The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point discussed by Vidura towards the end of the 38’th Adhyaaya, wherein he recalls some important qualities of a “Moodaathma” (Fool). Here he emphasizes that “Moodaathmas” are fickle-minded people, that is, they do not have that habit of sticking to a decision as their mind is unstable. In the yesterday’s episode we had witnessed a beautiful and an apt example for this from the story of Kamsa – Bhagwan Krishna’s uncle. When Bhagwan Krishna was about to take birth, Kamsa heard a divine voice from the Heaven that his sister Devaki’s eight son (Bhagawan Krishna) would be the person who would kill him! Fearing this, Kamsa did not know what to do as he was fickle-minded. He wasn’t ready to accept the truth, but tried to play ploys with it. When Vasudeva (Bhagawan Krishna’s father) brought in the first baby to Kamsa, he wanted to kill it at first, but then changed his stance owing to Vasudeva’s sensible advice! Post then, Sage Narada visited Kamsa and thereafter he changed his stance again! Here we can see how fickle-minded Kamsa was, as he was a “Raakshasa” (Demon).

Thus it is evident here that almost all Raakshasas were fickle-minded in their own ways. We would have read through the episode of Hiranya-Kashibu and how did he torture his young son Prahlada. We’ve been seeing how Duryodhana was fickle-minded all throughout his life in the Mahaabharata! Hence the message here is two-fold – Firstly we should maintain ourselves in such a way that we do not fall into the category of “fickle-minded” people! We need to watch ourselves very closely every time, whenever we make some important decisions in life. Our decisions should be firm and we should stick to our decisions, come what may! Of course, before narrowing down on our decisions, we need to make a complete and a thorough analysis of the problem or the situation in which we are in. Decision-making without proper analysis would obviously lead to disaster! Secondly, we should make it a point that we do not give room for those people who are highly fickle-minded. In fact, Vidura yesterday said that it is better that we ignore them completely and not take their words seriously. Hence these two points are extremely important for all of us to ponder over.

Now moving on further, Vidura is explaining an extremely important point here. All of us should pay very careful attention to this. Vidura explains thus:

“Nirartham kalaham praagyaha varjayen mooda sevitam!

Na virgirdhana laabhaaya la jaatyamasa mruddhaye!!”

Here Vidura explains that we cannot brand someone as a “Mooda” (Fool) just because he has no formal education nor wealth in this world. Similarly, a person cannot be branded as a “Panditha” (Scholar) just because he has a high educational qualification in his life. Then how do we decide if a person is a “Mooda” or a “Panditha”? The decision is primarily made only with a person’s ability to understand what is happening around him or her and trying to adjust according to the situation in which he/she is in! This of course requires shrewdness and smartness. Thus in a nutshell, Vidura explains that a person is judged to be scholarly mainly with the level of shrewdness and smartness that he/she possesses, more than even the educational qualifications he/she has!

This is exactly what we see in today’s world too – In general there is a belief that Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati are always on loggerheads with each other! Our readers might be knowing that Goddess Lakshmi is the one in-charge of wealth and money. Goddess Saraswati primarily refers to knowledge and education. In many cases we might be able to see that if people are extremely rich, most of them would be dumbheads! On the contrary, those people who are not very rich, would be extremely scholarly in their approach! We would be able to witness this quite easily in the political scenario today – There is a national level political party in India which is run by a “family” for the past 70 odd years and only people from that “first family” become leaders of that party. Many of us might know how good the present-day leader of that political party is – He has aspirations to become the next Prime Minister of India, but little does he realize that he is too far away in terms of shrewdness and smartness to become one! Of course this family has enormous money power and all the riches in the world and the whole of India knows how this family earned their luxuries in life! Yet, just because the family possesses enormous amount of money, does it mean that it produces skilful leaders? The answer is “No”! Thus the message here is that, just because one is rich with lot of luxuries, it doesn’t mean that he/she is intelligent. If Goddess Lakshmi reigns in too much, she would chase away Goddess Saraswati from her vicinity and this is exactly we witness today in Indian politics! 🙂

Hence the message here is that, we should not be judgemental about people who possess luxuries, to be intelligent and vice versa. There are innumerable people in this world who were devoid of any sorts of luxuries in their lives, but were excellent scholars in their own respective domains! All of would have known the life story of our great ex President of India – Dr. Abdul Kalam. Why do we think we have a special respect for Dr. Kalam, although he had a very humble life all through till his demise? It is only because of his knowledge and his passion to drive the younger generation towards the path of excellence! All of us know how scholarly Dr. Kalam was! He was a leading scientist in the nuclear sector and was solely instrumental in the “Pokhran” nuclear test that India conducted, which shook the whole world with awe and surprise! This is why we always see that scholarly people, although they might not be too wealthy, would be respected with awe and dignity! Whereas, all of us know what kind of a respect we give for third-rated politicians, especially the likes of the “first family” of the main opposition party in Indian politics!

Thus today’s message is very clear! Hence let us ponder over this important point for today and let us wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed three important points when it comes to showing our anger our frustration. Vidura warns King Dhirdiraashtra that he shouldn’t be exhibiting his anger towards a list of categories of people. Three among them were parents, aged people who are diseased and discomforted and finally towards children. We’ve had detailed discussions on all these three categories in the previous episode. Adding on to these, we further discussed and pondered over two more important add-ins wherein we said that if we go to a temple to worship Bhagawan (Any deity) and/or if we go to an ashram to pay or respects to a spiritual master (Mahatma) we should never go empty-handed. We should atleast take a few bananas or a small garland of flowers or any other small acceptable offering with us while we go to a temple or an ashram. This is an extremely important point that all of us should follow in life. It is not that either Bhagawan or the Spiritual master is going to demand anything from us – It’s only from our side that we take something along with us as a token of our respect towards them. Just like how we’ve discussed previously that we should stand up whenever a Spiritual Master comes in front of us to pay our respects to him/her, offering something is also a way how respect is paid for such people of high spiritual stature, according to our Sanaatana Dharma. This also indirectly inculcates the habit of “giving” to others. Hence we should make it a regular practice in future whenever we go to a temple or to an ashram.

