In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya’s continued accord on the “Aapad-Dharma”, which is extremely important to adhere to for any leader across any domain. Of course, Bhishmachaarya is narrating this to Yudishtra, but we can also take several leadership lessons from this accord. In this way, Bhishmachaarya is explaining to Yudishtra that once a relationship / bonding with a person breaks, it is very difficult to fix it back. This break in bonding is like broken glass pieces. We might have seen in our homes that if the glass mirror breaks, it is broken forever. Even if we try and fix the glass pieces, the crack will still be visible, and it can never be removed! In similar lines, Bhishmachaarya is narrating a beautiful story involving the Poojani bird and King Brahmadatta. Both of them were thick friends, and when they had their own little ones, the Poojani bird would ensure that it fed King Brahmadatta’s little son. In turn, King Brahmadatta also took good care of the Poojani bird and its little chick. However, one day when the son of King Brahmadatta and the little chick of the Poojani bird were playing, the former somehow hit the latter fatally, which led to the death of the little chick. Annoyed by this, the Poojani bird with its sharp beak, destroys the vision of King Brahmadatta’s son. Rushing to see what had happened, King Brahmadatta confronted the Poojani bird, which points towards its dead little one with tears in its eyes and narrates the entire story. Upon hearing this, the king is extremely moved. He understands what kind of a mishap has occurred.
Feeling deeply pained for the Poojani bird, King Brahmadatta says thus, “Oh Poojani! I understand why you’ve made my son blind. He deserves it. Even though he is a baby, he should not have done what he has done. I can understand the pain and the grief that you’re going through. I shall also bear this grief of my son being blind for the rest of my life! However, oh Poojani! Whatever has happened has happened! Why don’t you stay here with me for the rest of our lives? I shall take good care of you and ensure that you are fit and fine!” As King Brahmadatta says thus, the Poojani bird gives a beautiful reply to the king. It says thus, “Oh King Brahmadatta! I too understand the pain that you’re going through. But let me tell you one thing – It will not be wise on my part to stay here anymore. I shall go by my way and you go by yours. This is because, once we lose the trust / confidence upon each other, it is very difficult to live under one roof. For instance, you will always have a doubt or a fear upon me because I’ve made your son blind. Also from my side, I will always be in fear from now, because your son can cause harm to me any time. You might not harm me in anyway, but your son will not know whether to harm me or not. Hence, I will also live under constant fear if I’m here. Hence, there is no point in living together with fear. It is better that I go to a different place and live peacefully without this fear factor haunting my mind!”
Saying thus, the Poojani bird flies away with a heavy heart and with tears in its eyes – Once for all! Upon seeing his friend flying away, King Brahmadatta also felt heart-broken that he had lost a great companion. Thus, the lesson that we can learn from this small story is that, if we lose trust upon someone, it is difficult or nearly impossible to regain it. We can see this even in our daily lives too – Even between a husband and a wife as well – If the husband does something wrong that makes the wife’s heart broken, the latter is never going to trust the husband again for the whole life. Some couples might opt for a divorce, separate from each other and live a happy life elsewhere, or, some others might stay under the same roof, but without any kind of relationship whatsoever. We can see clearly here that if the mutual trust between the couple is broken once, it stays broken forever. The couple might try to patch up after the unforeseen incident. Even after the patch up is done, something will always keep pricking both the people’s hearts, isn’t it? It will be very difficult for both of them to entirely forget what has happened in the past and move on with life! This is exactly what Bhishmachaarya is explaining through the story, and as a leader, it is very important to earn the trust of his people. Of course, trust is a two-way thing – The leader should also trust his people.
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 