The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extension of the discussion on why should we make sure that we respect women at all times! We had witnessed series of instances from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as to how an entire dynasty or clan was destroyed just because of the curse of one woman! In the case of Ramayana, Ravana’s powerful Lanka was reduced to rubbles because of the curse of the one and only Mother Sita! Similarly we’re witnessing how Duryodhana and Co. are going to be destroyed complelely because of the curse of one woman by name Draupati. Thus the reason why Vidura is stressing upon this point repeatedly time and again is that, King Dhirdiraashtra should realize that he’s committing a brazen mistake in his life by letting his sons insult women and take them for granted!

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next important point. Here he says who should do what work! As a king, he should allocate different work to different people. This is what we call in today’s corporate terminology as “Human Resources Management”. It is wonderful to witness how Vidura has spoken something in lines with our Human Resources Management” principles, thousands of years back! Vidura explains thus:

“Pithur anthahpuram dadyaath maaturdadhyaan mahaarasam!

Goshucha aatmasamam dadyaath svayameva krishim vadeth!!”

Here Vidura lists four different jobs and four different categories of people who should take care of each of the jobs! The first one, Vidura says – Pithur anthahpuram dadyaath” – This means that the duties, roles and responsibilities of the “Anthahpura” should be undertaken by the father, or in other words, the man of the house! We can of course equate the term “Antahpura” to our modern day “housekeeping”, maintenance activities at home with respect to water, electricity, etc. Thus Vidura says that the father is the person who is capable of handling all these jobs efficiently.

Next, Vidura says – “Maaturdadhyaan mahaarasam” –All affairs pertaining to the kitchen and food, should be supervised and taken care of by the mother, in other words, the woman of the house! Here we can see clearly that Vidura is trying to allocate the apt job for the apt set of people. Of course in today’s world both men and women need to be competent in everything, including cooking. But the point is, there are certain jobs that come easily and handy for men and there are certain jobs that come easily and handy for women. This is how the human psychology functions, irrespective of whether we accept it or not! If we look at the natural psychological trends of a man and a woman in general, men would be more interested in outdoor activities such as driving cars, bikes, identifying automobile brands with their models of vehicles that they come up every now and then, etc. Whereas if we compare it with the woman, her likes would predominantly be cleanliness at home, cooking different kinds of dishes, etc. Of course there’s no offense here with respect to any gender. All I’m trying to say is that, there are certain jobs that come naturally to men and similarly for women. In that way, cooking is one job that comes naturally for a woman and hence Vidura mentions here that all kitchen activities are to be taken care of by the woman of the house. Here we can understand from every instance of this sloka that Vidura is appointing the right person for the right job!

Next, Vidura explains – “Goshucha aatmasamam dadyaath” – Here he says that a cowshed should be maintained by a trusted person equivalent of us. It might be a family friend, a relative, etc. Overall, the cowshed should be maintained by a person who can be cent percent trusted by us. This is probably because, there is always this chance that cows or their milk might be stolen away to make money illegally, if there are people who cannot be trusted!

Finally Vidura explains – “svayameva krishim vadeth” – Here Vidura explains the most important point. As a king, any business dealing that comes with either a barter trade or in exchange with money should directly be supervised by him, and not by anybody else! It is because, money matters and business deals should be dealt carefully and the “trade secrets” should be protected at any cost. This is the reason why even today, many companies follow this principle – All the important business decisions would only be concentrated around the CEO of the organization or within its board members. Other employees who work down the corporate ladder would many a times not be apprised on the strategic decisions that the CEO or board members take. It is only the execution part that is apprised to the lower level employees. This is because there is always a possibility that the trade secrets would be exposed to the outside world, if it is shared with more and more employees! Although they might not do it wantedly on purpose, however there are many channels through which critical and sensitive information would leak out to the public domain!

This concept is beautifully depicted by a very famous leadership theory called “Leader-Member Exchange”. It talks about two types of followers for a leader – The “In-group” and the “Out-group”. The people forming the “IN-group” would be trusted group of people for the leader, with whom the strategic decisions are taken! Members who form the “OUT-Group” are only employed for the implementation of the decisions, and not for the decision-making in itself! Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to this concept, but this is exactly what Vidura explains here too – If it is a business deal, it is to be maintained secret and should directly be supervised by the king alone!

It is amazing to find exact relevance of modern day management and leadership theories to those explanations given by Vidura on account of the “Raaja-Dharma”. There are many more such instances that are yet to come, and we shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to take it forward! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura lamenting once more to King Dhirdiraashtra that his biggest fault in life was to encourage his son Duryodhana to disrespect a woman in front of the public courtroom. He conveys this message indirectly at this context, wherein he explains why a woman should be respected at any cost. He lists down few characteristics of women that make them a special group of people to be respected and protected well. In this way, Vidura once more reminds of King Dhirdiraashtra’s folly of insulting Draupati, which is ultimately going to destroy not only him and Duryodhana, but also the entire Kaurava clan! When Draupati was insulted in the public courtroom by Ducchasana, in association with Duryodhana and Co., it should be remembered that all the so-called “senior” members of the Hastinapura palace inclusive of Bhishma, Dhrona, etc. were absolutely silent! This was indeed the turning point of the entire Mahabharata story, and if there was one instance with which Bhagawan Krishna could nail Duryodhana at the end, it was this one!

