a great lesson for us all.  Here’s your karma, now drink your tea.  You don’t like it, fix it, but don’t complain about it.  There were no villians in this story, but consciousness had to recognize that shri’s potential is not guaranteed.
 
What else can we learn from this story, my friend?

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

I enjoyed reading your explanation of how lila comes into karma and dharma. Can we say that it is about what is commonly called luck or fate and how it impacts our life, sometimes despite our actions and being dutiful?

BTW, the verses of this story as written by Kalidasa are also found here.
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Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

Oh, thank you for the link to the verses of the story!! 
 
I do think it is about what we call luck or fate, and how it impacts our life despite rather than because of our actions.  AND it can work both ways– we can do everything “right” and still get thrown a curve ball, or we can royally mess up and still have Grace intervene.  The trick is to maintain equanimity regardless.

It reminds me of the story of a young man and a sage.  The young man is given a horse as a gift and the entire village rejoices, “What great luck!” and the sage says, “we’ll see.”  A year later the boy is thrown from the horse and injures his leg badly.  The village says, “what a disaster!” and the sage replies, “we’ll see.”  Some time later all the boys and men from the village are called to join the army.  The boy with the injured leg is exempt, and again the villagers cry, “what great luck!” to which to sage responds, “we’ll see….”

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

I’m putting these two thoughts together and seeing what emerges:

“Lila engages your true nature; when you try to deny your true nature,
either through your own will or inadvertently when cursed, it goes
against the nature of lila and she will intervene (as with the
fisherman finding the ring).” From here.

“I do think it is about what we call luck or fate, and how it impacts our life despite rather than because of our actions.” From here.

I see that! So, it’s not our actions–at least  not our current or immediate actions —that bring about this luck/fate. But perhaps it is the cumulative effect of past karma/action doing so? In other words, that lila is not capricious, but also follows certain laws, if we could find them?

In a certain way, I see the lila, or luck, following from the intense love of Shakuntala for Dushyanta. That is why the curse, once given as the total forgetting of Shakuntala by Dushyanta, was commuted to his remembering her when he saw the ring he had given her.

I do see again, that perhaps lila was the play by which the ring landed in the fish’s belly; and the fish in the king’s court; and if it was fate, then that too, was due to Shakuntala’s karma. Will think some more.

I wonder if he said anything about samskara and how they play into this?

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

Ah, and this is where the challenge lies.  How can we be sure it’s either lila or karma, because we can’t always see the root of the karmic action.  It gets a little fuzzy. 
But lila IS capricious, and completely random… at least from a Tantric perspective.  The ultimate essence of God is freedom, so any actions by God must be free from any causal relationship. 
You remind me of what my teacher said about the ring.  The ring was a seal, and a seal is a mudra.  It imprints, it creates something in a receptive way, and was a symbol therefore of the hand of lila. 
As I wrote this, I started down another line of thought–that lila is free and capricious, but I’ll have to think for a bit about whether I believe it’s always random.  What comes to me is the image of the weaving of the Universe (a core teaching of Tantra)–with the threads being karma and lila.  We see the fabric but can’t always distinguish the individual threads.  That doesn’t mean they lose their essence, but their essences merge in a way to create something new.  In this way we get the entropic creation of the Universe, always expanding, often chaotic, difficult to discern roots and causes… perhaps because they don’t always exist (lila threads).  I’ll have to think abou it more.

I find myself so grateful to be in this conversation, thank you Meenakshi!!

We didn’t get to talk about samskara related to these stories, but you and I could do it here.  Tag, you’re it!  :-)

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

As I was waiting at the RMV for a hearing against an insurance surcharge, I had this thought.  From a Tantric perspective, there is just One.  So, perhaps that’s why sometimes it’s difficult to tell karma and lila apart– they are at their essence the same thing.  Who but the hand of God could make us pay for our actions, after all?  We don’t have enough awareness to keep score through all those lifetimes (heck, I can’t even remember what I was doing 6 months ago!), yet in the akasha there’s a record of it all.  Maybe they’re two sides of the same coin–with God’s right hand he dispenses karma, and with Her left hand she dispenses lila.  hhhmmmmmmmmm

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

OMO!

[ A new phrase I thought up–instead of OMG I’m going O My Oneness! ]

The two aspects of oneness discussing lila and karma, had the same thought today. One wrote it, one read it in akash this morning, while driving!