Similarly we also witnessed that whenever we obtain the “Prasad” (Divine food item that is offered to Bhagawan), it should be done only in our palms. The underlying truth in this is that, when we receive the “Prasad” in our palms, our sins are being washed away by it. Unfortunately today, we have introduced the habit of giving the “Prasad” in plastic covers, papers, etc. which should be strictly avoided.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the subsequent point. Here he recollects some qualities of a “Moodaathma”, which we’ve witnessed right at the start of this whole Vidura Neeti. Readers might remember it – If not, please refer to our earlier episodes to read them once again! 🙂 In this context, Vidura explains that we should not take any decisions or perform counter actions by getting carried away with what “Moodaathmas” (Fools) do! Vidura explains thus:

“Nirartham kalaham praagnyaha varjayen mooda sevitham!

Keerthi cha labhate lokhe na cha anarthena yuchhyate!!”

Here he says that if fools are laughing, even they wouldn’t know why they do so! If they’re getting angry, mostly it would be for no reason! Hence we should be extremely careful if we come across such people in life. We should never base out our decisions or counter actions if we see fools getting too much happy or too much angry! Rather, we should learn to just ignore such people and move on.

For instance, Kamsa was a “Moodaathma”. Here is an interesting story of the birth of Bhagawan Krishna. I shall explain it in brief as many of us might know it already. I’m invoking this story just to fit the context. Kamsa was a demon (Raakshasa) and he was informed by a thundering voice from the Heaven that he is going to be killed by Vasudeva’s eighth son! Upon hearing thus, Kamsa got scared and he immediately imprisoned both Vasudeva and his wife Devaki. While imprisoning them, Kamsa had instructed Vasudeva that after the birth of every child, he has to come and hand it over to Kamsa immediately, so that he can kill it. After a year or so, the first child was born and as per Kamsa’s instruction, Vasudeva takes the baby in his hands to hand it over to Kamsa. When Kamsa was about to kill that baby, Vasudeva stops him for a moment and says thus, “Oh Kamsa! It was told by that divine voice that your life is in danger only with the eighth baby and not this first baby! So why do you want to kill this one and commit a sin of killing a child? Isn’t it a huge wrongdoing that you’re committing by killing seven innocent children before the eighth one?” Upon listening to this, Kamsa became thoughtful! He thinks thus, “Oh yes! What Vasudeva says is right! The problem is only with the eighth child and not the seven others! Hence let us return this one back to him and let us wait for the eighth one to be born!” Thinking thus, he hands over the first baby back to Vasudeva’s hands! Upon receiving the baby, Vasudeva takes it back to the prison complex.

In the Bhaagavatha Puraana while Sage Sukhaachaarya is writing about this episode, he says that Vasudeva neither felt happy nor sad upon successfully preventing Kamsa from killing his baby! It is because Vasudeva knows that Kamsa is a “Moodaathma” and his mind is unstable! He can change his stance any moment according to his whims and fancies. In fact the same thing happened – When Sage Naarada came to meet Kamsa, he played his mind-game! He told Kamsa thus, “Oh Kamsa! You know what? All the Devas (Celestial beings) have made you a fool by trapping you into their plot! Now that you’ve decided not to kill the first seven babies, how will you know the difference between the eighth baby and the rest of the seven, if all are born one after the other in subsequent years? What if Vasudeva cheats you by bringing the seventh baby to you, instead of the eighth? So you’ll end up killing the wrong baby, isn’t it?” Saying thus, Sage Naarada adds to his confusion! Kamsa now starts to think thus, “Oh yes! Whatever Sage Naarada says might be true! What if I kill the wrong baby and get myself into trouble? So the best way to escape from this is to kill each and every baby then and there as they are born one after the other, so that there’s no confusion at the end!” Thinking thus, he once again calls for Vasudeva and his baby, snatches it and kills it!

Now if Vasudeva would have felt happy that he managed to convince Kamsa not to kill his baby, he would have had to feel devastated as a father! Since he neither felt happy nor sad for it, he was able to take it in a balanced way! Hence the message from today’s episode is that, we should not take the words of fickle minded people seriously into account! Rather, we should just ignore them and move on! We shall witness the continuation of this discussion in the next episode too, but for today let us ponder over this important point! Stay tuned for the extended discussion to follow! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point from Vidura Neeti’s last segment of the 38’th Adhyaaya wherein he says that there is no use in blaming Bhagawan for our wrongdoings. All of us have this habit imbibed in us – Whenever we face tough situations in life, we immediately put the blame on Bhagawan for all the mess that we are in. Little do we realize that at most of the instances we are solely responsible for the mess that we create for ourself! If that is the case, what is the point in blaming Bhagawan for the mess that we create? Moreover, if we undergo a “golden” happy phase in our life, do we have the intention to thank Bhagawan for that golden period of happiness? Many a times we don’t! When we go through a happy phase in life, we hardly even think of Bhagawan! Hence such extremes should not happen in our life. Over the years, we’ve unfortunately built a habit around ourselves that it is only when we have problems in life, we go to Bhagawan, and not when we’re happy! This attitude should change in all of us – We should try to have a balanced outlook towards life and thank Bhagawan every day for all what He has given us.

Now moving on further with the second half of the sloka, Vidura explains thus:

“Niyantavyaah sadaah krodaah vriddha baalaatureshu!!”

