In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Bhishmachaarya’s important accord on how “trust” is important in leadership. This comes as part of the main discussion on the “Raaja-Dharma” with Yudishtra, wherein Bhishmachaarya is explaining several important points pertaining to leadership and administration, which are pertinent to today’s context as well. As part of the “trust” discussion, Bhishmachaarya is in the process of narrating a beautiful story of a tiger and a fox. The “Dharmatma fox” which we’re talking about, wants to be an epitome of “Dharma”, by not hurting anyone physically as well as otherwise. A passerby tiger gets impressed with the “Dharmatma fox” and it also wants to emulate the principles of “Dharma” which the latter is trying to follow. Hence, the tiger wants this “Dharmatma fox” to be his able minister / advisor in several aspects. Initially the “Dharmatma fox” refuses to accept this offer, but eventually the tiger is not wanting to let go of the “Dharmatma fox”. He wants the “Dharmatma fox” to somehow be his advisor at all times. Now the “Dharmatma fox” is caught in a catch-22 situation. How is he going to react to the tiger’s repeated persuasion? Let us continue to witness today.
Moving on thus, as the tiger is waiting for the reply, the “Dharmatma fox” says thus, “Oh tiger! I’ve thought about your proposal. Since you’re persuading me with the right intent and for the cause of “Dharma”, I accept your proposal of being your advisor / minister. However, please note – I shall always be in your shadow and will never come into the limelight in front of others. If you want any advice / suggestions from me, you can always approach me to a secretive location and I shall render my advice. I will not come in front of anybody whom you know. Else, this will create a controversy that a tiger is seeking help from a fox and not from another fellow tiger. I do not want to get into this unwanted gossip. I shall stay away, however, I shall always be accessible to you at all times. If you’re accepting this condition of mine, I shall be your minister!”
As the “Dharmatma fox” says thus, the tiger did not understand. He asks back thus, “Oh Dharmatma fox! As a minister, you should always be in the frontline for everything, isn’t it? Every kingdom has this same protocol. Why do you want to be different here? Why can’t you be the “numero uno” in my kingdom?” For this, the “Dharmatma fox” replies very carefully thus, “Oh tiger! You are right! But that logic will not be feasible here. Let me tell you the reason – If you come and tell me that someone is bad and has to be killed – I approve of the same and you go and kill that tiger or whoever it is. Later on, when the other fellow friends of that killed living being come and attack and if they know that I’m the one who gave this idea to you, they will come and kill me. If I’m killed, your “Mantri-Sabha” will go without an able minister, and you’ll have to start searching for another able minister once again! Hence, to avoid this fiasco, it is better that I’m in the shadows. I shall give you advice, but secretively! Moreover, oh tiger! Let me tell you one more thing here – If I’m giving you a suggestion / advice, you should not ask a counter question to me, like how you’ve asked now. You should wholeheartedly accept whatever I tell you to do. If you ask any cross questions, it means that you do not trust me fully. I want you to trust me 100% and accept whatever I tell you. If you’re accepting these twin conditions, I shall be your minister!”
As the “Dharmatma fox” reiterates its stance thus with a logical reason, the tiger has no other option but to accept. Meanwhile the tiger also thinks and arrives to a conclusion that the “Dharmatma fox” is right. Hence, without further discussions, the tiger accepts the proposed conditions of the “Dharmatma fox”. Days passed by and the tiger, in consultation with the “Dharmatma fox” finds out all the culprits in the kingdom and starts executing them one after the other. This aggressive act of the tiger frightens the other animals in the forest, and also at the same time, a huge doubt arises in the minds of the other animals. As the tiger’s aggressive actions continued unabated, the animals thought thus, “Oh wow! Till today we’ve never seen our king being so ruthless and aggressive. Now there is someone who is feeding something constantly to this tiger. We’ve to find out the source of this feed!” Thinking thus, all the animals came together and started frantically searching for this “source”. Upon doing considerable research all over the forest, the animals find out that this tiger goes to a fox secretly and seeks advice! Now, the main task for these animals is to somehow stop the tiger from going to the fox. In other words, the other animals have to somehow break the nexus between the tiger and the fox. So how are they going to do it? Let us wait till the next episode to find this out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 