The Indian Dharma

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another important aspect of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana and why is it considered to be a “Poorna Puraana”. The main reason behind it is that, the Bhaagawatha Puraana contains all the five elements that are to be part of a “Puraana” text. If we look at some other texts, many might not have all the five elements intact. Some might have four, some might have three, two, etc. But if we take the Bhaagawatha Puraana, it is one of those unique “Puraana” texts that contains all the five elements together. This is thus one of the greatest uniqueness of the Bhaagaawatha Puraana and in fact, we are fortunate enough to have an opportunity to experience, learn and analyze such a great text during our life time. Having said thus, we should make use of this wonderful opportunity that Bhagawan has given us, without wasting it away. We should always remember that there are so many people out there in various parts of the world who do not even have the awareness that such great texts exist! If Bhagawan has selected and handpicked us to give us this opportunity, we should make sure that we utilize it well.

Now moving on further, as we’ve discussed already during Episodes 1 and 2, this great text was penned down meticulously by Sage Veda Vyaasa. If we witness the family lineage of Sage Veda Vyaasa, it is a very interesting accord here – The lineage commences from Sage Vasishtaachaarya. I’m sure all of us by now know who Sage Vasishtachaarya is – He was the “Guru” of the entire lineage of Bhagawan Rama and we’ve witnessed in detail during the Ramayana project. Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s son was Sage Shakti. Sage Shakti’s son was Saga Paraasara. Subsequenly, the son of Sage Paraasara was Sage Veda Vyaasa. Finally, the son of Sage Vyaasa was Sage Shukaachaarya. It is to be noted that this entire Bhaagawatha Puraana was narrated by Sage Sukaachaarya to King Parikshit. King Parikshit had a curse that he would meet the end of his life within the next seven days and that, he would be killed by a snake. Thus within this seven-day period, King Parikshit is trying to acquire all the spiritual knowledge possible and he employs Sage Sukaachaarya for it. However, if someone is explaining all these principles, someone else has to document all of it, isn’t it? This is where, Sage Veda Vyaasa comes into picture. As his son Sage Sukaachaarya narrates incident after incident, experience after experience, principle after principle, Sage Veda Vyaasa documents each and everything carefully and meticulously.

In fact, as we’ve discussed previously also, this entire family lineage of Sage Veda Vyaasa and Sage Sukaachaarya had completely dedicated their lives for the benefit of the world. They had taken it upon themselves to ensure that they had given all the requisite principles of our Sanaathana Dharma in various packages, so that these principles would pave the way for world peace and harmony. This is called as “Paropakaaram” in Sanskrit. The term “Paropakaaram” means that we dedicate our entire life to the welfare of the world at all times. For instance, if we take various elements of nature, such as rivers, rain, cows, trees, etc. all of them are epitomes of “Paropakaaram”. How? If a tree generates flowers / fruits / vegetables, does the tree keep it all for itself? If the clouds bring copious rain to the earth, does the cloud keep some water for itself and then pour the rest? If the cow gives milk, does it keep some milk for itself before giving the rest to us? The answer is “No”! Thus in all these instances, nature is completely selfless and it is the perfect example of “Paropakaram”. Similarly, our ancient Maharishis were also on the same line as well. As we had discussed earlier, most of the Sages were leading a very simple life, amidst thick forests with minimal food, clothing and shelter for survival. However, their main aim was to acquire the highest level of spiritual knowledge and to try and spread this spiritual knowledge and guidance to the future generations to come. It is only with this one desire that Maharishis like the great Sage Veda Vyaasa took it upon himself to write down and document all the aspects of spirituality, in the form of the Mahabharata and the Bhaagawatha Puraana.

It is not only the likes of Sage Vyaasa, but there were innumerable Maharishis who were of the same level and with the same agenda. Also, it should be noted that, writing and documenting were not as easy as it is today. Today of course, we have computers and other such gadgets, that can be used to document texts extremely easily, but in those days, technology was a non-existent phenomenon! Moreover, there were no proper books or papers on which things can be written on. They had to do all the writing on palm leaves, and other such leaves from trees by using a nail. In many occasions, the leaves might be a little thin and worn out, and might get torn while the writing is done. If the leaf tears out, the writer should dispose it off completely, take a new leaf and again re-write the whole stuff! Such was the difficulty the ancient Maharishis had faced to document all this. Of course, with this noble attitude of “Paropakaram”, such difficulties were never a hurdle for them from preventing them to document all of these texts. I’m saying all this to demonstrate the fact that it is only because of this “Paropakaaram”, we have all these texts in hand today! Hence, it is our profound duty to worship the great Maharishis who took it upon themselves to make such important texts available to us till the present-day.

So for today, let us pay our respect once more to our great ancestors and Maharishis for their invaluable contributions to our generation of people. We shall wait till the next episode to move further! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another important aspect of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana and why is it considered to be a “Poorna Puraana”. The main reason behind it is that, the Bhaagawatha Puraana contains all the five elements that are to be part of a “Puraana” text. If we look at some other texts, many might not have all the five elements intact. Some might have four, some might have three, two, etc. But if we take the Bhaagawatha Puraana, it is one of those unique “Puraana” texts that contains all the five elements together. This is thus one of the greatest uniqueness of the Bhaagaawatha Puraana and in fact, we are fortunate enough to have an opportunity to experience, learn and analyze such a great text during our life time. Having said thus, we should make use of this wonderful opportunity that Bhagawan has given us, without wasting it away. We should always remember that there are so many people out there in various parts of the world who do not even have the awareness that such great texts exist! If Bhagawan has selected and handpicked us to give us this opportunity, we should make sure that we utilize it well.