Here Vidura explains that we should not get angry with young and small children and also towards aged people. Moreover, Vidura also adds a point here that we should not get angry on those people who are sick with some disease. This is an extremely point to discuss – For instance if our own parents start to get sick due to their old age, we need to make sure that we deal with them patiently. As all of us know and understand by now, it is our bound duty to take care of our parents at their old age. Of course there might be situations for few people wherein their parents become either bed-ridden or become unable to move from one place to the other owing to various physical ailments. Given this inability, obviously our parents will call us for help. At this time, do we get angry or frustrated with them? Sadly today, many of us get irritated if our parents are calling us for help every now and then! We should remember one thing clearly – When we were children, we used to cry for anything and everything in life and it was our parents who attended to each and every cry of ours! Did they ever get angry with us at that time? Every time we cried for something, our parents ensured that our needs were satisfied by hook or crook. Hence, what moral right do we have to get irritated when our parents cry out for us? In fact, we should be more than ready to respond to their desperate calls to be with us and this is our fundamental duty in our life, more than anything else. We should think for a moment – If our parents haven’t struggled in the past, would we be in the position what we are in today? The moment this thought sinks inside us, we would automatically render our heart-felt services to our parents with tears in our eyes. Thus the point here is that, rather than getting angry on our parents, we should understand that it is only because of their inability that they’re wanting our presence and help. We should also understand that no parent in this world would like to see their son or daughter struggle and slog because of them. Hence we need to understand this important point and render our involved selfless service to our parents at all times.

Moreover, it is also important that we should never go “empty-handed” while we meet elderly people or “Mahatmas” or “Gurus” (Spiritual Masters). We should always take something with us – like couple of bananas, or some other fruits, flowers or something that would be of acceptance according to the principles of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. The same thing applies when we go to a temple too. Whatever maybe the deity, we should never go empty-handed to worship Bhagawan. We should atleast take some “Tulasi” leaves, or a garland made of flowers, or some fruits, or whatever, while we enter inside a temple. This is also a very important thing that we need to note in our regular day-to-day life. Many a times, when we go to the temple, the priest might ask us for the things that we had bought to offer at Bhagawan’s feet! It is only then we would remember that we have totally forgot about it, or we might not even have thought of something like that! Such things should never happen. We should always make sure that we buy atleast two bananas or a bunch of flowers when we enter a temple, so as to make an offering to Bhagawan.

Also nowadays, there is a new trend picking up in many places of worship – When the “Prasad” (Food that is offered to Bhagawan and then distributed to devotees in the temple) is being distributed, many people have this habit of collecting this “Prasad” in a piece of paper and not in our hands! The reason why this is done is that, the food contains lot of oil or ghee in it, and this oil or ghee should not stick to our hands! Of course in many of today’s temples, we have proper and adequate facilities for washing our hands with adequate amount of water. If this is the case, why should we introduce a foreign object called “paper” in between? Why can’t we receive the divine “Prasad” in our hands? Already our hands are polluted so much with innumerable amount of sins that we keep doing every day and it is only by receiving the divine “Prasad” in our hands, our sins get washed away! If we’re trying to use a paper cup or whatever to receive the “Prasad”, then there’s no way that our sins are going to washed away! Hence we should note that such practices should also be stopped.

Thus for today let us ponder over these two important points and we shall wait till the next episode to continue with Vidura’s next important point of mention. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed a very important point during the extended discussion on why should we control our anger and our urge to win over our wife/husband. We saw that, one way of channelizing our mind in the right direction is to develop the habit of performing spiritual practices together as a couple, developing interest to attend “Satsangs” or healthy gatherings that talks about spirituality, spiritual development, etc. Once our minds are channelized into these kinds of activities, we automatically cease to fight with each other unwantedly. Our ego issues are taken care of, and moreover, performing spiritual activities like “Sloka” chanting (on any deity) together as a couple leads to immense benefits for the house and also for the family. This is one important message for all of us that our “Sanaathana Dharma” explains! Hence let us make it a point to implement this message in our everyday life.

Now moving on to the next point – “Daivateshu”! Here, Vidura explains that we should never get angry on Bhagawan! It might sound silly and funny as to why is Vidura saying this – Even in today’s life, if something going on around us that irks us very badly, what do we do immediately? We blame it on Bhagawan – As if He’s “gifting” us with such terrible situations in our life! 🙂 We should realize that our lives take ups and downs because of our “Paapa” and “Punya” accounts! Whenever we experience a tough phase in our life we need to develop that maturity that this is due to our sins that we had committed in our earlier lives and we thus need to move on. Rather, if we’ve to keep complaining about it and put the blame on Bhagawan, what’s the point in doing so? What can Bhagawan do, if we’ve accumulated so much of sins in our life? We should always remember that the relationship between the “Paramaatma” (Bhagawan) and the “Jeevaatma” (People like us) is always pure and is full of love and compassion. Thus it is we who have to ensure that Bhagawan’s love and compassion transcends into us freely without creating obstacles in the middle of the path. Thus the message from this section of today’s episode is that, if there’s a tough phase in our life, there’s no point in blaming Bhagawan for it. Rather, we can pray to Him for seeking His blessings with which we can cross over this tough phase of our life smoothly without much troubles.

However let us think the other side of the issue here – When we go through an extremely happy phase in our life, what do we do? Do we even have time to think of Bhagawan? Do we have that gratitude to praise him and thank him for what we’ve got? Sadly, we never do both of these! 🙂 Hence as an extension to this point, we should make it a habit to thank Bhagawan for all the good things what He has given us, during our everyday prayers. This is also extremely important.

Moreover Vidura explains in his next point that we should not get angry unnecessarily on “Andhanas” or “Brahmins”. This is also becoming quite common nowadays in our society. There are few people in our society who have a wrong opinion on Brahmins and thus exhibit their hatred towards them through their behavior and day to day activities. I don’t want to add further to this point at this moment as this can turn into a controversial topic! I shall talk about this point in detail in future when the right context arrives. So till then, I’m reserving my comments and explanations on this point.

Hence for today, let us understand and realize the significance of the above explained points and let us try to put them in practice in our daily lives. We shall wait till tomorrow’s episode for Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extension of the discussion on channelization of our anger in the right and productive way. We saw how Bhagawan Rama was an epitome of this important characteristic wherein Valmiki Maharishi had explained even at the start of the Ramayana text as one of Bhagawan’s sixteen “Kalyaana Gunas”. We witnessed an anecdote too from the Valmiki Ramayana as to how Bhagawan Rama was an epitome in controlling an conquering anger (“Jithah krodhaha”) and at the same time, an epitome in unleashing his full fury on those people who abuse and attack His ardent devotee! If Bhagawan unleashes his fury, even Devas (Celestial Beings) would start shivering with fear (“Kasya bibyati devaaha”). Hence from this, the important message for all of us is that, we need to try and cultivate the habit of controlling our anger at unwanted places and towards unwanted people. Anger should be shown only towards situations wherein it would lead to something productive.

