In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of an important accord given by Bhishmachaarya in the form of an insightful story, pertaining to the essence of performing our “Karma” without fail. In this regard, Bhishmachaarya’s story of the camel with a long neck serves as a great eye-opener on why we should not allow our laziness to take over, which prevents us from performing our “Karma” every day. As we’ve witnessed, the camel with an “ultra-long” neck stretching for around a 1000 kilometers, tries obtaining its food by extending its neck into a tunnel. The camel becomes ultra-lazy by not willing to move an inch from its sitting place and only extends its neck everywhere whenever it needed food and water. When the neck of the camel goes into a tunnel, a group of foxes decide that this “neck” should be their prey for the day. Hence, they start biting the neck really hard. Unable to realize that someone is biting its neck, the camel is unable to react on time, and hence, had to sacrifice its life due to its laziness. Had the camel been a bit more active, such a disaster could have been prevented.
This is the same problem with many of us too. For instance, even at home, if we’ve to take something from a top shelf in our wardrobe, rather than pulling a chair / stool and climbing up on it to take it, we try to stretch our hands and legs beyond permissible limits, which might result in cramps and sometimes fracture too! If we would have pulled a chair and got on top of it to reach the top shelf of the wardrobe, things would have been easier! However, due to our laziness, we end up stretching awkwardly, which might result in unwanted physical ailments! In similar lines, I’ve seen people doing this – If something falls on the floor, rather than bending down and taking it by our hands, we tend to use our feet to take it! This is done in order to prevent our body from “bending” forward! In many occasions, this act of ours is seen as highly disrespectful! For instance, if a handkerchief or if a pen / pencil falls down on the floor, is it respectful to lift them by our feet? Pens / pencils are considered to be divine objects of Goddess Saraswati, aren’t they? Can we disrespect them by taking them with our feet? This is done because of our sheer laziness at that particular moment, by not bending down! These might be small things, but small things in life make a lot of difference. As ardent followers of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, we should spend a thought on such things.
In similar lines, if we’ve to get up from our chair and keep something on a shelf, many times we hesitate doing it! Rather, we continue sitting in our chairs and tend to throw things towards the shelf. All these are unwarranted behaviors and we should try our best to get over them. Moving further from this point thus, Bhishmachaarya explains the next point – “Oh Yudishtra! If an enemy is coming to attack you, please understand that you should refrain from starting an attack immediately upon him. Initially you should sharpen your observation skills, analyze the person, understand his strengths and weaknesses, and then commence your attack. Of course you can immediately start attacking the enemy, if he is a known person to you. Whereas, if the enemy is a stranger and you’ve never encountered him earlier, you need to make your moves very carefully. Without knowing the strengths of the enemy, if you start attacking, the probability is very high that you will end up on the losing side!”
Saying thus, Bhishmachaarya gives a beautiful analogy to highlight this point. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! If you’re standing on a beach amidst a lot of waves / tides, you should understand where you’ve to bend down and where you’ve to stand in an upright position. If the waves are huge, you should bend down towards it if you’ve to withstand it. Whereas, at this time if you stand upright, the waves will thrash you and drag you along. Similarly, when you see a mighty unknown enemy, you should first bend towards him, pay your respects, analyze him thoroughly and then start your war game! Whereas, if the enemy is a familiar person, he is like the smaller waves on the beach. You need not bend down to such people. Hence, as an administrator, you should be flexible in nature! You should know where to bend and where not to bend!”
This is an extremely important point that Bhishmachaarya is narrating here, and for today, let us understand this very clearly! We shall continue with this point in the next episode with the help of a story that Bhishmachaarya is going to narrate! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 