The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another extension on Vidura’s one of his final concluding remarks wherein he says that when it comes to our personal life at home, we should be contented with what we have and what we earn. Of course, I’m not saying that we should develop ourself professionally by obtaining more qualifications and thus earning more money. This can be done and many of us are doing it every day. This is the perfect way of doing things and unless and until money comes to us legitimately, there is no problem! The problem comes only when we get greedy and go behind money through illegal ways and means. Hence, we should make sure that we are very watchful when it comes to money and financial matters and we should make sure that money comes to us only in the legitimate way from our own blood and sweat of hard work. There should be no second thought on this.

Thus, it is important for us to strike a balance somehow and somewhere. One on hand we require money and a decent standard of living for our daily survival. On the other hand, we shouldn’t make it a point that just because we require money, we do not run behind us irrespective of whatever might be the path. This is where, King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana are losing the plot heavily – Especially Duryodhana, because he is just trying to run behind wealth and fame, at whatever expense! Despite Bhagawan Krishna being at the behest of everything what is going on in the Hastinapura kingdom, there were many people including the likes of all Kaurava brothers and their great father, King Dhirdiraashtra, who went behind name and wealth, rather than “Dharma”. Little did they realize the worth of being in such a close vicinity of Bhagawan Himself, who was trying to guide them by leading from the front.

Now moving on further, Vidura launches his one final assault on King Dhirdiraashtra with the slightest of the positive hope that he would atleast budge for this one. He slams King Dhirdiraashtra one last time by linking the previous point with “Dharma” and says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Whatever you and your crooked sons are desiring for today – Name, wealth, fame, luxuries, etc. are all subjected to change with time! However, the one that you’re refusing to accept – “Dharma” is never going to change. You’re trying to defend the indefensible! You’re trying to defend “Adharma”, which is never going to be successful! You and your sons are only going behind materialistic things in this world, which is never going to stay permanent with you! What do you call “yours” today is going to be someone else’s tomorrow! Whether you like it or not, whether you accept it or not, or whether you hate it or not, this is the fact of life! Every living being goes through this transition and change! Thus, change is inevitable! However, if there is one thing that is never going to change in this world, even after thousands and thousands of years, it is the principles of Sanaathana Dharma!”

Vidura continues thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! The irony thus with you and Duryodhana is that, you’re not able to accept the one that is permanent, but you’re ready to accept the one that is temporary and susceptible for change constantly! Thus, please catch hold of the one which doesn’t change and leave the one that keeps changing! Please try to mend your way and this is the right opportunity for you to do so!”

Saying thus, Vidura brings out the importance of “Dharma” and its significance and this is a very important concluding segment of the Vidura Neeti. This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna himself tries to bring out to Arjuna through the Bhagawad Gita. Thus, this one point is the very essense of our entire Sanaathana Dharma put together.  Hence for today, let us realize the significance of this point and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another important extension to Vidura’s one of the last and final points wherein he speaks about three elements of a huge vicious cycle – Desire, which leads to greed, which in turn leads to fear, in terms of anger and frustration. We witnessed how in our professional setup in the present-day, this is exactly where we get entangled into, if we’re going to give into some wrong temptations at our workplace. This temptation can lead us into an ethical dilemma and we end up committing some criminal offences against the organization, for fulfilling our short-term desire of earning more money within a quick time. We have witnessed innumerable examples in the past, as to how people get entangled into such offences and ultimately screw up their own lives at the end!

As we’ve witnessed the scenario with respect to one’s professional side, this same thing applies to the personal side as well. If we’ve to lead a peaceful life, we need to understand our financial position and its source, and plan our life accordingly. Many people have this problem today – Upon desiring for a higher and a better standard of living as compared to their neighbours or relatives, people go to any extent to satisfy this desire. I’ve personally witnessed few cases when I was a teen-ager and such families entered into a pathetic situation by doing so! While people see others enjoying a better standard of living than them, with a nice luxurious house and an expensive car to go with it, they start comparing that with theirs. Eventually, these people start craving for more money to satisfy their desires and even if their position and status in their professional life doesn’t warrant them to earn that much money, they take loans, debts, etc. from banks and other lenders to satisfy their desires. Little do they realize that at some point, they have to repay this money to the bank! When the due dates come closer for repayment of loan to the bank, they start getting the fear that what if the bank confiscates their property or car, because of non-payment of the EMI amount. This is the vicious cycle that we get into in our personal life. The moment we become jealous and greedy about what others possess, this is going to mark the end of our happiness and peace of mind!