Now moving on further, as we’ve discussed already during Episodes 1 and 2, this great text was penned down meticulously by Sage Veda Vyaasa. If we witness the family lineage of Sage Veda Vyaasa, it is a very interesting accord here – The lineage commences from Sage Vasishtaachaarya. I’m sure all of us by now know who Sage Vasishtachaarya is – He was the “Guru” of the entire lineage of Bhagawan Rama and we’ve witnessed in detail during the Ramayana project. Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s son was Sage Shakti. Sage Shakti’s son was Saga Paraasara. Subsequenly, the son of Sage Paraasara was Sage Veda Vyaasa. Finally, the son of Sage Vyaasa was Sage Shukaachaarya. It is to be noted that this entire Bhaagawatha Puraana was narrated by Sage Sukaachaarya to King Parikshit. King Parikshit had a curse that he would meet the end of his life within the next seven days and that, he would be killed by a snake. Thus within this seven-day period, King Parikshit is trying to acquire all the spiritual knowledge possible and he employs Sage Sukaachaarya for it. However, if someone is explaining all these principles, someone else has to document all of it, isn’t it? This is where, Sage Veda Vyaasa comes into picture. As his son Sage Sukaachaarya narrates incident after incident, experience after experience, principle after principle, Sage Veda Vyaasa documents each and everything carefully and meticulously.

In fact, as we’ve discussed previously also, this entire family lineage of Sage Veda Vyaasa and Sage Sukaachaarya had completely dedicated their lives for the benefit of the world. They had taken it upon themselves to ensure that they had given all the requisite principles of our Sanaathana Dharma in various packages, so that these principles would pave the way for world peace and harmony. This is called as “Paropakaaram” in Sanskrit. The term “Paropakaaram” means that we dedicate our entire life to the welfare of the world at all times. For instance, if we take various elements of nature, such as rivers, rain, cows, trees, etc. all of them are epitomes of “Paropakaaram”. How? If a tree generates flowers / fruits / vegetables, does the tree keep it all for itself? If the clouds bring copious rain to the earth, does the cloud keep some water for itself and then pour the rest? If the cow gives milk, does it keep some milk for itself before giving the rest to us? The answer is “No”! Thus in all these instances, nature is completely selfless and it is the perfect example of “Paropakaram”. Similarly, our ancient Maharishis were also on the same line as well. As we had discussed earlier, most of the Sages were leading a very simple life, amidst thick forests with minimal food, clothing and shelter for survival. However, their main aim was to acquire the highest level of spiritual knowledge and to try and spread this spiritual knowledge and guidance to the future generations to come. It is only with this one desire that Maharishis like the great Sage Veda Vyaasa took it upon himself to write down and document all the aspects of spirituality, in the form of the Mahabharata and the Bhaagawatha Puraana.

It is not only the likes of Sage Vyaasa, but there were innumerable Maharishis who were of the same level and with the same agenda. Also, it should be noted that, writing and documenting were not as easy as it is today. Today of course, we have computers and other such gadgets, that can be used to document texts extremely easily, but in those days, technology was a non-existent phenomenon! Moreover, there were no proper books or papers on which things can be written on. They had to do all the writing on palm leaves, and other such leaves from trees by using a nail. In many occasions, the leaves might be a little thin and worn out, and might get torn while the writing is done. If the leaf tears out, the writer should dispose it off completely, take a new leaf and again re-write the whole stuff! Such was the difficulty the ancient Maharishis had faced to document all this. Of course, with this noble attitude of “Paropakaram”, such difficulties were never a hurdle for them from preventing them to document all of these texts. I’m saying all this to demonstrate the fact that it is only because of this “Paropakaaram”, we have all these texts in hand today! Hence, it is our profound duty to worship the great Maharishis who took it upon themselves to make such important texts available to us till the present-day.

So for today, let us pay our respect once more to our great ancestors and Maharishis for their invaluable contributions to our generation of people. We shall wait till the next episode to move further! Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

In the previous episode we had the opportunity to pay our respect and tribute to our great sages in the likes of Sage Veda Vyaasa, Sage Sukhaachaarya, Sage Valmiki Maharishi, etc. for their invaluable contributions towards our Sanaathana Dharma literature. We had witnessed in brief, how they had sacrificed their whole life for the sole purpose of authoring and propagating the sacred texts to the world, so that the future generations of people can immensely benefit from the important messages of how to lead a peaceful and happy life with Bhagawan’s grace. As for the great Maharishis, there are innumerable people who came after them and meticulously wrote commentaries after commentaries, so that people like us, who have limited or no knowledge in Sanskrit can easily understand the complex messages that the Maharishis have given us! Of course, as mentioned yesterday, the sages of yester-years were extremely knowledgeable that all their writings are in a very complex form for many of us to understand. For decoding and simplifying them, we have innumerable people in the likes of our great “Aachaaryas” and “Alwars” who have spent loads of their time in reading and re-reading the material and doing the needful. It’s our bound duty thus, to pay our respects to them as we move on into the Bhaagawatha Puraana text.

Moving ahead thus, let us continue the discussion on some of the basic fundamental concepts of Puraanas, that all of us should know. In fact, the Puraanas are unique texts that form part of our Sanaathana Dharma literature. If we talk about a “Puraana”, it should contain five important elements.

