The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had commenced the next discussion on the different categories of people who go to Heaven. Of course we had witnessed a long marathon discussion over so many episodes on the seventeen different categories of people who go to Hell! If there are seventeen categories on that side, there are only eight categories here! Thus we can clearly see here that the number of people who go to Hell are more than the number of people who go to Heaven! 🙂 If we witness our human nature, all of us are embodiments of three important Gunas or Charactersitics – “Satva Guna”, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”. If readers might remember, we’ve had a detailed discussion on these three Gunas in our earlier episodes. However the point to be noted here is that, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna” are enemies to mankind and only the “Satva Guna” is a friend of us! It might seem that Bhagawan has played an unfair game here by giving us two enemies and one friend! Why can’t he give us equal number of friends and enemies 🙂 ? We might tend to ask this question often because these two enemies are so ferocious that they can bring us down in no time! However it is very difficult to develop the friend called “Satva Guna” in us! Isn’t this unfair on Bhagawan’s part? 🙂

The answer to this question is “No”! This is because, if we’re able to develop the “Satva Guna”, the fact of the matter is that, we would be able to easily demolish the other two enemies of “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”! This is of course difficult in the beginning, but if we meticulously try to improve the “Satva Guna” in us, we would become a more balanced person in terms of our physical and mental activities and this would automatically tame the other two enemies effectively! Hence let us give it a try! 🙂

Now moving on further, we shall witness the remaining four categories of people who go to Heaven in today’s episode. For the convenience of our readers, we shall witness the sloka pertaining to this context once more. Vidura says thus:

“Griheetha vaakyaha nayavith vadaanyaha sheshaanna bhoktaahi avihimsa kascha!

Naa anartha nitya kulithaha krutagnyaha satyo mruduhu svargam upaiti vidhwaan!!”

Vidura now explains the fifth category of people going to Heaven – “Avihimsa kaha” – If a person tries not to create any trouble for other fellow human beings or any other living beings around him/her, this person goes to Heaven! Here by saying “Not creating trouble”, Vidura not only means physical trouble, but also mental trouble too! We should ensure that we neither create troubles for anybody, both physically and mentally through our words! Today we see many a times, people engaged in killing other beings in this world for whatsoever reasons. More than that, we keep verbally abusing other people around for our selfish needs. Both are to be stopped with immediate effect, if we’ve to go to Heaven! In fact, Vidura goes one step further by saying that we should not even think of something bad or abusive about another person! I really wonder how many of us would be able to follow this, but this is what Vidura says! 🙂

Next, Vidura explains an allied category of people going to Heaven – “Naa anartha nitya kulithaha” – If a person tries not to create any kind of problems or issues with another person or another living being in this world, he/she would also definitely go to Heaven! We should always note that if we’re incapable of contributing something good to someone, we should atleast try not to create problems and issues with people around us! That itself is equivalent of doing something good to people! If we’re not creating problems, we’re of course making people happy and satisfied, isn’t it? Hence, let us give it a try!

Now Vidura moves on to the seventh category here – “Krutagnyaha” – If a person never forgets the help that was rendered by others at any stage in his/her life and if a person tries to reciprocate the help that others have rendered to him/her would definitely please Bhagawan’s heart and go to Heaven! If readers might remember, during our Ramayana project, we witnessed this particular characteristic as one of the sixteen “Kalyaana Gunas” when Vaalmiki Maharishi describes Bhagawan Rama! As we’ve witnessed in the entire Ramayana, at every stage Bhagawan Rama was an epitome of this particular characteristic. We’ve seen how Bhagawan Rama had reciprocated the help rendered by Jataayu by directly sending him to “Moksha”! We’ve seen how Bhagawan Rama reciprocated Hanuman’s help in tracing the whereabouts of Mother Sita in Lanka! We saw how Rama felt so bad and ashamed that he did not have anything to give Hanuman as a token of gift for the noble help that he has done, and hence he hugs Hanuman with all his love and grace! This moved Hanuman to tears of joy! How gifted was Hanuman to get a direct hug and some affectionate words of recognition from his Bhagawan! 🙂 Hence the message here is that, we should never ever forget even a small help that was rendered to us by someone at some stage in our life, which might have helped us to grow to whatever we are today!

