The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s explanation on two important categories of people whom the world appreciates and regards very high – A person who is extremely rich and wealthy, yet is patient and down-to-earth and a person who is extremely poor yet, focuses on donating even that small amount of wealth he has to the needy! This second characteristic is of prime importance in today’s world. In Sanskrit we call this characteristic as “Aathithyam” and in Tamil it is called “Virundombal”. What does this mean? Let us have a deeper insight of this noble characteristic before we move further to the next sloka.

If we’ve to talk a little more on “Aathithyam”, in olden day culture, people used to donate the leftover of the consumed food to people who wander on the streets. We might easily call and brand them as “beggars”, but in those days there were saints who make their livelihood only by wandering on the road and going house after house by asking “Bhiksha”. In fact, according to the “Sanaathana Dharma”, asking for “Bhiksha” is considered to be extremely respectful and sacred. However in the modern day, things have changed and we’ve started to wrongly project this term called “Bhiksha” because of various reasons – In today’s scenario we live in multi-storied skyscrapers in cities. In that case we don’t even realize who is going on the road and who is coming in need of food, etc. Hence there is no chance that we would be able to give “Bhiksha” to those who wander on the road in search of food. Of course, there are also not many people today in cities who knock our doors seeking “Bhiksha”. Even if someone comes, we’re not even aware of his or her arrivals! Hence at this point I’m not going to go deep into this because there is going to be a dedicated episode on this important topic called “Bhiksha” very soon.

Now the point of discussion is different here – We’re talking about the significance of “Aathithyam” or “Virundombal”. Atleast, if someone comes to our place with some need, we should be ready to help him or her with whatever best we can. Especially, if the need of that person is “food”, we should never deny it! This world should never be devoid of food (“Annam”). The Upanishads explain this in a beautiful way:

“Annam bahu kurveetha!! annanna nindyaath!! annanna parichaksheetha!!”

Here, the Upanishad explains that “Annam” (Food) should never be insulted! We should ensure that “Annam” should be made available to every living being in this world. We should never ever claim that the food served to us is bad! In the modern day, we find lot of people wasting food so casually! Whenever I go to restaurants or big star hotels, it really gives immense pain when so-called rich people waste the entire plate of food just because they did not like the taste of it. My question to them is that, if you do not like the taste of that food, why can’t you make sure that this food is donated to someone who is in dire need of this food? How many people in this world are struggling to get even one meal a day? Are we thinking about all this? Just because we get food in abundance, it doesn’t mean that we insult food and waste it!

If we happen to visit any of the African countries that are poor, we would see innumerable children whom are just “skin and bones” struggling to get even one glass of milk a day! We see such scenes often in the television channels and in the Internet many a times. Upon seeing such scenes, our hearts should melt with tears from our eyes and we should take a vow as to not waste even a single grain of food! Every hotel and restaurant should take a pledge that they would not dump the leftover food to the dustbin. Rather, this food can be donated to those who are poor and badly in need of quality food to eat.

Also many of us have a notion that we would give lot of milk, curd, etc. for the “Abhisheka” (Divine bathing) of Bhagawan in any temple. However, we can also think of donating a majority of this milk and curd to those poor children who are struggling with hunger! Bhagawan never asks us to bathe him with enormous amount of milk or curd every time. If we have the heart to donate this to the needy, His heart would melt instantaneously.

So for today, let us think about this extremely important attribute of “respecting food” and let us take a pledge together today that we would join hands in not insulting and wasting food in future. Vidura explains here that such people are highly respected by all the people in the world. I’m sure all of us would agree to this. We shall wait till the next episode to explore Vidura’s explanation of the next attribute. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed a very important explanation of Vidura regarding the important things that a “Grihasta” (Family-oriented person) and a “Sanyasin” (Saint) should not do. Vidura had clearly indicated here that a Grihasta should not be lazy and sit at home doing nothing. If that is the case with the Grihasta, a Sanyasin should be a person who is completely detached and doesn’t involve himself in any of the moneymaking businesses or activities that are connected to the materialistic world in some way or the other. The main role of a Sanyasin is to focus completely on spiritual growth, spiritual progress and strive towards attaining “Moksha” or “Salvation”. Thus if both of them interchange their roles, it would not be good for the kingdom and also for the world.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next important point. Here he explains that there are two categories of people who are highly regarded and are way beyond even Celestial beings in terms of their fame and significance. Who are they?

“Dvaavimau purushao raajan svargascha upari thishtithaha!

Prabhuscha kshamayaa yuktaha dharidraschah prathaapavaan!!”

Here Vidura explains from the above sloka that the following two categories of people command extremely high respect and are regarded very high by the world – “Prabhuscha kshamayaa yuktaha” means a person who is rich with all possible wealth under his name, yet he is patient and down to earth, without any jealousy or blemish. Such a person is hailed by the entire world and is very highly regarded. So this is the first category. The second category – “Dharidraschah prathaapavaan” means a person who is a “Dharidhra” (Poor and devoid of any wealth) and yet he tries to donate a significant portion of his little wealth he has, to others is also hailed by the entire world and his extremely regarded!