“Sargascha prathi-sargascha vamso manvantaraani cha!

Vamsaanucharithamchethi puraanam pancha lakshanam!!”

This is an important sloka that talks about the five important elements that are contained in the “Puraanas”. The first one is “Sargam”, which means “Srishti”. That is, it describes all the processes through which the entire world comes into existence. In other words, the “Sargam” talks about the way in which the world was created by Bhagawan and the reasons behind it. The second one being, “Prathi-Sargam”, which explains the way in which the world that was created by Bhagawan, meets its end. In simpler terms, the “Prathi-Sargam” talks about how the world would get destroyed eventually by the same Bhagawan who had once created it. This signifies the fact that nothing is permanent in this world and everything is subjected to destruction at some point or the other. This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna stresses in the Bhagawad Gita too.

The third one that the “Puraanas” talk about is the “Vamsam”. “Vamsam” means “Tradition” or “Lineage of people” who ruled the earth ever since its inception. If we’ve to talk about “Vamsam”, we generally talk of the “Surya Vamsam” and “Chandra Vamsam” and both of these are very popularly known as well. It is to be noted that Bhagawan Rama was born as part of the “Surya Vamsam” and subsequently, Bhagawan Krishna was born as part of the “Chandra Vamsam”. When we were in the Ramayana project, I had once mentioned that Bhagawan Rama was the 35’th King of Ayodhya. The “Surya Vamsam” starts with Bhagawan Bramha himself. Bramha is the person who is responsible for the creation of the world. The Surya Vamsam commences its journey from Bramha and transcends through innumerable kings who had given their 100% dedication in ruling the world successfully, of which come King Dasaratha and his son Bhagawan Rama. Thus, “Vamsam” plays an important role in the “Puraanas”.

The fourth element is “Manvantharam”. This “Manvantharam” signifies the tenure of each of these above mentioned kings who ruled the world as part of the “Surya Vamsa” and “Chandra Vamsa”. This element signifies what all happened during the tenure of each king, how significant were those happenings for the benefit of the world, who acquired what curse and according to which, how was the life of the king and his kingdom took ups and downs and how did these kings try and protect the “Dharma” at every stage of their tenure.

Finally as we move to the fifth one, we talk about “Vamsaanu-charitham” – This is primarily the most important of all of the five elements that we’ve been speaking about so far. Here we talk about how Bhagawan incarnates in each of these “Vamsams” at different times. For instance, we’ve just spoken about the incarnation of Bhagawan as Rama, during the Tretha Yuga and as part of the “Surya Vamsam” Similarly, Bhagawan Balaraama and Bhagawan Krishna incarnated during the Dwaapara Yuga and as part of the “Chandra Vamsam”. Thus, the collection of all the stories that talk about the life experiences of Bhagawan in each of these incarnations are collectively termed as “Vamsa-anu-charitham”.

Thus we can see that, if all these five elements are talked about in a text, it can be termed as a “Puraana”. However we’ve to note that in few of the eighteen Puraanas, all these five might not be present. Some might have four out of the five, or some might have three too. However, if we take the Bhaagawatha Puraana, the uniqueness of this particular text is that, all the above-explained five elements are completely present in this! This is why we call the Bhaagawatha Puraana as a “Poorna Puraana”, which means, a complete package of all five important elements. This is thus, the important significance of the “Bhaagawatha Puraana” and we should consider ourselves to be extremely fortunate to experience the beauty of this great text!

So for today, let us appreciate this significance of the Bhaagawatha Puraana, and we shall wait till the next episode to witness more! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had commenced a detailed introduction on Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana, wherein we had discussed three important things – Significance of “Ithihaasas” and “Puraanas”, why “Puraanas” are important as part of our Sanaathana Dharma literature and amongst all “Puraanas”, why is Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana occupying a prime status. We had witnessed the beautiful conjugations of the phrases “Bhaagawatha” and “Puraana”, which signify the ultimate meaning that this entire “Puraana” is centered around Bhagawan, by talking about His life experiences, His messages to the future generations of people and His ways of following the “Dharma”, that serve as a benchmark for all of us today.

Eventually, yesterday we had also discussed that this Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana was given to the world by Sage Sukaachaarya, who is none other than the son of Sage Veda Vyaasa himself. In fact, this entire text was perfectly documented by Sage Veda Vyaasa and it is only because of this great effort, we’re able to read and understand this great text!

As we move on, it is very important that we understand the significance of the people who have authored this text and propagated it to the world. As we had witnessed it for the Ramayana and the Mahaabhaarata, every text that is part of our “Sanaathana Dharma” is a result of a huge and meticulous effort of our great Maharishis. More than the meticulous effort, it is their selfless attitude that made this happen. Their only goal and motto of their life was to make sure that the world should get to understand Bhagawan and His messages, thereby to lead a peaceful life without any problems. They never cared about their personal lives much! If for instance, we look into the lives of either Valmiki Maharishi or Sage Veda Vyaasa or even Sage Sukhaachaarya, all of them were living in a forest, in an ashram, clad in a simple clothing, living amidst tunnels and caves, braving the sun and the rain. Thus physically, their lives were extremely challenging. But that never deterred them from gaining the requisite knowledge and wisdom.