Moving further, Vidura now explains the last but important category here – “Satyam” & “Mruduhu” – A person who constantly at any point in life, stands by the truth and “Dharma”, would definitely go to Heaven without any doubt! It should be remembered here that we should always speak the truth at whatever situation we might be in our life! Of course it is not only enough if we speak only the truth – Our approach towards others should also be soft and soothing. We should never show aggression unwantedly towards anybody or any living being. Thus, “Sathya” and “Mruduhu” go hand in hand wherein we should realize that we should talk the truth as much as possible and at the same time we should also have a soft and a soothing approach towards people and also towards other living beings in this world. The moment we develop this “combo” in us, we can be sure that we would reach Heaven with Bhagawan’s grace!

So for today let us ponder over these important points and let us make a conscious step forward to start implementing these points in our daily lives! We shall wait for the next episode to begin the next important discussion of Vidura! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed six important aspects that we should avoid in our lives, so that we are able to live for a long duration of time and with peace of mind! Vidura explained that we should avoid jealousy and ego, refrain from talking a lot, controlling of anger, developing a selfless attitude, refraining from spoiling others’ happiness unwantedly and trying not to betray people who are close and supportive to us! If we make sure that we follow these six attributes meticulously, Vidura assures us that we would be able to have a long lifespan with peace and satisfaction.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains some noble qualities that one should possess in this world. Vidura explains thus,

“Griheetha vaakyaha nayavith vadaanyaha sheshaanna bhoktaahi avihimsa kascha!

Naa anartha nitya kulithaha krutagnyaha satyo mruduhu svargam upaiti vidhwaan!!”

Here Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra that these following categories of people directly go to Heaven or Bhagawan’s abode of Vaikunta or “Svarga”. So far we’ve seen seventeen categories of people who go to Hell (“Naraka”). As Vidura explained those seventeen, King Dhirdiraashtra had a doubt within him as to if there are so many people going to the “Naraka”, aren’t there anybody who goes to “Svarga” or Heaven? Vidura’s reply is an obvious “Yes”, but the amount of people who go to Heaven are far lesser than those going to Hell! As there were seventeen categories of people who go to the “Naraka” or “Hell”, there are only eight categories of people who go to “Svarga” or “Heaven”!

Vidura thus gives an important answer to King Dhirdiraashtra’s doubt. He commences with the first category – “Griheetha vaakyaha” – If a person carefully and meticulously listens to the advice given by elders, he goes to Heaven! Bhagawan likes people who pay heed to the important and valuable advice rendered by elderly people, Gurus, Mahatmas, etc. If we’re able to lend our ears to great people’s advice, we shall be able to please Bhagawan’s heart!

Next, Vidura says – “Nayavith” – A person who correctly knows what exactly is right and wrong becomes eligible to go to Heaven. Here we should understand that we should develop the ability to analyze a situation carefully, know both sides of the argument and then decide which might be right or wrong for that particular context. If we’re developing such a capability, we can surely be eligible to book a ticket to Heaven! 🙂

Moving on to the third category, Vidura says – “Vadaanyaha” – If a person has the distinct quality of “giving” and “sharing”, this itself is enough to take us to heaven! This is why we always keep saying that we should be “selfless” in our approach towards life. The moment we develop this “Selfless” attitude in us, we would never think of any item to be ours. We would automatically start sharing important items like food, shelter, clothing, etc. with those who are in dire need! Thus the message here is that, we should be ready to share and give things to others in a selfless manner.

Moving on thus, Vidura explains the fourth category of people who go to Heaven – “Sheshaanna bhoktaa” – If a person who consumes only that food which is offered to Bhagawan, he/she becomes eligible to reach Heaven! This is why we insist that we do the “Neivedhyam” or “Offering” of food to Bhagawan before we consume it. In the worldly sense too, we’ve seen that if the food is offered to Bhagawan before we eat, it becomes “Prasad” and even if there are some toxic elements in the food item, Bhagawan would take care in such a way that it doesn’t affect our health! In addition to this of course, if we offer the food to Bhagawan before we consume, Bhagawan becomes happy with our devotion and He directly grants us a ticket to Heaven!

