In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Sage Shaunaka talking to Yudishtra, wherein he concludes his conversation by conveying an important thing – All the sages and the Brahmins are rallying behind Yudishtra, for the sole reason that he has the most priceless property with him called “Dharma”, and not because he might be having all the other worldly properties and luxuries that a king might have. Sage Shaunaka thus makes his point very clear – “Oh Yudishtra! Please do not worry about taking care of us. We can take care of ourselves very much! We’ve been in deep penance all these years and we know how to deal with natural catastrophes, shortages of food, non-availability of water, etc. In fact, we’ve been without food and water for several years together! Hence, we’ve not come behind you seeking food and water. We’ve come behind you only because of your “Dharma”, and we would like to be in a place wherein “Dharma” is prevalent. Oh Yudishtra! Just think for a moment – Many people came behind you along with all of us. The moment you gave them an assurance that you would come back after thirteen years and protect them, many of them left. But some of us still decided to follow you. Why? It is only because of your “Dharma”. The path that you follow is attracting great sages like us. Hence, please be confident about the “Dharma” that you follow and always be steadfast in your approach towards “Dharma”. Do not worry about the opportunistic people around you. Nature and time would provide a healing lesson for all of them. Now your focus should completely be on learning many more aspects of “Dharma” from various experts in the forest!”
Moving on thus, Sage Shaunaka explains some other important aspects of “Dharma” to Yudishtra, which are excellent lessons for all of us. Sage Shaunaka explains thus:
“Tasmaath arthaagamaath sarve mano moha vivardhanaaha!
Kaarpanya dharpamaanouscha bhayam udhvega yeva cha!!”
This is a very important sloka here. Sage Shaunaka explains through this sloka thus, “Oh Yudishtra! The more you think of money, materialistic properties, etc. the more you would become a miser! You would not have the heart to spend it. At the same time, you would also get the motivation to earn more and more of the materialistic property! If someone asks for it from you, you would become extremely angry and if you see someone earning more than you, jealousy will creep in. Thus, see the dire consequences of possessing materialistic property in this world! You would imbibe unwanted characteristics such as being a miser, anger, frustration, jealousy, unwanted tension, etc. Hence, you should be happy now that you do not need to go through all the above characteristics for the next thirteen years! Please leave all of it and try to be content with whatever you have!”
This is an important message for all of us too – Every passing day we keep running back and forth for what purpose? For earning more and more money! If we earn a certain sum of money today, are we satisfied with it in the long run? In the short-term, perhaps we might say that we’re content with whatever we get. But in the long-run, we would start feeling that we should earn more. For this, we would tend to do something extra than the work that we’re doing currently. Of course, even if it is in the legitimate way, we still keep qualifying ourselves better, we gain a lot more experience in our job over time, with which, we demand more salary, more incentives for our exceptional performance, etc. If we get a good incentive package from our organization this year, we would tend to push ourselves even more for the next year to obtain more incentives! This cycle only keeps repeating year after year and we only keep running behind more and more money! The more money we get, the more luxuries we tend to buy, which in turn increases our expenses! To meet these increased expenses, we need more and more money! Thus, this is a vicious cycle that keeps going on and on!
However, even though we might earn a lakh rupees as a salary per month, and if someone from any ashram or mutt or any temple requests for a donation, we might not be ready to donate! Even if we’ve to donate a hundred rupees, we might think ten to fifteen times before giving it! Even for that, we would start searching for “tax benefits” to compensate for our “expensive donation”! Thus, we can see here that earning more and more money, would make us a miser if we’ve to spend for the right reasons! We might end up spending enormous money to upgrade our lifestyle, which is only temporary in nature! Little do we realize that all the luxuries that we accumulate during our lifetime would never stick on to us on a permanent basis. What is ours today, would be someone else’s tomorrow. However, the “Punya” that we accumulate by donating things to the needy, is a permanent entity that will stick to us even after this birth is over! However, because of the “Maya” (Illusion) that we are in, we forget to realize such important things, isn’t it? This is exactly what Sage Shaunaka is explaining to Yudishtra, and this is a very important lesson for all of us to learn in today’s scenario as well.
So for today, let us understand this point clearly and in the next episode, we’re going to witness yet another important point that Sage Shaunaka is going to emphasize – We’re thinking that youth is something that gives us more and more joy, isn’t it? Let us see what Sage Shaunaka has to say on this! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 