In our cases today, many of us are blessed by Bhagawan to be born with a gold or a silver spoon! We’re amidst all possible luxuries that are required for a worldly life. But do we have that much of knowledge or wisdom that our ancestors and Maharishis had? To be frank, we’re not even having the patience and perseverance to open even one page of the Ramayana or Mahabharata to go through and understand what exactly Valmiki Maharishi or Sage Vyaasa have told! But, our Maharishis have meticulously sat down, written thousands and thousands of pages, and poured out all their knowledge and wisdom for the benefit of the world in future! How can one be more selfless than this? Today in this “Kali Yuga” we are in a situation wherein “Secrecy” in terms of knowledge and awareness is the order of the day! If we know something, we try to keep it secret from others by not sharing it! If Sage Vyaasa and Valmiki Maharishi would have thought the same, would we be having the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhaagawatha in hand today? Thus, we should understand the vast selfless attitude that was present amongst our great ancestors and Maharishis and respect them for that!

Having said thus, we should look at one more angle here – Normally in today’s world, if someone authors a book or an article, the publisher of that book or article should pay certain amount of money to the author, isn’t it? We generally see this in today’s professional world. However, if we’ve to take the Valmiki Ramayana or Mahabharata or Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana, the more we use it, we should pay Valmiki Maharishi or Sage Vyaasa, isn’t it? But they never ask anything from us! But what do they expect from us? All they expect us to do, is to read and re-read the texts more and more times until we get a hold on Bhagawan’s messages and experiences! This is also one angle in which we can understand the selfless attitude of our great sages who had authored such great texts!

Thus for today, let us pray our respects and tributes to our great Maharishis and all those people who came after them and propagated these texts for the benefit of the world. It is not only the Maharishis – How many people have analyzed these texts again and again, written commentaries on them, spoken about them, etc.? It is only because of these people that we have atleast a little bit of knowledge on all these texts. Else, the language in which Maharishis have written would be very difficult for people like us to understand and comprehend! Hence, let us pay our respects to all those people who were instrumental in making this Bhaagawatha Puraana available to us in a lucid form, so that people like us in today’s world are able to read, understand and comprehend! We shall wait till the next episode to go deeper into the significance of Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana. Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

“Shrimad Bhaagawatham naama puraanam lokha vishrutham!
Shrunuyaath shraddhayaayukthaha mama santosha kaaranam!!

Shrimad bhaagawathee vaarthaa puraanaamapi durlabhaa!
Menire bhagawadh roopam shaastram bhaagawatham khalau!!

Yatra yatra chaturvakthra Shrimad bhaagawatham bhaveth!
Gachhaami tathra tathraaham gowryathaa sutha vatsalaa!!

Nigama kalpatharoor galitham balam shukamukaath amritatdrava sayyutham!
Pibatha bhaagawatham rasamaalayam muhuraho rasikaa bhuvi bhaavukaaha!!”

A very warm welcome to all our esteemed readers to our third new mega project – Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraanam. As many of us might be aware, this huge text called “Shrimad Bhaagawadha Puraana” is a collection of a vast number of principles of “Dharma” that were given by Sage Sukhaachaarya and was documented carefully by none other than Sage Veda Vyaasa himself. Just like how Sage Veda Vyaasa authored the whole of the Mahaabhaarata text, as we had witnessed during our previous Vidura Neeti project, here too, Sage Veda Vyaasa had taken upon himself to author this huge and important text called “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana”.

We’ve earlier seen that “Puraanaas” in our “Sanaathana Dharma” literature, occupies a prime position amongst all other texts. In fact, “Ithihaasas” and “Puraanas” are the primary basements upon which the “building” of Sanaathana Dharma is constructed. We’ve also witnessed a detailed accord on what are “Ithihaasas” and “Puraanas”. The “Ithihaasas” are none other than Shrimad Ramayana and the Mahaabhaarata. These are the texts that talk about the hands-on experiences of Bhagawan’s incarnations of Rama and Krishna respectively. Of course, the Ramayana authored by Valmiki Maharishi talks about all the narratives of the life of Bhagawan Shri Rama and the Mahaabhaarata, authored by Sage Veda Vyaasa talks about those of Bhagawan Krishna in detail. An important aspect that is to be noted by readers here is that, “Ithihaasas” were authored when Bhagawan was still present in this world. That is, the Ramayana text was authored by Valmiki Maharishi when Bhagawan Rama was still ruling Ayodhya, after defeating Ravana in Lanka. Similarly, Sage Veda Vyaasa authored the Mahaabhaarata text when Bhagawan Krishna was very much present in this world, ruling the Dwaaraka kingdom, after the Kurukshetra war had got over. But having said thus, the “Puraanaas” are those texts that were authored much later, after the incarnations of Bhagawan have been completed. The “Puraanas” are eighteen in number, which are grouped under the categories namely, “Saathvika Puraanas”, “Raajasa Puraanas” and “Thaamasa Puraanaas”, with each category comprising of six “Puraanas”. All these sacred texts are written meticulously by our great Maharishis selflessly, so that, the future generations of people should be able to free themselves from all their sins and attain the lotus feet of Bhagawan.