It should also be remembered that after this insult, Draupati had undertaken a pledge that whoever insulted her should be killed by her husbands in revenge and it is only after she washes her hair with that person’s blood, she would again dress her hair properly! This famous episode in the Mahabharata is known as “Paanchaali Sabadham” and today there are many documentaries and explanations depicting this whole episode! From this, the basic message that all of us should understand is that, if we insult a woman by physically or mentally assaulting her, the curse that we obtain because of the heinous act would destroy not only us, but also our entire generation of family after us! This is what exactly happened in the Mahabharata also – A huge baniyan tree called the “Kaurava Dynasty” was destroyed and reduced to rubbles and ashes, just because of this one woman’s curse!

Similarly in the Valmiki Ramayana project we’ve seen Mother Sita cursing Ravana for his heinous crime of abducting her and holding her captive by torturing her! We’ve seen this particular instance in the “Sundara Kaanda” of the Valmiki Ramayana – When Ravana came to Mother Sita and threatened her to marry him immediately and come over to his bed, Mother Sita initially tried to advise him to change his attitude towards women! However as we all know, Ravana never budged! It is at this time, Mother Sita cursed Ravana and Lanka with her words for the first time. She says thus, “Just like how today I’m suffering from the separation from my husband and just like how I’m being tortured by all the demonesses today, every woman in Lanka would suffer the same plight as mine! The entire city of Lanka which looks beautiful with all wealth and luxuries, would soon be burnt down and reduced to rubbles! The entire Lanka would look like a graveyard wherein people would run here and there, searching for the dead bodies of their near and dear ones! All the important people in the Lanka kingdom would be killed for their cheap mentality! All the beautiful palaces and buildings adorning Lanka city would be demolished in no time! I’m sure all this would happen when my husband Rama comes soon and invades this city!”

Subsequent to what Mother Sita cursed on that day, we’ve seen what happened to Lanka thereafter! Why to wait till Bhagawan Rama came to Lanka? There was his messenger by name “Hanuman” who came in advance and executed Mother Sita’s curse, isn’t it? We know how Hanuman destroyed each and every building of Lanka and how he burnt the entire city within seconds!

Subsequently, even in today’s world we’re witnessing innumerable instances wherein the country of Sri Lanka (Present day) is in turmoil every now and then! We’ve seen the civil wars that happened for around twenty long years between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE and how many people were gunned down mercilessly! Many people fled from Sri Lanka as refugees and settled in other places of the world such as India, Europe, the US, etc. Although the war has officially ended as of date, my understanding from the close interactions that I keep having with some people of Sri Lanka is that, there is still a “Cold war” that is going on, and people of both camps are trying to wage “emotional wars” with each other! Even today we can see in Sri Lanka that the native Sinhalese have their own national anthem and the Tamil population in the northern part of the country have their own national anthem. Such is the affair that exists today! If we correlate all these instances together, it might seem to the readers that perhaps Mother Sita’s curse is still alive and is still wreaking havoc in Lanka even after thousands and thousands of years!

Of course this is in no way an offense to the great country called Sri Lanka! Our Sri Lankan readers should not get offended by this, since it’s just my personal understandings and views on this subject. You can correct me if I’m wrong. However all said and done, if there is one beautiful country in the world with respect to nature and people, it should definitely be Sri Lanka! Hence the important message from this extended discussion is that, we should be very careful in life not to insult women. We should make sure that we treat women with utmost respect and ensure that they’re happy and satisfied. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next point that Vidura highlights! Stay tuned! 🙂

The previous episode marked a very important contemporary topic of discussion wherein we witnessed the present-day ill-effects of selling certain products in exchange for money, which Vidura had warned against! With special focus on food products, we saw how many modern-day companies make enormous profits by compromising the basic safety parameters while manufacturing food items that are so-called “Ready-to-eat”. We witnessed instances that were in the news recently wherein, it was found that adequate cleanliness parameters were found wanting in certain food manufacturing companies, and we can imagine the plight of those people who regularly consume these food items every day! Hence the most important point to focus in today’s world is that, ethics is very important and companies of any domain should not forget that people come to them with a basic amount of trust. If we start playing with people’s trust, it’s going to be a great disgrace to the society at large, wherein we would end up seeing people suffering with either physical or mental ailments of some sorts. Moreover, as companies, we would also unnecessarily entangle ourselves into ethical and legal issues, which in today’s world are very difficult to tackle! Of course I do understand the limitation from the people’s side that “Barter trading” of food items are no more possible in the world and we’re left at the mercy of purchasing food items for money!

Now moving forward, Vidura is going to explain yet another important aspect of “Dharma”, wherein he says that we should respect women in a very high manner and treat them well so that they’re happy and satisfied! Vidura explains thus:

“Aneershu guptadhaarasya samvibhaageeh priyam vadaha!”

