The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed a beautiful illustration to back up Vidura’s point on why we should possess the patience and perseverance for doing anything in our life. We should remember that there would be a time for everything to happen in this world and we should wait for it to come. Of course I’m not saying that we shouldn’t plan or fix deadlines to achieve something. The deeper point to ponder here is that, our plan or deadline should also have a cushion for any sorts of headwinds that would come in the way while finishing the given task or project in hand. Giving this buffer or a cushion is extremely important while planning an activity or a project. In today’s corporate too, this is a very important consideration.

For instance if we’ve to start a new company or launch a new product in the market, we need to do extensive planning and feasibility studies before we venture into such things. This planning and feasibility study should also include an appropriate time-frame within which the firm or the product would be operational in the market. While planning this time-frame we need to consider what might be the challenges that we’ve to overcome en route this process and list them down one after the other. A thorough analysis should be made out of each of the anticipated challenges and a counter-plan be formulated. This alone is not sufficient. There might be few challenges that come our way which may be totally unanticipated – For instance, an accident in terms of fire or a natural calamity like floods, earthquake, etc. We should be ready to counter these types of challenges too, by allocating certain buffers or cushion, both in terms of money as well as with respect to time! Hence, rather than feeling sorry later on, it is better that we plan accordingly with the required buffers in place.

Now moving further, Vidura explains thus:

“Apraaptha kaalam vachanam brihaspathirpih bhruvan!!

Priyo bhavati dhaanena priyaa vaadena chaaparaha!

Manthramoola pare raagnyaha yah priyah priyayeva saha!!”

Thus here, Vidura emphasizes the subsequent continuation of the previous point and explains various ways of gaining and spreading happiness. He says firstly that King Dhirdiraashtra should know whom to give what, and whom to fight with for what! He says, “Priyo bhavati dhaanena!” – This means that if we donate something to someone (Dhaanam) with a good heart, what’s wrong with it? The other person who is receiving our offering is going to feel extremely happy isn’t it? By seeing that happiness, we can also feel happy! Here he indirectly pokes King Dhirdiraashtra that he should not hesitate to split the Hastinaapura kingdom according to the earlier agreement, to the Paandava brothers. It is only by giving away a portion of the kingdom, happiness would reign in the family.

Subsequently he says, “Priyaa vaadena chaaparaha!” – Some people can earn and spread happiness by talking in a sweet way. This is also important. We should know how to talk with each category of people in our life. However, care should be taken that our words should not be of any harm to others – Whoever it might be. If there are good words to use, bad and unparliamentary words should not have a space at all! If we talk pleasingly, many people would start to like us. For instance if we are in a stressful situation and if someone comes up to us and tries to pleasingly console us, how happy would we feel? We ourselves would start feeling internally motivated, isn’t it?

Next, Vidura says, “Manthramoola pare raagnyaha” – Here he says that some people have the capability to spread and gain happiness through the constant chanting of “Manthras”. As we’ve discussed earlier too, “Manthras” have their own special place in our “Sanaathana Dharma”. Constant and repeated chanting of the “Manthra” not only gives us the power and strength, but also gives enormous inner peace and happiness. The more we devote time for chanting the “Manthra“, the more we start feeling calm and composed within ourself. The more we attain this serenity within ourselves, our face would reflect it through its appearance. Thus when other people look at us, they would also start feeling happy automatically. This is why we always keep stressing that chanting the “Mantra” is extremely important for spiritual progress.

Finally Vidura says, “Yah priyah priyayeva saha!!” Here he explains the most important point. So far he had told that different people attain and share happiness through various means. Now he says that those people who work for the benefit and happiness of the world at large, are the happiest people ever! This is why we often chant the famous “Mantra”, “Lokah Samastaah Stukhino Bhavantu!” This means, “May the whole world with all its living beings live in happiness and peace!” The moment we start praying for the happiness of others, our happiness is automatically taken care of.

In this way, the real meaning of the phrase “Lokah Samastaah Stukhino Bhavantu!” is bought about by Vidura through this important sloka. We should always understand that when others are happy, we would automatically get the happiness and bliss. It is a rule in this world that nobody can derive happiness out of other’s suffering. It is a huge misconception in today’s world that we can rise up levels in life only by downgrading or pushing others behind! Of course, we can be smart and outperform others to rise up the ladder. But that does not mean that we would degrade others, push them down and come up. It is only because of this cheap attitude that many of us have within ourselves, we meet up with disasters all along out path. If we are trying to push others down, we should always remember that there would be a time in future when others would push us down! It might be sooner or later, but certainly it would happen! Hence if we’re talking about happiness, we should always realize that happiness starts from within us and the moment we start helping others and make them happy, it multiples further in an expansive way.

So for today, let us ponder over this important point and let us understand the real meaning of the famous “Lokah Samastah” Manthra. Whenever we chant this “Mantra” we should make sure that we pray for the happiness of all living beings in this world. We shall wait till the next episode to explore Vidura’s next important point of discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the commencement of the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti, wherein King Dhirdiraashtra poses a request to Vidura that he needs to listen to more and more of the principles of Raaja Dharma. However Vidura counters him that King Dhirdiraashtra is only interested in listening things, but isn’t ready to jump off his chair to implement them in practice. Thus it is clear that nothing gets fruitful without implementation. If we just listen to good things and messages and go away to our old practices, there is no point! Similarly here too, we should remember that it is not enough if we just read through this Vidura Neeti and appreciate the contents of it. We should take a conscious step forward to begin the implementation part of it, because implementation is what would bring about a change in the society. We can appreciate Vidura’s advice with lot of kind words, but if Vidura’s advice isn’t put to practice in the right sense, there is no use! Hence we should remember this point always in our mind as we move on to the next point.