Thus, the point here is that, when it comes to our personal life at home, we should be contented with what we have and what we earn. Of course, I’m not saying that we should develop ourself professionally by obtaining more qualifications and thus earning more money. This can be done and many of us are doing it every day. This is the perfect way of doing things and unless and until money comes to us legitimately, there is no problem! The problem comes only when we get greedy and go behind money through illegal ways and means. Hence we should make sure that we are very watchful when it comes to money and financial matters and we should make sure that money comes to us only in the legitimate way from our own blood and sweat of hard work. There should be no second thought on this.

So for today, let us keep it as a short discussion and we shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s final concluding remarks of the Vidura Neeti. We’re coming towards the end of the second mega-project and very soon we would be completing the Vidura Neeti. Let us look forward for the completion and henceforth, the next new project! I shall unfurl the details of our next new project very soon! It’s going to be a very interesting one and a much bigger one than both Ramayana and the Vidura Neeti! Let’s wait till then! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had commenced one of Vidura’s last and final messages as part of the “Vidura Neeti” and here Vidura talks about three important characteristics that come our way, as a “motivation” for us to get into the path of “Adharma”! 😊 Vidura says that it all starts with a small desire (Kaama) and this desire keeps multiplying further and further as we try to satisfy it, which becomes “Lobha” or greed eventually. As greed increases, we start craving for that someone or something we desire upon and this craving would lead us to “Krodha”, which is nothing but anger. As a result of anger, we tend to do anything and everything, irrespective of whether it is “Dharma” or “Adharma” and finally when someone comes to know of our wrongful activities, we start getting jittery within ourselves and eventually the fear (“Bhayam”) starts creeping into us! We start fearing the law of the land, people and society around us, our future, punishments, etc. As such, the law in India is a near useless entity, many people (atleast top politicians and bureaucrats) try to escape from it, which is perfectly possible given any circumstance! However, there is one law book that we can never escape – The law book of Bhagawan! So even if one tries to escape the law of the land, he / she can never escape the law of Bhagawan and ultimately meets the repercussions of all actions that are committed.

This, as mentioned yesterday, is a vicious cycle that starts with a momentous pleasure and a crave and finally leads us into disaster. We should thus be very careful in our day-to-day activities, both in our professional as well as our personal lives. With respect to the professional part, there might be many instances, wherein someone would tempt us to go the wrong way, by showing truckloads of money or wealth, or any shortcut means of earning enormous amounts of money. If we’re going to give into the temptation, we need to be prepared to do something unethical and unwanted. We should always remember that only by doing something unethical, will we be able to earn truckloads of money, within a short period of time. In other words, if someone wants to give us enormous amounts of money, just like that, we need to be mature enough to understand that there’s some sort of an agenda behind this person who is giving us money. We should always remember that nobody in this world will give us anything for free! Thus, if some money or wealth is coming by our way “easily”, we should understand that there is something tricky behind it! Once we give into this desire, it would become very easy for the other person to tempt us into doing something wrong and unethical and which can lead to the ruin of our organization where we work! Once we give into this unethical practice, automatically fear would start creeping inside us. We would start thinking what if someone finds it out! What if someone files a complaint against us for this wrongdoing? What if we lose our job because of this? What if a black-mark comes into our career? Will we get another job in future? All these questions start propping up into our mind and eventually, our peace and happiness is gone for a toss!

Thus given this scenario, my question here is very simple – If we’re not happy and peaceful, what is the use of having this enormous amount of money under our possession? What can we do with this truckload of money, if my fear is going to kill me cell after cell and tissue after tissue? The only place where this money would eventually go is the hospital, because with the constant tension and pressure in our mind, we would start getting sick and would eventually land up in a hospital with blood pressure or diabetes issues! All this money would dwindle away in buying medicines regularly from the pharmacy store! Hence, why go behind money crazily and land ourselves into trouble like this? We should give ourselves some time and think about it. The moment we start thinking about it, and when we start realizing the repercussions that are attached to it, we would never touch money that comes illegally to us. More so ever, we would never go behind desires that would potentially ruin our life and our family too!