Now let us discuss both these points in detail. It is extremely rare to see rich and wealthy people being down to earth and without an iota of greed in them. This is an extremely rare combination of two characteristics – Wealth and patience (down to earth). If a person is an embodiment of such a combo, he is appreciated by the society. In the current day, how many rich people do we see, driving down an expensive car, using an expensive phone, etc. yet, have that superiority complex in them? If we become rich and wealthy, the immediate psychological change that happens within us is that we start jumping up and down with greed of earning more and more money and with the intention that we are the best in the world! At this time, we fail to realize that we need to be grounded to the earth always!

My music Guru (teacher) keeps advising me – “If you are on the stage to perform a concert, think within yourself that you are the king and the audience do not know anything! Whereas, if the concert is over and when you come down the stage, think within yourself that you do not know anything and the audience are the kings!” How significant is this statement? If we are to perform on the stage with the mindset of being the king of everything, it boosts our confidence and our performance output increases! At the same time, after the concert, if we have the mindset that the audiences are the kings, it would show our “down-to-earth” attitude and accept constructive criticism from the well-informed audience. This is why we keep repeatedly saying that it is not enough if we have all the richness and the wealth with us – Here, wealth might be both financial and knowledge! However the wealth would quickly go into the drains if we were not “down to earth”! Hence the message from the first category of people is that, at any instance of our life, we always need to exhibit the patience and down-to-earth characteristic.

Now the second category – A person even though he is a “Dharidra” (Poor), tries to donate a portion of his wealth to someone who is in dire need! How noble a characteristic is this? This is another quality that is hailed and widely appreciated by the world! There are people even today who do not have the capability of getting three meals a day and yet, if someone comes to their home with hunger, they would never hesitate to feed them first with the little food that they have! Here, this category of people never even care to satisfy their hunger in the first place, but will strive to satisfy the hunger of others in need! Thus Vidura explains that these two categories of people are highly respected and appreciated even by Bhagawan himself!

Hence, patience and down-to-earth attribute (“Kshamaa”) amongst wealthy people and the intention of donating something (“Dhaana”) to needy, even while being poor are the two most noble characteristics in this world! So for today, let us introspect within ourselves as to which of the two categories of people we fall into and try to implement these in our daily lives! We shall wait till the next episode to find out the next point explained by Vidura! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s explanation about two harmful thorns that keep pricking us every day in our life – “Kaama” (Desire) and “Krodha” (Anger). The message from the previous episode was that we should be able to keep both of them under control by developing the ability of discrimination as to what is needed for us and what is not. If we’re able to do this, we can certainly eliminate these two hard-pricking thorns off our lives forever and this would lead us to peace of mind.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next important duo.

“Dvaaveva na viraajethe vipareethena karmanaa!”

 Here from this sloka Vidura confidently declares that a person, who performs two activities, would never prosper in his/her life at any cost! It is essential for us to know these two activities because, for the first time in the “Vidura Neeti” we are witnessing a moment wherein Vidura is exuding 100% confidence in this sloka.

“Grihasthascha niraarambaha kaaryavaanschaiva bhikshukaha!!”

Now who are those two categories of people who will never prosper in their lives? A head of the family (Grihastha) who is lazy and a Saint (Sanyasin) who is extremely active!

In simpler explanation, the first person that Vidura is talking about is a “Grihastha” (means, head of the family) who sits at home lazily without going for a job to earn the bread and butter for his family. This is obviously seen in today’s world too – Wherein we can witness innumerable families going down the brink because of this careless attitude of the husband. In a family, there are some norms that exist – A male member is supposed to go out, earn money for the running of the family and the female member is supposed to effectively take care and manage the house properly. Of course, things have changed in today’s world wherein women have also started working and getting to high ranks in the corporate world too. Such efforts are commendable without any doubt. But the point is not this. The point here is to emphasize that as a male member of a family, it is the bound duty of him to work, earn money and thus uplift his family towards sustainable development. If the male member fails in this duty, Vidura explains that such a person along with his family would go into shambles.

Now coming to the next person – A Saint (Sanyasin) should free himself completely from worldly aspects such as earning money, caring for relatives, family, friends, etc. The main purpose of being a Sanyasin is to renounce the worldly life and be completely detached from everything. If this person has to go into money management, people management, etc. then what is the use of being a Sanyasin? He could as well be a “Grihastha”! If we see the modern day context, things look fascinating – We can see many “Mutts” of prominent saints running commercial institutions like schools, colleges, hospitals, etc. In today’s world, academic institutions and hospitals are the primary sources of making truckloads of money! On one hand we say that sanyasins are supposed to completely give up worldly activities of money and people management and on the other hand we see exactly the opposite! Of course many mutts claim that they are running these schools, colleges, etc. as “charitable” institutions, but what is the real meaning of a “charitable institution”? Ideally a charitable institution should run for the benefit of the poor and the downtrodden people of the society and focus on their welfare and upliftment. For instance, school and college education should be either free of cost or should be offered at a subsidized fee. Charitable hospitals should focus on free medical treatments to the poor and the needy. Thus on the whole, the focus should be on “Education for life” and not on “Education for living”.

