Episode # 1364 – Safeguarding & protecting “Dharma” – Bhishmachaarya narrates a beautiful anecdote!!!

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya continuing with his accord on the “Aapad Dharma” wherein he is explaining to Yudishtra the importance of three aspects while safeguarding “Dharma” – Power, wealth and motivation. These three factors are paramount when we try and protect our “Sanaatan Dharma” even today. For instance, we should first of all have the “will-power” to follow our “Dharma” correctly every passing day. Only if we have this fixed, will we be able to showcase our power extremely to the outside world. For “Dharma” to be protected, wealth is also required. This is why Bhishmachaarya has been explaining right from the beginning that the king should always have his coffers filled at all times. This will enable the leader to donate wealth to the needy at all times. The more we spend towards “Dharma-Kaaryam”, our “Sanaatana Dharma” will flourish. Thirdly, to showcase our prowess and channelize our wealth correctly, we should have the motivation within us, isn’t it? Without motivation and the internal drive, how will we even be able to perform our “Nitya-Anushtaanam” properly every day? If this itself is not happening, how are we going to defend ourselves in the external settings? Thus, the point here is that, motivation is the primary requirement, followed by the power and wealth, to protect and safeguard our “Sanaatana Dharma”. 

Taking these points forward, Bhishmachaarya is now going to explain a beautiful story of three fishes, to highlight all the above-mentioned points to Yudishtra. Once upon a time, there were three fishes in a big pond. These fishes had names. The first one was called “Dheerga-Kaalagnya”. The second one was called “Utpanna-Prathiba”. The third one was called “Dheerga-Soothri”. The first first – “Dheerga-Kaalagnya” was a great visionary fish – It can anticipate what will happen in the future with a lot of accuracy and act accordingly. The second one – “Utpanna-Prathiba” was extremely smart in nature – When there is an adversary, it knows exactly how to escape. Its brain is hyper-active in nature at all times! Whereas the third one – “Dheera-Soothri” – It is a highly inactive fellow! His brains never function at any point in time and is a very lazy fish! Even if there is a big problem approaching, this “Dheerga Soothri” fish will just keep sitting without any effort to move out! We have a colloquial analogy to this characteristic. I shall explain this, because many of us fall under this category! 🙂 Once a mother and daughter were living in a small hut. One day the mother had spread a bunch of paddy on the floor outside of their hut. She had some work to do in a neighbour’s house and hence, she had instructed her daughter to ensure that the nearby donkey or cow doesn’t eat the paddy. The daughter was also sitting and looking here and there, and after an hour or so, the mother came back. To her horror, the entire paddy was missing! Upon questioning her daughter, the daughter explained – “Oh Mother! Yes! The donkey and the cow came and consumed everything!” As the mother asked her back that she was designated to ensure that the paddy wasn’t consumed by the animals, and even then, how this happened, the daughter calmly replied thus, “Oh Mother! You had mentioned that the cow and donkey should not eat the paddy – They both came at the same time and started eating! I couldn’t do much to stop them!” Isn’t this lethargicness at its peak? If we’ve been given the duty to protect something, and if we are allowing it to be stolen, it simply means that we are too lazy to react when an action is demanded of us! This was exactly how the “Dheerga-Soothri” fish was! 

So, Bhishmachaarya is going to narrate a beautiful story involving these three fishes, and for now, let us understand up to this point. We shall wait till the next episode to continue further! Stay tuned! 🙂