In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya commencing his important accord on what is “Raaja-Dharma” and how Yudishtra to carefully adhere to the same while discharging his duties as a king of Hastinapura. These aspects of “Raaja-Dharma” are not just for Yudishtra, but also for all of us who are in various leadership positions in our professional lives, and also for our personal lives in several aspects as well. In this way, Bhishmachaarya commenced with two important terms – “Purushaartham” and “Prayathnam”. While “Purushaartham” means “End-goal” or the “Long-term” goal that one can have, “Prayathnam” means the effort that we’re taking to reach the “Purushaartham”. Moving on with this, Bhishmachaarya spoke about how a leader should be transparent with all his communications and dealings administratively. He should be approachable to everybody in the kingdom, however, he should be able to maintain a safe distance from individuals. In other words, the leader should not get carried away by the “buttering” done by a few individuals, which they do for their own personal brownie points. Thus, the leader should always maintain a neutral stance in whatever he / she does.
Moving on further, Bhishmachaarya is now going to explain thirty-six different qualities of a great king! We’ve seen a very similar discussion like this in the “Valmiki Ramayana” project wherein Valmiki Maharishi listed down sixteen important characteristics of a great leader. Bhishmachaarya is now going to list thirty-six of them in just ten Shlokas. We shall witness those thirty-six and then try to understand which of them are possible for us to follow. Bhihsmachaarya begins by saying – “Shareth Dharma Akootukaha”. This means, a person who is in an administrative position should be an epitome of all possible aspects of “Dharma”, but at the same time, he doesn’t need to be angry or strict or yelling at others at all times. In other words, following “Dharma” is important, but at the same time, we should also be having a pleasing appearance with a pleasing demeanour, so that people can easily approach us. We would have seen in our everyday lives, a few people who would be great “Dhaarmikas” (Ardent followers of “Dharma”), but if we look at them, they will never even be smiling at us! Just because one is a “Dhaarmika”, it doesn’t mean that happiness / smile / pleasing demeanour should be compromised. This is exactly what Bhishmachaarya is explaining here. He says that the leader should be a “Dhaarmika”, but at the same time, the leader should exhibit a pleasing appearance with a bare minimum of a smiling face when people come towards him / her. This would serve as a good balance between following “Dharma” and being approachable.
Next, moving on further, Bhishmachaarya explains – “Muncheth Sneham na cha aasthikaha!” For this, Bhishamchaarya gives a beautiful explanation here. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! When I previously said that you’ve to be a “Dhaarmika”, it doesn’t mean that you should sacrifice your love (“Sneham”) and affection for others. You should exhibit “Sneham”, but at the same time, you should be careful not to compromise your principles of “Dharma”!” This is an extremely important point here. Many of us would have this problem – We would talk very nicely with people, but we would let go of our duties! For instance, our best family friend would have come home to visit us and it would be an evening time for our regular “Sandhyavandanam”. Now we will be in a “Catch-22” situation here – Should we give priority to our “Sandhyavandanam” or should we spend time with our friend? Definitely we cannot do both at the same time! Hence, what would we prioritize? Many times, our priority would be the second one – Spending time with our friend! This is exactly what Bhishmachaarya says that we should not do. At any cost, we should never leave our “Dharma” and sacrifice it for any other person / priority. We should stick to our “Dharma” at all times, however, we should also spend time with our friend and be approachable to him / her. Rather than sacrificing our “Sandhyaandanam” for our friend, we can always politely say that we would join back after finishing our duty, can’t we? This is how we’ve to balance.
So for today, let us understand these four important aspects of “Dharma” that Bhishmachaarya is explaining here, and we shall continue this discussion in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 