 Here Vidura explains the sweet characteristics of a woman – She is an epitome of patience! She always talks in a pleasing manner. She always talks good and pleasing words. She is an embodiment of mercy. Hence given all these characteristics, it is the duty of every man in this world to respect the woman without any blemish.

We might wonder why Vidura is stressing this point again and again. There were many instances in the previous “Adhyaayas” wherein Vidura has spoken about this at length, but here too he re invokes this point for discussion. Perhaps Vidura knows that King Dhirdiraashtra doesn’t seem to realize his folly at all even after repeatedly advising him! Maybe Vidura would have thought that the only way to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand “Dharma” is to repeatedly reinforce it “Adhyaaya” after “Adhyaaya” so that atleast at some point in time it might hit his head! This is the same problem with us too – This is why our parents, grandparents, etc. try to advise us repeatedly with the “Dharma” so that at some point in time, we would be able to understand the significance of it. If complex points pertaining to “Dharma” are just said once and left, many a times we would not be in a position to accept those points and we would not care to ponder over those important points at all! Ultimately the “Dharma” would be forgotten forever. It is only to prevent this from happening, our great Maharishis and ancestors have taken pains to repeatedly reinforce the “Dharma” to all of us, by employing different strategies – Stories, advice, projections, etc. so that it reaches us clearly!

Here too thus, Vidura reinvokes the point on why should women be respected! This is because of Duryodhana’s atrocious act of insulting Draupati (Wife of the Paandavas) in the public forum where the entire Hastinapura kingdom had assembled. More than Duryodhana and his brothers, the onus of the fault lies on the shoulders of seniors such as King Dhirdiraashtra himself, Bhishmachaarya, Dhronaachaarya, Sahuni, etc. because when Duchhaasana was publicly insulting Draupati by pulling off her saree, nobody opened their mouths in protest to the crime! Every single person was a mute spectator to the crime that was happening, in-spite of Draupati screaming for help! Finally when Draupati called Bhagawan Krishna for help, it was Bhagawan who came at the right time to save her from being insulted further! By doing all this, Vidura slams King Dhirdiraashtra that he and his sons have earned the anger and frustration of Bhagawan Krishna more than anybody else, and that, Bhagawan is giving them a long rope, which unfortunately the entire Kaurava clan is using that to hang themselves!

Thus Vidura takes another opportunity to take heavy toll on King Dhirdiraashtra with this sloka to re-iterate the point that he and his sons have made the blunder of their life by insulting the woman by name Draupati. Even after this, will King Dhirdiraashtra realize his folly and repent for his mistake? Will King Dhirdiraashtra mend his and his sons’ ways so as to prevent any further disasters from coming through? Time should give the answer! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important point of discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an exhaustive list of items that should not be traded in terms of money. In other words, Vidura had clearly explained that these items should not be bought or sold for money! Of course we can argue that such things are not possible in today’s ways of doing business, however, we should note that in those days, “Barter trade” was the order of the day in the business environment. People used to trade one product with another and this business model was popular across all kingdoms in our ancient Bhaarata Desha. We should also remember the fact that Vidura is talking about the “Dharma” of the “Tretha Yuga” and not of the “Kali Yuga”. We’ve already seen quite a bit of explanation on this front in our previous episodes and the readers may recollect our discussion on this! At the end of that explanation, Vidura had clearly explained how the “Dharma” would keep deteriorating as days progress and now applying those words of Vidura, as “Yugas” transcended by, the “Dharma” is only getting worse day by day! Hence we’re witnessing today that all the trade happens in terms of money (currency) and barter trade has by large vanished from our economic system (barring few items of course). I’m not saying that it’s wrong at this point, because the entire world is now functioning on the basis of currency trade.

But the sad thing today is that, just because of the currency trade, many people are taking advantage of it to play foul games in a way that they end up cheating other people for some petty momentary gains. For instance, in today’s world we have innumerable “ready-to-eat” products that are sold in the market. It is shocking to read some media reports that many of these companies that process these food items are solely focused on the commercial profit on these products, but they care a damn for the quality of the products that they sell. Little are these companies bothered about the customers’ health and side effects if he/she consumes these products. There were recent reports that one prominent brand that manufactures some “ready-to-eat” and “ready-to-cook” items were found wanting in terms of adequate cleanliness at the manufacturing area! Reports were showing that the workers who are employed at the manufacturing floor, never wore head covers (to prevent the fall of human hair into the product), gloves (to prevent bacteria and virus from the hands in entering the product), etc. If such is the case, where are we heading to nowadays?

This is why we always keep saying that it has now become extremely dangerous to consume food that is not purely home-cooked! Of course we can see that this is one firm that has been caught for such wrongdoings! But there might be thousands of other firms that still continue manufacturing sub-standard products by violating “Food safety” norms prescribed by the government! Where is the importance given to a human life in todays’s scenario? This commercialisation has gone to such an extent today that we’ve taken human life and human health for granted! This is why perhaps it makes us feel that at some point, barter trade was much more efficient in terms of lot of aspects such as health, safety, etc. Now that we’re into excess of commercialization, many organizations today are becoming more and more obsessed with money and profits, that they are even ready to compromise and do anything and everything to fulfil their numbers!