In other words, there is One; so the One who makes the random play/wonder also makes the action come about and the reaction and so on…

We co-create our world; and what is our world but what we perceive it to be?
When she looks back at those few months away from Dushyanta, from years down the road, who knows how Shakuntala would think back at that time: last few years of freedom? Of living amongst the beautiful wilderness? Perhaps the curse was a blessing after all; allowing her some more time to grow up into marriage and a Queen’s life.

Ummm..RMV? You got me there! [where’s one mind when you need it?] ;p

Re: Karma and Lila- Action and Luck/Fate?

OMO!!  I love it! :-)

How cool, I love when we get reminders of our Oneness like that.

RMV Registry of Motor Vehicles.  I was in an accident about 18 months ago; technically I was at fault–backing out of a parking spot, but the guy was speeding, so I appealed to them so I don’t get a ridiculous surcharge on my car insurance.  It’s in the hands of the One now, and I trust that the One who heard my appeal will be able to read the akash as well as I did with you!!

Perspective is everything, isn’t it?  Could be another thread, probably, but I’ll say here that our perception helps us to do our karma auspiciously, and allows us to open to the grace of lila.  That was my experience of being separated from my beloved in 2007–of my own choice, but the next year was very much about choosing my perspective and we both worked through lots of karma.
I like to think she would look back on their time apart and think it was a blessing.

Re: Karma and Lila- of anger

Something else that I’d like to discuss, Johanna, is anger. The Rishi [Sage] Durvasa’s anger  used to trouble me when I first heard the story [you know how children are so idealistic].

It bothered me that a Sage, who is supposed to be so revered and knowledgeable and to be respected, was so quick to judge and to rage. Enough to give a shraap/ curse to poor Shakuntala. I had not heard that she was angry at him, only distressed; but I took on the anger that I would have felt in this circumstance.

What is your feeling about this? From what you have described, I see it now in the context of lila and karma. Of the wonders of God or even the natural reaction to Shakuntala’s reverie. Not a punishment, as much as something she needed to get through.

But from the pov of Durvasa, what does his being quick to anger denote?

He also comes in another story where he is quick to grant a boon. So, this apparently unthinking behavior…something we can talk about? Perhaps we could Reply to Post and keep the two discussions separate for no [anger; and fate]

Re: Karma and Lila-and anger

Oh, I like this one Meenakshi.  I actually think anger is very relevant to this conversation.
 
The Sage is an ascetic, right?  My teacher had a very interesting take of this group.  He said (if I understood correctly) that the ascetics had a morally neutral world view.  As opposed to the early Vedics, who were all about cutting deals and creating sacred relationships for the good of all (what we would call yagna, or sacrifice for the good of the relationship), the ascetics claimed power over relationships; they didn’t ‘cut deals’.  It was their way or the highway, and they didn’t assign moral value to any of it.  They would claim a relationship solely on their own terms, and this made them powerful in the eyes of others who saw the world from a perspective of cutting deals:  these were men who never cut a deal b/c they didn’t have to.  You have nothing I need, so you have no power over me.
 
In that way, the Sage would act as we would think of as impulsively.  He was in the moment, expressing what he was experiencing.  So Shakuntala was right not to be angry about it, it wasn’t personal or meant as an attack.  And this is the power of the Heroine, as well.  She doesn’t waste any time on anger; it wouldn’t do her any good and just wastes time and energy (plus it accumulates more karma to be purified). 
 
When we get angry, we rail against karma… or lila…. both of which are forces that will not be bent by our emotions and tantrums.  If we’re angry against karma, we’re just bound to create more of that which we rail against.  And if we rail agains lila, why that’s like being angry at the wind for blowing or the sun for shining.  Either way, better to mind our own business and try to be good no matter the circumstances.  LOL, easier said than done sometimes, eh?

Re: Karma and Lila-and anger

This is interesting. But just for the sake of argument, I hope we’re not saying that the ascetic’s anger is impulsive and being in the moment; and if Shakuntala had got angry, it …wouldn’t have been the same?

Anger does seem impulsive, glad you showed that. I know that at one stage of clearing that asceticism leads to; anger may be coming up and being expressed even more than before the person became an ascetic. As long as we don’t get into the flow of it, but just let it come and go and pass on, as the Sage did, I guess it’s what it is. A storm that forms and the dissipates.

