When Yudhishthira ascended to heaven , he was quite taken aback to see all the Kaurava-brothers having a great time there while his brothers were nowhere to be seen. Upon inquiry he found out that his brothers were serving their Karma in Hell. Yudhisthira was so anguished to hear it that he expressed his desire to leave Heaven & be with his brothers in Hell. When he reached Hell he was further tormented to see his brothers along with Draupadi serving the rigors of Hell.

Completely distressed he asked Yaamraj, “Oh Dharamraj, what kind of justice is this?  My brothers, who have always been righteous, are suffering in Hell; while the Kauravas, who have been full of spite & always did injustice to others are enjoying the fruits of Heaven.”

Dharamraj replied, “The Law-of-Karma has Its own way of functioning; every living being has its own pool-of-Karma – both Good & Bad.

But one gets to suffer or enjoy that portion of Karma first which is proportionately lesser in number or quantity before going into next level.

The Pandavas, who have always been righteous also have a small portion of Bad-Karma in them which they are serving in Hell at the moment before ripping the benefit of their Good-Karma in Heaven and the opposite is the case with the Kauravas.

Don’t despair, oh Yudhishthira; very soon the process is going to reverse.”

Moral : Many a times in our day-to-day Life, we observe a lot of people suffer despite being righteous; while a lot of crooks seem to enjoy life despite their blatant misdeeds. But as the Dharmaraj  explains, one should not get bogged-down by this temporary setback and perform all actions in an ever righteous manner.