In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya’s continued accord on “Raaja-Dharma” to Yudishtra, wherein he talks about how Yudishtra should not panic when he sees an enemy in front of him. A leader should be calm and composed during critical times. When the enemy is in front of you, a leader should not immediately jump in to start attacking. At times, it is important that the leader adopts the “wait and watch” mode in analyzing the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, and then commence the attack. Here, Bhishmachaarya uses a very important phrase – “Bowing down in front of the enemy”, which might sound a bit controversial here. We might immediately tend to ask why we should bow down towards an enemy. Doesn’t this show that we are cowards and unwilling to fight back? The answer is an actual “No”. Upon looking at this phrase for a deeper meaning, Bhishmachaarya actually means that by bowing down in front of an enemy, a smart leader tries to read and understand the actual intent of the enemy bit by bit. A leader should never give way to his emotions to take over at any stage. This is a way to have a control on the emotions, and with this, the leader is very calm and composed. If we’re emotional, we tend to make decisions which would result in blunders from our side! Hence, we’ve to be very careful while making crucial decisions, and one way to achieve this is to have control over our rush of emotions.
Moving on further from this point, Bhishmachaarya tells Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! As a king, you should know whom to keep where! If people are going against your will and wish, you should be ready to show them the mirror immediately and bring them back to your ways! This is very important! You should not keep giving importance to people more than what you should do!” This is a very important point that Bhishmachaarya is talking about in terms of leadership. As a leader, it is important to understand the level of our people around us and ensure that he / she is not given undue importance for anything at any point in time. Whatever importance / respect that needs to be given to a person, should be given without a doubt. Bhishmachaarya is never getting into that zone here. However, he says that the problem comes when we start giving undue importance and excessive respect towards people. If we start doing so, people will disregard us and start taking advantage of all the luxury that they receive from us. Eventually, they will not shy away from acting against us as well, during crucial times.
To highlight this point, Bhishmachaarya is narrating yet another beautiful story here. Bhishmachaarya explains thus, “Oh Yudishtra! Once upon a time there was a great sage, sitting in a forest and performing deep penance. As the sage was in a deep meditative state, many animals started coming near him and sleeping beside him on several occasions. In this manner, one day a dog came and sat near the sage. All of a sudden, the sage started developing some sort of a compassionate feeling for the dog and started taking care of it very lovingly. That evening, all of a sudden a cheetah came close to the dog and threatened to attack and kill it. Panicking immensely, the dog ran to the sage, seeking protection from him. Moved by the dog’s precarious situation, the sage thought of how he could save the dog’s life. He immediately converted the dog into a cheetah with the immense power of his penance! Once the dog entered into a cheetah form, it became very ferocious and attacked the other cheetah back! A huge fight endured and this dog-converted-into-cheetah won the battle! In a bid to save its life, the other cheetah ran away into the forest and this dog once again obtains its original form! The sage’s compassion knew no bounds and thus, saved the life of the dog, for which, the dog was also thankful to the sage!”
Saying thus, Bhishmachaarya continues further, “Oh Yudishtra! Now the second enemy for the dog arrived – In the form of a tiger! Upon seeing a tiger attacking his favourite dog, the sage immediately converted the dog into a tiger, with his immense power of penance! The same story repeated, with the dog-converted-into-tiger launching a scathing counterattack! Eventually the tiger had to run away in a bid to save its life! Once again the dog regains its original form and thanks the sage! After a few days, once again the dog comes under attack – This time by a wild elephant! The same story repeats and the dog-converted-into-elephant counterattacks the other elephant and makes it run for its life! The same story repeated with when the lion attacked the dog as well! In this way, the dog was being protected by the sage with an “extra bit of care” every time he came under attack!”
So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall witness in the next episode how the dog is going to reciprocate the sage’s over-affection towards him! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 