Similarly, we witnessed yesterday that winning and conquering over everyone and everything in this world is virtually impossible and is not necessary too. We have this normal tendency at home wherein when our wife shouts at us for something, we would give her an equal shouting with all our anger and fury so as to “win” over her in an argument. We should think for a moment here – What are we going to gain in life by just winning over our wife, who ultimately looks for our own benefit? Again, Bhagawan Rama was an epitome when it comes to enriching happiness in the married life. Today we shall continue this important point and witness how Bhagawan Rama ensured that Mother Sita was happy.

When Bhagawan Rama, Lakshmana and Mother Sita were in the forest during that fourteen year tenure, they were living at a place called “Chitrakoota” for a few years. It was a beautiful and a scenic place with lot of trees, lakes, ponds, etc. around. Upon seeing a huge lake, Rama and Sita wanted to have a competition amongst each other in swimming! The rule of the competition was this – Both of them should dive inside the water at the same time, swim across to the other shore, touch it and come back to the point where they started. Whoever comes first can have the “prize” of making fun of the other person. Both of them agreed to the rule. For every game there should be an “umpire” isn’t it? 🙂 Here who’s the umpire? It was none other than Lakshmana himself!

Thus the contest began and both Rama and Sita jumped into the water. All of us know the valor and strength of Bhagawan Rama! There’s no doubt that he’s an expert in swimming too and hence he quickly swam across, touched the other bund of the lake and was on his way back with lightning speed! However while he was coming back, he wanted to know where Sita was and hence he turned his head and tried to find out where was she. He found that she had not even crossed half the distance! Mother Sita, as we all know is such a gentle and a soft woman and she’s pretty slow in her speed of swimming too. Now Rama thinks within himself, “Oh! Now if I want to win this race I can do it within the next few minutes. But what’s the use of winning over my dear wife? Let her win the contest and let her make fun of me!” Thinking thus, Rama went deep into the pond and sat down, holding his breath for some time! Only after Sita swam across and reached the winning point, did Rama get up from his spot beneath the water!

Thus when both of them reached the shore, Lakshmana announces that Mother Sita is the winner! Now Sita asks Lakshmana with a laugh, “Oh Lakshmana! Till now you’ve been telling me that your brother Rama was an expert in all kinds of arts, then how come he’s not able to swim properly today?” Lakshmana replies back with a laugh thus, “Oh Mother Sita! You know what? When we learnt swimming during our ‘Gurukula’ days, Rama used to bunk those classes and he didn’t learn it properly! Now that today we had this swimming contest, his bunking of swimming classes came to light!”

When Mother Sita heard this from Lakshmana, she laughed our loud and with all her heart and upon seeing Sita laughing, Rama was so happy! Of course Mother Sita knows very well that Rama is capable of swimming and is an expert in it. However when she realized that her husband was sacrificing his victory to make her laugh, Mother Sita’s happiness knew no bounds!

Thus from this episode, the message is very clear – Only if one loses out to his wife, will the married life be sweet and lovely! If one wants to continuously win over the other, it would give rise to ego problems and thus the sweetness of the married life is lost! Hence we should make it a point that we should be prepared to let go of few things for the happiness of our partner, and once we start letting go of things, happiness reigns in automatically!

So for today, let us ponder over this point once more and let us realize the fact that “compromise” within a married life adds on to the happiness and love within the two people. Of course this should be both ways – A husband should be ready to compromise certain things for his wife and similarly the wife also should be ready to compromise few things for the husband. At the end of the day we should remember that both husband and wife are two individual human beings and both of them have their own likes and dislikes. Sometimes, the wife wouldn’t like few things what the husband likes, and vice versa. Hence, rather than quarrelling and arguing over these things, we can try to sit together, talk openly with each other and find out those things that we have a similarity in liking. Once we discover similarities within each other, we become more comfortable to live together.

More than anything else, both the husband and wife should together cultivate the interest of “Satsangs” and performing spiritual practices together, that would directly impact the married life in a positive way! I’m sure many people would have this interest within them, but even if that interest is not there, it is better to cultivate it within the husband and wife. For instance, both of them can plan a time wherein they can chant few slokas like “Lalitha Sahasranama” or “Vishnu Sahasranama” together and by doing so, there are innumerable benefits for both of them and also for the house and family. Also, by performing spiritual practices together, the minds of both the husband and wife become pure and thus results in unending happiness and peace of mind!

Hence let us take this as a message from today’s episode and let us try to consciously implement this in our daily life. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the introductory note for the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. Subsequently we began to explore the contents of the same towards the end of the episode. We started to look into the last few slokas of the 38’th Adhyaaya so as to get the continuation as we move into the 39’th. In that way we had witnessed a sloka through which Vidura conveys the message that we should never get angry or frustrated with the following categories of people. Of course it is important for us to control our anger and frustration at all times, however there might be some situations in life that warrant us to exhibit our anger, but in a controlled and channelized manner.

We’ve seen this same philosophy during the early episodes of our Ramayana project, wherein Valmiki Maharishi places this important characteristic as one of the sixteen “Kalyaana Gunas” of Bhagawan Rama. He says thus:

“Kasya bibhyati devaascha jaata roshascha samyuge!”

Here Valmiki Maharishi asks Sage Naarada as to who is that one person living in this world who, if gets angry, even the Devas (Celestial Beings) would also start shivering with fear. It is to be remembered that Valmiki Maharishi is listing out the characteristics (16 of them) of Bhagawan Rama and this is the last of the sixteen. This explanation shows that Bhagawan Rama’s anger knows no bounds and it has the capability of destroying the world altoghether at one shot!

