In the previous episode while continuing our discussion on the sixteen “Kalyaana Gunas” (Noble Qualities) of Lord Rama, we witnessed the significance of the “Aatman” or the “Inner Soul” of every living being in this world. In due course of that discussion we also emphasised that we should give equal importance to our Aatman and our Deham (Physical Body) and also stressed on the importance of “Seva” or “Service” to the mankind. Today we shall see the last three of the sixteen qualities and in that, we shall specially talk about the significance of a “Bhakta” or a “Devotee” – How does Bhagawan respects his devotees?
We shall first talk about the remaining qualities:
- Dyuthimaan – A person who has immense “Tejas” (Radiance) in him/her. What is “Tejas”? Tejas is a phenomenon wherein a person develops a kind of “Magnetic power” that automatically attracts people towards him/her. How do we realise that a person has a “Tejas” in him/her? I remember a simple explanation which I heard during my childhood and it goes like this: If a person passes by a group of people, he/she should be able to gain their attention without uttering even a single word to them, and this attention should automatically make them stand up in respect for this person!! This is real “Tejas” or the “Radiance”. It is only this quality of Lord Rama that made Hanuman surrender to Him, the moment he saw Lord Rama coming towards him. I’ve discussed this in my previous blog series “Hanumad Prabhaavam” wherein, Valmiki Maharishi says that, the moment Hanuman set his sight on Lord Rama’s face, he felt that his bones were melting, he felt goose bumps all over his body and tears of joy and love started flowing automatically from his eyes. This is called “Tejas”.
In the modern day we can equate this “Tejas” to something called “Charisma”. Today we talk about something called “Charismatic Leadership” wherein certain leaders possess this “Tejas” or the so-called “Charisma” in them that makes their followers to follow them blindly. The mere presence of the leader amongst his/her followers enlightens them and serves the purpose of being associated with their leader. Thus, because of this Charisma, the leader gains the ultimate power to dictate terms and people are ready to even sacrifice their lives for their beloved leader. We can see this characteristic mainly in Spiritual Masters like Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Gautama Buddha, Vardhamaan Mahaveer, and also in the modern day spiritual masters like Shirdi Sai Baba, Puttaparthi Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, etc. wherein we see thousands of devotees thronging to have a glimpse of their Spiritual Master (Sathguru) everyday. Hence, this noble quality called “Dyuthimaan” takes center-stage in the ideology of Charismatic Leadership.
- Anasuyakaha – A person who doesn’t have even a bit of jealousy and/or greed in him/her and he/she is un-envious by nature. This is also an extremely important quality of a successful leader. The explanation for this can be continued from that of the previous quality – What makes a leader an admirable personality amongst his/her followers? Of course, the main quality is the “Charisma” and as part of the charisma, there might be a danger of a downfall. How? If the followers start following a leader blindly without any expectations, there’s always a slight probability that the leader, at some point of time might take them for granted and the greed and jealousy within him/her might start to grow and in turn, this might end up in a situation where the leader tends to misuse his/her power to attain selfish goals. In order to curb this, the quality of “Anasuya” plays a significant role. It makes the leader more balanced and calm headed and enables him/her to be down to the earth. Thus we can say that “Tejas” (Charisma) and “Anasuya” go hand in hand with each other, that is, the quality of “Tejas” would suffice well for a leader only if he/she is bounded by the quality of “Anasuya” (Absence of jealousy and greed).
- Bibyati devaha – A person who when gets angry, is even feared by all living beings in the world and even the “Devas” (the celestial beings). This is the last and an extremely important quality. This intends to convey the message that when Bhagawan gets angry, there’s nobody who can stand in front of Him during that particular time.
Here, you might be tempted to point out a controversy. What’s that controversy? In the previous episodes, when we spoke about a quality called “Jithakrodaha” I had mentioned that Bhagawan has his anger (Rajo Guna) under complete control and is calm and composed at any time. But here we’re seeing that if Bhagawan gets angry, nobody can stand before him. You might ask me a question: Either Bhagawan should get angry, or He should’nt get angry. How can we say both together? The simple explanation to this is that, Bhagawan normally never gets angry when He’s abused by anybody. But, the moment His “Bhakta” (Devotee) is abused by someone, His anger knows no bounds. We can see this in an example from the Ramayana itself: During the Rama-Ravana war, when Ravana attacked Rama with his arrows and other weapons, Rama was standing in front of him patiently without getting much angry, but the moment Ravana sent his first arrow on Hanuman – the ardent devotee of Lord Rama, it is only then that He got terribly angry and started to fight Ravana in the war! Hence, this characteristic “Bibyati devaha” is very important in describing the significance of a Bhakta or a Devotee and how Bhagawan respects his/her devotion and in turn protects them from danger.
With this, we’ve covered all the sixteen “Kalyaana Gunas” or the Noble qualities of Lord Rama and we learnt valuable lessons on modern day leadership. Upon asking the sixteen questions to Sage Narada, Valmiki Maharishi is waiting for an answer from him. Now, how did Sage Narada respond to Valmiki Maharishi’s questions? What was his answer? Let’s find out in the next episode!
The Indian Dharma 