In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Arjuna’s accord as a reply to Yudishtra’s proposal of descending to the forest by renouncing the kingdom. Arjuna asserts that there is no point in Yudishtra taking such a hasty decision, because, by doing so, he would only be failing in his duties more than anything else. Moreover, Arjuna talks about the significance of wealth here. To Yudishtra’s point on renouncing all his wealth and his lack of interest in earning further wealth, Arjuna opines that it is the duty of a king to earn as much wealth as possible and keep the “Gajaana” (Treasury) full at all times. This will enable the king to take up righteous welfare activities for the people. Moreover, if the king has to perform important spiritual offerings like the “Raajasuya Yaaga”, “Ishti Yaaga”, “Ashwamedha Yaaga”, etc. he should have the necessary resources to donate to the Brahmana Rishis who will come and perform these offerings. These offerings are very important for the welfare of the country and Arjuna believes that wealth is of paramount importance for all these to be performed correctly as per the principles of “Dharma”. We ourselves are seeing this in today’s life – If we’ve to perform any spiritual offering, we require sufficient financial resources. Also, even for our basic survival, adequate financial resources are a necessity today. Hence, we cannot shun away just like that and say that we will go to the forest to perform “Tapas”. Not everybody can perform “Tapas” and attain “Moksha” through it. Only a very few people like the great “Maharishis” can do all that. As Bhagawan Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita, one has to perform his / her assigned duty and through it, “Moksha” can be attained (“Karma Yoga”). This is exactly what Arjuna is also explaining here.
Moving forward thus, Arjuna explains the fundamental concept of “Raaja Dharma” here. With all these points that Arjuna has highlighted, he continues further thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You have won the Kurukshetra war convincingly enough – Thanks to Bhagawan Krishna’s divine “Anugraha”. You have been given an opportunity to serve the Hastinapura kingdom as a righteous king. Rather than thinking of running away, you should be patient and perform your duty correctly. Escapism is never a solution for anything in life! Of course there might be hiccups in everything that we do. But we’ve to be patient in our approach towards “Dharma”. Oh Yudishtra! I don’t need to tell you all this as you yourself are an epitome of “Dharma”! You need to exercise patience as a leader, and this is the most fundamental point in “Raaja-Dharma”. You’ve come a long way as a king, and as a person. We’ve seen you from close circles. You’ve endured so much suffering and hiccups in your life. However, you’ve never forsaken “Dharma” for scoring personal brownie points at any time in your life. You should continue being that way. You should not give up, just because things are looking gloomy for you. Your persistence and perseverance are under test now. You should come out strongly with flying colours from this situation, rather than trying to run away by shunning your duty!”
This is a very important point that Arjuna is talking about here. To attain success in life, we’ve to first perform our duty correctly. This is the first step which we saw yesterday. Now, Arjuna is saying that while performing our duty, we’ve to exhibit patience. For instance, when we are going to a school for a study program, we’ve to endure the difficulty of the course and finish it with complete dedication. If we’re working in a corporate organization, we’ve to endure the people around us and manage our duties successfully. Just because somebody is playing politics and things aren’t going our way, it is not a wise decision to run away from there! We’ve to stand tall and face any situation to succeed. Success always comes with enduring enormous challenges. In the game of cricket, how do we measure the success of a batsman, especially in Test matches? A batsman should be able to stay at the crease and tackle the hostile bowling of the opposition. The more the batsman remains in the crease, trying to defend, runs will automatically come by. Rather, if the batsman goes on the offensive and tries to hit every ball for a boundary, chances are very high that the batsman will get out!
Hence, patience and perseverance are of paramount importance when it comes to every aspect of life. There will definitely be hiccups and success doesn’t come easily to everyone. Only those who are consistent with their effort, with enormous patience will succeed. Even spiritual progress is of the same way. We’ve seen this earlier as well – If we’ve to succeed in meditation, it doesn’t come overnight. We’ve to put meticulous effort to bring the mind under our control. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 