So for today, let us give this point an important thought and let us start doing the needful by taming the mind not to fall into this trap of vicious cycle as Vidura says! We shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s last and final important point! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another important extension to Vidura’s explanation on Satisfaction and how significant is it for our daily life. Yesterday we witnessed a phenomenon that is catching up big-time in our society, which is extra-marital relationship. In this regard, we witnessed the important advice of Mother Sita to Ravana in the same context wherein she asserts that it would be pleasurable at that moment to go behind the wife / husband of others, however in the long run, this would only ruin our lives completely without any mercy. All these things prop up only because of the lack of satisfaction that we have in our minds. If we’re able to limit ourselves with utmost satisfaction, in terms of money, wealth, luxuries and people, peace of mind would automatically start reigning into our lives, and ultimately, we would be happy throughout! Hence, we should make it a point that we adhere to this important advice that Vidura is giving us. Although King Dhirdiraashtra eventually did not pay heed to Vidura’s important words of advice, it is not that we too should walk the path of King Dhirdiraashtra. We can always keep these points in mind and follow them meticulously to make our lives happier. Of course, all of us know what happened to King Dhirdiraashtra and Co. by ignoring Vidura’s advice.

Now moving on further, Vidura comes to the last message here – He finally ends his piece of advice by asserting that in this world, for us to live at peace we need to let go of three things – “Kaama” (Desire), “Bhayam” (Fear) and “Lobham” (Greed). Vidura says thus:

“Na jaathu kaamaan na bhayaan na lobhaath dharmam thyaah jeevitasya hethoho!!”

Here Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra that a person who is devoid of the above-mentioned three characteristics, he / she can live in this world for a long time and with ultimate peace of mind. He advises King Dhirdiraashtra to follow this path that leads to “Dharma”. It is only because of the desire (“Kaama”) that King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana are having over the Hastinapura kingdom, are all problems arising here. This desire doesn’t stop here. If this desire is allowed to grow further and further without any control, this becomes “Lobham”, which is nothing but excessive desire or greed. Over a period of time, this desire converts and transforms itself into greed and possessiveness, that we become crazy enough for what we are wanting in life! Eventually because of this craziness, we tend to take any possible way, irrespective of “Dharma” or “Adharma” to get our things done and satisfied. Eventually at a point when we realize that we’re going to get into trouble because of our unwanted activities and behavior, we are going to develop the fear (“Bhayam”) within us. What if someone catches us red-handed for all what we’ve done? What if we’re going to be severely punished for our wrong-doing? What if our future and our family get affected because of our wrong-doings? These kinds of fears sink inside us as we go down the path of “Adharma”.

Thus, if we watch closely enough, we can witness a sequence here – It all starts with “Kaamam” (Desire). As we go behind our desire, it gets transformed to something called “Lobham” (Greed) and along its path, we also give into “Krodha” (Anger). As we’re walking the path of “Adharma” because of all the three above-mentioned characteristics, we result in “Bhayam” (Fear) of repercussions at a later stage. This is where, King Dhirdiraashtra is getting entangled inside right royally here! It is to be remembered by readers here that it is mainly because of his affection towards his son (Which is a form of “Kaama” or desire), that King Dhirdiraashtra never questioned the activities of his son Duruyodhana ever since his childhood days. He stood by Duryodhana and back him up in whatever nonsense he did to the Paandavas. Now this affection towards Duryodhana has transformed eventually into “Lobham”, wherein is affection has become excessive, thus leading to something called “Putra-Vaatsalya”. At this stage, King Dhirdiraashtra realizes that his son has become his full center of focus and had eventually approved whatever illicit action that Duryodhana along with his uncle Sahuni staged during that infamous gambling episode. Eventually as time progressed further, King Dhirdiraashtra’s excessive “Putra-Vaatsalya” has only pushed him into the fear of a possible backlash from Duryodhana, if at all he questions him at this stage for all the atrocities that he has committed to the Paandavas. Thus even as Vidura advises him point after point, King Dhirdiraashtra is unable to digest anything, only because of the fear (“Bhayam”) of backlash from his son and the fear of him being deserted or even killed by his own son. We can clearly see the sequence here with respect to King Dhirdiraashtra’s life itself. This is exactly where Vidura is trying to pull King Dhirdiraashtra from this mindset. He’s trying to give a helping hand to King Dhirdiraashtra to overcome this vicious cycle and try to question Duryodhana for what he is doing! Eventually, this would open up an avenue for brokering of peace between the Kaurava and the Pandava camps.

