We’re at a juncture of a very important point in leadership being highlighted by Bhishmachaarya as part of his lengthy discussion on “Raaja-Dharma” to Yudishtra. Bhishmachaarya explains that a leader should not give over-importance to anybody around him. Due importance and respect should of course be given to all people, but giving respect and importance has a limit. A leader should not go overboard to give importance to someone and eventually this would backfire very badly at some point in time. To highlight this point, Bhishmachaarya is narrating a beautiful story, wherein a sage is trying to give excessive affection towards a dog. Whenever the dog is under attack by another animal like a tiger, lion, elephant, etc. the sage, with his immense power of penance, transforms the dog into the corresponding animal which is attacking it. For instance, if a tiger attacks the dog, the sage transformed the dog into a tiger, with which, the dog successfully chased away the tiger. This happened several times with several animals.
One day, a “Sharabam” bird comes to attack the dog. As usual, the dog comes and catches the feet of the sage for help, and the sage too transforms the dog into another “Sharabam” bird. Many of us might not know this – “Sharabam” is a bird which is one of the fiercest amongst the bird community, which has the power of both an animal and an eagle together. Once the sage transforms this dog into a “Sharabam” bird, as usual, he chases away the other “Sharabam” bird which comes to attack him. However, now there’s a slight change in the dog’s mindset. Till now it was very loyal to the sage who protected it time and again, but now as it became the “Sharabam” bird, the dog did not want to change back to its original form. It started thinking, “Oh wow! Being a “Sharabam” bird is such an awesome feeling! Every other animal and bird is fearing for me as I swag in front of them! This is wonderful! I would like to adorn this form forever and maybe I should convey my wish to the sage! However, the sage might not accept my wish and hence, maybe I should kill the sage when I’m in this “Sharabam” form itself!”
Thinking thus, the dog, in the form of the “Sharabam” bird, prepares itself to attack the sage, who was the very person who had given this form to it. Without being loyal and thankful to the sage for protecting it time and again, the dog goes on the offensive. As the “Sharabam” bird looks for an opportunity to attack, the sage was in deep penance. Sensing that this is the best time for it to attack and kill the sage, the “Sharabam” bird tries to pounce on him. Realizing immediately that he is in a great danger, the sage opened his eyes, only to see the same “Sharabam” bird that he created, coming towards him in full force to kill him. Without wasting even a single second, the sage got to work and he immediately transformed the “Sharabam” bird into a dog (Original form) 🙂 Thus, the dog falls on the ground, rolls on the dust and mud, and once again comes and sits near the sage! It is back to its original sober form, and now it cannot do any more crooked things that it wanted to do earlier!
This is a beautiful story narrated by Bhishmachaarya to Yudishtra, to highlight an important point that if we give too much importance to someone by going out of our way, this move can backfire at us very badly. The sage in this story went beyond his limits to protect the dog everytime with his power of penance. However, the help that he rendered to the dog misfired when the dog in the form of the “Sharabam” bird tried to backstab him! However, since the sage had enormous power of penance, he was immediately able to rejig himself from the trap by transforming the “Sharabam” bird once again into a dog within fraction of a second! Will we be able to do such things, if we are confronted with a similar situation in life? This is where we’ve to be careful. Of course, it is important that we help others as much as we can, but there is a limit to it. We should first know whom are we trying to help. Is the person really fit enough to receive our help? Or, is the person opportunistic in nature that he would some day come back and backstab us? This is where Bhishmachaarya cautions Yudishtra that before he entertains someone, he should first study that person fully inside out. Only then should he even allow that person to come closer.
So for today, let us understand this important point highlighted by Bhishmachaarya to Yudishtra, and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion forward! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 