This, we’ve spoken just about one industry and one such incident! There are innumerable examples in today’s business world wherein we talk loud and clear about ethics and how do we maintain ethics in the professional setup. However the bigger question to be asked here is that, are we “walking the talk” with respect to professional ethics? If we really do so, why do we see widespread corruption in almost every walk of life in today’s world? Corruption might not only exist in government offices (as it is the normal perception of all of us), but also might show its ugly face in the corporate sector too! How many companies are we seeing today, swindling huge amounts of money and looting it all, in front of the shareholders’ eyes? How many companies are “cheating” banks that give them huge amounts of loans based on the “trust factor” that it would be repaid back at the appropriate time? Where is the accountability for all this? Can bank loans be “written off” just like that, without any pre-conceived thought or notion? These are the problems that plague today’s business world, as we’ve moved from the barter trade to the currency trade.

Of course I’m not saying that all companies are cheating in terms of money and ethics, but what I’m trying to say here is that the “Dharma” of the business world is slowly deteriorating, owing to the widespread and gross misuse of something called “currency” or money! Of course I also understand that moving forward, we can neither eradicate currency trade, nor the corruption that is associated with it. But as ardent followers of “Sanaathana Dharma”, we should understand that by misusing power and position to swindle money, we are doing a huge disservice to our own society and to our own fellow brothers and sisters! Hence we should take a conscious step forward to realize this truth and take adequate steps to reduce such gross wrongdoings in business.

So for today, let us extend our thought process into this point and let us understand the fact that if we’re swindling others’ money today, our money would be swindled by someone else tomorrow! Hence let us not get into the trap called “money” and let us realize that life has much more to offer than just money and luxuries associated with it! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important point that Vidura explains! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the significance of “Dhaanam” and we had discussed how “Dhaanam” needs to be given to the deserving people in a completely selfless manner. We had also invoked the example of King Dasharata and witnessed how we should never have the attitude of “I” or “My” while giving “Dhaanam” to someone. It is a traditional practice that if we give a “Dhaanam” with a selfish attitude by claiming ownership of that object after giving it, elderly people would never accept such an offering! Hence when we’re donating something to elderly people and those people with a high spiritual stature, it is important that we give the “Dhaanam” with a complete selfless attitude and also without claiming ownership of that object that we’re giving them as a “Dhaanam”!

Now moving on further, Vidura explains a very important and an interesting point here – There are certain items that we should never do any sorts of business with. Here, business meaning, buying and selling of these goods or products in exchange of money! If we happen to look at those items that Vidura is going to mention, perhaps in today’s world, we need to stop eating altogether! 🙂 Let us now look at what Vidura has to say in this regard:

“Avikriyam lavanam pakkuvamannam dadhi ksheeram madhuhu!

Thailam gritham thilaa maamsam phala moolaani saakham rattham vaasaha!!”

Here Vidura jots down a huge list of items that we should never buy or sell in our life! That is, Vidura explains that the following items should not be bought or sold in exchange for money! Of course in today’s world I’m not sure how this would be applicable! Nevertheless we shall have a look at these items one by one in detail now:

He begins with “Avikriyam lavanam” – We should never buy or sell salt in exchange with money! Of course nowadays we have huge salt producing and processing firms all across the world and we’re now in the modern day forced to buy salt from these companies for money!

Next, Vidura explains, “Pakkuvamannam” – We should never buy or sell food that is cooked! If this has to be followed in today’s world, all hotels and restaurants should be closed down forever! 🙂 Of course this is not going to be possible and hence I do not want to comment anything more on this!

Now Vidura continues with the third item, “Dadhi” – This means curd or yogurt! This too is available nowadays commercially in grocery stores. In olden days and even today in some houses, curd is not a commodity that is purchased. We might purchase milk, and it is normally from the milk we make curd via fermentation!

But now Vidura is going to keep a “check” on this too – The fourth item that he says is going to be “Milk” itself – “Ksheeram”! He says that we should also not buy milk for money!

The next item – “Madhu” – This means Honey! Vidura says that even honey shouldn’t be bought for money!

Next item that Vidura says here is “Thailam” – This means “Oil”. It can be any kind of oil for that matter. Nowadays we are again forced to “buy” oil for various purposes in our daily routine lives. Every time we purchase oil with money only! Hence this is also gone for a toss in today’s world! 🙂

Next, Vidura mentions “Gritham” – This means “Ghee”. According to Vidura, even ghee shouldn’t be purchased for money!

Furthermore he adds on – “Thila” – This means “Ellu” in Tamil and few other south Indian languages. This is one of the main components of the “Shraadham” and other pujas that we offer to our “Pithru Devatas” (Ancestors). Even this “Thila” shouldn’t be commercially bought, according to Vidura!

Furthermore, Vidura adds on many more items – “Maamsam” (Flesh), “Phala moolaani” (Fruits & vegetables), “Saakham” (Green leafy vegetables) and finally “Ratham vaasaha” (The clothes that we wear)!