But the real question to be asked today is that, does this happen? Unfortunately we see modern day “Mutts” running institutions that make huge money by charging exorbitant fees for education and medical treatments  and eventually ends up into heavy politics! Is this the purpose of running a “Mutt”? The main purpose behind the functioning of a “Mutt” is to enable people to develop themselves spiritually and to obtain peace of mind and not to run commercial institutions that mint money! Thus a sanyasin should definitely avoid doing such things.

Hence the message from this important sloka is that, a family-oriented person should focus on money and people management and not be detached like a saint. Similarly, a saint should be completely detached from all worldly activities and not run behind money and people management. A “Grihastha” should strive to take efforts towards managing money and people whereas a “Sanyasin” should move away from taking such efforts. This is extremely important. So for today, let us ponder about these two important points explained by Vidura. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important point. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important piece of advice from Vidura, this time for men! 🙂 He had clearly indicated that some sweet words and company of strangers should not easily carry men away. Men need to be extremely careful in discriminating and analyzing the other person before making friendship with him or her. We had witnessed few instances from the modern day scenario too to emphasize this important point.

Now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain two important “thorns” that we need to carefully pull out and eliminate them from our lives. What are they?

“Dvaavimau kantakau thekshnau shareera parishoshini!

Yascha adhaanah kaamayathe yashya kupyathaneeshwaraha!!” 

Here Vidura explains the two thorns – “Adhaanah kaamayathe” means, even though we do not have the money in hand, but we keep desiring of buying certain things that are out of reach for us to buy! This desire only keeps growing in us the more we see this expensive thing being possessed by others! Thus, this unwanted desire is one of the thorns that keep pricking us always. Thus the message from this phrase is that, if we keep constantly desiring for things that seem out of reach for us, it keeps poking and pricking us like a thorn and thus we lose peace of mind.

“Yashya kupyathaneeshwaraha” means, if a person tries to accomplish something, but doesn’t have the required power or position to do so, also experiences a constant prick like that of a thorn. Here, the thorn is “Anger” and “frustration” that keeps pricking us because we aren’t able to achieve what we want to since we do not have the requisite position or power to do it. Thus the message from this phrase is that, only those who have the power and position should feel agitated, motivated, etc. to accomplish the respective tasks. Those people who do not have that power and position should never get angry and frustrated for things that are not in their hands!

How relevant are these two thorns in our daily lives? Here again, Vidura is talking about “Kaama” (desire) and “Krodha” (anger). But here, the context is slightly different. For instance, if someone is driving an expensive car or using an expensive mobile in front of us – The moment we see that, an internal desire starts propping up within us – “Oh! One day we should also use such an expensive item and see how it feels!” If this feeling starts creeping in, over a period of time it starts poking us and eventually pricking too! When it starts pricking, we tend to crave to achieve that desire somehow, hook or crook! This is where many people tend to take “short-cuts” to earn more money in a quick time, unable to bare the pricking!! I’ve already spoken about this at length in one of our previous episodes. Earning money is not wrong – But this money should be earned in a legitimate way, by not cheating others, by not harming others and by not letting others suffer. This is where we need to be extremely careful.

To add to this point further in the context of a country – Why is corruption rampant in many countries (especially in developing countries like India)? There is a psychological analysis to it and this analysis would best suit this context of discussion. Here for instance, I shall talk about the Indian context since I hail from India. For over 200 years, India has been under the clutches of the British rule wherein slavery was the order of the day. People have been kept in the downtrodden level and were treated as slaves and inferior. Hence even after India gained independence, sadly this mindset of people continues even today after 70 long years. This slavery mindset of people is being used by our politicians to their advantage and thus involve themselves in corrupt practices, just because they are in “power” and people do not hold any of them accountable for anything! Moreover, those who are politicians today have also been subjected to slavery in the past wherein they would also have suffered for getting one meal a day! Now once when they see money in their hands, they start craving for more! This results in widespread corruption and they go to any extent for earning money!

Similarly for the next thorn, we see many instances wherein we get angry for things that are not in our control. We need to think for a moment at this point – “What is the use of me getting angry for this? Is anything going to change on the ground just because I’m feeling angry?” If we stop ourselves and think this way, half of our anger can be bought down and controlled!

Thus the message from this episode is that we need to be aware of the two thorns called “Kaama” (Desire) and “Krodha” (Anger) and we need to take steps to control their “pricking”! For today let us ponder over these two important points and introspect within ourselves! We shall wait till the next episode to find out the next important point that Vidura is going to explain. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

 

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed the significance given to women in our “Sanaathana Dharma” in detail. We’ve seen even in the Mahabhaarata text as well as to how an entire clan meets destruction just because of insulting a woman in public. However in this context of “Vidura Neeti” Vidura tries to drive home an important point as to why a woman’s impeccable character mixed with patience is the very fundamental base for a family. He has explained one important aspect to which women should not fall prey to – Feeling jealous over others’ possessions. Vidura explains that the woman should be able to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of her family and act accordingly. If the woman starts desiring for unwanted things that might be out of reach, the entire family would bear the brunt of it. Hence women need to be careful about this.

Now moving on further, just like Vidura explained what should a woman avoid, there is a similar explanation as to what a man should avoid as well! What is that? Vidura explains thus:

“Lokah poojitha poojakaha!”

