In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishmachaarya’s important “Raaja-Dharma” accord to Yudishtra, as part of the bigger “Shaanti Parva” of the Mahabharata. In this, we are currently witnessing an important segment wherein Bhishmachaarya is talking about thirty-six important qualities of a leader. We’ve seen around twenty of them so far and in the last episode, Bhishmachaarya has explained that a leader should be a very conscientious person. In other words, a leader should be clean, systematic and orderly with whatever he is doing. However, having said thus, it doesn’t mean that the leader should neglect and underestimate those people who are not up to his / her level of cleanliness or orderliness. A leader should be respectful and compassionate towards everyone, irrespective of how people are. Also, Bhishmachaarya explains that a leader should take care of his / her family, just as close as the kingdom. Just like how the “Raajyam” is important for a leader, family is also equally important. Hence, a leader should find a balance between both and should not sacrifice one for the other.
Moving on further, Bhishmachaarya explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You’ve to ensure that all women folk are taken good care of in your kingdom, however, you should know your limits in this pursuit. You should be well within your boundaries while doing so!” This is also important here – Even in today’s organizations we talk about “Women empowerment” and bringing women to the forefront of decision-making and policy framing. Many organizations are successfully implementing this as well. While this is extremely welcome, the leader should also be careful not to breach boundaries. In the same organizations, we hear a lot of complaints about harassment against women, molestations, wrong behaviours towards them, etc. A leader should on one hand give a lot of empowerment to his female colleagues, but having done that, he should not misuse women in any way. Women should be respected for all their contributions and should be treated with dignity and professionalism. This balance is very important to be achieved.
As Bhishmachaarya says thus, he also says next – “Oh Yudishtra! You are free to consume any type of food you wish to, however, you should also ensure that you consume food that is healthy and without any form of contamination! Food is directly related to sound health of an individual, and as a king, you should maintain good physical and mental health to serve others!” This is extremely important especially in today’s context. Gone are those days wherein we gave enormous importance to home-cooked food. We used to carry lunch boxes to our workplaces / schools and colleges, but nowadays, if we do the same thing, we become a laughing stock amidst people! This is because “fast food” and “eating out” culture has started booming exponentially. While it is not wrong to consume food once in a while in quality restaurants, this should not become a habit. We’ve discussed this once during our earlier episodes as well – Consuming food outside has several risks – Firstly, the quality of ingredients used to prepare the food in restaurants might not be good enough to maintain a sound physical health. These days, we listen to a lot of doctors saying that “Fast foods” contain a lot of harmful chemicals which can even be carcinogenic (can cause several types of cancer). As youngsters, we might be attracted towards restaurants because of the taste of the food and also the ambience and experience that they give, but as we age, we will slowly start experiencing side-effects for whatever we’re consuming today. Secondly, there are subtle energies that get transmitted via food that we eat. If food is prepared with a lot of tension and dissatisfaction in the restaurant by its employee’s, the same negative energy gets transmitted into us, which results in developing unwanted negative thoughts and feelings. This might directly lead to a drop in our productivity, intelligence and mental capabilities.
This is why it is better to consume food that is cooked at home. Firstly, the ingredients that we use to cook food at home will definitely be of a good quality. Secondly, we wouldn’t use much external “Masalas” and other preservatives in the food that we cook everyday at home. This can save us from extremely life-threatening side-effects at a later stage of our life. Thirdly, when we cook food at home, we shall always chant some “Mantras” or talk about Bhagawan while we do so. This ensures positive energy while cooking, and this will weed out all kinds of negativities. This will in turn ensure that we stay “Saathvik” in our way of life, rather than becoming “Raajasic” and “Taamasic”. This is exactly what Bhishamchaarya is explaining here – He says that Yudishtra should consume food according to his likes and preferences, but at the same time, it should be healthy and nutritious in nature.
So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall continue with the next quality of the leader. Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 