I guess with this exhaustive list, Vidura has covered all those items that are needed for our day-to-day survival in today’s world! 🙂 One may ask a question – If we’re not purchasing these items today, how do we even live? How was this practised during those times of Vidura and Mahabharata? The answer to this question is that, in those days, “Barter trade” was the only popular method of trading. That is, trade used to be done with exchange of goods and services! For instance if I have excess of rice, I trade this excess rice with someone, in return of any other item that he/she has an excess with him/her! Trade in those days was never carried out with exchange of money!

Of course now things have changed a lot, but what we can understand from such unique slokas in our ancient scriptures is that, we’ve continuously degenerated generation after generation into this Kali Yuga in such a way that in today’s world, everything is measured in terms of money – Including human life! This is the pathetic situation that we’re pushed to in today’s world! Anyways, we shall continue this discussion a little bit forward in the next episode tomorrow, before we move into the next point that Vidura explains! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had an extended discussion on the last point of the previous “Adhyaaya” wherein Vidura explains the significance of standing up and respecting people of a high stature. We witnessed how Bhagawan Krishna himself was an epitome in following this point meticulously in his life. We saw how he exhibited his respect to his old friend Kuchela, when he had come to Dwaraka to visit Bhagawan Krishna. The manner in which Bhagawan Krishna paid his respects to Kuchela was a tribute to experience! Hence from this, we need to understand that if we come across people with a high stature, it is mandatory to stand up in respect for them!

Moving on further, we commenced the next “Adhyaaya” of the Vidura Neeti wherein Vidura drops a bombshell to all of us first up! He commences this “Adhyaaya” with the important message regarding “Charity” and how “Charity” should be a selfless affair, rather than focusing on unwanted publicity around it. In today’s episode we shall have an extended discussion about this important point.

In the traditional sense, “Charity” or “Dhaanam” is something that is extremely significant and it occupies a prime stature in our “Sanaathana Dharma”. There are innumerable specifics when it comes to both giving “Dhaanam” and accepting the “Dhaanam”. There are few important qualifications required for the person who should give “Dhaanam”. Similarly, it should also be noted that the “Dhaanam” should not be made for anybody and everybody in this world. The person who receives the “Dhaanam” also has a certain set of important criteria to be fulfilled. Most importantly, the person who is giving the “Dhaanam” should never ever have an iota of selfishness in him/her. In other words, while we are giving the “Dhaanam”, it is a normal practice that we chant the Sanskrit phrase “Idan namama”, which means “the object that we’re donating doesn’t belong to me anymore, and from this moment onwards it is completely yours!” After giving the “Dhaanam” we should never even in our wildest dreams, have a feeling that the object that we’ve donated is somewhere ours, and it is given by us!

At this moment we can recall an instance from our previous Ramayana project wherein, Sage Vishwamitra enters King Dasaratha’s courtroom, seeking to take Bhagawan Rama with him, so as to kill the Raakshasas (Demons) for completing his “Yagnya” (Divine offering). At the time when Sage Vishwamitra asks King Dasaratha to send Rama with him, King Dasaratha couldn’t believe it! He had an opinion as to how is a small child (Bhagawan Rama was a child below sixteen years of age at that time) going to be efficient enough to kill the powerful demons! At that time he uses a peculiar way to address Sage Vishwamitra. He says thus,

“Uuna shodasa varshaha me raamaha raajeeva lochanaha!

Na yuddha yogyathaamasya pashyaami saha raakshasaihi!!”

This is an excerpt from the Valmiki Ramayana. Here through the above sloka, King Dasharata replies to Sage Vishwamitra’s request thus, “Oh Sage Vishwaamithra! My son Rama (“Me raamaha”) is below sixteen years of age and he is unfit to fight wars! Hence I’m not going to send Rama with you anywhere!” Here we can see that King Dasharata purposefully employing the phrase “Me raamaha”, which means, “My Rama” or “My son Rama!” He does this based on the belief that since King Dasharata “claims” that Rama is “his” property, Sage Vishwamitra would not take Rama along with him to the forest! He was expecting Sage Vishwamitra to leave Rama alone and go away! Thus here Valmiki Maharishi indirectly drives home the concept (through this part of the Ramayana story) that while we’re giving a “Dhaanam” to a person of a high stature, we should never have the attitude of “Mine”! We should donate any item with a complete selfless attitude!

Now in today’s world how far are we following this ideology of “Dhaanam”? For instance when we visit a temple today, there might be some fancy decorative lights, fans, air coolers, etc. donated by many devotees who visit the temple. It’s a good thing, but the problem comes when the donors claim publicity by putting their name on the light or the cooler itself proclaiming that it was them who donated it to the temple! This is what we need to avoid. When we donate something to someone or to a temple or Mutt, we should never claim publicity for what we’ve donated. It is said that if our right hand donates something to someone, even our left hand should not know about it! Such is the secrecy that should be maintained while donating something to someone.

