In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishmachaarya’s lengthy accord on the “Ganatantra Raajyam”, wherein he is explaining certain important qualities that a leader should possess, if this kind of a “Raajyam” should be deemed successful. In this, Bhishmachaarya talks about motivation, and how a leader should be highly motivated and enthusiastic at all times, to face any kind of challenge thrown at him / her. This is a very important aspect in leadership, wherein a leader is always expected to be on top of things at all times. For this, motivation is required at high levels. If the leader is showing signs of giving up the pursuit or panicking / buckling down under pressure, it is seen as a very bad message for the followers. Upon seeing the leader sulking, the followers would also start losing their confidence as well. This can be disastrous to the team / organization / kingdom, as it will pave the way for destruction / defeat. Moreover, a leader should also be proficient in both the “Shaastram” and the “Shasthram”. While the former talks about all the requisite principles of “Dharma” that a leader should follow, the latter indicates how smart a leader should be, when it comes to implementation.
Moving on further, Bhishmachaarya narrates an important point here. He asks Yudishtra a question here – “Oh Yudishtra! I’ve mentioned earlier that the “Ganatantra Raajyam” will fail if the societal unity amongst people breaks down, didn’t I? Now think for a moment – If the society is united, and if an external invader comes to capture your country, the first thing that he has to do is to break this unity, isn’t it? So how will he do it? What will be the ways and means the intruder will employ in order to break this unity?” As Bhishmachaarya asks this question, this makes Yudishtra think. Continuing with his accord further, Bhishmachaarya himself gives the answer here. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! The first thing that the intruder will try to do is to create a rift between people by saying that one is of a higher stature and the other is of a lower stature. Immediately people will start believing in the intruder’s words, more than those of their fellow pals! This is the opportunity that the intruder is looking for – The moment one falls prey to the intruder’s “divide and rule” (“Mithra-Bedham”) attempt, the unity will slowly start disintegrating, and finally the intruder will start having the say in everything that we do! This is how the intruder will capture us. Hence, as a leader, you should ensure that you maintain this unity amongst people at all times, and constantly keep a watch if any intruder is trying to make such malicious attempts!”
This is an extremely important and one of the most relevant points that Bhishmachaarya is touching upon here. In fact, this happened in our own country during British rule. As we’ve discussed earlier too, the Britishers came to India on the pretext of doing trade with us, however, they saw an opportunity of breaking the unity amongst us in several regions of the country. They successfully planted divisive narratives amongst the people of our country, and with that, they ensured that we started fighting amongst each other. By doing so, we gradually fell into the trap of the Britishers, who then captured our territories slowly and steadily and made us their slaves! In fact, there is a very interesting accord in history that during the initial days of British rule in India, the British Governor Generals struggled to break our unity. Upon doing their rigorous research, the British found out that the main reason behind unity amongst Indians is their education system. In other words, our ancient “Gurukula” education system was binding us together in several ways. However, the British did not like this. They wanted to modify the education system in India, so that they can use this to break our unity. With this agenda, the Britishers started propagating a narrative saying that the Indian education system is useless, and is leading us nowhere. It is only the “Western Education System” which is the most superior amongst all, and only with this education, will anyone in this world be able to earn more money, name and fame!
Thus, in other words, our “Gurukula” education system, which was teaching us the “Yogam” (Reality) of life, was destroyed and we were completely pushed towards the education system which teaches us “Bhogam” (Luxury). For pushing us from “Yogam” to “Bhogam”, the Britishers coined a beautiful narrative thus, “Oh! You are sitting on the ground and learning! You are wearing a torn dhoti and learning! You are byhearting unwanted things, which are not going to help you in any way to earn money, name and fame! Whereas on the other hand, look at our education – It is sophisticated! It has all ingredients for you to make a lot of money and live a luxurious life! With this education, you can go from one country to the other and capture them!” This narrative slowly started giving attraction in the minds of our people and within just a span of around 150 years, the entire thousand-year education system of our country was completely destroyed! This is the power of narrative-setting, and we should be extremely careful about this!
Thus, the point here is that, the intruder will try to break the unity of people by inducing such false narratives, and we as educated individuals with self-awareness should ensure that we do not fall prey to such things. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall continue this important discussion forward into the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 