However it should be noted that there is one more characteristic among the sixteen which says “Jithah krodhaha” – This means, Bhagawan Rama is the one who has won over his anger completely and is totally devoid of any anger at all! If we compare these two “Kalyaana Gunas” and see, it might seem a little confusing here – One characteristic says that Rama has conquered anger completely, which means that he should never get angry for anything in life. Whereas, the other one says that if Rama gets angry, he is capable of bringing the whole world under his knees! Now isn’t it contradictory? How can both be true at the same time? Here is where we need to make the differentiation very clearly – Bhagawan Rama knows when to exhibit anger and when not to. This differentiation is extremely important. When Ravana hit Bhagwan Rama with countless number of arrows on his body, he never got angry on Ravana even for a second! He allowed Ravana to hit him as much as he wants to! Upon seeing this, Ravana got puzzled as to how to make Rama react! The moment Ravana turns his attention towards Hanuman and starts firing his arrows on him, this is the point Bhagawan gets on top of his anger – When he gets attacked by his enemy, Bhagawan is more than happy with it! Whereas if his ardent devotee comes under attack from the enemy, Bhagawan can never tolerate it even for a moment! Thus when Ravana attacks Bhagawan’s ardent devotee called Hanuman, Rama’s fury knew no bounds and thus he took up the challenge – “Now the time has come for the world to witness Rama’s fury! Ravana has crossed all his limits! If I do not attack him now, then I would be doing a great sin to Hanuman! Now let the world witness the real powers that Rama possesses!” Saying thus, Rama unleashed his fury over Ravana and post that, all of us know what happened!

Thus the message from this small anecdote from the Ramayana is that, we should know to channelize anger in such a way that it should be for a constructive purpose. This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here too. He says that anger should not be exhibited towards women, children and a king.

All of us have a notion that we can win over everybody with anger. Let me ask a simple question – Why should we win everytime and over everybody in life? Why don’t we lose too? Especially with our wife or husband, what are we going to gain by winning over the other person? Is there going to be a trophy or an award that is given at the end of the day for our so-called “victory” over our wife? There’s nothing like that isn’t it? Only if we learn to lose out to our dear ones, will our life become happy and sweet! The more we lose out to our wife, the more sweeter life becomes! If we’ve to keep winning everytime with her, our ego takes over us and ultimately the happiness in the married life tends to vanish. Similarly there are some situations in life wherein we can lose in the beginning, so as to win big later on! It is like letting go of a small fish to capture a huge fish from the ocean! We might see fishermen playing this trick – He would tie a small fish at the corner of the fishing net and then sprew it over the water. Seeing this small fish at the corner of the net, bigger fishes would come towards it, thinking that it is their prey. As they come near, the fisherman knows the impulse and thus tightens the noose of the net around the big fish! Thus the bigger fish is caught by letting go of the smaller one.

This is how our life is too – At certain times, we should learn to lose out to the other person, only to win back bigger next time! If we give place to our ego by winning over petty things, our image as a person goes for a toss. We’ve to be very careful here in this regard. Either it is victory or loss – This is just a mental feeling. It is in the way how we take it. If it is between a husband and a wife, or between a son and parents, or between a student and the “Aachaarya”, we should first learn how to lose to each other! For instance, if a father is testing his son on certain skill set and there is a small contest in this regard between the two of them, will the father ever try to win over his son? Every father will try to lose out to his little child because he wants to see his child happy! At the same time, the child would also think “What am I going to gain by winning over my own father? If my father wins over me, I would be happy to see him smile!” Thus, both of them trying to lose out to each other gives the maximum happiness for the two of them.

Hence the message from today’s episode is that, we should know to channelize our anger. We should know when and where to exhibit anger. Subsequently we should also know where to win and where to lose out! We should never have this attitude of “winning over everyone and every time”! We should learn how to lose out to our near and dear ones, and this would give us immense happiness. So for today, let us ponder over these important points and let us try to put them in practice too. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion forward and subsequently move on to the next sloka. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the introductory note pertaining to the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. We’re witnessing a huge introductory note to this particular Adhyaaya owing to its importance in terms of laying the foundation of the future course of the Mahabharata story to come. It is in this Adhyaaya and the 40’th that the war between the Paandavas and Kauravas becomes eminent and all last minute attempts to thwart the war become futile. Here King Dhirdiraashtra agrees to all the “Dharma” that Vidura is explaining, but his heart refuses to accept it. His “Putra Vaatsalya” (Excessive attachment towards his son) is pegging him back from taking a step towards the path of “Dharma”. Here he openly says to Vidura that whatever he says might sound good to listen, but when it comes to practical implementation, it is next to impossible.

This is where we witnessed in yesterday’s episode that having a profound knowledge of the “Dharma” is not important. The real importance comes in the implementation part of it. For instance if we’re an ardent Vishnu devotee by chanting the Vishnu Sahasranaama every day, along with the reading of the all-important “Sundara Kaanda” of the Ramayana every day, but if we aide by the anti-Hindu elements who demolish Vishnu temples, what is the point in reading the Ramayana and chanting the Vishnu Sahasranaama? Devotion towards Bhagawan Vishnu should not only limit to chanting prayers. The devotion should also be shown in our actions and behavior, isn’t it? Similarly here too, King Dhirdiraashtra himself was a learned scholar and he needn’t be taught lessons on “Dharma”. Yet, Vidura took it upon himself to enlighten King Dhirdiraashtra on the various aspects of “Dharma”. But what is the use here? If King Dhirdiraashtra is not going to follow any thing of what Vidura says, then what is the point in being highly educated? Thus the message from this section of the Vidura Neeti is that, it is just not enough if we’re highly learned and scholarly. All our scholarly knowledge should transform into actions and implementation and it is only then, there would be real spiritual development happening.

Moreover, if one has a genuine doubt or a question towards something, he/she should be prepared to listen to the answer with an open mind. This is a very important requirement for spiritual growth. For instance, when Arjuna asked a series of doubts to Bhagawan Krishna amidst the battlefield, he asked them with an open mind and thus Arjuna was able to grasp and implement whatever Bhagawan Krishna explained to him as the Bhagawad Gita. However if we take the case of King Dhirdiraashtra, what are we witnessing here? Is he having an open mind while asking his doubts to Vidura? The answer is “No”! King Dhirdiraashtra had a strong pre-conceived notion about Duryodhana and his approach and is not ready to accept whatever Vidura advises him. Thus at the end, King Dhirdiraashtra fails to clear his doubts, just because he did not have an open mind to listen to what Vidura has to say.