So for today let us realize the fact that giving “Dhaanam” is a sacred affair and it should never be publicized in such a way that the donor should openly take credit and personal brownie points for doing it. The important point here is that, “Dhaanam” is supposed to be a selfless affair and the sanctity of the affair should always be maintained at any cost. This is the real meaning of the phrase “Idan namama”! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next point that Vidura is going to emphasize! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point taken up by Vidura for explanation – Why should we stand up in respect to a person with an extremely high stature? We witnessed an interesting explanation to this point that followed during yesterday’s episode. Vidura explains that our breath (“Praanan”) starts to transcend upwards from our body as we fail to stand up in respect for such people. It is only at the moment we get up to pay respect to such a person, will our breath transcend back into our body. This is the reason why we have the age-old practice of standing up in respect to a high stature person like a “Guru” or a “Mahatma” or a “Spirutal Master” while they come close to us. It is important that we understand this well because in the Mahaabharata itself we had seen how Duryodhana was doomed for one of the main reasons that he did not stand up, nor he let any of his ministers stand up in respect when Bhagawan Krishna walked in! This is perhaps the biggest mistake or blunder that Duryodhana committed and it was at this moment, his lifespan was rewritten by Bhagawan Krishna!

Thus Vidura tries to ring the alarm bells to King Dhirdiraashtra, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! All what I’m explaining to you now are subtle things, which are completely invisible to our eyes! Here you can clearly see that Duryodhana is making blunders that are both visibile to our naked eye and invisible too! Look at what Duryodhana has done! He cannot be a bigger fool than this! Rather than paying respects to Bhagawan Krishna by standing up, and then offering a seat for Him, what did he end up doing? This, I think has sealed the fate against your son Duryodhana!”

In fact we can also witness in a separate instance how Bhagawan Krishna was himself an epitome of this important quality – When Bhagawan’s friend and an old classmate “Kuchela” came to visit Dwaraka, what did Bhagawan do? The moment he saw Kuchela advancing towards the Dwaraka palace, Bhagawan Krishna ran towards the entrance, stood in front of him, saluted him and payed his respects towards him. Then subsequently Bhagawan Krishna takes Kuchela inside the palace by holding his hands, makes him sit in a chair, washes Kuchela’s feet with water and offers Kuchela something to eat!

We might wonder why Bhagawan is doing all this! As we’ve seen earlier too, by doing this, Bhagawan shows us the way how to respect elders. It must be noted that Kuchela was a poor Brahmin who was clad in a dirty dhoti, which was also torn at many places and moreover, Kuchela and his family was struggling to even get three basic meals a day! Whereas, all of us know who Bhagawan Krishna was! He was a king, with infinite wealth and he was Bhagawan himself! Inspite of this huge difference, Bhagawan goes and pays tribute to this poor old man! Here we should note that neither richness/poorness nor physical appearance, etc. should come in between, while paying respects to a person of such a high stature! Kuchela might have been poor in terms of physical appearance and in terms of wealth, but he was a senior person in terms of knowledge and the awareness of the “Aathman”. This is what is important for Bhagawan Krishna to respect Kuchela! Thus from this example we can witness here how Bhagawan Himself was an epitome when he practised this important virtue!

With this message, we come to the end of this important “Adhyaaya” of the Vidura Neeti. We now move on to the next “Adhyaaya”, which is a relatively smaller one as compared to the others. He commences the next “Adhyaaya” with an important message that while we’re donating something as a “Daanam” or “Charity”, we should donate that item with the attitude that that object is not ours! In other words, only if we donate something with a selfless attitude, will it be of any effect to us!

So for today, let us extend our thoughts on why should we pay respect to elders and people of high stature by standing up. We shall also commence our thought process with regards to giving “Daanam” or “Charity” to others, especially when it comes to elders. We shall continue this discussion in the next episode and take it forward from here! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point as explained by Vidura. Here he speaks about the unity between the two clans – Kauravas and the Paandavas and how important it is for a successful and a healthy kingdom. Vidura compared it with a beautiful analogy of a banyan tree with innumerable branches. Just like how a banyan tree grows into a mammoth size and also with immense strength, the tree called “Hasthinapura Kingdom” would be able to grow with invincible power and strength only if the trunk called “Paandavas” and branches called “Kauravas” are intact with perfect co-ordination and unity. Now the problem is that, this unity between the “trunk” and “branches” is missing, and this is what is fueling all the problems. Vidura reminds King Dhirdiraashtra time and again that the Paandavas are ready to relent as they’re embodiments of love and compassion. Moreover, the Paandavas have immense respect for King Dhirdiraashtra, which is widely known to all! Hence it is only in the part of Duryodhana to make the compromise and accept them unconditionally. It is only because of Duryodhana’s ego and crookedness, Hasthinapura is facing immense amounts of problems!

This is exactly what is happening in today’s world too – We talk so much on unity, but if we introspect within ourselves and our families, or community, our religion, etc. where is the unity today? Even within a family today, how many fights and quarrels keep happening? How many couples end up in divorce due to lack of unity and understanding between them? It is so saddening to see even children and parents fighting with each other over property disputes, money matters, taking care of parents when they are aged, etc.

Thus the important message from this portion of the Vidura Neeti is that, we should develop this virtue of “unity” at all situations – It might be within a husband and a wife, or between parents and children, or between a family with relatives, or between our own neighbourhood, or within our community, religion, etc. and finally within our own fellow countrymen! This is also important – Whichever country we are from and wherever we are, we should maintain the unity amongst our own fellow countrymen and treat them like our own family members! This is why we say in our National Pledge – “India is my country and all fellow Indians are my brothers and sisters!” Isn’t it? Hence we should realize that this should not just be read monotonously, but we should bring it into practice every day! 🙂

Thus moving further, Vidura now explains the final point for this “Adhyaya” as to how we should respect elderly people and those who are of a high stature in life! He says thus:

“Uurthvam praanaanaaha uthkraamanti yoonasthavira aayati!