The main aspect that all the Puraanas discuss is the role of ourself as a human being in this world, and how are we going to impact the progress of the world towards spirituality and spiritual growth. For instance, when we were children we had gone to a school for primary and secondary education. Subsequently we entered a university for our graduation / post-graduation. Subsequently, we got a job and even there we learn loads of lessons as we progress with our corporate life. However, in all these places, we’re not taught everything that has to be taught! Some aspects go missing! There are innumerable aspects in this world that we cannot entirely learn in a classroom setup or even in a professional setup in an organization. Thus, all those aspects that do not fall under the “learning category” in schools, colleges, organizations, etc. fall under the purview of the “Puraanas”. This is the main reason why Puraanas are important in our “Sanaathana Dharma” literature and during the course of our discussions in the near future, we would understand the deeper meaning to what I have said just now.

Amidst all these classifications, the Bhaagawatha Puraana is considered to be one of the most important of all the eighteen Puraanas. Having said thus, we should now answer two important questions here – What is “Bhaagawatham”? What is “Puraanam”? If we look at the conjugation of the word “Puraana” in Sanskrit, it is as follows – “Puraana – Puraa api navam Puraanam”. This means that, Puraanas are very old in nature. However, these Puraanas contain all the important life lessons that we need to learn as we progress in our day-to-day routines of our personal and professional life. Just because certain texts are old, it doesn’t mean that they are outdated to the modern-day happenings. Especially the texts like ours in the Sanaathana Dharma, these are evergreen in nature, wherein we can learn innumerable lessons for our modern-day life as well. We’ve of course witnessed many such lessons during our Ramayana and Vidura Neeti projects and readers might well remember it as well. Similarly, if we’ve to look into the conjugation of the word “Bhaagawatham” it goes as follows – “Bhagawatha itham Bhaagawatham”. This means, all of this Puraana is of Bhagawan. Every line in this text talks about the various significances of Bhagawan and the messages that He has conveyed to all of us, both through His words and deeds.

So having said thus, for today, let us understand this basic aspect of the “Ithihaasas”, “Puraanas” and subsequently of “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana”. We shall wait till the next episode to witness more important aspects of “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” as we move into the details that Sage Sukhaachaarya has spoken about. Stay tuned! 😊

Dear esteemed readers,

It is with profound happiness that I announce the commencement of our third big project. This is going to be an ambitious one and as I still continue my research and work on it, I’m planning to commence this mega-project from tomorrow, the 16’th of May 2019! The project, as per the wish of many of our esteemed readers, is going to on one of the most spiritually revered texts of our Sanaathana Dharma – Shrimad Bhaagwatha Puraana. 

As always, I shall approach this project in simple English language, along with some important quotes from the main text, as well as important commentaries, discourses of great “Upanyaasakaas” of ancient and modern times. We shall look at the text in terms of life lessons that can be learnt from it, and shall witness innumerable tips from the context of modern-day Philosophy and Management Sciences. 

I’m eagerly waiting the commencement of this huge project from tomorrow and as esteemed readers, I’m deeply obliged to seek your support, blessings and wishes in making this a great learning experience for all of us together. As I keep stressing every time, it is our duty to protect our “Sanaathana Dharma” at a time when there are forces that seek to challenge it with meaningless and baseless tactics and strategies. Let us together spread this awareness, far and wide across this globe and in that way, we shall contribute a drop of water to the mighty ocean of our rich culture and value systems.

Saying thus, I’m also extremely happy to announce that the viewership of the blog “The Indian Dharma” has recently crossed the 40,000 (Forty thousand) mark! Hereby, I extend my warm gratitude to each and every one of you for your time and support, in making this happen in such a short span of time. Having said that, this is not something that should make us complacent. We should strive for more and more in the days, months and years to come. We should create a strong force – A spiritual force that can be unshakable by any circumstance or situation that might conspire in future.

I’m witnessing many new readers joining us every day and there are requests from various corners for getting the access to all our previous archives. Here is the link from where you can get the archives:

http://www.theindiandharma.wordpress.com

If you’re an active Facebook user, you can visit the page titled “The Indian Dharma”. You can “Like” / “Follow” the page, to get access to all our archival episodes (324 Episodes of Shrimad Ramayana + 390 Episodes of Vidura Neeti). Moreover, you can also receive regular updates on each of the episode that we would be publishing every day. The link to the Facebook page is as given below:

https://www.facebook.com/LeadershiplessonsfromMahabharata/

Apart from this, we’ve also opened up various other channels through which the blog can reach more and more audience. We share the contents of the blog via LinkedIn (mainly for corporate professionals) and also via Twitter. 

I’m always open to your comments, feedbacks and suggestions. So let us join hands in making this project on Shrimad Bhagawatham a great opportunity for us to learn from our Sanaathana Dharma. Stay tuned for the commencement from tomorrow! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus far, we’ve reached the end of what was a mega-project that was undertaken last year – The Vidura Neeti, as part of the Mahabharata. As we conclude the Vidura Neeti, we should realize that although King Dhirdiraashtra failed to understand and implement whatever aspects of Dharma that Vidura has explained, we shouldn’t fall into the same trap as King Dhirdiraashtra. We should make it a point to take Vidura’s golden words forward and follow whatever he has told in our daily lives. In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dhirdiraashtra expressing his helplessness in implementing Vidura’s words to practice. Such shouldn’t be the case in our lives. We’ve to realize that Bhagawan has given us this golden opportunity to learn and understand each of Vidura’s words of advice in detail, and we shouldn’t stop here! We should sit back, take each episode of the Vidura Neeti, analyze it, assimilate whatever Vidura has said, try to relate them to the modern-day life and implement them in practice. This is the greatest service and “Guru Dakshina” that all of us can give to Vidura and Sage Veda Vyaasa. Of course, with the limited time frame and with my limited knowledge on the subject, I’ve tried my best to bring out what Vidura has tried to say. It is now up to all of us to ponder over and try to put these things to practical usage.