Moreover in the previous episode we had seen the importance of doing the right things at the right time. There might be ups and downs in all of our lives at some point or the other. At times when we face negative headwinds in our life, there might be situations wherein whatever we do would end up in a disaster! But that doesn’t mean, we’re going to have an entire life like this! We need to patient enough with perseverance to wait for the right time and opportunity to do things. This is also an extremely important point that all of us should remember. We should never get dejected if something good and productive is not happening to us at certain times. Rather, we should keep trying and trying till we succeed in it. Just like how we should wait for the fruit to take its time to ripen before it could be plucked, just like how we need to wait for a baby to grow for ten months inside the mother’s womb before it could come out, we should wait for the right time for anything in this world to happen. Just because we have a sense of urgency, things would not take place in this world according to our whims and fancies! We need to have that patience and perseverance to wait for things to fall in place before enjoying the fruit of it.

When we look at the sequences of the Mahabharata war, Arjuna was in a dire urgency to kill Jayatrada, who was in turn the killer of Abhimanyu – Arjuna’s son. Arjuna was trying to seek vengeance towards Jayatrada that he would kill him within that day’s sunset. Knowing this ploy of Arjuna, Jayatrada started to give Arjuna the miss and fled away to a distant place! Angered by this, Arjuna asks Bhagawan Krishna to drive the chariot towards the direction of Jayatrada’s escape route with great speed! Bhagawan Krishna obeyed Arjuna’s words and rode the chariot, following Jayatrada’s. The chase was for a long time and by the time it was going to be late evening, the horses that pull the chariot started to become tired and exhausted. Bhagawan Krishna had a special concern for the poor horses that were pulling the chariot and hence he stopped the chariot for a while, made sure that the horses were given a well-deserved break by giving them some water to drink and food to eat. He was caressing the horses so as to relax them a little bit.

However at this point, Arjuna was exceedingly becoming impatient. He had fixed a target in his mind to kill Jayatrada before sunset! However here was Bhagwan Krishna who did not care about Arjuna’s deadline and was busy caressing the horses without any tension! Upon seeing this, Arjuna quipped Bhagwan Krishna thus, “Oh Vasudeva! What are you doing here? We’re getting late and it’s already late evening! I had set a deadline to finish off Jayatrada before today’s sunset, and here you are without any sort of motivation to do so! Come soon and let us start!”

Upon listening to this from Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna replies back, “Oh Arjuna! What kind of a warfare are you doing? It seems that you do not know the technique to kill the enemy at all! You fail to understand the weakness of your enemy and thus ended up chasing him for a long time and why are you forcing these poor horses now to dance to your foolish tunes? So, wait! Let the horses take some rest now! These are poor animals! They would not be able to cope up with your sense of urgency. The time has to come so as to finish off Jayatrada. Don’t be in such a damn hurry! If you’re hurrying for everything like this, you’re never going to win over the Kaurava army. Don’t set foolish deadlines for yourself like this! Let things unfold in its own pace!”

Here we can see the valuable advice given by Bhagawan Krishna to Arjuna with regards to the vital point that we’re discussing currently. The highlight is on the patience and perseverance to pursue anything in life that is challenging and important. If we’ve to start hurrying for everything in life, we’re going to land ourself into lot of mess! Thus the message from today’s episode is that we should learn to be mature enough by exhibiting patience and perseverance in whatever we do!

Of course I’m not saying that we shouldn’t fix deadlines for our work. We can do that, but shouldn’t be too rigid with it that we do whatever it takes to achieve the result within the deadline! If there are situations that might create headwinds, we need to be a little more patient to overcome it and this might entail some delays! We need to take all this into account while we plan something! This is an extremely important message to all leaders across professions and hence for today let us ponder over this point! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next message! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the concluding remarks of Vidura as he completes the 38’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti, in which he says to King Dhirdiraashtra that he still has a chance to mend his ways. He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! So far I’ve explained you almost all of the important aspects of “Dharma” that is to be followed in this world! Hence it is upto you now to analyze and implement them in your life! This is the only time that is left with you to mend your son Duryodhana’s ways. If you miss this time, trust me, the entire Kaurava clan would be reduced to rubbles, just like how King Mahabali was rendered powerless by Bhagawan Vaamana in the previous Yuga! Hope the message is loud and clear!”

Saying thus, we now move officially into the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. As we look into the first sloka of this Adhyaaya, Vidura’s turn of talking is now over and King Dhirdiraashtra replies him thus:

“Aneeshwaroyam purushaha bhavaabhave shootraprothaa dharumayeeva yoshaa!

Ghaathraatu thishtasya vayegruthoyam tasmaath vada tvam shravane dhrutomaham!!”

Here King Dhirdiraashtra appreciates the words of Vidura and says thus, “Oh Vidura! I’m so pleased to listen to each and every word and sentence that you’ve spoken to me just now! Every word that you had conveyed has lot of meaning in it. I totally understand and appreciate all of them! My heart wants to listen more and more of your words! Please tell me more! Please do not stop with this. You have successfully given me an opportunity to relinquish the “Dharma”! I would like to hear more and more from you pertaining to the various aspects of Dharma!”