Prathuthaanaabhi vaadaabhyaam kulasthaam prathipathyathe!!”

Here Vidura makes an important mention. How do we respect a person who is of a very high stature? We normally stand up out of respect to that person, isn’t it? This is the practice not only in today’s scenario, but also during the ancient times too. This is exactly what Vidura is now referring to in this context. He explains that if we fail to stand up from our seat, while a person with extremely high stature is walking towards us, our breathing comes to a stand still for that moment and we would ideally be dead! In other words, if a person of a high stature is walking in front of us, until the point we get up to pay respect, our breath would start going out of our body. It is only after we stand up in front of that person, will our breath come back to us! This is a very subtle point of discussion as this is not a visible aspect to our human eye to witness and understand. This happens at an extremely subtle level, but this is extremely significant.

Thus it is believed that if a person of a high stature is in front of us, until the point we get up from our seat, our breath (“Praanan”) would start transcending upwards from our body. It is only after we get up with respect that “Praanan” again transcends down into our lungs and makes us alive again! Hence we should understand here that from the time we get up from our chair and till the time we’re fully standing in front of that person with a high stature, we’re virtually considered to be “dead”! Thus it becomes extremely important for us to respect a person with a high stature by standing up. If we fail to do so, we should understand that our “Praanan” goes out and thus our lifespan starts to decrease! We need to be very careful here!

Now we might wonder as to why Vidura gives so much of stress to this point! This is exactly where Duryodhana was “trapped” into! When Bhagawan Krishna – A person with the highest stature in this world, walked inside the courtroom of King Dhirdiraashtra, Duryodhana had instructed all of the people assembled there, not to stand up in respect to Bhagawan! When Bhagawan entered the courtroom, none of them stood up, except Duryodhana of course! But there was a definitive time lag between the moment Bhagwan entered and Duryodhana standing up! This started to mark the end of his fate! His days were starting to get counted, and all of us know what happened after that! The entire lot of people faced similar backlash with their lifespan because of their gross disrespect towards Bhagawan!

Hence from this important episode we should understand clearly that when a person of a high stature – Might be a “Guru” or a “Mahatma” or anyone for that matter comes to us, we need to immediately stand up in respect towards them! For today let us ponder over this important point and we shall take it forward in the next episode for more discussion as we enter into the next “Adhyaaya”! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important explanation from Vidura wherein he stresses upon the point that we should respect four different categories of beings at any point in time – They are, snakes, fire (Agni Bhagawan), lion and “Kula-Putraha” (Means, brothers or sisters within the same family). Meanwhile, Vidura sends a strong message to King Dhirdiraashtra by warning him that his son Duryodhana is playing with fire, not knowing the repercussions of his evil actions. If the fire called “Paandavas” explodes big time, Vidura cautions that Duryodhana is going to burnt down to ashes within no time! Instead, Duryodhana should make a conscious effort to broker peace with the Paandavas atleast now at this moment, before things really fall out of hand!

King Dhirdiraashtra listens to all this from Vidura but none of Vidura’s cautions or messages are making any sense to him! However notwithstanding King Dhirdiraashtra’s deep “Agnyaana” (Mental slumber) and ego, Vidura continues his advice to him. Moving on to the next point, Vidura now compares the two sets of brothers – Paandavas and Kauravas to a big tree and its huge branches. Vidura says thus:

“Sa eva kaludhaarubhyaha yadhaa nirmadhya deepyate!

Tath dhaaru cha vanam chaanyanirdahathyaatu tejasaa!

Lataa dharmaartham samudraha shaalah paandusuthaa mathaaha!!” 

Here we can imagine a huge banyan tree with innumerable number of branches spreading from its main trunk in all directions. Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra that the Paandavas are like that huge trunk of the banyan tree, which serves as the nucleus for the whole tree to function properly. The Kauravas are like the strong branches that stem out from the tree in all directions. Just like how a banyan tree becomes complete only when the trunk and branches are knitted together in unison, the banyan tree called Hastinaapura kingdom would be complete only if its trunk called “Paandavas” and its branches called “Kauravas” stay united and well-knit with each other! Vidura compares the trunk of the banyan tree to the Paandavas because of their extremely sharp intellect and mental balance. Each of the five Paandava brothers starting from Yudishtra (Also referred to as “Dharma-Putra” or the embodiment of “Dharma”) till Sahaadeva are embodiments of “Dharma” in different aspects. Thus Vidura exhorts the fact that these five brothers who are the embodiments of five different aspects of “Dharma” would be a huge asset to the Hastinapura kingdom and hence would form the nucleus or the nerve-center of the kingdom with ease! However he does not underestimate the Kauravas as well – Just like the branches are important for a banyan tree to spread its wings in all four directions, the Kauravas can co-ordinate well with the Paandavas to increase the popularity of the Hastinapura kingdom in a mammoth way and in the path of “Dharma”. If this happens, Hastinaapura kingdom would certainly become a role model for the entire world and in future, lessons can be learnt with respect to unity in diversity, “Raaja-Dharma”, etc. in the future.