This is an important lesson to all of us as well – If we have a doubt or a query regarding something in spirituality and if we’re approaching a “Guru” for clearing our doubts, we should always make sure that we go with an open mind. It is only then we would be able to understand what our “Guru” is intending to convey. For instance if I have a query on some context in the Ramayana, I should never ask someone thus: “Oh! I think this section of the Ramayana has a mistake and is controversial! What do you think of it?” If we ask such a question, it implies that we’ve already made up our mind in such a way that the Ramayana is wrong! If such is the decision that we’ve taken within ourselves, then what is the point in asking such a question?

Instead, if we ask thus, “Oh! I recently read something like this in the Ramayana. Why has it happened like this? I did not understand!” This is a right way of asking. This means we’re asking a question with an open mind and we would be able to understand and absorb whatever the other person answers. Rather than this, if we keep asking questions just for testing the knowledge and opinions of others, there is no end to keep asking such questions! It would become just a time-pass activity to malign our “Sanaathana Dharma”, which sadly many people are doing today!

Thus the message here is that, if we have a clarification or a doubt, it is better to have a neutral stance and then ask the question with an open-mind. It is only then we would be able to get clarity to our doubt. It is only then the words of our elders and our “Guru” would reap benefits in our life.

With this basic understanding on a few set of points that we’ve discussed over the past three episodes, we shall move into the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti thus. We shall commence from the end of the 38’th Adhyaaya so as to get some continuity as we move into the 39’th. Vidura explains thus,

“Daivateshu prayatnena raajasu braahmaneshucha!

Niyantavyaaha sadhaah krodhaha vriddha vaalaatureshacha!!”

Here Vidura explains clearly as to which of those categories of people, we should never get angry upon, although there might be a compelling reason for us to get angry on them! Of course as we’ve discussed before, it is better to control our anger at all times, however there might be some situations wherein exhibiting anger might be inevitable, owing to certain compelling factors. However, even if such is the compelling case of exhibiting anger, these categories of people should still be exempted!

In our daily life we have this common practice – We never show our anger outside home, but when we’re at home we would show all our anger and frustration to our parents or to our wife/husband! 🙂 This should not be the case isn’t it? We should exhibit our anger only where it is applicable and not at all places, just because some people in our lives would not retaliate back!

Thus Vidura explains here that we should never show anger especially on women and children. Why does Vidura stress this point? An important explanation awaits us tomorrow! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extension of the introductory note of the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. Here we are starting to look into the conclusive remarks from Vidura. Yesterday we had witnessed Vidura’s complete focus on his duty without attachment or expectations of any sort from King Dhirdiraashtra. He was neither expecting an appreciation nor a reward from his king. Although Vidura knew that whatever he’s telling would not please King Dhirdiraashtra in any way, he still continued on his accord just for the sake of “Dharma”. At certain times, some principles of “Dharma” might be extremely harsh and unbearable to listen and to digest. But this did not deter Vidura from going ahead and talking about it.

Even in our lives today this statement holds good – If either our parents or our teachers or any elders render some valuable advice, we would not be able to digest all of it, just because of the fact that certain things might “poke” our conscience very badly! This is exactly what happened in King Dhirdiraashtra’s case too – His excessive attachment towards his crooked son Duryodhana served as a screen of blockade for him to think beyond his shell. Whatever “Adharma” Duryodhana did to the Paandavas went completely blindfolded in front of King Dhirdiraashtra! This was one of the main reasons that led to his downfall and subsequently the destruction of the entire Kaurava clan. But this did not deter Vidura to talk the truth! Such is the dedication and a detached attitude Vidura had towards his king.

It should be remembered by the readers that King Dhirdiraashtra was suffering from lack of sleep at around 11-11:30 PM at night, when he called Vidura to render advice. Subsequently Vidura came and told whatever he had to say till 3-3:30 AM the next morning. All this Vidura Neeti conversations went on for around 4-4.5 hours in the midnight. However we might wonder why it takes such a long time for us to see the Vidura Neeti in the form of around 270 episodes till date (We’ve not completed yet), and that too we’ve not witnessed all the slokas in this package! We’ve only witnessed selected slokas with their meaning and relevance. It should be understood that in those days, the conversation between people were in the form of slokas! Since people of those ages were highly educated and brilliant, they did not require this much of explanation and relevance what we’re witnessing today. We’re understanding atleast a little bit of it only if we read through enormous amounts of explanations with relevant anecdotes and examples. But for the brilliance that Vidura and even King Dhirdiraashtra had for that matter, these sorts of explanations were not required!

The reason why I’m saying all this here is that, it is not important if one has a high level of knowledge and understanding on something. It more depends on how this person views it in terms of which is “Dharma” and which is not! In other words, if knowledge of Dharma is present in a person but if the subsequent implementation of it is absent, there is no point in having that knowledge at all! Thus the lesson from this episode is that, more than the knowledge part, implementation is very important, in terms of Dharma. Of course I’m not saying that knowledge is not important here. Knowledge is necessary and is wealth. But along with the knowledge, implementation should also go hand in hand. We should always have that fear within us whether at any point in time we may deviate from the path of “Dharma”. Once this fear is in our mind constantly, this would lead us to self-awareness and we would automatically start doing the right things.