So for today, let us ponder over the sequence of events that conspired in the Mahabharata story and let us try to link it to this point which Vidura is emphasizing here! It is extremely interesting how Vidura sequences his points one after the other and lays the “punch” to King Dhirdiraashtra, who even then, does not want to correct himself and mend his ways! We shall wait till the next episode to ponder over this further in the present-day scenario! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode we had witnessed the extension on the important point of “Satisfaction” and how is it significant in our everyday lives today. Of course, we had discussed the context in which Vidura is explaining this point to King Dhirdiraashtra and thereon, we’ve started to discuss its significance in out modern-day scenario as well. We’ve witnessed how we go behind money, craving for more and more each day and also get into unwanted trouble because of it. As Vidura explained in his previous point, we shouldn’t touch money or wealth that comes to us through an illegal route, and this lack of satisfaction with what we have, coupled with the craving attitude, would make us go behind wealth and money, even if it is through an illegal way! We’ve to connect the dots between these two points of Vidura and understand here.

This is in fact, one of the main reasons why many people, although they might be extremely talented and capable, end up in a disastrous failure in life. As mentioned couple of episodes earlier, if we look at few of the modern-day sports persons, irrespective of whatever game they play, these people make enormous amounts of money by representing their countries in the sport that they play. Apart from this, these players make truckloads of money with their endorsements for advertisements of many top-quality brands. Although they get this much money through these sources, some never get satisfied! The moment they are approached by the so-called “bookies” for match-fixing, betting, or some other illegal activities like consuming drugs that are banned by the sports authorities, they signal their clear intent of craving for more money. Now why is such a thing happening in the first place? The main reason behind it is lack of satisfaction with whatever money they get! Although these people earn money in millions of rupees, they aren’t satisfied! This shows the plight of us human beings in the modern-day world!

If this is on one side, there are innumerable instances wherein people get carried away with relationships that are unwarranted. It’s becoming pretty common in the modern day to witness people getting into extra-marital relationships, which might look very attractive and pleasurable for that moment, but as we move on into the future, there are potential possibilities that this extra-marital relationship would kill our personal space completely. Imagine what would happen if our spouse comes to know of this illicit relationship that we might have. What might happen? The entire bonding called “marriage” gets broken and there are innumerable problems that come with it! This is where, satisfaction with our spouse matters a lot. If our mind goes stray and haywire by going behind other people beyond our marriage, it is ultimately going to ruin our life.

This is exactly what Mother Sita advises Ravana when he comes and seeks her love and permission to marry her. Mother Sita advises Ravana thus, “Oh Ravana! You have so many beautiful wives with you and why don’t you satisfy yourself with them? Why do you want to go behind someone else’s wife to satisfy your worldly pleasures? Oh Ravana! Imagine this situation – If someone else tries to stalk any of your wives without your knowledge and if you come to know of it, what would be your reaction? Won’t you fume and try to protect your wives from getting stalked by other men? Similarly, if my husband Rama comes to know that you’re stalking his dear wife, how do you expect him to keep silent? If Rama gets angry and wages a war against you, you’ll meet a disastrous and a ghasty end to your life in no time!”

Saying thus, Mother Sita warns Ravana for his misconduct towards her and this incident from the Valmiki Ramayana is again an example of how people fall into disastrous traps by not able to derive satisfaction with whatever they have! Apart from Ravana, the Valmiki Ramayana also talks about Vaali and how did he meet a disastrous end to his life. His mistakes were that, he was too greedy over his Kishkinta kingdom and he too abducted his brother Sugriva’s wife, Ruma, even while Sugriva was alive! Accordingly, Bhagawan Rama arrived with a bang and eventually showed him his place.

Thus the lesson from today’s extended discussion on the point of satisfaction is that, we should learn to keep ourselves satisfied with whatever we have in our hands. If we start to desire on things that are out of reach for us and if we’re starting to go after them, we’re eventually going to meet disaster very soon. So for today, let us ponder over this important point and we shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another important point that Vidura has commenced explanation on. This time it is on something called “Satisfaction” and how significant is it for a human being. Here Vidura is using a string of beautiful analogies to bring out this important point and its significance. He says, just like how a fire never gets satisfied with the amount of oil or ghee or wood that it is burning, just like how an ocean is not satisfied by having more and more rivers emptying their waters into it, our human beings are never satisfied, irrespective of how many ever desires that we try to satisfy ourselves with! With these beautiful analogies, he tries to corner and slam King Dhirdiraashtra for his indifference towards his crooked son, who is an embodiment of unwanted desires and perverted intelligence. Vidura lashes out at King Dhirdiraashtra by recalling all what Duryodhana has done to the Paandavas till date and illustrates how his desires are driving him away from the path of “Dharma” and because he lacks satisfaction in anything whatever he does, he gets unduly motivated to commit more and more sins. Vidura sends out a strong warning to King Dhirdiraashtra that such heinous sins and crimes that Duryodhana is committing every passing day, are only tightening the noose around him, inch by inch. With all the sins that he’s committing, Duryodhana is on the verge of strangling himself to death, and doesn’t need an enemy to come and kill him physically.