As King Dhirdiraashtra says thus, Vidura quickly quips him by saying that it is not enough if he just listens to the “Dharma” and goes away! More than listening, implementation is very important. Vidura replies thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! I’m happy that you liked what you heard! However that is not my expectation here! I want you to tell me that you would implement whatever I said till now! Listening to Dharma without implementation is just like a set of junk! From the reaction and body language of yours, all I’m seeing is that you don’t seem to be interested in the implementation part of even one sloka that I had told you till now! It is not enough if you listen and appreciate its significance with your words! Please take a step forward to implement!”

This is true not only for King Dhirdiraashtra but for all of us! Many a times, we listen or read on various good things that we should be following in our daily lives, but how many of those good things do we really bring to practice? Many a times, we just read them, appreciate them and go away with whatever we keep doing every passing day! The real test comes only if we’re able to witness a significant change in our lifestyle after reading such good things!

Of course it is also true that we would not be able to do good things and reap benefits for them if our time is not good! In our lives, there might be both ups and downs. We might feel happy and spirited on few occasions and it might be the opposite of it on other days! Hence just because we have dull days full of frustration, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be like this for the entire duration of our life. Things keep changing and revolving everytime. Hence it is important for us to understand this and be patient sometimes and wait for the right time and opportunity to exhibit ourself. For instance, if we have some big problems at our workplace, do we everytime think of changing our jobs? It’s not the case, isn’t it? So we need to patient enough to wait till things settle down. It might take few months or even a year or two, but we need the patience to stick on! Just because there is some problem and if we start acting in a hasty manner immediately, it doesn’t sound good of a professional at work!

Hence the message from today’s episode is that, implementation of “Dharma” is the key to success and for the implementation to happen in the right way and at the right time, we need to have the patience and perseverance to do it. These two things coupled together is the fundamental requirement for success both in professional and our spiritual growth! So for today let us spare a thought by introspecting within ourself as to how do we develop this patience and perseverance, coupled with the effective implementation of “Dharma” whatever we’ve learnt so far! We shall wait till the next episode to continue what Vidura is going to say in the 39’th Adhyaaya! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the extended discussion on the important point of Vidura wherein he stresses the significance of the “Panditha” or a learned scholar. He emphasises the importance of the sense of discrimination and indirectly slams King Dhirdiraashtra for not exercising it properly. Vidura pokes King Dhirdiraashtra and advises him to mend his son Duryodhana’s ways as quickly as possible. He requests King Dhiridiraashtra to analyze the dangerous repercussions that he and his sons are going to face by walking this path of “Adharma”.

This is a very important message not only for King Dhirdiraashtra, but also for all of us in today’s world. In yesterday’s episode we had witnessed couple of important examples wherein leaders, although they might be scholarly in knowledge and understanding of the scriptures, ultimately fail when the discrimination and implementation of the “Dharma” is absent! Ravana and King DHirdiraashtra himself are best examples for this! We witnessed how Ravana was ultimately defeated because of his lack of analysis of the situation in hand and also due to his ego.

Thus we should know and understand exactly as to which activities we should perform, so that it would result in our professional and spiritual upliftment. We should also know and understand which of those activities we should avoid and eliminate from our lives that would end up in wastage of our precious time.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next point – He repeatedly emphasizes the fact that if King Dhirdiraashtra does not split the kingdom equally with the Paandavas, his sons – the Kauravas would be reduced to rubbles, just like how King Mahaabali was destroyed by Bhagawan Vaamana (Another incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu).

“Tam drakshasi paribrashtam tasmaathvamachiraadhiva!

Aiyshwaryam adha asammoodham balim lokatrayaadiva!!”

This is the concluding sloka of the 38’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti and here Vidura concludes this Adhyaaya by saying thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! So far I’ve explained you all the important aspects of the Raaja Dharma in detail. Now it is upto you and your sons to mend your ways accordingly before it becomes too late! Even now things are not late. It’s like a do or die situation for you now. Even now if you show some grits and criticize Duryodhana for what he is doing, things might witness a change. Ultimately my aim is that both the Paandavas and your sons should be at peace and harmony with each other. For this to happen, you should make a compromise. You’re the most senior person in the family and the kingdom. Hence it is your responsibility to ensure that there is no infighting between the two sets of brothers. Hence, please do the needful to split the kingdom of Hastinaapura equally between the Paandavas and the Kauravas. Even now it is not too late! If you still manage to pull it off, Bhagawan Krishna would be the happiest person on earth and He would ensure that Hastinapura kingdom attains all prosperity in the future. Enough of fighting! The kingdom has seen enough and more of this now! Let us be united and propel the kingdom forward!”