It can be witnessed in India that there is a good amount of spiritual knowledge and understanding, but simultaneously the economic growth too is becoming robust of late! This is the unique speciality of our “Bhaarata Desha” (India) that we have both spiritual growth and economic growth happening at tandem! 🙂 With the amount of foreign travel I had done till now, I have hardly seen any other nation in this world that does both together. Many countries might be economically robust and sound, but would lack in spiritual growth and in understanding the real truth of the “Aatman”. This is the reason why we see many people from the western countries lining up towards India to visit our temples, ashrams, matts, etc. in search of spiritual enlightenment. This is why we as citizens of our great Bharata Desha can be proud that we have the ultimate truth to give to the world! Maybe we can put it this way – It is only because Bhaarata Desha has a good spiritual foundation and growth, we’re able to clock in high economic growth too! However, the growth story of India is slower as compared to other nations in the world. India is like a sleeping lion. Unless and until the lion is sleeping, other animals would make merry around it. However when the lion wakes up from its sleep, we would see that all the animals would run away in fear, isn’t it? Similarly if India wakes up from its slumber, this country would send shivers to other countries worldwide and would make them run for their money! Thus we see that there is no dearth for the spiritual knowledge and enlightenment in India, thanks to the robust “Sanaathana Dharma” that governs it. Few people of course might stray away here and there and spread some false propaganda. However, we should never give into their fake agenda and lose our identity. This is also very important for us to keep in mind as we move further.

As we’re witnessing in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, there are certain characters in the story who are to be adopted as role models for our lives and to be followed. For instance, Bhagawan Rama himself, the devotion of Lakshmana, chastity of Mother Sita, “Bhakti” exhibited by Hanuman and the other Vaanaras towards Bhagawan Rama, Arjuna, Yudishtra, etc. These people followed the princples of Dharma and got enlightened at the end. However there are other characters too which we should also understand, but in a way that we should not conduct ourself like these people. For instance, Ravana, King DHirdiraashtra, Duryodhana, etc. These people deviated from the path of Dharma and we know what happened to them finally. Hence we should realize that we should not fall into this category of people as well. Hence our Sanaathana Dharma conveys both ends of the spectrum and it is upto us to choose our right track and proceed with our life.

So for today, let us ponder over these important points and let us realize the significance of our “Sanaathana Dharma” slowly as we progress every day towards spiritual growth! We shall continue to witness the 39’th Adhyaaya’s overview and subsequently move into the details of it in the next episode to come. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed the introductory note for the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. So far we’ve seen the “Adhyaayas” 33-38 under the “Prajaakara Paruva” under the main “Udyoga Parva” and readers might be familiar with this, since we’re more or less repeating the connotation after almost every Adhyaaya.  Here we are going to witness some important concluding remarks that Vidura is going to give to King Dhirdiraashtra. This is very significant because Vidura is going to give some illustrations, anecdotes and stories to substantiate his points that he had discussed so far. This is going to be an interesting phase of the Vidura Neeti project, and I request our readers to read through and enjoy the same. Of course, the word “enjoyment” signifies our in-depth understanding of the “Dharma” and its implementation in our regular day-to-day life. 🙂

As we’ve witnessed in the innumerable number of slokas in the past six “Adhyaayas”, when we now come to the concluding stage, we would expect King Dhirdiraashtra to realize his mistake and accept Vidura’s advice! For instance, even at our home when we do some mistake and when our father or mother scolds and advises us to mend our ways, what do we do? At the end of the scolding or advice (or both), we either seek an apology to our wrongful act and/or give an assurance to our parents that we would not involve our-self in such an act again in future. This is the normal customary practice. We can witness the same phenomenon at the end of the Bhagawad Gita too. After Bhagawan Krishna explains all the principles of Dharma to Arjuna in the form of 700 odd slokas, Arjuna finally replies to Bhagawan with his folded arms that he had understood all the principles of “Dharma” by now and that, he would meticulously follow and implement these principles in his life starting from this day! It should be remembered by our readers that the entire Bhagawad Gita was born only out of Arjuna’s doubts and confusion. He asks Bhagwan Krishna with tears in his eyes thus, “Oh Vasudeva! I see in front of me, all my cousins and my relatives! I see in front of me, my own Guru Dhronachaarya! Are you asking me to fight against my own dearest people? What am I going to achieve in killing them altogether? What is the use of ruling Hastinapura kingdom if these senior people and my relatives are dead? I’m confused as to what is “Dharma” and what is “Adharma”. So please clarify this for me!” It is only upon this important question that Bhagawan Krishna commences his explanation of the Bhagawad Gita and at the end of the 700 slokas, Arjuna replies to Bhagawan that he had understood all of what he had explained and that his mind is now devoid of all confusions!

Similarly here too, we’ve witnessed at the beginning of the Vidura Neeti that King Dhirdiraashtra had a sleepless night with so much of confusion and worries in his mind. It is at this time he calls upon Vidura seeking his advice. Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraasshtra, all the principles of the “Dharma”. Now at the end of all this, ideally King Dhirdiraashtra should reply thus: “Oh Vidura! I’ve understood all the advice that you had rendered to me over the past few hours. From now I shall mend my ways and try to mend Duryodhana’s ways as well. I shall take steps to divide the Hastinapura Kingdom equally amongst the Kauravas and the Paandavas and thus put an end to this crisis situation! I shall treat both the Paandavas and Kauravas equally and give the Paandavas their due share and opportunity to make a good life in Hastinapura!”

Now, if King Dhirdiraashtra would have given such a reply, Vidura would have been the most happiest man on earth! All the advice that Vidura had given till now would have borne some fruit. But did King Dhirdiraashtra reply this way? We’re going to witness in this “Adhyaaya” how King Dhirdiraashtra virtually “wrote off” Vidura’s valuable advice! He’s going to reply to Vidura thus, “Oh Vidura! Whatever you’ve explained till now seems perfectly right for me! This is what our forefathers and ancesstors have been practicing too! I totally agree! Every king in this world should implement all these principles so as to become successful. However, although my mind agrees and accepts all these principles, my heart doesn’t! Upon looking at my son Duryodhana, my heart refuses to accept whatever you’ve said till now! I feel that even if myself or Duryodhana are acting as per “Adharma”, it is virtually impossible and is too late now to take corrective action!”

By listening to this reply, we would normally expect Vidura to get furious and frustrated! But was it the case? The answer is “no”! Vidura replies back calmly thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! I do not worry about whether you would implement my words or not! I do not worry about whether you would appreciate me for my advice or not! I do not expect any kind of reward from you! I’m only interested in doing my duty! It was my duty to explain all the principles of “Dharma” that I know, and I’ve done that with perfection. Now it’s upto you to follow or not! It is upto you to accept my advice or throw it into the dustbin! The ball is in your court now!”