Here Vidura cautions men – If we happen to appreciate, praise and follow someone who is not known to us, it might lead us to a great danger! This is extremely common amongst men even in the modern day – Because more than women, it is men who go behind “company” of others! This is exactly what Vidura says here – If men start going behind those who are unknown to them just because someone is following them for something, it would lead to an extremely dangerous situation.

In the present day we can see many men being lured into business deals by unknown persons. Just by reading some information somewhere or hearing something from somebody, many people go behind them and invest their hard-earned money into a business deal by trusting an unknown person. After few months or years, many a times this “lucrative” business deal turns out to be a fake one! Unfortunately by that time they realize that this deal is fake, they would have lost a huge sum of money! It is at this point that the woman of the family should step up and advise her husband not to get carried away by such gimmicks. Of course, it is important that men should listen to his woman’s advice and act accordingly and not falling into unwanted traps.

Moreover, many men would tend to find “company” with other men for various other purposes too. Many people go behind smoking and drinking and would have a separate company of people for that purpose. Eventually as the number of such meetings increase, the trust and the bond between those “friends” would increase as well. It might be considered a good outlet for men to hang around with their friends in that way, but what is important is that, when we choose such people, we need to be extra careful in doing so. We need to check their background, their family, etc. before getting closer to them. We should always have this question lingering in our mind when some strangers come in contact with us – “Why at all should this person have friendship with us? What is he going to gain by doing so? Would there be any repercussions for this in my life?” Thus the point here is that, it is not wrong to have a company of friends, but those friends should be within a known circle and trustable people. Else what might happen is that, if the person is a stranger, he might use us to extract some vital information about our job, business, etc. that might be detrimental for us and eventually there is a high possibility that those people might misuse the critical information to pull us down. We can see innumerable such instances in today’s society and that is why Vidura is warning us! Hence, men need to be extremely careful in this regard.

Also, one of the biggest challenges faced by men who are in extremely high and sensitive job positions is that of a “honey trap”. The opponents or competitors might tend to lure “sensitive” and “vulnerable” men by capturing their attention with a woman, so as to extract critical information from them. We can see this happening with those men who are in high ranks of the Army, Navy, etc. wherein the opponent country’s spies might get into such acts to extract potential loopholes within!

Hence from all these instances that happen in the modern day, it is important that men should be extremely careful not to get carried away by the luring of strangers. Men should realize that if some stranger is talking “sweetly” with them, that person is laying a huge trap! It is critical that men shouldn’t fall into this trap knowingly or unknowingly. For this, men should develop that discriminating power to differentiate which is good and which is bad for them as well as for their family’s reputation. This is exactly what Vidura is trying to explain here as well.

Hence today is the day where men should ponder over the above-explained point carefully. The previous episode was for women to ponder over and this episode is for men! 🙂 Moving on further, Vidura is going to explain two important “Thorns” that are to be picked and thrown away by all of us from our lives. What are those thorns? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! 🙂 Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extended discussion of Vidura’s important explanation on “maintaining one’s individuality” at all times. We had dedicated two full episodes for driving home this very important point.

Now moving on further, in today’s episode Vidura is going to emphasize on yet another important attribute towards “Dharma” from the same sloka. Let us look into it one more time for our reference.

“Striaya kaamita kaaminyaha lokaha poojitha poojakaha!!”

Here we can see that Vidura had actually started this sloka with the explanation that women in a family are of prime importance and if a woman starts feeling jealous about another woman in terms of worldly wealth, richness, etc. then the family starts going to shambles. Hence this is one thing that all women should remember and try avoid doing. Of course we’ve looked into the “individuality” part of the explanation in the last two episodes. Now let us look into the significance of women as explained by Vidura in this sloka. In fact, even the “Sanaathana Dharma” stresses the importance of women in a special way. Let us look into it in today’s episode.

Here Vidura says that women are the most fundamental people of a family just like how an anchor is fundamental for the stability of a ship! A woman’s character is of prime importance for the stability of the family and if the woman doesn’t exhibit a good character, Vidura says that the entire family is reduced to shambles and all the efforts taken by the husband goes in vain. Thus the primary duty of a woman is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of her family and act accordingly. Only if the woman is confident and sets herself as a role model, will the family grow in prosperity. This is another extremely important point that Vidura drives home with this one sloka.

How does our “Sanaathana Dharma” respect a woman? If we look into the “Vishnu Puraana”, one of the most ancient and sacred texts of our Hindu Literature, it explains clearly that in a family, a man is like the sky and a woman is like the earth! What does it mean? The male gender is like a sky that has no limits to where it should go. However, the female gender signifies “patience” and “benevolence” and this is why the woman is compared to the Earth. It is only because of this reference in the “Vishnu Puraana” authored by Sage Paraashara, that today we call the earth as “Mother Earth”! Why do we equate the earth to that of a mother? It is because, irrespective of whatever hurdles that pass through, the mother is one person who accepts everything and still is patient and caring. Similarly, today we see innumerable high rise buildings being constructed, innumerable infrastructure projects being done, underground metro rail being created, etc. All of these are done by dredging the earth to several meters below the ground! Yet, Mother Earth is bearing up with all these “tortures” that we human beings are giving her! Isn’t this an exhibition of unlimited amount of patience? I’ve spoken about this in one of our previous episodes when we discussed about the importance of “patience”. Here the same context comes wherein Vidura explains about the significance of a woman in the family.

