In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the conversation between Sage Naarada and Yudishtra, wherein Sage Naarada is asking questions to Yudishtra on various aspects of “Raaja-Dharma”. In this regard, we’ve witnessed yesterday how significant is “Motivation” as part of the “Raaja-Dharma”. Sage Naarada explains that a king / leader should constantly keep his workers / servants / employee’s, etc. motivated at all times, by recognizing their efforts for the upliftment of the kingdom. Prior to this, we’ve also witnessed how important it is for a king / leader to serve his people first, before serving himself. This simply implies that the king should take care of the dietary requirements of all his employee’s and servants at various levels. We witness both these points occupying prime importance in today’s scenario as well. Even governments at various levels provide free food, ration, etc. for people in the state / district, etc. Similarly, corporate organizations too have cafeterias to provide high quality food items to their employee’s at subsidized rates. Nowadays, “Motivation” at various levels is the talk of the town in business organizations as well. If employee’s are motivated and their efforts recognized, this goes a long way in realizing enormous profits and brand name for the organization. Thus, Sage Naarada’s explanations assume extreme significance in today’s context as well.
Like this, Sage Naarada has asked several questions in the form of golden words of advice for Yudishtra, who has been sworn in as the new king of the new sprawling city of “Indraprastha”. Yudishtra, after listening to the marathon session of Sage Naarada, was extremely happy and replied thus, “Oh Sage Naarada! I do not know how to thank you for all the important pieces of advice that you’ve given me! In fact, I was thinking how fortunate I was to host you as my esteemed guest. Now, I’m feeling that I’m more fortunate to listen to whatever you’ve told me! Certainly I shall implement all your words and will try and establish a “Dharma-Raajya” at Indraprastha. However, I only have one request to you – You’ve spoken a lot about “Raaja-Dharma”, but you’ve never described how this palace looks like, isn’t it? You had come for this purpose mainly and hence, can you tell me your opinion on how this palace looks like? As you might be knowing – This palace was carefully built under the divine supervision of Bhagawan Krishna Himself! Hence, I’m sure you would like it as well!” Yudishtra had to request Sage Naarada for his opinion on the palace, because, after the advice on the “Raaja-Dharma”, Sage Naarada almost got up from his chair to leave!
We might also face this in our daily life too – If we cook a nice dish for breakfast by slogging meticulously for over 2-3 hours in the kitchen and if the people of the house just take one or two spoons of it and walk away in urgency, how would we feel? We would feel bad and let down for not getting the due appreciation and recognition, isn’t it? This is exactly how Yudishtra started to feel when Sage Naarada got up to leave. Yudishtra had in fact, invited Sage Naarada to visit the palace and comment upon it, however, he was talking about something else, except for the comments on the palace! Of course, Yudishtra was extremely happy to listen to Sage Naarada’s advice on the “Raaja-Dharma”, but ultimately the purpose of his visit should be served, isn’t it? Hence, Yudishtra voluntarily asked Sage Naarada for his opinion about the Indraprastha palace. As Yudishtra asks thus, Sage Naarada replies: “Oh Yudishtra! Of course, the palace looks very nice. I looked around it the moment I entered inside. However, I’ve seen better places than this! Perhaps, you’ve only seen this one and you think it’s the best. Of course, I’m not saying it is bad. But what I’m saying is that, there are many other places having equally or better palaces than this!”
As Yudishtra heard this from Sage Naarada, he was extremely curious to know which places had better structures than this. He replied thus, “Oh Sage Naarada! Is it? I would like to know which places have more beautiful structures than this one, and who are those people owning them!” Normally, if we listen to something like this, immediately we would become jealous about those people having better things than what we have. However, Yudishtra was zero in jealousy and he was only interested genuinely about who had better palaces than his. So for today, let us understand until this point and in the next episode we shall witness Sage Naarada’s important accord on various beautiful palaces across the world! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 