Saying thus, Vidura gets up and leaves the palace! It should be noted by the readers here that when Vidura commenced his advice in the 33’rd Adhyaaya, he told King Dhirdiraashtra the same thing – He is just doing this not to please King Dhirdiraashtra and obtain some rewards or appreciation of any kind. His duty as a minister is to explain the “Dharma” and to solve the doubts of his king. Vidura has done his job to perfection! Now it is upto King Dhirdiraashtra to take it forward to implement! Will he do it? Let us find out in the 39’th and 40’th Adhyaaya in detail as to what was King Dhirdiraashtra’s reply. So far for the past couple of episodes we’re witnessing the overview of these two Adhyaayas in detail because of this important fact to be highlighted – A minister’s duty is to advice the king on various subjects, and Vidura has perfectly played the role of an able minister! Now if the king is ready to accept the advice or not, is not the minister’s headache! It is for the king to decide! This is “Raaja Dharma” at its best!

So for today let us appreciate Vidura’s stance on this matter and we shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to commence our discussion on the 39’th Adhyaaya, sloka after sloka in detail. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an earnest and an emotional appeal from Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra. As we already know by now, Vidura is trying different ways by which he is trying to convince King Dhirdiraashtra and to teach him all the principles of the “Raaja Dharma”. Vidura is mixing his strategies nicely – From getting emotional to getting angry, to slamming him left, right and centre, by advising him with lot of love and care, illustrating the points with stories and other narratives, etc. In this way, he finishes the 38’th Adhyaaya by making an emotional appeal to King Dhirdiraashtra to treat both the Kauravas and the Paandavas equally, if not treating the Paandavas a level higher up than the Kauravas. Ideally the latter should be the case, because the Paandavas are on a much higher plane with respect to their knowledge, patience, adherence to “Dharma”, etc. as they have Bhagawan Krishna by their side. However Vidura brings down his level of advising, just to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand the seriousness of the issue – He says, atleast try to treat the Paandavas on par with Duryodhana and Co. He requests King Dhirdiraashtra here not to sideline the Paandavas and treat them in an unfair manner, just because they are not his sons. He requests King Dhirdiraashtra to educate his crooked son Duryodhana by making him understand that he is walking a dangerous path against “Dharma” and it wouldn’t last very long.

With this earnest advice, Vidura concludes the 38’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. In this Adhaaya we had witnessed various aspects of the “Raaja Dharma” and how these principles should be implemented so as to make the kingdom successful. While discussing each of these principles we also witnessed some modern day applications of these principles and how they are relevant to today’s scenario and setup. Of course there are truckloads of applications of each of the principle of “Dharma” that Vidura is explaining here, but owing to our limitations with respect to writing, relevant knowledge on all the domains in the modern day science, management and other aspects, etc. we’re unable to venture into more amount of detail in this blog. However, our readers should spend enormous amounts of time in reading through and trying to relate these principles with the current day happenings as per each one’s levels of knowledge and understanding. I might not have the expertise to explain all the principles of Vidura with respect to the modern day applications, and I request our readers to spend quality time on this aspect. The more we think, the more ideas we would get. Therefore it is up to the readers to invest more time on this and avail the benefit of what Vidura explains! 🙂

Now moving on further, we are entering into the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. As mentioned at the end of yesterday’s episode, we still have only two more Adhyaayas left – 39 and 40. These two Adhyaayas contain the concluding remarks of Vidura as an overview of all the principles of “Dharma” that he had explained till now. Every explanation should have a proper introduction, relevant explanation and a proper conclusion, isn’t it? Similarly here too, Vidura tries to give the “final touches” to his wonderful explanation by giving the concluding remarks. It is now going to be up to King Dhirdiraashtra to grasp what Vidura is trying to explain and to implement the principles in practice. However, what had happened at the end? If “Kaala Deva” (Yama Dharma Raaja) comes and sits in our ears, it is believed that he blocks all the good advice that is given by elderly people to enter into our ears! This was the same story with respect to Ravana too. We’ve seen in the Ramayana story wherein multiple people advise Ravana to leave Mother Sita to Bhagwan Rama. We witnessed Hanuman’s advice, Vibhishana’s accord, Angadha’s warning and finally even his own brother, Kumbhakarna’s words of advice! But unfortunately since Kaala Deva had blocked Ravana’s ears completely, all the advice given by these people went for a toss! Nothing entered Ravana’s head, and finally all of us know what happened to him!

Similarly in this case too, we’re witnessing King Dhirdiraashtra being counselled and advised by many elderly and scholarly people here – Sanjaya did his part, Bhagawan Krishna himself did his part of counselling, Vidura has done it twice – Once before the infamous gambling game took place, and the second time through this extensive accord called Vidura Neeti. However, all of these accords finally went in vain as King Dhirdiraashtra’s ears are completely blocked by the Kaala Deva, who is determined to destroy the whole of the Kaurava clan for all their wrongdoings and “Adharmic” activities.

Similarly in our case too, there is an extensive dearth of literature available for us to read and ponder over. There are many accords of Bhagawan himself taking birth and illustrating all the principles of “Dharma” in person. In similar terms, in the present day too there are many “Mahatmas” and “Sadgurus” in this world who “walk the path” of “Dharma” so that we take their lives as examples to mend our ways towards the right path. However in spite, if we’re tending to ignore all of this for our own personal pleasures and for creating a downfall for someone or something, we can very well presume to ourselves that we’re personally inviting Kaala Deva to block our ears and eyes, so that we don’t even make a step to go near the “Dharma” and to understand it. Hence the message from today’s episode is that, we’ve got a rich treasure with us in the form of “Sanaathana Dharma” and it is upto us to utilize it in the proper way so that we understand and practice the “Dharma” that is explained in it. If we fail to do that, it simply means that we’re inviting Kaala Deva to take us to Hell (Naraka)!

So for today let us ponder over this important fact, as we move into the 39’th Adhyaaya of the Vidura Neeti. We’ve witnessed an introductory note for the same today and we shall move into what exactly Vidura is going to say in tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