Saying thus, Vidura concludes the 38’th Adhyaaya and as mentioned earlier, the 39’th and 40’th Adhyaayas are the concluding chapters of the Vidura Neeti. Vidura is going to finish off the entire accord in style! What is he going to say? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! 🙂 Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed a significant point pertaining to a “Panditha” as explained by Vidura. He had said that a “Panditha” or a learned scholar is a person who has excellent sense of discrimination and he/she knows when to do what! This is perhaps the marked difference between mankind and other animals in this world – Other animals never think before doing something, whereas we human beings are capable of doing it! However the main question remains that are we doing it! 🙂

We can witness innumerable examples and explanations of many people, right from our scriptural references till today’s scenario for both cases – Those with a sense of discrimination and those who were foolish, yet highly educated! In the Ramayana, Ravana can be a classic example of the second variant of people. As many of us might know, Ravana was a highly educated and a knowledgeable scholar in the Vedas and other important “Shaastras”, although he was a Raakshasa and a crooked person. He was a fierce warrior and had that grit and guts to take over any sorts of adverse situation and convert it into his favor. In fact, he was an excellent leader with many unique leadership qualities which many other people could never even think of. It is also believed that Ravana was a better warrior as compared to even Rama himself! This is revealed by Ravana’s wife, Mandodhari after he was killed by Bhagawan Rama at the end of the war.

The moment Mandodhari learns that her husband has been killed, she immediately rushes to the battlefield, stoops over Ravana’s dead body and cries aloud saying thus, “Oh Ravana! The whole world knows what is your valor and your intensity of fighting! Yet today, you’ve been defeated by an ordinary man called Rama! Your powers are immeasurable by anyone in this world, yet Rama has managed to win over you! DO you know why? It is only because of your ego and unwanted desire towards others’ women! These two bad attributes in you have pulled you down to the deathbed! Apart from these two issues, I never see anything in you that can lead you to such a ghastly end! Had you used your sense of discrimination to analyze your actions, you could have easily averted this disaster!”

Thus we can see clearly from this example that Ravana, although he had a mastery over various subjects including the scriptural texts, art forms like singing, playing musical instruments, warfare, etc. he was ultimately doomed because of his lack of discrimination in what he was doing! Just because he wasn’t able to control his senses and since he went behind women for illicit relationships, he was trapped into Bhagawan Rama’s fold! Bhagawan Vishnu spotted this weak point of Ravana and cashed in fully to bring him down! All of us know how Ravana stood by his ground for his decision not to hand over Mother Sita back to Bhagawan Rama. So many people including the likes of Vibhishana, Hanuman, Angadha, Mandodhari herself and finally Kumbakarna advised Ravana not have Mother Sita at his helm any longer, however, because of his ego and lack of discrimination, Ravana never paid heed to any of the above people’s words!

Similarly in this context, we find the best example in King Dhirdiraashtra himself and his son Duryodhana. Although Vidura advised King Dhirdiraashtra on an earlier context while the infamous game of gambling was happening, he discarded Vidura’s words and went ahead with the game, which spelt disaster looming large for himself and his Kaurava sons including Duryodhana. Even now, Vidura is explaining all the possible “Dharma” in the world to King Dhirdiraashtra! Of course King Dhirdiraashtra himself is a highly educated and a scholarly person and there can never be even a single principle of “Dharma” that he might not have known! Yet what happened here? King Dhirdiraashtra with his “Putra-Vaatsalya” (Excessive affection towards his son) was unable to digest the fact that he and his sons were walking the dangerous path of “Adharma”. Finally at the end, the entire Kaurava clan was destroyed and this left King Dhirdiraashtra in total shambles! Had he listened to Vidura’s words carefully right from day one, would this have ever happened?

In similar lines, we can witness innumerable modern day contexts of leaders who were once successful in their respective professions, failing miserably owing to the lack of discrimination. This is why we say that if we’re performing an action, we should think twice, analyze the situation, cause and the time before we execute it. Of course there might be a counter question here – If we keep thinking and analyzing all the time, then who would do the work? What if there are quick decisions to be made? Where is the time for us to think and prepare? Yes – I understand and agree that certain situations might be tricky. However irrespective of whether we like it or not, it becomes mandatory for us to spend atleast a little of our time in thinking before acting. My take on this is that, it is always better to be a bit slow in our actions, rather than being fast and feeling sorry later on! It should not become like the “Hare and the tortoise story”, wherein the hare loses its plot because of its unstable implementation of its strategy for the running race. Being slow and steady is always a preferred choice than being fast and ending up with disaster!

So for today let us read through and understand the above explained examples and ponder over this crucial point. If we’re not using our thinking ability properly, we would never be able to become a “Panditha” or a learned scholar, or a successful leader in whatever we do in life! Thus we should understand the clear message here – Just having relevant knowledge about the subject would never make a person a “Panditha”. Only the ability of discrimination, smart thinking and smart assessment of the situation in hand would make a person a “Panditha” or a successful leader! 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 important point from Vidura wherein he says that there’s no point in scolding, abusing or feeling jealous of those people who meticulously follow the principle of “Yoga-Kshema”. Of course we’ve seen what is the meaning of “Yoga-Kshema” in Episode 280 and readers can refer back to check for it if in case you’ve missed it. If certain people are able to achieve what they intend to do, it simply means that they’ve been able to grab the right opportunity at the right time so as to succeed in their mission. Hence there is no point in feeling jealous of their success. Rather, we can learn from them as to how to hold on to the opportunities that we get by not squandering away with them due to our negligence and carelessness. The fact of the matter is that, many a times we lose out on holding to golden opportunities just because we are ignorant about it, or we lack the adequate knowledge about it, or due to sheer carelessness. Such things should be avoided at any cost and we should always be alert and aware of what’s happening around us. This is extremely important for our success in whatever domain we might be in.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next point – Upon King Dhirdiraashtra’s quick cross question as to who really is a “Panditha, given all these do’s and don’t’s for a person in life, Vidura now gives a befitting answer to this. He says thus:

“Yeshu dushtetu doshaha prayojaneshu yesakthaaha na vishesheshu bhaarata!