Hence for today let us ponder over these four important categories of people going to Heaven and let us incorporate these important features in ourselves slowly and gradually. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next four categories of people who go to Heaven as per Vidura! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed two important discussions wherein Vidura extends the conversation on the “Dharma” of “Dvaapara Yuga”. He says that if we’ve to deal with a perverted person who exhibits smartness in bringing us down, we should counter him with equal smartness and ensure that we do not fall into that trap! This was exactly Bhagawan Krishna’s approach towards establishing the “Dharma” in the “Dvaapara Yuga”. When the situation demanded, Bhagawan Krishna played tricky and smart games so as to bring about the downfall of “Adharma”. However all said and done, this smartness should not be exhibited towards people who are genuinely good and noble at heart! If we show tantrums and smartness to good people, Bhagawan would never tolerate that and he would ensure that we are pushed into the clutches of Hell!

Saying thus, we moved into the next topic of discussion wherein King Dhirdiraashtra posed a question to Vidura as to why are human beings unable to live peacefully for the full 100 years of lifespan! What should be done from our side so that we live all the 100 years peacefully without any problems? Vidura starts giving the answer for this important question and we shall discuss the answer in today’s episode. For the benefit of the readers, we shall recollect the sloka of Vidura once more:

“Athimaanaha athi vaadascha tathaah thyaagaha tathaa akthyaagaha naraadhipa!

Krodhascha aatma vidhitsaacha mitradrohascha thaanishat!!”

Here Vidura explains six different aspects that King Dhirdiraashtra needs to take into account, if we’ve to have a long life without any physical or mental troubles. Of course this is applicable directly to us also and let us listen carefully to what Vidura has to say!

He starts with the first aspect – “Athimaanaha” – This means “headweight” or too much of “Ego”! If we’re going to lead a life full of thinking too much about ourself, we’re going to have a shorter life span. In other words, if we’re going to be too egoistic in nature, this is going to cripple our physical and mental health and this would reduce our peace of mind.

Now moving on to the second aspect – “Athi vaadascha” – Here Vidura drops a bombshell! If we keep talking too much all the time, our lifespan is going to be lesser and lesser! Thus we should make sure that we consciously cut down on unnecessary gossips about others and other unwanted topics of discussion. Of course we can always talk about Bhagwan and his activities. This is permitted. However, this talk should not extend to unwanted stuff that happens around us.

Now moving on to the third aspect – “Tathaah thyaagaha” – If we do not have the “selfless” mindset in us, this is going to cut our lifespan like how a knife is used to cut fruits and vegetables. If we’re not ready to sacrifice anything for anybody in life and if we’re so selfish that we should be the only person in this world who should enjoy all the luxuries, it reduces and diminishes our lifespan. Thus from this point we need to understand that we should develop the nature of “selflessness” and try to give as much as possible to those who are in need!

Moving on to the fourth point now, Vidura explains – “Krodhascha” – Here Vidura categorically reminds us that even if we get angry a little bit, one day of our lifespan is gone for a toss! This is perhaps one of the biggest knives that is going to cut down our lifespan drastically! In the modern day, many of us debate whether excessively high blood pressure arises out of excessive anger and tension, or excessive anger and tension is due to excessive blood pressure! This is a debatable topic as to which comes from which one! Thus “Excessive blood pressure” and “Anger” are two close friends! If we should be free of blood pressure, we should try and reduce our anger!

In addition to this, Vidura explains the fifth point now – “Aatma vidhitsaacha” – Just because of satisfying my hunger and my satisfaction, if I go and spoil the happiness of others, it would definitely bring down our lifespan! Thus we should always ensure that we should always be of some use to somebody. In any case we should never even think of destroying others for our happiness and satisfaction.

Finally Vidura explains the sixth point here – “Mitradrohascha” – If a person tries to dump and ditch a close friend for his advancement in life, this would also reduce his lifespan. We witness this many a times in the modern day. As per the Darwin’s theory “Survival of the fittest”, we tend to be more fit than others by trying to dump and ditch them, irrespective of how important and close they are to us in our life! We should never do this. If someone has rendered a help, we should be greatful to honor them and reciprocate their help in some way or the other. Rather, if we’re going to ditch the person who is a good friend of us and who has rendered unconditional love and support at our time of need, we’ve to face severe consequences for this, which eventually would diminish our lifespan.