How applicable is this for the modern day? In the current scenario, all of us keep running and running behind something, every passing day. Right from the time we get up from bed, till the time we hit the bed back to sleep, we keep running! It might be amazing to know that if someone stops us suddenly and asks us the reason for our everyday running, we would not even be able to give a valid answer! But still, we keep running! Now why do we do this? Why can’t we stop and pause for a while and give some time for our own sef? The reason behind this question is that, we’re lacking that internal satisfaction within us, which is of prime importance. Just because we can never satisfy ourselves with what we are and with what we have, we keep running behind something or someone, in a belief that we would achieve whatever we’re missing in life. Sadly enough in most cases, although we keep running here and there, searching, we’re never going to get what we’re really missing. This is because, we’re unable to satisfy ourselves with what we get and what we have! Even if, for instance, someone gives us a gift of Rupees 10, for something good that we might have done, we would immediately feel bad that this person did not give us Rupees 100 and he just gave us Rupees 10. If suppose, that person would have given a prize money of Rupees ten thousand, what are we going to say? Are we going to feel happy about it? Again, we would start cribbing! We would say to ourselves or to our friends thus: “Oh! This person is a miser! Why can’t he be generous and give us atleast Rupees 50,000? What can we do with these 10,000 rupees that he has given? Doesn’t he realize the cost of living in our place today?” Thus, the limit is endless. Irrespective of how much ever money we’re going get, we’re still going to keep cribbing! This is a common phenomenon in any organization too – When it comes to salary matters such as increments, bonus, etc. employees mostly would never get satisfied with whatever amount of money that the organization might give! They would only keep asking for more and more money!

This is exactly what Vidura explains here. When he says that “Satisfaction” is of prime importance for human life, we should learn to draw the line at some point with respect to our needs and wants. If this does not happen, it would be very difficult to attain peace of mind and spiritual growth. At some point, we should be able to prepare our mind by making a decision of “enough is enough”, especially with respect to money and other forms of worldly luxuries. Of course I’m not saying that earning money is wrong and we shoud shun it. Money is important and is essential for our healthy and a good standard of living that we need to maintain for ourselves and our family. But beyond that, if we start craving for more and more money and wealth, this is where the problem arises. This is what Vidura is explaining to King Dhiridraashtra too – If King Dhirdiraashtra and his son Duryodhana are able to develop this satisfaction in them, both the Kauravas and the Paandavas can rule Hastinapura kingdom together with mutual consent and the entire kingdom along with its subjects would be very happy and peaceful! Rather, if Duryodhana is not going be happy with the due share of the kingdom that he is supposed to get, and if he is going to go after the share that the Paandavas are supposed to get legitimately, there is no stopping him from ending up in a huge disaster!

So for today, let us ponder over this important point of “Satisfaction” and reflect this point upon our daily lives. Let us make a conscious decision in life as to what are our necessities and what are our luxuries. Let us try to satisfy our necessities (of course), and try to cut down on our luxuries slowly bit by bit. This would be a good beginning, if we’re to progress up the spiritual ladder. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed yet another extension to Vidura’s important point of discussion, wherein he emphasizes that if we happen to touch money or wealth that has come to us through an illegal manner, we are committing one of the greatest sins of our life! This is because, this illegally gotten money or wealth, should have ideally been someone else’s, and if we’re going to take something that rightfully belongs to someone else, isn’t it a great sin that we’re committing knowingly itself? IN our day to day life we keep committing innumerable amounts of sins, both knowingly and unknowingly. However, it is not in our hands that we can control our sins that we do unknowingly every passing day. We’ve to live with it anyways. But having said that, we can have a definite control on the sins that we’re committing knowingly isn’t it? It’s because, we’re aware of what is going on in front of our eyes and we’re having the knowledge too that if we’re going to commit ourselves to a particular action, it is going to be a sin! The irony here is that, although we are aware of a particular action resulting in a sin, we still keep doing that again and again, and most of our problems that we face in life is only because of our sheer ignorance like this!