Moreover, we should realize that it is only because of this “patience” exhibited by a woman, God has given her the unique characteristic of pregnancy and bearing a child within her for ten long months! This unique gift is not given to a man! Why? It is simply because the male gender does not stand for “patience”. Does any woman complain of the pain of bearing her child even for a single day? This is the highest epitome of patience, isn’t it? Hence we should realize the significance of a woman in our day-to-day life. We should make sure that we respect women and not insult them in any manner.

This is where Vidura also gives the next “punch” to King Dhirdiraashtra. In fact an important learning for all of us from the Mahaabhaarata is that, if we do not respect a woman and if we end up insulting her, it would lead to the complete destruction of the entire family! This is exactly what happened in the life of Duryodhana too – He and his brothers insulted Draupathi in the public courtroom and it is only because of her curse, did the entire family of the “Kauravas” faced destruction!

Hence we should understand that women are of primary importance in this world and we need to respect them for what they are! We need to realize that without a woman’s exemplary patience and effort, we would not even have been born in this world! Today it is saddening to hear to innumerable stories and instances of disrespect towards women – In the form of crimes such as rapes, public assaults, molestations, etc. Where is our society heading towards? If we do not respect our women, how are we going to prosper as a nation and as a united world? We need to introspect as a society!

Thus for today let us understand this important point stressed by Vidura. Now we might have a slight doubt as to why is Vidura only talking so high about women and not men! 🙂 Of course he is not limiting himself in his explanation only about women. He is also explaining the significance of men too in this world. What is that? What are certain things to be appreciated for men and what are those aspects that a man should avoid doing? We shall wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important aspect that Vidura is explaining to King Dhiridraashtra. He explains that whatever maybe the circumstance or the situation, one should never lose or compromise his/her own individuality and discriminating power. This was a direct “punch” on King Dhirdiraashtra as we know that he got carried away by all the unlawful activities of his son Duryodhana and failed to keep a check on him when it really mattered the most. In this way, King Dhirdiraashtra had failed in his duty as a righteous king to check the growth of “Adharma” and now he is feeling bad for it. It is only because of these thoughts that King Dhirdiraashtra is unable to experience a sound sleep! However, Vidura tries to explain to him that all is not over yet! He still has time to change and mend his ways. This is where Vidura lists down innumerable aspects and attributes to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand what is “Dharma” and how to uphold it.

Irrespective of whether King Dhirdiraashtra listens to them carefully and mends his ways or not, we can listen to them and mend our ways, isn’t it? This is why we are witnessing each of the various attributes of “Dharma” everyday as explained by Vidura.

In that way, the last attribute that we’ve seen is about maintaining one’s own individuality at all times. How relevant and applicable is this in modern times? Some of us have this quality in is. The moment we see someone buying an expensive item (for instance a high-range BMW car), what will we think immediately? “Oh! Even I should purchase this car some day in my life!” Don’t we think this way? What does this attitude show? It shows that we are jealous about someone’s ability to buy something expensive. More importantly, do we make a small analysis as to what is his financial and social status and what is ours? Many a times, the answer is “No”!

This is why we see people taking “short-cuts” for quick growth! Here is an important point that all of us should realize: In any profession, in any stream, in any walk of life there can NEVER EVER be a short cut for growth! Nowadays, short-term gains carry people away and they compromise on the long-term benefits one can achieve! Why do we see some successful organizations fail in due course of time? One of the main reasons for such a failure is that, the leaders of such organizations aim for short-term financial growth and many a times, they do not care to think of “sustained” growth!

Here we need to understand that growth should not be “Short-lived”. Growth should always be “Sustained”. A few years ago we had witnessed the sudden downfall of one of the major organizations in India in the Information technology (IT) industry – The leader of the organization had manipulated balance sheets of the organization in a manner that showed extremely high growth! However when the scam was busted, the entire organization had to collapse within just a few hours! Innumerable employees of that organization were rendered jobless overnight! This is why we always emphasize and drive the point that “Sustainable” growth is more important than “Short-term” and “Quick” growth!

If we’ve to analyse this important point with respect to an individual, let us see a simple example in our day-to-day life. If we’ve to interview a few children playing cricket on the road, many a times we can hear them saying, “I’m interested in playing cricket and one day, I want to become like Mr. Sachin Tendulkar or Mr. Virat Kohli!” My reply here is, “Sachin Tendulkar is Sachin Tendulkar already! Why can’t you become yourself, differentiate yourself and build a brand for your own self? Why should you become another Sachin Tendulkar?” Here is where we tend to lose our individuality and we try to replicate another person, just because we’ve seen that person successful!