Thus these are the six aspects that we should avoid in our everyday life, and if we’re successful in doing so, we can be rest-assured of a long and a peaceful life span! So for today let us introspect on these six different aspects and try to implement them in our lives for a better future ahead! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next point of discussion! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed a very interesting accord wherein Bhagawan Krishna sets himself as the epitome of acting smart, so as to establish “Dharma” during the “Dvaapara Yuga”. He knows that there’s no point in explaining the “Dharma” as per the text book to Duryodhana and make him change! Instead, he knows that the only way to win over Duryodhana is by acting smart!

However, although all said and done, Bhagawan Krishna acted smart for a reason – We should always remember that Bhagwan’s incarnation in this world is not for his selfish motives. He doesn’t incarnate in this world to prove anything for himself. The only motto of Bhagwan’s incarnation and all his activities that he performs in this world is for the ultimate aim of protecting and establishing the “Dharma”. Here too, he does all these smart moves at every instance only to protect the “Dharma” by safeguarding the “Paandavas” who were hell-bent in protecting the “Dharma” too. Thus we should realize that if we try to walk the path of “Dharma”, Bhagawan would always be with us to protect us at any point in time. Of course the path of Dharma is always difficult to walk. But when we try to do so, Bhagawan’s heart melts with joy and tears in his eyes! His compassion knows no bounds! Hence he comes directly to us to protect us at every instance when we encounter dangers in our lives! Thus the point here is that, if we are sincere in following the path of “Dharma”, Bhagawan’s grace is always going to be with us at every point! Hence it is up to us to make His grace shower upon us.

Thus extending this point further, Vidura explains thus,

“Maayaachaaraha maayayaa vartithavyaha saadhvaachaaraha sadhunaa prathupeyaha!!”

Although we’ve discussed in detail that we need to act smart while defeating “Adharma”, this smartness should not be shown to those people who are good and who walk the path of Dharma. To those “Saathvic” people if we go and show our smartness and perverted intelligence, they would never understand all this, and most importantly if we try to cheat good and noble people, Bhagawan is going to get extremely angry upon us! Thus we should always remember to check our actions if we meet someone of a high level of “Sathvic” nature! We should never ever show tantrums to people who are ardent devotees of Bhagawan or to an “Aachaarya”.

This is becoming common today – In quite a few ashrams or temples, some people try and exhibit their smartness and show tantrums to those innocent people who come to spend some time genuinely with a Guru or with Bhagawan. Such things should strictly be avoided and if we’re involving ourselves in showing tantrums to those people whom we shouldn’t, Bhagawan is going to get extremely angry on us and is going to push us straightaway into the clutches of Hell! We should always remember that Bhagawan is always hell-bent on supporting and uplifting His ardent devotees at any cost! If we try and act smart against Bhagawan’s ardent devotees, He is never going to tolerate it even an inch!

Saying thus in detail, Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra as to how to behave with different types of people! Upon hearing all this, King Dhirdiraashtra has a doubt. He asks thus, “Oh Vidura! Although the “Shaastras” predict a human being to live for hundred years, why are we not able to do so?

“Shataayuurukthaha purushaha sarva vedeshu vai sadhaa!

Yadaa naapnothyatacha sarvamaayuhu ke ne tataatu naa??”

Here King Dhirdiraashtra asks Vidura that although the Vedas prescribe the life span of a human being to be hundred years, why is that we’re unable to fulfil the hundred years in many cases? Why do we pass away from this world before we complete hundred years? King Dhirdiraashtra continues to ask thus, “Oh Vidura! If I’ve to live for hundred years fully, what should I do? What are the steps that I need to take?”

Upon King Dhirdiraashtra’s question, Vidura replies back thus:

“Athimaanaha athi vaadascha tathaah thyaagaha tathaa akthyaagaha naraadhipa!

Krodhascha aatma vidhitsaacha mitradrohascha thaanishat!!”