So in this context, it is important for us to understand that we should never ever strive to earn money or any form of wealth through the illegal way and if at all something comes to us illegally wherein our legitimate effort is not put, we should develop the mental capacity to move away from it! For instance, if we find a 500 rupee note on the floor of a temple, amidst a big crowd, and if this 500 rupee note is lying there unclaimed, do we take it and keep it in our wallet, just because nobody has claimed right for it? Instead, what should we do at such a situation? Either we take that unclaimed 500 rupee note and put it into the “Hundi” of the temple wherein, this money goes for a charitable and a noble cause, or we take that 500 rupee note and (if we’re able to spot the person who has lost it) give it to that person straightaway! Now the question here is that, do we have this maturity in us! Some of us have the notion that, the moment we see something unclaimed, we immediately pick it up and put it into our pocket! 😊 This is what should be avoided! Thus, the important lesson that we need to learn from this episode is that, if we come across any form of wealth that is either unclaimed, or has come to us illegally, we do not have the moral right to even touch it! We should develop this maturity within us and this would prevent us from accumulating more and more of “Praarabdha”! We should always remember – Today we might go unnoticed by people around us, but we would never be able to escape the law book of Bhagawan! He is making note of each and every sin that we’re committing and as per Newton’s third law of motion, every action of ours has an equivalent and opposite reaction! Hence, we should be very careful here and shouldn’t give into some petty temptations like this and unwantedly spoil our precious human life.

Now moving on to the next point, Vidura talks about yet another important aspect of human life – “Satisfaction”. Here Vidura is using a string of beautiful analogies to bring out this important point and its significance. He says, just like how a fire never gets satisfied with the amount of oil or ghee or wood that it is burning, just like how an ocean is not satisfied by having more and more rivers emptying their waters into it, our human beings are never satisfied, irrespective of how many ever desires that we try to satisfy ourselves with!

What an amazing comparison is this! Here Vidura is trying to poke King Dhirdiraashtra and slams the level of dissatisfaction he and his son are always having! Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Look at the plight here! Your son Duryodhana has managed to cheat the Paandavas in whatever way possible! He has tried to witch-hunt them and kill them by pushing them into a palace deliberately made of wax. He tried to invoke them into an infamous game of gambling and pulled out all their remaining wealth and property! He tried to insult Draupathi in the public in front of the entire courtroom! Not withstanding, he even exiled the Paandavas for a period of 12 years! Now what more does he want? Even after inflicting so much of torture on to the Paandavas, your crooked son Duryodhana is not satisfied! Rather than putting a limit for what he has done, he is only trying to inflict more and more troubles on them, so that he gets petty satisfaction of ruling the Hastinapura kingdom. What is going on here? If you’re not keeping a check on the level of satisfaction that you’re going to have in life, you’ll keep doing sin after sin and eventually face disaster! This is exactly what is going to happen now if you’re not trying to put a brake on what Duryodhana is doing!”

Slamming thus, Vidura brings out the importance of “Satisfaction” in our every day life and how we should develop this within us. We shall expand this discussion further in tomorrow’s episode and till then, let us start pondering on this important point and reflect it upon ourselves. Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode we had witnessed few more instances from the modern-day scenario to illustrate how we people in the Kali Yuga just go behind money, by compromising anything and everything in our life. At every instance all along the Vidura Neeti, we’re witnessing how Vidura’s words are coming to be so true and valid in this Kali Yuga and how he was an expert in accurately predicting the situation that we would be going through, 5000 years from then, and appropriately advising us. Eventually in yesterday’s episode we had witnessed how modern-day sportspersons (many of them), although they might be extremely talented in their corresponding sport, but during their sporting career, succumb to the desire of earning some “quick bucks” of money by offering themselves into the hands of illegal elements, thereby involving themselves in unwanted and illegal activities that bring disgrace not only for them, but also to the entire sport!

Thus the point here is that, whatever situation that we are in, we must not get tempted towards making “easy money” and if we’re giving into this dangerous temptation, our life is completely going to be screwed up big time in the near future! This is exactly what Duryodhana has done in the “Tretha Yuga” and all of us know how he got screwed up later on for all what he had done! He along with his uncle Sahuni, conspired the illegal and infamous game of gambling against the Paandavas, tricked them into the game, made them play more and more of it, turn the game illegally into Duryodhana’s favor and ultimately ripped off every single piece of property that the Paandavas had under their possession. Moreover not withstanding, Duryodhana had the audacity to insult Draupati, the wife of Paandavas in the public courtroom. This is what happens when wealth comes to us in abundance and in an illegal way! When we suddenly see so much of wealth in front of our eyes, we would not know how to react and what to do! Our desire towards wealth would directly or indirectly start motivating us to do whatever action that is prescribed under “Adharma” and ultimately we would be committing sins after sins. This is what we can understand from the chain of events that happened in the Mahabharata story, which ultimately led to the destructive war between the two camps of brothers!