At this important juncture, there might be a counter question – “What is the problem of having “role-models” in our lives? Why can’t we aspire to become one like him or her?” Yes, it’s a valid question. There is no problem in having “role models” in life. In fact, many of us have Dr. Abdul Kalam (Ex President of India) as a role model. Yes, their success stories should definitely inspire us. But what is important here is that, we should be able to “apply” that success story in our life, rather than trying to “replicate” that same story in our life! Here is where our “individuality” comes into play. We need to develop that capability to identify our talents correctly and build on it.  For instance, just because someone is excelling in wrestling and kickboxing, can I go and replicate that person? I would be “kick-boxed” within seconds! 🙂 Similarly, just because my neighbor is a rich person, can I loot someone’s wealth and try to become rich like him? This is where all the corrupt practices commence.

Hence the message from today’s episode is that at any situation, we should maintain our individuality and not give in to temptations, just because others are doing something! We should learn to analyze our strengths and weaknesses and design our lives according to that. This is exactly the point what Vidura is trying to drive home as well!

Since this is an extremely important aspect that needed more explanation, we did not have the time today to move into the next point that Vidura is going to explain. We had to dedicate one more episode to lay special emphasis on this. Nevertheless, we shall wait till the next episode to commence the next important discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extremely important explanation by Vidura with regards to “Character”. Vidura had explained that as a righteous person, one should not hail and appreciate those people who walk the path of “Adharma”. Through this sloka, Vidura has exhibited his smartness here – He has indirectly warned King Dhirdiraashtra without taking the name of his son Duryodhana, that if he is going to keep hailing him and his “Adharmic” activities, the righteousness of the kingdom would decline sharply. This serves as a warning message to King Dhirdiraashtra that he better mend his and hiss son’s ways before it becomes too late! However, King Dhirdiraashtra did not pay heed to Vidura’s golden words of advice.

However that doesn’t mean that we too should not pay heed to Vidura! This is an extremely important point and we had a detailed description of how this is applicable in today’s world as well – We witnessed a popular and a mostly talked about example of “Unrighteous political opportunism” that exists in the world today! We witnessed how detrimental that could be to a country’s growth and development.

Similarly, if we look at this point on an individual’s perspective, “Character” of a person is of prime importance. If this “Character” in a person is lost, there is no use of him/her living in this world any further. Hence we need to be extremely careful with respect to this important point and it is this reason why Vidura is also laying so much of emphasis on character.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next “pair” – He says that these two types of people do not have their own individuality in them. Who are they and in what ways?

“Dve dvaavimou purusha vyaagra parah pratyaya kaarini!”

 Here Vidura says that these two types of people who do not have their own thought processes and blindly follow the path that others take. Who are they? Vidura bluntly explains,

“Striaya kaamita kaaminyaha lokaha poojitha poojakaha!!”

Here our readers shouldn’t get angry! 🙂 Vidura is explaining here that, if a woman feels jealous of another woman’s possessions and property, she is the biggest fool on this earth!  I’m not saying this – Vidura is saying! 🙂

That was just on a lighter vein. However the bigger picture here is that, if we really want something, we need to analyze why we need it and if we really need it, we should go ahead and buy it. However, we shouldn’t buy something just because others are buying it. Here is where Vidura lays emphasis on what is called one’s own “Individuality”. Here Vidura is criticizing King Dhirdiraashtra that he is getting carried away with those who are following the unrighteous path and has lost his own thought process in the way. This is because, when Draupati (Wife of the Paandavas) was insulted by his son Duryodhana publicly in the courtroom, King Dhirdiraashtra failed to criticize his son for the heinous crime that he had committed. In fact, he should have been jailed and punished heavily. Rather, King Dhirdiraashtra let him go scot-free just because Duryodhana was his son. Here we can see that King Dhirdiraastra had to punish his son for his wrongdoing, but ends up approving whatever he does, due to the “Putra-Vaatsalya” (Excessive affection towards his son).

This is where all of us get entangled in our daily lives too – We sometimes tend to lose our individually and get carried away by what others do around us! Many a times we fail to differentiate between the right and the wrong in others’ actions, and tend to blindly follow them. This is exactly what Vidura explains here. Hence it is extremely important for us to have that “Individuality” in us and we should ever give up our individuality for others.

However, there might be an immediate counter question here – If that is the case, should we not listen to anybody around us? Should we completely disregard others’ views, advice, opinions, etc.? Here we should realize that this is not the point exactly – We should definitely listen to constructive advice and criticisms. However, what I’m trying to emphasize that we should think, assimilate the thoughts within us, critically analyze the situation and then take the decision accordingly. This is what is called “Individuality”. There is a difference between “individuality” and “arrogance”. It doesn’t mean that we should not listen to anybody around us!

Thus the message here is that, we should maintain our own individuality in whatever we do in life. For today, let us ponder on this important point and introspect within us. We shall wait till the next episode to explore this point further and move on to the next! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed two important aspects as explained by Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra. Here he had spoken about the essential duties of people from different castes – A Brahmin’s main duty is to master the Vedas and scriptures of our Sanaathana Dharma and propagate it to the world effectively. A Kshathrya’s main duty is to gain expertise in warfare and ably protect the country from its enemies. A Vaishya’s main duty is business and making money from it. All in all, it is the primary duty of the Kshathrya and the Vaisya to protect the Brahmins and encourage them to propagate the Vedas and other spiritual texts to the world. But are we seeing this happening today? We witnessed an important discussion on the modern-day menace of “Religious Conversions” that are happening at ease – Innocent Hindus are being converted forcefully into other so-called “religions”, whose sole aim is to destroy the roots of Hinduism and make a business out of it! Hence as Hindus and as ardent followers of our “Sanaathana Dharma”, we need to be aware of these anti-social elements and be very careful to not fall prey to them! In fact, one of the most important aims of commencing this blog was to create awareness amongst all of us about the significance of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. Hence given today’s challenges from these fringe elements, it becomes our bound duty to safeguard and protect the “Dharma” and uphold it at any cost!