Having said that, to summarize in short as to what Vidura has said in this package of Dharma called Vidura Neeti, he stresses on the controlling of our senses, giving respect to women and treating them as Goddess Lakshmi herself, significance of motivation, accumulating wealth and property only by the ways as prescribed by the Dharma and most importantly, developing the intent of sharing whatever wealth or property we have with other people. These are the five main points that Vidura has stressed in the entire Vidura Neeti, time and again through various ways and means, so that King Dhirdiraashtra can understand and realize his folly. If a person who is able to follow all of these principles of Dharma properly and meticulously in his / her life, he / she can lead a happy and a peaceful life for a long tenure, without any hurdles or problems. If a person is able to develop the “Dharma Chintana” (Thought of Dharma), he / she is definitely able to obtain the divine grace of Bhagawan throughout his / her life. This is what Vidura has preached to all of us and as mentioned above, it is up to us to follow Vidura’s words! The ball is in our court now! Let us make the maximum use of the opportunity that is given to us in hand by Bhagawan.

Saying thus, I bow my head in respect to Vidura and Sage Veda Vyaasa first up. Along with these two important people, there are of course innumerable “Aachaaryas” who have meticulously written commentaries after commentaries and it is only because of their dedicated efforts, we’re able to have something in hand to read and benefit. Hence, it is my profound duty to bow down to all the “Aachaaryas” and “Gurus” for their blessings and their dedicated efforts in bringing such “Dharma” to our hands. Of course, our Bhaarata Desha (India) is built only on the foundation of all these principles of Dharma and this is why our country is the epitome of Sanaathana Dharma. It is our duty to bow down to all those people who have sacrificed their lives to protect important texts like these, for the benefit of the future generation like us. All of us know how many invasions have happened in this country for centuries together and how foreigners have looted our country. They might have taken away our wealth and riches, but none could ever destroy our Sanaathana Dharma. This is the unique speciality of our Bhaarata Desha and this can never be the case anywhere in the world!

Finally, I wish to thank all our profound and esteemed readers for your time and timely feedback. Many of you have been writing to me on and off, and your kind words have served as a huge motivation for me to take up mammoth projects like these. I wish to express my sincere apologies to all of you, for my mistakes if any, and personally, I would be very thankful and grateful if all of you can write to me your comments and feedbacks. You can feel free to write your thoughts and I would respect your words with utmost humility. You can write to me on my email – jeayaram@gmail.com and if you have any queries, I’ll try my best to answer all of them.

I once again extend my warm regards to all of you! Finally, last but not the least, all of us owe our greatest respect and love to our beloved Bhagawan Krishna for making this a grand success! May Bhagawan bless all of us in all our endeavours in life!

With this, I’m taking a short break from writing. The break would be just for a few days and I shall come back to you with the next new mega-project. This is going to be a very interesting one for all of us – “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana”. We shall commence the next project very soon and till then, let us invoke the divine grace of Bhagawan and keep waiting!

 

 

 

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s strong assertion to King Dhirdiraashtra that he and his son Duryodhana are neither following the Kshatrya Dharma properly nor allowing the Paandavas headed by Yudishtra to follow their Kshatrya Dharma in the correct way. Both the father and son are selfish in their motives and are denying the rightful share of the Hastinapura kingdom that should go to the Paandavas, as per the agreement that was made before Paandu’s death. In this way, they are denying the Paandavas of their Kshatrya Dharma. And on the Kauravas’ front, did Duryodhana and Co. execute their Kshatrya Dharma properly? The answer is again a big “No”! What did they do? Duryodhana on his part, being desperate for the kingdom, resorted to innumerable ways to kill the Paandavas – Not through proper war, but through illegal and cowardly ways, that are completely unacceptable according to the Raaja Dharma.

It should be remembered that Duryodhana tried different tricks to kill the Paandavas, right from childhood days. Remarkably, Duryodhana planned the plot to burn the Paandavas alive inside a palace made of wax. This was the idea given by the wicked Sahuni, but somehow with the grace of Bhagawan Krishna, the Paandavas escaped from the trap. Similar traps were laid over and over again and the Paandavas somehow kept escaping out from all of them – Thanks to Bhagawan Krishna’s astute smartness and divine grace. Eventually, all of us know the infamous episode of gambling, wherein King Dhirdiraashtra himself went along with Sahuni and Co. to elucidate the vicious episode of making the Paandavas victims of the gamble. In fact, the entire game of gamble is a gross violation of the Kshatrya Dharma and even when Vidura was there advising King Dhirdiraashtra against this, he never cared to listen! More than all this, Duryodhana and Co. stooped to a bizzare low when they resorted to insult the Paandavas by dragging Draupati to the center of the courtroom. More than that, Ducchaasana (Duryodhana’s brother) did the ultimate bizzare thing of pulling and stripping off her saree in the public. By doing so, the entire Kaurava camp started to walk the path of defeat, not only because of insulting a woman in public, but also for going dead against the Kshatrya Dharma. In fact, even Bhagawan Krishna was shocked by the incident, and although he wasn’t there physically, he made sure that he stepped up to the occasion to save Draupathi. Such was the extent to which King Dhirdiraashtra and Co. went low on their Raaja Dharma.