Thus in today’s life too, we would be able to see the reactions of people who become “suddenly rich”. There is always a difference in the behavioral aspects between those people who are traditionally rich and those who are getting rich all of a sudden. A person who is traditionally rich and who is blessed upfront with abundant wealth, owing to his / her hard work and efforts, would never show to the world that he is rich and eventually would maintain himself / herself as a modest person. However, the person who has got rich by luck or by chance, would not know what to do with so much of money! Thus, all the excitement of having so much of money would be shown out to the world in the form of arrogance, unlawful activities, harassing and torturing others, etc. One perfect example of this Duryodhana-like behavior can be seen in today’s politicians across India. Basically, in India, politicians become rich not by legitimately earning money with the talent or skill. They become rich by chance or by luck! Moreover, since most of the politicains in India are third-rated (Barring a few of course), they are not educated enough on how to use the money that they get, in a wise manner. Rather, they use this money in an arrogant way by torturing others, harassing people around them, etc. that only adds to their “Adharma”. This is where we see the difference between genuinely rich people and “Suddenly rich” people.

Thus the extended point of discussion from this important topic is that, if we’re having a considerably good inflow of money or any sort of wealth by Bhagawan’s grace, we should respect the wealth as Goddess Lakshmi and try to channelize it in a good way. This is where our Sanaathana Dharma teaches us the importance of doing service to others and donating wealth to the cause of the needy and poor people! If we’re able to develop that maturity of channelizing our wealth in the right direction, that would benefit other people who are poor and needy, this would be the greatest service that we’re rendering to Bhagawan himself! Ultimately we should realize that if Bhagawan is giving us something, He gives it to us for a cause. We should understand that cause and act accordingly.

So for today, let us ponder over this important extension of channelizing our wealth in the right direction. All of us should take a vow from today that we would use our money and wealth to serve the needy and make people around us happy! This would contribute to the growth of “Dharma” and thus would become beneficial to the entire world. We shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the extension of a very important point that Vidura makes in the final Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. He says that if we’re going to give more importance for luxuries that include money, status, name, fame, etc., our education and perfection in whatever activity we perform would start taking a backseat. Whereas on the other hand, if we’re prepared to compromise on our level of luxury, name, status, fame, etc. for that time period when our work, education, etc. are of prime importance, we would be able to taste real success. This is why I always believe that money, name and fame should come towards us, rather than we running behind them.

Sadly, as we discussed yesterday, in the present day, many individuals including corporate leaders, professionals from diverse fields like politics, sports, fine arts, etc. and institutions are mainly focusing on the short-term goal of achieving money, rankings, name, fame, etc. and run obsessively towards them! In their path, these individuals and institutions become absolutely ready to compromise quality on anything and everything that they do, which may lead to dangerous and disastrous results in the long-term. Such people and institutions might be happy and might celebrate their short-term “success story” of climbing up to the pinnacle level, but on the long term, this strategy would backfire heavily upon them and ultimately raise the important question of existence in the chosen field.

Thus, the point from this section is that, we should focus on our quality, strive hard to keep improving ourselves day by day by putting in the hard work. As we travel through this path, we shouldn’t care a damn for the short-term achievement that might be petty in nature and that might carry us away from our long-term motto. This is where we witness many talented individuals and institutions fail. We might ask a question here as to why do people and institutions which are extremely talented and having tremendous potential to succeed, go down miserably in the records as a big failure! For instance, we might witness many sports persons falling into this trap. I do not like to take names for this case, but we’ve seen many talented cricketers, footballers, and stars from other sports getting carried away by the enormous amount of money and fame that they receive while playing their sport, and eventually fall into traps of taking illegal drugs, getting into match-fixing, betting, etc. and ultimately lose their entire sporting career when proved guilty! Why do all these people resort to such unwarranted activities? It is just to make a few extra bucks of money in the short-cut method! Unfortunately, little do they realize that if found guilty, all their money, name and fame would just result in becoming shambles within minutes! We can see this pathetic situation in virtually every sport around the world. This is the reason why the respective authority that governs the sport comes up with stringent rules and regulations to catch these kinds of people who try to “cheat” their way to success!