Now moving on to the next sloka, Vidura says thus,

“Dve karmanee naraha kurvan asmin loke virochathe!” 

Here Vidura explains that if one performs these two duties, he would be hailed and appreciated by this world in a grand way! Which are those two duties?

“Abruvan parushan kinchit asathaha anarchayanstathaa!!”

From the above line, Vidura says that we should not appreciate or hail a person who is evil, wicked and not worth it! We should keep ourselves away from these kinds of people. This is an extremely important point here – Whom should we follow and whom should we appreciate? We can appreciate a person who has an impeccable character and who does not talk in a way that hurts others. Can we appreciate and follow a person who is low on character (cheap and mean), just because the person is rich and having innumerable properties under his possession? This is called “Opportunism”! Isn’t it? Hence we need to be able to differentiate between “good” and “bad” people. On what basis do we differentiate and discriminate? It should be done with respect to character and not with respect to wealth! As the old proverb goes, “If money is lost, nothing is lost! Whereas, if character is lost, everything is lost!” We should be able to clearly view this in others.

Now we might ask a counter question here: “So what if we appreciate a person who scores “low” on character? What would happen?” This question can be answered in many ways – One way of looking at it is that, on an individual level by doing so, we are deviating from the path of “Dharma” and all of us know this very well. This point needs no big description. However the bigger point that we need to focus is with respect to the society. How is that? If we start appreciating and going behind wicked people, the people around us might get influenced by us and they would also start going behind them! If many people start praising and appreciating this wicked person, he would start assuming that whatever he is doing is correct and there is nobody to question him! This is where all the problems would start!

We can see this phenomenon happening in the modern day as well – How many times have we seen people “blindly” following a person? Do you think that these people follow them just because of their “charisma”? Never! Most of the time it is for money and power! Even now we are seeing this same thing happening in one of the south-Indian states in the political scenario – Wherein, just for the sake of gaining power and position, one political party is trying to ally with another party, which is an epitome of “corruption” in Indian politics! The irony here is that, to support this “unholy” alliance, there are several other small political parties who have joined hands together! Now what can we infer? If we’ve to apply this particular sloka to this scenario, we can clearly see that one political party is solely desperate to hold on to power through hook or crook. In order to support this unethical party, there are few others who have joined them! Indirectly, all these political parties (from their proven record in the past) are standing united to loot and destroy India altogether, just to gain their political mileage!

How do we overcome this situation that is currently taking shape in India? It is we, the citizens of India who should be able to differentiate between what is good for our nation and what is bad. We should exercise our right of franchise to uphold the good and eliminate the evil. This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here – We should never go behind those people who are known and proven to be evil and corrupt and support them at any cost! We should use our discriminatory power to analyse and understand the reality and act accordingly.

So for today, let us think about this important aspect and analyze the ground situation. We shall take this important discussion forward again in the next episode wherein we shall look into this aspect from a personal and an individual point of view. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s explanation on four important aspects to lead a comfortable life in this world – “Dharma”, “Kshamaa”, “Vidya” and “Ahimsa”. We witnessed each of the four aspects in detail with adequate relevance to the modern day scenario as well. Why do we say all these aspects are important? That is because our ancestors and forefathers have followed these paths and proved their success in their lives. For instance if we take our freedom fighters – All of us knows that they fought by the “Ahimsa” way (non-violence). It was only because we obtained our freedom with this method that our freedom today is sustainable! Can we point out one other country in this world that had followed “Ahimsa” and obtained independence? How much of bloodshed we’ve seen across the world in the name of freedom fighting? Even today we’re seeing innumerable instances of bloodshed, just to establish one religion’s ideology! But is this going to be sustainable in the long run? What if the other camp also starts to counter-attack? This is where the fight escalates and it transcends into a full-fledged war!

Thus given that all such things are happening around the world even today, it is India that stands always for peace, isn’t it? How many countries have India waged war upon till today? The answer would be zero! Yet we’ve been a successful nation with immense growth in almost all of the sectors, isn’t? Hence, we should realize that war or a fight is not a solution for any problem! It is only peace and “Ahimsa” that can be the best and long-lasting solution. This is why we chant in the Upanishads,

“Om! Shanthi! Shanti! Shantihi!!”

Now moving on further – So far Vidura has been saying things as single. In the past few slokas you would have noticed that the verse starts with the word “Eka” (One). Now Vidura is going to explain things in pairs (Two at a time). Let us see what Vidura has to explain next:

“Dvaavimau grasathe bhoomihi sarpo bilashayaaniva!”

 Here, Vidura explains that just like how a snake would enter into the water or marsh and kill frogs for their prey, the following two attributes would also kill a human being! What are they?