So–if we cling to anger, our own or others’, it is getting enmeshed in karmic debt; if not, then the expressing of anger is not karma; just…lila?

Re: Karma and Lila

M said:  “But just for the sake of argument, I hope we’re not saying that the
ascetic’s anger is impulsive and being in the moment; and if Shakuntala
had got angry, it …wouldn’t have been the same?”

I believe if Shakuntala had gotten angry, it would have been exactly the same– a reaction to something in the moment.  It occurs to me as I write that sparks of anger like this are (maybe?) a reaction to our samskara.  The Sage had samskara about being ignored, so his anger surfaced.  Shakuntala knew she had been wrong to ignore him, so no anger arose.

Clinging to the anger enmeshes us in karmic debt; allowing it to surface and pass does not, I would think.  Nor do I think it’s really lila.  Instead, it is a process of mastery, as happens in the process of becoming an ascetic and the anger surfaces more, it does so to create a healing and a mastery.  This can occur for everyone, as we begin to realize that we are not our emotions but the witness observing the emotions.

However, when we allow our emotions to control us, then perhaps lila steps in.  I’ll have to think more about that, more later.

Re: Karma and Lila

Johanna, these words are steeped in wisdom: “Clinging to the anger enmeshes us in karmic debt; allowing it to
surface and pass does not, I would think.  Nor do I think
it’s really lila.  Instead, it is a process of mastery, as
happens in the process of becoming an ascetic and the anger surfaces
more, it does so to create a healing and a mastery.  This can
occur for everyone, as we begin to realize that we are not our emotions
but the witness observing the emotions.”

Thank you.

Re: Karma and Lila

Thank you, Meenakshi.  Something about being in the company of Gaia, the akash of Gaia, pulls these words from me. :-)

Re: Karma and Lila-Draupadi

OK, on to the next story.  It’s about Draupadi, the wife of Arjuna (of Bhagavad Gita fame).  Actually, thanks to Arjuna’s mother, Draupadi was the wife of all 5 Pandava brothers. 
 I love this– she chose Arjuna in her svyamvara, which is a big contest the men wage, after which the bride-to-be chooses her husband from the contestants.  One of the things I love (besides the fact that she gets this smorgasbord of juicy men to choose from) is that no matter who “wins” the contest, she still gets to choose whoever she wants. **So, for all their actions (karma), lila has the final word. :-)
So Arjuna comes home and tells his mother he has great news, and without turning to him, she says (in what can only be a lila moment), “you have you share your fortune with your brothers”.  She turns around and meets the lovely Draupadi. 
Oh, where to begin?  I hope Meenakshi can fill in the blanks I leave behind.
We mostly (in my weekend with my teacher) focused on two aspects of this story.  The first is when Arjuna’s brother lost everything–and I mean everything– in a ‘friendly’ game of dice with their cousins.  He was the king at the time, and the cousins came to visit.  They had to give everything to him during this visit (all their lands, basically), but custom dictated a game of dice at the end of the visit, so they would feel they left with more than they came with. (please forgive the huge oversimplification).

The king had never really gotten the hang of gambling.  Dice, btw, is totally lila–all random chance.    So what should have been a friendly game of face-saving ending up with the cousins circling like sharks.  The king first lost the lands that had just been given him, then he lost his own lands, and the lands of his brothers, then he gambled with his brothers lives, and with his own life, and lost.  Finally, he gambled Draupadi, and lost. (karma, or lila??)

Draupadi is summoned by the cousins, and is thrown onto the lap of the ringleader (whose name escapes me).  But rather than submitting to him (karma), she asks a few questions.  She asks, “in what order did my husband lose everything?”, and she discovers that she was the very last loss.

She states that since her husband had already lost himself, he had no claim over her, and no right to wager her.  She was not to be won or lost at that point.  The elders came, called council and decided she was right.

For her pain and suffering, she was given three boons.  With the first, she returned her husbands their right to live.  With the second, she returned their lands to them.  She returned the third boon, saying “you keep it.  I don’t need it.”  God, I LOVE THAT!!!  That she could get everything she needed in two boons and return the third. 