Here Vidura explains the ways in which one can lead a life for the full span of hundred years peacefully! He explains six different methodologies to lead a peaceful life for a full hundred years! What are those six methodologies that we need to adopt? Let’s stay tuned for the next episode to understand them! 🙂

In the previous episode we witnessed an interesting explanation from Vidura with regards to the “Dharma” that was prevalent during the “Dvaapara Yuga”. We had also witnessed a brief about how the world transcends through the different “Yugas” and how does the “Dharma” for each Yuga keeps changing with time. We had witnessed a vivd comparison between the “Dharma” followed by Bhagawan Rama during the “Tretha Yuga” and the “Dharma” followed by Bhagawan Krishna during the “Dvaapara Yuga”. Although both Bhagawan Rama and Krishna are the incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu, they exhibited different approaches towards establishing the Dharma in this world. In our previous Ramayana project, we saw how Bhagawan Rama strictly followed the “Dharma text book” at every instance in his life – Be it a son, husband, king, prince, friend, warrior, etc. However when Bhagawan Krishna’s incarnation took place during the “Dvaapara Yuga”, we saw how He “twisted” and “altered” His ways in a unique and a mystical manner and established the “Dharma” in the world. We also saw the analogy of the way in which Test Cricket and One day Cricket are played differently, although the game of “Cricket” is the same!

Thus we can see here clearly that the message for the “Dvaapara Yuga” was, if a person tries to act pervertedly smart with us, we also react in an equally pervertedly smart fashion only. There is no point in explaining and trying to establish honesty, “Dharma”, etc. to such a person!

Today we can witness another incident during the Mahaabhaarata where Bhagawan Krishna illustrated this point clearly. Now let’s go into the context wherein the great Kurukshetra war is supposed to commence. Here it should be noted that the fifth brother amongst the Paandavas – Sahadeva was a skilled person in Astrological science. Duryodhana knew this very well and he smartly approached Sahadeva (although he knows that Sahadeva is his enemy) and requested him for an appropriate and an auspicious day to begin the war. In other words, Duryodhana’s intention was to commence the war on an auspicious date, which might make things easier for him to win over the Paandavas. Accordingly, Sahadeva mentioned to Duryodhana that the upcoming “No-moon day” (“Amaavaashya”) would be an ideal day to start the war! Hearing this from an expert astrologer in Sahadeva, Duryodhana was happy and was also confident of winning the war!

This news of Sahadeva mentioning an appropriate date of commencing the war to Duryodhana reached Bhagawan Krishna! Hence Bhagawan Krishna hurried to Sahadeva and says thus, “Oh Sahadeva! Don’t you know that I’m struggling so much against so many odds to make you guys win over Duryodhana in whatever way possible? Now why did you go to Duryodhana and tell him that he should commence the war during the “Amaavaashya” no-moon day? Don’t you realize that if he does so, he is going to win over you easily? Why did you do that?” Upon Bhagawan Krishna’s words, Sahadeva replies, “Oh Vaasudeva! It was Duryodhana who came and asked me for it and as an astrologer it is my duty to answer him without lying! This is what my teacher has taught me! If I handle astrology without truth, isn’t it an Adharma?”

This answer from Sahadeva made Bhagawan Krishna think! Now what can he do? We can clearly see that Duryodhana has acted “smart” here! He now knows that if he commences the war on the “Amaavashya” day, he is clearly going to win! But how does Bhagawan stop this from happening? He has only three options here – The first option is to change Sahadeva’s attitude and ask him to go and tell Duryodhana that he shouldn’t commence the war on the “Amaavashya” no-moon day. Sahadeva is not going to budge to do this. The second option is for Bhagawan Krishna himself to go to Duryodhana in person and ask him to change the date. Duryodhana is now smart enough to understand that Krishna is playing a game and hence he wouldn’t budge too! Now what is the third option that is left out? The only option now for Bhagawan Krishna is to change the date of the “Amaavashya” itself! 🙂 Of course He is an all pervasive and the Supreme and He can do anything and everything for the sake of “Dharma”!