“Raajaanamcha aviroddhaaram braahmanancha appravaasinam!” 

Vidura explains that if a king who is a “Kshathrya” and who is also the head of the huge army of the country goes to a fight in front of an enemy, but refuses to fight and defend his country, would face destruction then and there! If the king wanted to have a ceasefire agreement with the opponent, he should have done it before the war commences at the battlefield. Once he has come to the war field, he should focus only on fighting out the enemy, rather than doing ceasefire with him! Thus if a king resorts to a ceasefire agreement at the time of war, he would be considered as a “coward” and both him and his country would face destruction! This is what Vidura explains by saying “Raajaanamcha aviroddhaaram!”

The next one – “Braahmanancha appravaasinam!” Here Vidura explains that if a “Brahmin” does not go around places and does not offer services to mankind, he cannot be a “Brahmin” anymore! Thus here, Vidura is making an extremely strong statement – A person who is born, as a Brahmin should dedicate his life to the service of mankind! But in today’s life are we witnessing it? Of course there is a significant change in the mindset of we Brahmins today isn’t it?

This is an important discussion that is going to follow. Normally I’m not a person who goes into “religious” sentimental talks. However, looking at what is happening around us, there is a dire urgent need to create the awareness amongst our people.

Now who is a real Brahmin? Strictly speaking, a Brahmin is a person who should gain expertise in the Vedas and Upanishads and should spread its awareness to others. This is the primary job of a Brahmin. It is this job that we also should have stuck to in today’s world also because this is what Bhagawan has also instructed us to do! But the real question is that, do we follow this today? Now, we would immediately ask the counter question – If that is the case, how do we earn money? How do we take care of our survival in today’s world? Who will take care of us?

Strictly speaking, “Kshathryas” and “Vaishyas” are those people who have got the duty to protect the Brahmins. Whether they do this or not in the modern day is another question to be asked as well! Thus we can understand here that in olden days, the “caste” system was designed on the nature of jobs that each person is into – A Brahmin is a person who preaches and propagates the Vedas, Kshathriyas and Vaisyas are those who protect the Brahmins and make sure that they are comfortable in their day-to-day life. Indirectly, all three castes had the responsibility to protect the Vedas and our Sanaathana Dharma. This was the traditional practice for generations after generations.

However, things have dramatically changed in today’s world. To be more blunt, the definition of “caste” itself has changed today – predominantly for political reasons and “Vote-bank” politics! In fact, if we do a deeper research on why is our country diminishing in terms of value systems and ethics, we would witness in the current day that these Brahmins have started to earn money through various sources such as business, employment for salaries, etc. In short, Brahmins are now doing everything except propagating the Vedas! It is clearly mentioned in the Vedas that Brahmins are not supposed to enter into business of any sorts and they are supposed to have that “Vairaagya” not to give into the temptations of money and property!

Of course some people might ask the counter question: “So what? Can’t Brahmins be successful in doing business? Haven’t we seen Brahmins doing business exceptionally well?” Yes! I agree that there are successful businessmen who are Brahmins. It should be noted clearly that I never said Brahmins would not be successful in business. They would be. But the bigger question is that, “If Brahmins change their profession completely, then who would preach and propagate the Vedas to this world?” What will happen if the Vedas are not propagated properly?

This is where the gap lies – The irony in today’s world is that, since Brahmins have entirely changed their course of life, there is a huge shortage of people who can effectively propagate the Vedas and Upanishads to the world! Isn’t it a worrisome thing today? The fact is that, because of lack of propagation of our Vedas and Upanishads, politicians use this as an opportunity and thus, religious conversions start happening and we’re practically seeing that today! Other religious organizations use this potential weakness of Hinduism and try all the tricks in the trade to pull unaware Hindus into their own trap and make huge money out of it! More than worrisome, isn’t it a dangerous trend? Today, if we go towards the south of Tamil Nadu, we get shocking reports that over 300 people are being converted from Hinduism to other religions every day! Why is this happening? In Hinduism there is nobody to preach and make people aware of our Vedas, whereas the other religious groups have excellent preachers who can “brainwash” our people and convert them!

Thus this episode should be an eye-opener to all of us and we should realize that our Hinduism is under threat from various anti-social elements around us. The bigger question now is that, how do we unite together and defeat those forces that try and wage a “Religious war” on us! Let us think about it! Thus we should realize that this menace called “Religious conversion” is only because of our own negligence! It all started when each of our castes started having ego problems with each other’s and started infighting! If all of us had stuck to our roles and responsibilities according to our respective castes, such things wouldn’t have come at all! This is exactly what Vidura is trying to explain here – “braahmanancha appravaasinam!” That is, if a Brahmin doesn’t stick to his assigned roles and responsibilities, he cannot be considered as a Brahmin at all!

Thus from this episode, the message is that we should realize our roots and appreciate our ancestral responsibilities. It is not only enough if we just appreciate them – We should make a vow that we would follow them and uphold our “Sanaathana Dharma” in a positive way in order to prevent other religious fanatics and groups to take over us! We shall think about this important point today and wait for the next episode to find out more! Stay tuned! 🙂