Taaraham pandithaanmanye visheshaahi prasanginaha!!”

As mentioned above, King Dhirdiraashtra, after listening to all what Vidura has said so far, asks a question thus, “Oh Vidura! So far you’ve explained innumerable points as to who can be a Panditha or a learned scholar! However looking at whatever you’ve said till now, nobody in this world can be a learned scholar! Given this, according to you, who would be that person who would fit into this framework of yours, for being a “Panditha”?”

As King Dhirdiraashtra poses the question, Vidura is quick enough to give a befitting reply. He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Oh Bhaarata! Please do not mistake my definition of the word “Panditha”! A person can never become a “Panditha” only by reading through scholarly works and by enriching his/her knowledge alone! A person can become a real “Panditha” only by analyzing what is right and what is wrong, according to the situation and by acting accordingly. A “Panditha” is a person who knows exactly which actions would give the ultimate fruit and which are those actions that would waste his/her time! Moreover, a “Panditha” should be a person who is smart enough to withdraw himself from those activities that might not add any value or benefit to his life!”

This is an extremely important piece of information that Vidura is giving out here – We should first be able to identify which are those activities that would add value to our life and which are those that are to be junked away! Subsequently we should focus our attention only on those activities that would yield us benefits. But sadly if we take a statistics of what we do every passing day, it would be strange for many of us today to find out that we spend a vast majority of our time in performing activities that never add any value neither to our professional or personal or spiritual growth! Many a times we would keep spending our time watching what others are doing in their lives, gossiping about others, etc. and by the time we realize that our work is pending, we feel completely drained out and most often we find ourselves in a tight situation for the want of time! Thus the message from this point is very clear – We should think twice before performing any action and we should definitely ascertain the positives and negatives of each action we do.

Of course many of us might ask a counter question here – How on earth can we be thinking for each and every action that we need to perform? Doesn’t it consume lot of time? Is it humanly possible to do this? The answer to this is that, there is no other alternative – If we’ve to streamline ourselves, we need to spend considerable time in thinking before acting. There is no point in thinking after the action has been performed! If the action is a disastrous one and if we had missed thinking and analyzing about it beforehand, the entire purpose gets defeated, isn’t it? We’ve to bear the complete repercussions for what we’ve done and there’s no point regretting later! Hence it is always better and safer to spare a thought before whatever action we are about to perform. In fact, this is perhaps the marked difference human beings have from other animals – Other animals do not have the ability to think and analyze, whereas human beings do! Hence it is upto us to use this power of “discrimination” to the fullest, so that we perform only the right actions at all times!

So for today let us focus on this important point that Vidura is emphasizing here – If we’ve to become a “Panditha”, this is the fundamental requirement! We’ve to have an excellent sense of discrimination between the right and the wrong! We shall take this point forward for more discussion with a few examples in the next episode as we move on to the next point! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed a very important explanation on the phrase – “Yoga-Kshema”. We described it as two separate terms – “Yoga” and “Kshema”. “Yoga” in this context means that we’re getting a golden opportunity, or something that many people in this world might not be able to get! “Kshema” is the ability to grab this golden opportunity with both hands, without letting it to slip out! Many a times we might be fortunate enough to get good opportunities and good things in life, which very few people in this world would be able to get. However with our negligence and carelessness, we might tend to lose it out and squander away the opportunity to others, who might use it to the maximum and benefit out of it! We should always remember here that this world is extremely competitive! If we’re not grabbing our opportunities today, then someone else will tomorrow! 

This is the same thing that is happening to King Dhirdiraashtra here – He’s getting the golden opportunity to listen to an entire package of “Dharma” put together from an eminent person called Vidura. All of us know that Vidura is the epitome of “Dharma” himself and if one has to listen to the “Dharma” from the epitome itself, what a great opportunity and a gift it would be! King Dhirdiraashtra was a recipient of such a precious gift, but ultimately what happened? Was he able to utilize the “Dharma” package that he had obtained from Vidura in the right way? Unfortunately he did not! Hence in the case of King Dhirdiraashtra, the “Yoga” was there, but the “Kshemam” was missing! 🙂 Whereas, what happened in the case of the Paandavas? They had the “Yoga” of having Bhagawan Krishna by their side in whatever they did and wherever they were. To complement this “Yoga”, their “Kshemam” was also in the right direction of following whatever Bhagawan advised them to do at every stage! Arjuna was even fortunate to get the entire “Bhagawad Gita” from Bhagawan Krishna first hand! 🙂 But since Arjuna had the grit to grab the opportunity of “Yoga”, he was successful! This is why, “Yoga-Kshema” is of extreme prominence in the life of each and every one of us in this world!

With this detailed explanation of “Yoga-Kshema”, now let us move on to witness the sloka which we started yesterday. For the benefit of our readers we shall witness the sloka once again as we move on to the explanation. Vidura says thus:

“Yeshu dushteshu doshahasyaath yogakshemasya bhaarata!

Sadaah prasaadanam teshaam devataanam iva chareth!!”