This is what Vidura is trying to remind King Dhirdiraashtra in this context. He is recalling all these incidents one by one and proving to King Dhirdiraashtra that these are gross violations and that, he and his sons are going to pay a heavy price for it very soon!

As Vidura says thus, he concludes his long discussion and pauses for a while. Now, having heard all of what Vidura had to say, King Dhirdiraashtra doesn’t know how to react. His eyes are filled with tears. He realizes that Vidura has told so many things pertaining to the “Dharma” and that is perfectly implementable by a king of his stature. However, circumstances rule the situation and King Dhirdiraashtra is clearly trapped into those vicious circumstances. Now what does King Dhirdiraashtra reply?

“Eva me thath yathaartham maamanushaashasi nithaydaa!

Mamaapicham apih sowmya bhavathyevam yathaathamaam!!”

Saying thus, Vidura concludes his talk by telling King Dhirdiraashtra that the ball is in his court now. He has to analyze which is Dharma and which is Adharma, which is practicality and which is illusion and which is going to be constructive and which is going to be destructive. Vidura has said everything whatever he had to say! It is upto King Dhirdiraashtra now to get up from his slumber and act. But however, is King Dhirdiraashtra ready to act? He replies to Vidura thus, “Oh Vidura! You’ve done a great thing here by narrating all the Dharma to me in a lucid way so that I can understand! I’m realizing that whatever you’re saying is as per the Dharma text book and is completely relevant and practical. I also understand that all the elderly people would approve whatever you’ve said so far and even my intellect and heart say that your statements are worth of gold!”

“Saadhu buddhihi kritaathyevam paandavaan prathi me sadhaa!

Duryodhanam samaasaadhya punar vipari varthathe!!”

King Dhirdiraashtra continues thus, “Oh Vidura! All these good thoughts and intent are with me when you’re near me. But when Duryodhana comes close to me, all these good thoughts vanish in the air. It seems that the fate has already been written clearly and cannot be changed henceforth! Oh Vidura! You’ve said innumerable aspects of the Dharma and my mind also approves all that you’ve said is only as per the Dharma. I’m also trying to implement them in practice. However, due to whatsoever reasons, I feel that Yama-Dharma-Raaja has come and sat in my ears and is preventing me to take one step forward. Henceforth, let fate takeover the future and let things happen as it has to happen! Let the events unfold as they have to! I don’t think I have anything left in my hands anymore!”

Saying thus, we come to the end of the Vidura Neeti. We’ve witnessed in the past 389 episodes, the various aspects of Dharma as explained by Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra. We shall have the concluding remarks in tomorrow’s episode and this would mark the end of our second mega-project! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important point as an offshoot from Vidura’s description of the important roles and responsibilities of the four “Varnas” of people, namely the Brahmanas, Kshatryas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Unlike the belief that erupted post the Vedic period, the Vedas doesn’t distinguish between the four Varnas in terms of superiority / inferiority as each category of people had their tasks clearly cut out. The distinction between the four Varnas were purely made on basis of occupation and family, and has nothing to do with status issues, as conceptualized later. This is where, all the anti-Hindu elements capture and make foray into the people who follow Sanaathana Dharma. We should be extremely careful and clear what our Sanaathana Dharma and Vedas explain and should never give in to the “false claims” made by those anti-Hindu elements. In fact, the very purpose of writing this blog meticulously every day is to destroy these kinds of falsehoods by clarifying them with the references that are present in the scriptural texts of our Sanaathana Dharma. Thus, readers should be extremely careful in understanding the nuances that are described in our sacred texts, and not to get carried away by “half-baked” arguments that are put forth by the anti-Hindu elements. Such unsubstantiated claims that these elements make can be demolished even at the grassroot level itself by understanding the facts behind each episode that has taken place in our Sanaathana Dharma.

Having said that, we witnessed how in the modern day, we’re slowly and steadily starting to deviate from our duties and responsibilities of our Varnaashrama Dharma. In fact, as witnessed before, this deviation and dilution had begun as early as the Dwaapara Yuga, wherein we witnessed the episode of Guru Dhronaachaarya as an example. Of course in the present day of the Kali Yuga, we’ve taken the deviation and dilution to an entirely different level altogether! Even though we might argue that these deviations are out of a necessity and not intentional, we should make sure that we follow atleast some of the important roles as per our Varnaashrama Dharma. For instance, as Brahmanas, we should ensure that every day we perform our “Sandhyavandanam” three times a day, perform our “Upaakarma” once in a year and perform the “Tharpanam”, “Shraadham” and other important spiritual practices that are to be done for our departed parents without fail. This is the bare minimum expectation from a Brahmana and this should be taken care of.

Similarly, when it comes to the other three Varnas of people, each of us should maintain a standard set of practices, from which we shouldn’t deviate, wherever and whatever we are in this world. For instance, those who are involved in business activities, should make sure that they follow the golden standards of ethics and compliances meticulously as prescribed. If everybody follows the prescribed compliances correctly, imagine how peaceful the world would be! The problem arises only because of the excessive desire of one person, the selfish nature of one person, and it transcends to many other people down the line, and the problem escalates. Thus, if we’re able to make up our minds not to go down the wrong path, we can set a benchmark for others to follow our right method.

