In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishmachaarya’s important accord on “Raaja-Dharma”. Within this, he is talking about thirty-six important qualities that a leader should definitely possess within himself / herself. In this regard, we’ve discussed around seventeen of them so far, and particularly in the last episode, we’ve witnessed Bhishmachaarya explaining that as a leader, we should be ready to appreciate and recognize others’ achievements with utmost generosity. However, when it comes to our own achievements, we should not boast too much about them. Of course, we shall talk about our own achievements in the form of “experience sharing” with others, but that should be done with a fine balance. The important point here is that, “experience sharing” should not become “boasting” or taking “self-pride”. Secondly, Bhishmachaarya was talking about helping and protecting “Saadhus”and the needy in the kingdom, however, this should not come at the cost of exploiting others who might earn sufficient wealth through legitimate means. We’ve seen a direct application of this point in today’s context wherein the “freebie” culture is completely ruining our Indian economy. “Freebie” is nothing but “giving something for free at the cost of the taxpayers’ money”, which directly accounts to what Bhishmachaarya is explaining here. Providing “freebies” and making people lazy is grossly against “Raaja-Dharma” and people should have this awareness.
Moving on further, Bhishmachaarya explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Whenever you have a situation wherein you’ve to depend upon someone else for your living and survival, it should always be with those who are “Sath-Putras” (People who follow the path of “Dharma”). Never in your life should you depend on “Asath” people (People who walk the path of “Adharma”) for your survival, even for a single day. This will bring down your reputation substantially in the minds of the people!” This is an extremely important point here, even for our modern day context. Just because we do not have money, should we go and borrow from anti-social elements or people who might potentially be of danger to us and to the society? Just because we are in need of wealth, should we align with such people? Isn’t this opportunistic behavior? Especially in the military, we see this quite often wherein, enemy camps use this strategy to obtain defence secrets. The enemy camp might potentially target those who are vulnerable to get carried away with enormous sums of money, women, etc. Thus, by giving them whatever is their requirement, they will grab all the important secrets from them slowly and steadily. This happens in many walks of life as well and it is important that the leader doesn’t get carried away easily like this.
We’ve seen such a case in the Mahabharata story itself. When King Shalya was travelling somewhere, he suddenly started feeling hungry. At the point where King Shalya had this feeling, Duryodhana had been camping for some reason, pretty much at the same location. Upon seeing King Shalya in this position, Duryodhana immediately offered help through his spies, and without proper investigation about who was offering this help, King Shalya accepted it. However, it was later that he discovered that the help had come from none other than Duryodhana himself. Initially, even though King Shalya was firmly on the Pandavas’ side, he had to shift to Duryodhana’s side for the Kurukshetra war. We’ve seen this in our earlier episodes as to how King Shalya was tricked by Duryodhana to be pulled into his fold! This is what happens when we’ve to take any kind of help from an enemy. We become bound to them if we accept.
However, when the same situation confronted Bhagawan Krishna, how did He handle it? We’ve seen that when Bhagawan Krishna visited Hastinapura to broker peace between the two camps as a last-ditch attempt, Duryodhana had invited Bhagawan Krishna for a grand feast, with enormous varieties of food dishes and reception. However, Bhagawan Krishna, being all-knowing, understood Duryodhana’s underlying intention here. By providing such great hospitality, Duryodhana was trying to pull Bhagawan Krishna to his side. Bhagawan did not want this to happen, and hence, declined Duryodhana’s hospitality. Instead, He preferred to stay that night at Vidura’s place. Vidura being a “Dharma-Atma”, Bhagawan Krishna preferred his company, rather than Duryodhana’s! Hence, the point is very clear here – If we are in need of anything, we should never align with those who do not walk the path of “Dharma”, else, this would make us bound to them permanently for life!
Next, Bhishmachaarya is explaining to Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! If there is something wrong that is happening in your kingdom, and if it comes to your notice, you should not give a knee-jerk reaction and immediately go for punishment. You should investigate the matter thoroughly to understand who is really at fault, before rendering your final punishment verdict. Of course, punishment is important, but the wrong person should not get convicted at any cost!” This is also a very important point, and this is perhaps one reason why court processes across the world take enormous time to come to an end.
So for today, let us understand these important points, and we shall wait till the next episode to continue with this discussion further. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 