Here Vidura explains that we should never scold or receive scoldings from those people who are perfect in maintaining the balance between “Yoga” and “Kshema”. There is of course no point in scolding such people because we need to accept the fact that they are smart people who’re able to grab the right opportunity when it presents in front of them! If we’re unable to grab the right opportunity at the right time, what is the use of feeling jealous about others who are able to do it? Hence, rather than scolding or feeling jealous about people who are perfect in “Yogakshema”, we should learn from them as to how to be smart enough! We should learn to be shrewd and should be able to grab the opportunity that comes by us. It is always said that luck knocks at our door only once and not everytime! We should be shrewd enough to listen to that knock, however faint it might be and open the door promptly so that we get benefited out of it!

Similarly when it comes to the context of spirituality, if we come across the golden opportunity of getting in touch with a “SadGuru” or a “Spiritual Master” or a “Mahatma” in this Kali Yuga, we should never let go of it! This is indeed a rare feat which extremely few people might be able to get in this world! To be associated with a “Sadguru” in this birth is such a precious gift and a blessing! It is upto us to convert this blessing into the path that would take us to “Moksha” or “Salvation”. Similarly if we’re getting an opportunity to participate in a “Satsang” or a “Naama-Sankeertana” group (Chanting the name of Bhagawan), we should never miss such things in life! Even if the “Satsang” is for just half an hour or one hour, we should make it a point that we be present at that place where it happens. For some of our activities in life, we might not be able to see an immediate benefit right in front of our eyes at the very same moment, but trust me, benefits from “Satsangs”, “Naama Sankeertana”, etc. keeps adding “invisibly” into our system! These intangible benefits would give us the fruit at the right time, when we might not even expect!

Thus the message from today’s episode is that, we should never feel jealous or angry on people who are perfect in balancing between “Yoga” and “Kshema”. Rather, we need to learn from them as to how they achieve it! Moreover, in the spiritual angle, we should make it a point, not to miss out on rare opportunities of getting close associations with “Sadgurus” or “Mahatmas” if at all we get some! At this point, if we keep investigating whether this person is a “Sadguru” or not, there is no end for all of this, and ultimately we would lose this golden opportunity that we’ve got in life to connect with a “Mahatma”! Similarly, we should make it a point not to lose out on opportunities to attend satsangs, because these are becoming rare in today’s world too!

So for today, let us ponder over this important point for our spiritual upliftment and let us do the needful as part of our efforts to strive towards it! 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 important point emphasized upon by Vidura wherein he extorts that if it comes to our spiritual growth and development, we should be selfish at any cost, before assisting others. However if it comes to the other worldly aspects like doing service to others, helping others to satisfy their day to day physical requirements, we should be totally selfless in our approach. The reason why Vidura explains that we need to be selfish when it comes to our spiritual development is because, if we start looking at others, we would tend to compare us with them and eventually we would lose our focus and concentration in uplifting ourself.

However having said that, we had asked a question at the end of yesterday’s episode – If Vidura says that we should be selfish towards our spiritual development, why did he spend so much of time explaining these kinds of aspects to King Dhirdiraashtra? It must be noted here that all what we’re witnessing in the Vidura Neeti, is directly linked to the realization of the supreme truth of the Aatman. If this is the case, why should Vidura devote so much of time to look at King Dhirdiraashtra and explain to him in detail? Isn’t he wasting his time and isn’t he losing his focus? The important answer to this question is that, Vidura is already a realized soul! It should be recollected from our earlier episodes that Vidura is none other than the son of “Yama-Dharma-Raaja”, who himself is an epitome of “Dharma”. Thus we can understand that a person, if and only if he/she becomes an epitome of “Dharma” himself or herself, would he/she be eligible to render advice or guidance to others. Thus in a nutshell, we can still look at others and try to guide them spiritually, but only after we realize the ultimate truth! In this Kali Yuga only very few people in this world has this capability – In the likes of “Sadgurus” (Spiritual Masters). Thus only those people who have by their intense spiritual practices, realized the significance of their Aatman are eligible to look and guide others on their path. People like us who are not even 1% qualified, should not even think of looking at others in terms of spiritual upliftment. Thus the point here is that, when it comes to spiritual upliftment and growth, we should look into ourselves first, before looking at others. Also, we should correct our mistakes first, before looking at the mistakes of others.

Now moving on thus, Vidura explains that if we’re blaming someone for something, or if we’re making fun of someone for something, we should avoid doing so, if it affects our “Yogakshema”.. Vidura explains this point beautifully thus:

“Yeshu dushteshu doshahasyaath yogakshemasya bhaarata!

Sadaah prasaadanam teshaam devataanam iva chareth!!”

Now as we move into the explanation of this sloka, we should first understand what is meant by “Yogakshema”. This is quite a popular word in Sanskrit and even in the Bhagawad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna mentions this phrase – “Yogakshemam vahaamyaham!!” So what is this “Yogakshemam” and what does it mean? If we get something that is extraordinary to get in this world, it is called “Yogam”. Even in colloquial terms we commonly use this word called “Yogam”, which means “bountiful” and “excellent”. Thus if we get something good which others do not get so easily, it is technically considered to be a “Yogam”. For instance, if we go to a “Sadguru” or a “Mahatma” or a “Spiritual Master” in the likes of the great Ramana Maharishi, or Shirdi Sai Baba, Puttaparthi Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, etc. and have His/Her “Darshan”, it is in itself is a “Yogam”. This is because, not everybody will get this opportunity to meet a “Sadguru” in this world. Moreover, if one gets an opportunity to talk and interact with any of these Spiritual Masters, it is even a higher stature of “Yogam”. Thus we can clearly infer here that, the term “Yogam” refers to the unique opportunity or thing that one gets in his/her lifetime. This unique opportunity would come in one’s life only if he/she has that “Samskaara” to get it.