This is where we need to realize that there can be no short-cut to success! Success, if needs to be achieved, would come to us only if we follow the legitimate and the laid-down procedures, rules and regulations. This situation is not only in sports, but also in almost every possible domain. As mentioned yesterday, academic institutions in India are now entangled in a new “craze” of running behind “University rankings” and some private universities are ready to do anything and everything, irrespective of their actions being ethical or unethical, so as to achieve the desired ranking! In this process, they take an easy short-cut called “Research publications” and heavily bank on the number of academic research publications done by professors and students to push up their ranking. Little do they realize the importance of “quality” in research that is extremely critical! Thus it is extremely sad that these academic institutions are falling prey to the trap called “ranking”, in which, the quality of research output takes a huge hit and sadly nobody realizes it at this point!

So for today, let us extend our pondering on this very important and critical point that Vidura is trying to drive home. We should realize that there is no short-cut for success, and we should take the hard path compulsorily. If we’re going behind short-term goals like obtaining luxury, money, name, fame, status, etc. it is just next to nonsense. Our ultimate aim should be to attain sustainable and a long-term success in whatever activity we perform! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the extension of an important point that Vidura is emphasizing here with regards to luxuries and education. It is a common sight even in today’s scenario too, that those people who are financially rich and with all sorts of luxuries in the world, would never succeed in terms of academic education (barring few people of course), whereas, those people who are financially weak and devoid of luxuries, would succeed extremely well in education.

This is true not only for academic education literally, but also for all other professions too. If we take successful sportspersons, we might witness that many of them would have hailed from a very humble personal background. One good example that we might consider for this case is a boy from a remote city called Ranchi in the eastern part of India. During his intial days of life, he was a porter in a railway station in eastern India and with his dedicated efforts and persistence, went on to become one of India’s most successful captain of the Indian Cricket team – This boy from Ranchi is none other than Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni! 😊 The entire world of cricket reveres him for his wonderful exhibition of people skills as well as for his shrewdness and smartness on the cricket field with his swift moves as a wicket-keeper, as a batsman and as a captain! He is such an expert in out-smarting opponent teams with his agile decisions with smart implementation and is an epitome of leadership too! Another excellent example is a girl from Hyderabad, India, and she too was from a relatively humble family background. This girl had the unique talent of playing badminton and eventually her talent was recognized by the badminton veteran of India – Mr. Gopichand and eventually she went on to make a mark for herself in the Olympic games and many other badminton tournaments conducted internationally across the world! Her meticulous hard-work and work ethic made her a prolific and an industrious badminton star and she is none other than Ms. P. V. Sindhu!

Hence, the important point to be highlighted here is that, luxuries are not very important in life. Our hard work, sincerity, persistence to failures, relentless pursuit towards excellence in whatever domain we are in, is what matters in life the most! Once this dedication sets inside us, achievements automatically come towards us and in turn, luxuries, name, fame, etc. would eventually follow! Thus, rather than we going behind luxuries, money, name and fame, luxuries, money, name and fame should follow us! Sadly in today’s world there are many individuals and institutions that run behind all these things and compromise on their value systems and the fundamental identity of existence.

Especially in the academic front where I work currently, it is very sad to witness the fact that many Indian universities (private) are now running behind national and world level rankings by taking short-cuts and whatever it takes to reach there! Little do they know and understand that even by hook or crook if they reach the pinnacle, sustaining in that position is not going to be easy, without consistent efforts and work ethics. All what people nowadays think is that, by hook or crook, by taking any sort of short-cut, by whatever means and ways it takes, they should reach the number one spot! This is a huge blunder that is being done and is a blatant disservice to the student community in terms of providing quality education and also to the knowledge addition front in terms of quality research. Little do these money-minded cheap and third-rated universities realize that this short-term “happiness” of being number one is going to backfire at them very badly in the near future! All we can do is to pray to Bhagawan that this craze of running towards rankings and other short-term benefits should backfire at them, so that these money-minded academic institutions are shown their place!

This is exactly whay Vidura is saying here too – He clearly explains that if we’re going to get obsessed with money and luxuries like this, Goddess Saraswati (Goddess of Knowledge & Education) is never going to be present in these places and ultimately these kinds of institutions are only going to end up in a huge disaster in the future to come! Thus for today, let us realize that education comes first, and money, luxuries, name and fame would automatically follow if we’ve got that sincerity, dedication, persistent hard work and the zeal to succeed! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 😊