Having said thus, Vidura continues his accord on the similar lines by iterating this point a bit differently here. He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Do you realize that Yudishtra, being an epitome of Dharma himself (Also referred to as “Dharma-Puthra”) is also deviating from his Kshatrya Dharma and is sitting in the forest?” Upon hearing this, King Dhirdiraashtra is surprised and counters Vidura’s claim and asks the reason for such a claim. Vidura now describes the point in detail and in course, slams King Dhirdiraashtra and Co. for their indifference. Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please understand my statement in the correct sense here. When I say that Yudishtra is deviating from his Kshatrya Dharma, you should immediately ask me as to who is responsible for it! Anyways, who is behind this? It is only you and your son! You are preventing Yudishtra from exercising his Dharma of ruling the kingdom. By doing so, you are also deviating from your Dharma by not ruling the kingdom in the proper manner in which it has to be done! You’re playing a foul game here, by denting into the ethical part of the Raaja Dharma, which is also in a way a deviation from the Kshatrya Dharma. Please realize this fact and allow Yudishtra to exercise his Dharma properly. He is a Kshatrya like you. Even then, due to your selfishness and personal agenda, you are denying the right of another person to follow his Varnaashtrama Dharma. Please realize this fact and do the needful!”

Saying thus, Vidura re-iterates his stance over the point and ultimately brings out the reason why he stresses on the Varnaashrama Dharma so much. So for today, let us ponder over this important point and let us learn our lessons from it. We shall wait till the next episode to continue with Vidura’s next important point of conclusion. Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed an emotional accord on an innocent child in Ekalaiva and how he was demeaned and destroyed by the hypocrisy of Guru Dhronaachaarya, by playing the “caste card”. Guru Dhronaachaarya denied to accept little Ekalaiva as his student because of the sheer reason that Ekalaiva wasn’t a Kshatrya. This same Dhronaachaarya who was a Brahmana by birth, entered into the battlefield for whatsoever reason to fight for Duryodhana and Co. How can this happen? On one hand, Dhronaachaarya denied Ekalaiva to gain expertise in artillery just because this little child wasn’t a Kshatrya. On the other hand, this same Dhronaachaarya is going to fight a battle, even though he wasn’t a Kshatrya. Isn’t this hypocrisy at its best? This hypocrisy and double standards followed by Guru Dhronaachaarya denied the world to have one of the greatest experts in the art of using the bow and arrow in Ekalaiva!

In similar lines, almost all of them including King Dhirdiraashtra himself had deviated from their Varnaashrama Dharma and have paid the price for it. It is only here that Vidura is warning King Dhirdiraashtra of this major blunder and cautions him that he and his son Duryodhana had resorted to illegal games of gambling, insulting women, etc. (which are not part of the Kshatrya Dharma) and that, they’re going to repent heavily for what they’ve done!

If such is the case in the Dwaapara Yuga itself, there is literally no point in talking about it in the present Kali Yuga. In the present scenario, who on earth is not running behind money? It can be witnessed that all the four Varnas of people are commercially exploiting whatever situation they are in, at any given day! For instance, when we spoke of the roles and responsibilities of the Brahmanas, we mentioned that the Brahmanas’ main focus is on performing spiritual practices, without touching money by their hands! But do we do that today in the present day? First and foremost, how many of us Brahmins are dedicating our lives today for the upliftment and propagation of the Vedas? Forget that… How many of us Brahmins even perform our “Nitya-Anushtaana” (Performing the Sandhyavandanam thrice a day) every day? Even if some Brahmins involve themselves in spiritual practices, how many of them do it selflessly by not going behind money? These are tough questions for us to answer in today’s scenario and I’m sure, many of our readers would agree to this! However, if asked forcefully, we would try and justify our stance by saying thus, “Oh! What about the cost of living in today’s scenario? Who will take care of us if we don’t have money in hand? In ancient times, the other three Varnas of people were meticulously taking care of all the needs of the Brahmanas. But is it happening today? No! If that is the case, there is no option left, other than we taking care of ourselves!”

This is an absolutely valid argument and I totally agree to it! We are of course living at a time wherein our entire “Sanaathana Dharma” is being challenged by listless anti-Hindu forces for fulfilling their own personal agenda. At this time, it is of course not feasible for us to depend on others for our daily bread and butter. Having said that however, can we simply sit back and say that we would sacrifice all our fundamental duties of our Varnaashrama Dharma, just because things aren’t going the way it should? We shouldn’t do such things! If we resort to sacrifice our duties, it simply means that we’re degrading our own Sanaathana Dharma and we’re only adding fuel to those anti-Hindu forces which are trying their best to demean our great religion.

Thus, the message from today’s episode is that, irrespective of whatever profession we are into, in the today’s world, we should atleast make sure that we make a conscious effort to learn the Vedas, chant them atleast for 15-20 minutes everyday at home and most importantly, perform our Sandhyavandanam thrice a day without fail. These are small things that we can do every day morning before we go to work. If we are able to find time to do these things, it would definitely go a long way in future in safeguarding and uplifting our Sanaathana Dharma. Of course, I’m not asking all of us to shun our professions from today itself and focus only on spiritual practices. If we’re able to do that, it’s of course nothing better than that! 😊 However, by not compromising on our regular work schedules, if we’re able to devote some time to perform atleast few of the fundamental spiritual practices that we’re supposed to do every day, it would be of great effect.

So for today, let us ponder over this important point and we shall take this discussion forward in the next episode too, as we move on to the next point of Vidura. Stay tuned! 😊