Now having understood what is “Yogam”, what is “Kshemam”? If one gets the unique lifetime opportunity, one has to sustain it and make full use of it, isn’t it? Only then, there can be a full benefit of receiving that golden chance! Many a times we end up squandering away the unique golden opportunity that we get in our life, owing to some reason or the other! If this unwanted squandering can be prevented, we can attain the “Yogakshemam”.

Thus the phrase “Yogakshemam” means, getting a golden opportunity which nobody would be able to get in their lifetime, and using this golden opportunity to attain the desired benefit or result. This same thing is applicable to the modern day corporate scenario also. How? If we start a business and if the business becomes highly profitable over a few years, it is important for the businessman to sustain these profits and try to grow it more and more from here. He has to keep scouting for the golden opportunities and once he comes across something, he should be able to grab it with both hands and use it meaningfully to attain more profits. Similarly in modern day corporate companies, we have something called “Human Resources Development and Retention” strategy. Why do we think this is prominent? It is the norm for every organization to recruit the right person for the job, and also who is exceptional and highly skilled, train this person to suit our job requirements and try to retain him over a period of time within the organization. This “retention” of highly skilled employees is what is exactly meant by “Yogakshemam” in corporate! 🙂 If we’re spending time and money to train and equip our employees with the necessary skill-set, we should make sure that we retain them in our organization and make them happy and satisfied in their job. Highly skilled employees are a golden opportunity for an organization (Yogam) and by retaining them (Kshemam), an organization can achieve its desired results, by making use of the expertise of its employees. This is real “Yogakshemam”!

So for today, as corporate managers and leaders, let us ponder over this important point of “Yogakshemam” and let us try to implement whatever it takes, so as to maintain the level of “Yogakshemam” in our respective organizations! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the in-depth analysis and meaning of today’s sloka! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point of Vidura wherein he sends out a strong message that there’s no point in “passing on the buck” to others, if the fault is on our side. Rather than just continuing to point out the mistakes of others, why don’t we look and introspect ourselves to find out our mistakes? Why don’t we clean ourselves before trying to clean others? Why to induce an unnecessary “blame-game” rather than thinking of some constructive solutions to the issue in hand? These are some important questions that we need to ask within ourselves as we move on in life.

If we begin to look into what others are doing and to keep finding fault with what others do, we’re going to reach nowhere in life! It is like running a 100-meter race. While doing so, it is important for the contestant to focus fully in his running speed and the distance that is remaining to be covered, rather than turning his head side wards to look at who is running where! If the contestant is going to gaze at his competitors, it means that he is losing his focus and his concentration reduces, thereby bringing down his speed of running. Hence we’ve to be very careful here. If our mind is starting to waver here and there by looking at what others are doing, it simply means that we’ve lost our focus on our job at hand! Thus it is important that we look at our own self, realize our mistakes and keep moving on.

Moreover, if we’ve to keep finding faults in what others are doing, first of all we’ve to allocate lot of time for it. But sadly do we have time for all this, given our human lifespan is so short with just less than 100 years? Thus given the fact that we have very little time with us at our disposal, we need to use this time constructively for our spiritual upliftment. Many people have this habit – Even after coming into the line of spiritual development, we still look at others and keep comparing ourselves with them. We keep saying, “Oh! Look at this person – He/she’s unable to perform as many spiritual practices as I do! He/she is having huge problems in controlling the mind and involving himself/herself in spiritual practices!” If we start comparing ourselves with others around us, there is no point in performing spiritual practices at all and there’s no point in “proclaiming” oneself as an ardent devotee of Bhagawan! It is important that we look at ourselves in terms of the way we’re performing our routine spiritual practices. Let us make ourselves perfect first. Let us focus our search meticulously towards our Aatman (Soul) and let us try to strive towards achieving purity in terms of our soul. It is not required that we start bothering about others. Everybody will have their own means to find out ways to fall in line with spiritual development. This is not our duty to make everyone fall in line. If we try doing so, it simply implies that we’re wasting lot of time.

Thus it is important that with respect to spiritual development and searching for the ultimate truth of our “Aatman”, we should be selfish here – That is, we should focus primarily on our own self before assisting others, if at all it is required. Whereas, if it comes to other worldly aspects of life, we should remain selfless and strive to work for others. The demarcation should be understood clearly at this point and this is the main reason I’m stressing on this point again and again. When it comes to aspects pertaining to our body and other worldly affairs, we should be ready to lend a helping hand to others by making them comfortable. For instance, if we see people around us suffering to get three meals a day, we should readily help them in securing it. If we witness people struggling to get good clothes for themselves, owing to lack of money, we can of course help them in getting good and comfortable clothes. If we witness people struggling for shelter, we can obviously help them by accommodating them in some way. Thus for such worldly affairs, we need to be selfless in our attitude and service to mankind. However, when it comes to our own spiritual upliftment and to understand the ultimate truth about our Aatman, we should be totally selfish to the core! Our realization is primarily important, rather than the realization of the others’. There is no use of bothering about the souls of others. We’ve to first bother about our soul. So for today, let us ponder over this important point and do the needful!

