In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Shaunaka emphasizing a very important point to Yudishtra, which is extremely relevant to all of us even today. He says clearly that if we run behind excessive money, it would only result in us becoming extreme misers! We would not have the heart to spend it in the right way. Instead, excessive money would give rise to excessive anger, frustration, jealousy, etc. In fact, if we’re getting to a stage wherein we become obsessed with money and materialistic property, we would even go to the extent of forgetting Bhagawan completely! Moreover, the more obsessed we become towards money, the more brave we would become to do anything and everything to earn that money. In other words, we would start resorting to unethical means of earning wealth, for instance, corruption, taking bribes from someone for something, stealing other’s property, etc. Hence, money and property are extremely dangerous items that have an extreme potential of pulling us away from the path of “Dharma”, and this is where we’ve to be very careful not to fall into the trap. Of course, money is important for sustenance of life and basic requirements, but that should not escalate into unreasonable demands and desires.
This is exactly the trap in which Duryodhana and Co. have got into. If we deeply analyze the Mahabharata story, at every point whenever Duryodhana is bursting out in aggression and anger, it would be because of the jealous feeling that Yudishtra has more wealth and kingdom than what he has. Hence, this is the basic problem which King Dhridiraashtra as a father failed to analyze and mend Duryodhana. Whereas, Yudishtra and Co. were steadfast in their “Dharma” of truth, non-violence, serving others heartily, etc. and this made them successful in the end. Thus, these are all some examples that we should consider while designing the roadmap for our life ahead. If we’ve to go the Duryodhana way, disaster is awaiting us at some point in time. However, if we try and walk the Yudishtra way, it might be tough initially, but in the long-run, we would obtain unimaginable success! Thus, it is up to us to decide which path to take!
Moving on thus, Sage Shaunaka is now going to explain something very interesting – He now talks about “Youth”, and how youth can bring about a variety of things. Sage Shaunaka says thus:
“Anithyam yauvanam roopam jeevitam ratna sanchayaha!”
This is a very important sloka again. Here Sage Shaunaka explains that youth is something that is completely impermanent in nature. Today we might be an eighteen-year-old boy, fresh from school, just into a college for undergraduation, etc. However, does this stage remain permanent over time? As days, months and years roll by, we’re going to get older each passing day and we’re going to finish our undergrad, go for a postgrad, work in a company, get married, have a family, etc. isn’t it? Thus, nothing is permanent in one’s lifetime. Similar to this, money and wealth are also not permanent in one’s possession. As mentioned yesterday, we might be owning an expensive car or a villa today, but what is the guarantee that we might still be owning the same property ten years from now? What if suddenly an earthquake or any natural calamity occurs? The villa can be reduced to rubble within no time, isn’t it? We’ve witnessed this in many occasions. Twenty-four hours earlier one might have been an owner of a seven-star hotel, but twenty-four hours later, that same person might have become a popper, because his entire property came crashing down because of a sudden earthquake, or his property might have got damaged due to a tsunami wave! Or, chances are high that somebody else might have dragged him to the court owing to some legal issue and pulled out that property from his possession!
Thus, we can see here that money and property are highly impermanent just like how our youth is! In other words, we might be having very happy and carefree days during our childhood and youth days, but can this continue all throughout our life? Whenever there are problems in life, we’ve got no other option but to face the problem and move on, isn’t it? This is the maturity that all of us need to cultivate within ourselves, and this is exactly what Sage Shaunaka advises Yudishtra as well. Quite similar to this is our physical form. During our youthful days we might be handsome or beautiful to look, but as days, months and years roll by, do we maintain the same physical form? No, isn’t it? We’ve to get older and with age, we also lose our physical beauty. Finally at one stage, we would reach an older state wherein people would start ridiculing our physical form! Thus, life is extremely impermanent and transient in nature and we’ve to understand that going behind wealth and money also should have a balance and a limit. We should of course possess money for our life’s sustenance, but beyond that if we’re going to run behind it, we’re only risking ourselves of walking the path of “Adharma”.
So for today, let us understand this point very clearly and let us wait till the next episode to witness this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 