Hence with all these words of advice, Vidura explains all the aspects of “Raaja Dharma” to King Dhirdiraashtra and with this we come to the end of this particular “Adhyaaya” (Chapter) of the Vidura Neeti. While finishing this Adhyaaya, Vidura also adds a small note on how do we respect elderly people and those who are experienced in various aspects of life. This is an extremely important point for all of us to think about, and we shall reserve this discussion for tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

The last couple of episodes witnessed an important discussion with regards to Vidura’s explanation on the significance of mental strength to a person. Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra that with adequate and a sound mental acumen, one can easily defeat an enemy in such a way that this enemy would never be able to stand up against him any time in future! In the previous episode we had extended this important point of discussion to the current day wherein our Hindu “Sanaathana Dharma” is being challenged baselessly and in a cowardly manner by some fringe elements. As discussed yesterday, we as ardent followers of Hinduism should spend some time in mastering our scriptural texts along with their significance, so that neither we fall into the trap of the hidden agenda of the anti-Hindu & anti-India groups, nor we would let other innocent people around us fall prey to these goons! Thus with our strong and sound mental acumen, we would be able to transform ourselves into a force to reckon with for the fringe groups, so that they would feel scared to wag their tails in front of us in future!

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the next point and this time he’s conveying yet another poking message to King Dhirdiraashtra that the following four categories of living beings in this world should be treated with utmost respect. Vidura explains thus:

“Sarpaascha agnischa simhascha kulaputrascha bhaarata!!”

Here Vidura explains clearly that these four categories of living beings should be treated with respect – “Sarpaha”, means snakes! Even today we have the practice of worshipping snakes in a big way as part of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. We always keep hearing from elders that few “Astrological Doshas” are because of the cruelty shown to snakes by either our ancestors of our family or by ourselves in our previous births! We call it as “Naaga-Dosha” wherein according to the astrological science, the evil effects of troubling or killing a snake transcends through generation after generation in a family. This is why even today we would witness in some families that people in successive generations (grandfathers/grandmothers, fathers/mothers, sons/daughters), suffering with similar kinds of issues – These issues might pertaining to their physical or mental health, or also pertain to marriage, child birth, etc. Hence it is always advised by astrologers and also by our elders that we should be extremely careful while dealing with snakes (if at all we happen to do so). It is better not to kill or harm them, even if we do not respect them in any way.

Next category that Vidura is invoking here in this context is “Agni”. Normally we worship the “Fire” in the form of “Agni Bhagawan” as many of us might be aware of. We worship this fire as long as it is inside the “Homa-Kunda” where the fire is lit. However, if the fire spreads out by and large outside the “Homa Kunda”, it becomes a big danger, isn’t it? Hence if we respect Agni Bhagawan, He would in turn bless us with all prosperity in this world. If we tend to disrespect Him, all of us know what danger He can cause to us! 🙂 Hence by explaining this point, Vidura indirectly pokes at King Dhirdiraashtra by conveying the important message that his son Duryodhana is trying to insult and disrespect Yudishtra and his Paandava brothers, who are equivalent to Agni Bhagawan. Just like the fire that burns inside the Homa Kunda without creating any problems to anybody, the Paandavas are bearing up all the tantrums that Duryodhana is throwing upon them. However, if the fire called Paandavas is going to grow out of control, it is going to destroy the whole setup called “Kauravas” by burning them down to ashes! Hence Vidura cautions King Dhirdiraashtra to take immediate action to stop this danger from brewing larger!

Third, Vidura explains that “Simha” (The Lion) should be treated with respect. All of us know that the lion is the “King of the forest” and if we happen to meddle with the mighty lion, all of us know what would be the repercussion for that! 🙂

Finally Vidura invokes the important point – “Kula-putrascha”! Here Vidura directly and tantalisingly conveys the message to King Dhirdiraashtra that his son Duryodhana is unwantedly flaunting with fire! Here he directly explains the point that Duryodhana is unaware about the might of the Paandavas and their significance. Vidura laments that Duryodhana is totally underestimating the Paandavas and is trying to play his dirty tricks on them for no fault of theirs. Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Little does Duryodhana understand that he is going to face severe repercussions for whatever bad actions he’s doing! As every action has its own reaction, the effects of all his bad actions are pending now and it’s going to be high time that these reactions are going to burn him down to death! Hence King Dhirdiraashtra! Please mend your son’s ways! Duryodhana should learn to respect his Paandava brothers and should come out of his ego! Else it’s going to be a tough challenge ahead for his life. Little does he understand that he’s playing with fire! If that fire called “Paandavas” explodes big time, Duryodhana would be burnt down to ashes in no time!”

So for today let us understand how Vidura is trying to convince King Dhirdiraashtra and make him understand that he and his sons need to respect the Paandavas and not to run riots with them unnecessarily! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important point! Stay tuned! 🙂