Now there might be a question here – If this is the case, why is Vidura wasting his time in advising so much to King Dhirdiraashtra? Rather than Vidura looking for his own upliftment of his Aatman, why is he struggling so much for the Aatman of King Dhirdiraashtra? We shall answer this important question in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point wherein Vidura stresses that we cannot brand someone as a “Mooda” (Fool) just because he has no formal education in this world. Similarly, a person cannot be branded as a “Panditha” (Scholar) just because he has a high educational qualification in his life. In the same lines, we’ve also seen that possessing huge amount of money will not make a person intelligent or smart as a leader. We witnessed an example to emphasize this point!

Highlighting this point thus, Vidura warns King Dhirdiraashtra, “Oh king! Please don’t ever be complacent and happy that you and your sons have all the wealth of this kingdom today and with this wealth, you can take the Paandavas for a ride! The Paandavas might be devoid of any sorts of wealth today, however there would surely be a time in the future when they would get to enjoy their due share of wealth and the kingdom too! Thus as a leader, please do not write off people just because they are devoid of money and luxuries today. Mostly importantly, the Paandavas are epitomes of knowledge and wisdom, which unfortunately your sons are lacking! Hence the day will not be far off, when you’ll be seeing that all this wealth and luxuries would go to the Paandavas and your sons would be destroyed completely of everything because of their ego and jealousy. Before your sons learn the lesson the hard way, please teach them and make them aware of this important fact!” From this accord, it is clear that we shouldn’t underestimate people with their presence or absence of wealth.

Now moving on further, Vidura highlights the next important point thus – If we maintain friendship and move with a person who tries to hide his mistakes and is only projecting the mistakes of others every time, it is like sleeping in a bed with a snake nearby! Vidura explains thus,

“Na cha raathrou sukham chete sa sarpa iva veshmani!

Yah kopayati nirdosham sa dosho vyantaram janam!!”

Here Vidura explains clearly that if we’ve to move with a person who always criticizing others for their mistakes, but never looks at his back to correct himself, it’s like sleeping on a bed with an extremely venomous snake! Will we ever do this? Don’t we know that if we’re near a poisonous snake our life could be in extreme danger? Hence Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra to refrain from friends and companions like these.

By saying so, Vidura is clearly taking the context of one person called “Sahuni” who is Duryodhana’s uncle and also a close aid of King Dhirdiraashtra. This Sahuni is known for plotting against the Paandavas at every instance with cruel intentions. All of us know what happened during the infamous game of gambling and it was this person Sahuni who was the mastermind behind this game that wrecked havoc within the entire Hastinapura kingdom. Thus Vidura is indirectly advising Duryodhana to cut down his companionship with such people who are like venomous snakes! These people only want to fulfill their own personal agenda by playing spoilsport to the larger welfare of the kingdom.

This is a very important sloka and contains a significant message – We should never fall into this category of people who are only interested in blaming others for not doing something that is expected out of us. If we’ve committed a mistake, it is always better to admit it and move on, rather than putting the blame on somebody else for what we’ve not done properly! This is an extremely bad habit and this is what we call in the modern day terminology as “passing the buck on to others”. As a leader, one should be extremely careful in this regard. If a leader tries to pass the buck on to others, or blames someone else unduly for something which the other person might not be responsible for, the “trust” factor in the organization or within the team goes for a toss. This is where the descent amongst team members start mounting and ultimately the team or the organization begins to crumble. Hence if the team or the organization has to be held intact together, the leader should maintain himself or herself in such a way that he/she doesn’t blame someone else unwantedly for any reason.

Moreover, if the mistake is from our side, why should we blame others for it? Why don’t we apologize and take corrective action to set things right? Many a times our ego wouldn’t allow us to do so but somehow we need to overcome the impact of our ego in this. The moment we apologize in front of people for our mistake, interestingly the trust factor amongst the team increases drastically. Rather, if we do not take the blame on ourselves and pass it on to others by blaming them for such similar mistakes, the purpose is not going to get served! The “blame-game” is only going to hurt egos of multiple people at the same time, which would never be useful to solve the problem in hand! Ultimately the problem would be intact and only the blaming would keep happening within each other!

Thus the message is loud and clear here – We should make sure that we do not indulge in a “blame-game” at critical situations. If we start blaming others for whatsoever reason, there is going to be no end for this. Rather, it would be more helpful if we can think of constructive solutions as a team, on how to set right the problem in hand. This would refrain from hurting the egos of multiple people working with us and also helps in improving our bonding with them! This is exactly what Vidura is advising here too – He says that neither we should involve ourself in “blame games” nor we should have companionship with people who are experts at this!

So for today let us ponder over this important point of Vidura and try to implement it in our daily routine. This phenomenon starts right from home, between the son/daughter and parents or between a husband and a wife, etc. If someone raises a problem or an issue, rather than jumping into passing the buck on to the other person, let us try to involve ourselves in “collective thinking”, so that we find a long-lasting solutions to the issue in hand. This is extremely important. We shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s next point. Stay tuned! 🙂