Draupadi had a really strong sense of entitlement, and it was the key to her success.  She only asked for what was fair, but she asked for it fully expecting to receive it, because it was her due.  This is the power of the sumungali (sp?), the mother energy; the mature woman, not yet a crone, who knows what she deserves and is not afraid to ask for it.  She’s my heroine. 

Stay tuned for the second part, but I have to run now.  Also, please feel free to comment and/or correct. :-)

Re: Karma and Lila-Draupadi

Hi Johanna; waiting for the next part. But this part of the story is interesting too. I don’t think I knew about the three boons, and am glad to read what you wrote, too: “you keep it.  I don’t need it.”

I wonder if the boons we get, have strings attached?

Re: Karma and Lila-Draupadi

Oy, I fell into the Void again!!  I hate when that happens, that weeks go by before I’m able to re-surface.  This time it was because I was working like crazy to get my new website content and design ready to hand off to the techie before I left for some yoga teacher training last week.  Mission accomplished, and now I’m back from yoga and reveling in all that good juju that intense yoga brings out in me. :-)

Interesting question, do the boons we get have strings attached?  I think they come with responsibilities.  We have a responsibility to live to the fullest extent of our capabilities, and when we receive a boon, it increases our capabilities, so we have a responsibility to stretch into that new space.  Hmm, this sounds suspiciously like by superconscious giving my ego a pep talk!!  LOL

OK, on to the next part of Draupadi’s story.  Where were we?
Oh, I wanted to mention about the game of dice.  Like all games of lila, there are certain skills that can be learned to improve your chances of winning, so there is a bit of karma to it, but lila ultimately has the final say.

Draupadi and the Pandava brothers end up in exile for 10 years, and they wander outside their lands, having adventures and waiting for the right time to return to their rightful rule.  During these years, they find a place to settle, but they have to hide their true identities.  They each come up with a disguise, and Draupadi pretends to be a hairdresser for the king’s harem.  (Arjuna, btw, disguises himself as a eunuch in the harem)  During this time, Draupadi vows not to wash her hair until her husbands are restored to the throne, and she keeps her hair unbound, which causes problems because unbound hair is also a sign of a prostitute.  As an interesting side note, Draupadi’s hair was also unbound when she was dragged forth at the end of the dice game (that time, because she was in the first 3 days of her menses; she was dragged by her hair).  Kuchaka, the General, insists that she allow him to have his way with her.  This should have been considered a compliment and an offer not to be denied; having sex with him would inprove her station in life (remember he thinks she’s a hairdresser in the harem).
She can’t really refuse his advances, and so she arranges for him to come to her room that evening.  But she has another plan.  She tells Bima, one of her husbands, about the general and his plans.  Bima of course wants to protect her, and tells her that he’ll take her place in her room that night.  The general is mysteriously never seen nor heard from again (“Not even a lump of flesh was ever seen).    And Draupadi doesn’t pick up any additional karma; she (and the rest of us) doesn’t ever know what happens to Kuchaka.
Draupadi chose wisely; she used her womanly wisdom to know which of her husbands to tell in order to be best protected–both herself and to keep their identities a secret.  She also took initiative, both in the case of the dice game and in this situation which could have led to her being raped.  She received her power by stepping into her entitlement. 
Bima, in the story, is this big, hairy, organic guy.  Of her husbands, he is the most wolfish.  There’s a strong parallel here to the Little Red Riding Hood story.  Wolf energy is very sexual and usually portrayed in Western mythology as dangerous.  But in this case, the wolf energy was dangerous to the bad guy.  He’s not de-sexualized, but he’s not demonized either.  She used that wolf energy as protection, and that’s the power of the heroine; to know how to choose her protector, to use that lupine energy to her benefit. 
It’s an interesting play between lila and karma.  Draupadi is pure lila (the essence of femininity) and she works with her karma wisely.   In fact, Sadie Hawkins Day was derived from “Luper Callia” (wolf/luper/lupine); it’s a day when karma and lila are reversed and lila rules for that day–women get to choose.
So this part of the story is about lila as the essence of femininity, vs. karma as the essence of masculinity.  And don’t forget, we all have feminine and masculine aspects within our personalilities.  How can we balance those aspects to our best advantage?

OK, so that’s all I remember now–my notes were pretty scant at this point because I was so enthralled by the story and so fascinated by the play between karma and lila…. how they meld and merge and shape shift between each other.