In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya continuing his detailed accord on the “Aapad-Dharma” to Yudishtra, wherein he had just discussed the eight different ways through which a leader could get into trouble. We’ve seen all the eight ways in detail along with the present-day applications for the same. Subsequently, Bhishmachaarya is giving out answers one after the other for these eight situations as to how a leader should handle them differently. Firstly, we’ve seen yesterday that before going for an attack, a leader should first take some time, judge and understand the enemy’s potential and intent. For instance, some enemies might be very intelligent, calm, composed and shrewd in nature. We’ve to handle such enemies very tactfully and smartly with precision. However, if the enemy is barbaric in nature and launches an attack on us blindly with some hidden agenda, this person should be handled differently. In other words, we cannot have the same strategy in handling these two different types of enemies. We’ve also witnessed an example in the form of the recent Islamic barbaric terror attack on our innocent Hindu brothers & sisters at Kashmir in India. For this, India took its time, understood where and how to hit, and after almost 15 days, the brave Indian Army launched an assault on nine terror camps inside Pakistan’s boundaries (Operation Sindoor) and eliminated a few hundred barbarians overnight!
Thus, the point here is that, if the enemy is barbaric in nature, there is no question of engaging with him in terms of peace talks or negotiations over the table. The best way is to hit them and hit them very hard where it hurts the most. Moreover, while handling such enemies, unpredictability is very important. The opponent should never be able to predict our approach and this is exactly what the Indian Army did as well – Pakistan was caught napping and was completely unaware when the Indian missiles struck them down! They were completely fooled by the “mock drills” that were being conducted by India in the border states. These drills forced the enemy to think that India is still under-prepared to launch a strike, but this thought was far from reality. Thus, the enemy should always be kept on toes and should never be able to sense what is incoming from us!
Now getting back to what Bhishmachaarya has to say in this context, he says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! If the enemy is an intelligent person with a “Dharma-Chintanam” (Thought process along the path of “Dharma”), and also if he is a “Balavaan” (Strong & Powerful), it is always better not to pick up a fight with him. Rather, it is better to make friends with that person, engage in peaceful talks and re-obtain what you’ve lost. This is always better than going to war with such a person. If you go for an offensive counter strike with such people, chances are very high that you would end up on the losing side. Whereas, if the enemy is an epitome of “Adharma”, but he is extremely powerful – It is better to run out of that place and safeguard yourself first, rather than staying there and picking up a fight with him at that point. Even if you lose your capital city, you’ve to just flee from that place, because your life at this point is more important. Only if you’re alive, will you be able to protect your people. You can always build up your strength, army, etc. tomorrow or some other day and then decide whether to take this person on or not. But for that, you’ve to be alive, isn’t it? Hence, if you come across an “Adharmic” enemy but extremely powerful in nature, it is better not to pick up a fight against him!”
This is a very important point that Bhishmachaarya is explaining here – Especially the second one – Readers might have heard this – In olden days when our temples were under attack from Muslim invaders, our people protected them by giving away enormous amounts of gold and land. In fact, whatever amount of gold and other ornaments that we see today in our temples like Srirangam are not even 5% of what was existing a thousand years ago. Gradually with so many invasive forces invading us over time, all the gold, land, etc. that belonged to the temples were taken away. Eventually the temple and the “Dharma” were protected here and that is more important. If we lose gold and land, they can be re-earned at any point of time. But if our temples and Idols (Sanctum-Sanctorum) are destroyed, it is very difficult to re-create all of them, isn’t it?
Moreover, if we’ve to go for a negotiation with these invaders as per the principles of “Dharma”, it is not going to be of any use, primarily because the enemy doesn’t understand anything about “Dharma”. If such is the case, what will we talk about with them? Of course, since those invaders were extremely armed and powerful, our people could not match their prowess with weapons and ammunition. Hence, it is always better to sacrifice a few things, in order to protect the greater good. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall elaborate these points further as we move on! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 