Upon the onset of the Kali yuga and the departure of Krishna, Yudhisthira and hi s brothers retired, leaving

the throne to their only descendant to survive the w ar of Kurukshetra, Arjuna's grandson Parikshita. Giving up all their belongings and ties, the Pandavas made their final journey of pilgrimage in the Himalayas.

While climbing the peaks, Draupadi, and each Pandava in reverse order of age, fe ll to their deaths, dragged down by the weight of their guilt for their sins. Yu dhisthira reached the mountain peak, because he was unblemished by sin or untrut h.

The true character of Yuddhisthira is revealed at the end of the Mahabharata. On the mountain peak, Indra, King of Gods, arrived to take Yudhisthira to heaven i n his Golden Chariot. As Yudhisthira was about to step into the Chariot, the Dev a told him to leave behind his companion dog, a creature not worthy of heaven to Indra. Yudhisthira stepped back, refusing to leave behind the creature who he h ad taken under his protection. Indra wondered at him - "You can leave your broth ers behind, not arranging proper cremations for them...and you refuse to leave b ehind a stray dog!"

Yudhisthira replied, "Draupadi and my brothers have left me, not I [who left the m]." And he refused to go to heaven without the dog. At that moment the dog chan ged into the God Dharma, his father, who was testing him...and Yudhisthira had p assed with distinction. A version of this story appears in the Twilight Zone epi sode "The Hunt." Yudhisthira was carried away on Indra's chariot.

On reaching Heaven he did not find either his virtuous brothers or his wife Drau padi. Instead he saw Duryodhana and his evil allies. The Gods told him that his brothers were in Naraka (hell) atoning their little sins, while Duryodhana was i n heaven since he died at the blessed place of Kurukshetra.

Yudhisthira loyally went to Naraka (hell) to meet his brothers, but the sights a nd sounds of gore and blood horrified him. Tempted to flee, he mastered himself and remained after hearing the voices of his beloved brothers and Draupadi...cal ling out to him, asking him to stay with them in their misery. Yudhisthira decid ed to remain, ordering the Divine charioteer to return ... preferring to live in hell with good people than in a heaven of evil ones. At that moment the scene c hanged. This was yet another illusion to test him on the one hand, and on the ot her hand, to enable him to atone for his sin of using deceit to kill Drona. Indr a and Krishna appeared before him and told him that his brothers were already in Heaven, along with his enemies, for earthly virtues and vices don't hold true i n heavenly realms. Krishna yet again hailed Yudhisthira for his dharma, and bowe d to him, in the final defining moment of the epic where divinity bowed down to humanity.

The Moral of the Story is to be righteous and fight for it till the end. You can never lose.