Thinking thus, when the previous day of “Amaavaashya” arrived, Bhagawan Krishna suddenly jumped into the river Yamuna and started doing the customary “Tharpana”, which is supposed to be done only on the “Amaavashya” day! Upon seeing this peculiar act of Bhagawan Krishna, everybody got surprised! How can Bhagawan Krishna perform the “Tharpana” on a day when the “Amaavashya” is not there? This left even the Devas (Celestial Beings) wonderstruck! Not knowing what to do, Indra came down to Bhagawan Krishna and asked why did he do this! As Bhagwan Krishna just let out his customary laugh without answering Indra, he directly went to the people who are responsible for creating the “Amaavashya” – The sun (Soorya Bhagawan) and the moon (Chandra Bhagawan). As both Chandra and Soorya Bhagawan were also perplexed at this act of Bhagwan Krishna, they decided to approach him with a strong contention. As they came to Bhagawan and asked for the reason, he countered them now with another question: “What is the real meaning of “Amaavashya”? Immediately Soorya Bhagawan gave the answer – “Amaavashya is the day when both myself, the Sun and the Moon come close to the earth!” Upon hearing this from Soorya Bhagawan, Krishna laughed out loud and replied thus, “Since both of you are near to the earth’s surface today, this is the reason I did my ‘Tharpana’ today!” 🙂

Now isn’t this an amazingly smart reply from Bhagawan Krishna? By doing so, he has negated the world that “Amaavashya” is on this particular day, although it is not! Upon seeing this, Duryodhana was also confused and he too mistook the previous day of “Amaavashya” – the “Chaturdasi” day, and commenced the war! Thus Bhagawan Krishna smartly prevented Duryodhana from commencing the war on the real “Amaavashya” no-moon day and made him commence the war a day earlier! Hence it is widely believed that the moment Duryodhana commenced the war on the “Chaturdasi” day, it was destined that he’s going to lose the battle!

This is another interesting episode wherein we can see that Bhagawan himself has illustrated how one should behave smart with a person who’s trying to act smart with us. If someone tries to fool us in some way, we should be able to get out of it in a smart manner! So for today, let us ponder over this fact and let us appreciate the “smart” work of Bhagwan Krishna to illustrate this important point! We shall wait till the next episode to witness more such interesting events! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had commenced the next important discussion of Vidura and this time it is pertaining to the “Dharma” of the “Dvaapara Yuga”. Our readers must remember that the entire Mahaabhaarata took place during the “Dvaapara Yuga” and Vidura is explaining this to King Dhirdiraashtra in this particular context. He explains that in the “Dvaapara Yuga” a person needs to understand the behavior or the other person and thus conduct himself/herself accordingly. In other words, a good and a genuine person should be handled in a honest and a sincere manner, whereas a crooked or an evil person should be handled in a crooked manner only! This means that in the “Dvaapara Yuga” itself, there was no point in exhibiting sincerety and honesty to those people who were crooked by nature! If this was the case in the “Dvaapara Yuga”, we can imagine the state of affairs in the “Kali Yuga”!

In due course of yesterday’s discussion, we also witnessed a few glimpses on how Bhagawan Krishna himself was an epitome of such behavior. We witnessed how Bhagawan was “twisting the tale” during the Kurukshetra war, to turn the tables back on to Duryodhana and Co. He made it clear to the world that it was not the Paandavas who singlehandedly won the war, but it was only Bhagawan Krishna who staged the entire show with his unexpected twists and turns and smart calculated moves at critical times! However if we compare the warfare approach of Bhagwan Krishna in the “Dvaapara Yuga” with that of Bhagawan Rama in the previous “Tretha Yugaa”, the story would be interesting and entirely different! Whatever Bhagawan Krishna did during the Dvaapara Yuga, Bhagawan Rama wouldn’t have even imagined doing even in his wildest dreams! 🙂 Thus if we’ve to compare the two incarnations of Bhagawan at different Yugas, we can see clear-cut differences between the two. If we look at the case of Bhagawan Rama, He would never ever step out of the path of “Dharma” at any day and at any cost! Even today, if someone talks about Bhagawan Rama what do we tend to do? We immediately tend to bow down to his honesty, sincerety, straightforward behavior and all his other important 16 leadership qualities! However if we talk about Bhagawan Krishna, there might be “n” number of debates possible on each and every action that He did! All those who are aethists by nature, catch hold of Bhagawan Krishna for most of their topics of debates against God and never will dare to involve Bhagawan Rama in their topics! This is because of Bhagawan Rama’s impeccable character and his strong stance for “Dharma” at any situation in life! This is why even today if we go to places in North India such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, etc. Bhagawan Rama is often referred to as “Mariyaadhaa Purushottham Ram”! This means, the most respected deity ever in this world! However, Bhagawan Krishna would not have this much of respect as Bhagawan Rama enjoys! However we should understand that both forms are of Bhagawan Vishnu’s only and Bhagawan’s incarnations in this world are always aimed at protecting the Dharma. As Bhagawan himself says through the famous verses in the Bhagawad Gita,

“Yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya glaanir bhavati bhaarata!

Abhyuktaanam adharmasya tadaatmaanam srujaamyaham!!

Paritraanaaya saadhunaam vinaashaayacha dushkruthaam!

Dharma samsthaabhanaarthaaya sambhavaami yuge yuge!!” 

Here Bhagawan clearly points out that whenever there is a downfall of “Dharma” in whichever Yuga it is, He would incarnate to resurrect the course of the world in the path of “Dharma”. Thus Bhagawan’s main agenda of incarnating in this world is to re-establish the Dharma, but the way or manner in which he re-establishes the “Dharma” would be different in different incarnations and in different Yugas. We should realize that both Bhagawan Rama and Krishna followed the “Dharma” of their respective Yugas. Rama’s point of view was if there is an “Adharma” happening, he would go by the path of “Dharma” till the end and finally defeat the “Adharma” only with the help of “Dharma”. However Bhagawan Krishna’s philosophy was different. He was of the stance that to eradicate “Adharma”, whatever approach He took towards it was “Dharma”! Thus we can see here that Bhagawan Krishna had more liberty to choose the path of his choice in Dvaapara Yuga! 🙂 However Bhagawan Rama did not have this liberty – He had to follow the principles of Dharma verbatim as it was in the textbook!

If we can compare this philosophical explanation with that of the game of Cricket in the modern day, we can understand it more clearly – There are two major formats of cricket – For readers who know and understand the game well, we have “Test” format and the “One-day” format. The “Test” format is the detailed format of the game, wherein it is played for over five days continuously! However as days progressed, we lost our patience to sit for five days to watch a cricket match. Eventually the One-Day format came into being wherein it is a 50 over match with 6 balls to be bowled per over! If we see the approach of players towards both these formats of Cricket, we can see that for the Test match, a batsman is hailed to be excellent only if he follows all the rules in the book! For instance, a typical “Test” batsman should know how to leave a ball, which balls to block, how to block it, (Front-foot or back-foot), how to negotiate a bouncer, etc. However, this is not the case to judge the quality of the same batsman in the “One day” format. Here the parameter is only how many runs can he score within the allotted 50 overs and how quickly can he score them! Nobody is bothered about the technique of batting here, unlike the “Test” format. Here, runs are of prime importance and a person who can score quick runs at a brisk pace with “boundaries” and “sixers” make the cut into the team. This is why we would see that not all players who are good in playing the “One day” game would be good players of “Test” cricket! We can clearly see here that the “Dharma” of playing test cricket is very different than the “Dharma” of playing the “One day” game!

Thus the message from today’s episode is that different “Yugas” have different approaches towards “Dharma” and Bhagawan himself is an epitome to illustrate this difference. We shall continue this discussion further into tomorrow’s episode also and witness some more important points. Stay tuned! 🙂

The previous episode saw the conclusion of the long and important discussion on Vidura’s seventeen categories of people who would knock the doors of Hell! We concluded yesterday by witnessing that Vidura is sending out a clear message and a warning to King Dhirdiraashtra and of course to all of us by saying that it might become inevitable to reach Hell if we stick on to our bad habits in this world by getting carried away by the “Maya” or worldly pleasures! However Vidura also sends us a clear advice at this point that all is not too late still! We still have the opportunity to mend our ways, now that we’ve listened carefully to Vidura’s important words. We should be happy that we’ve got this opportunity to correct ourselves at a time when there are millions of people around the world who continue doing the wrong things because they are not even aware of all the “Dharma” that Vidura has explained so clearly and lucidly.

Now moving on further, Vidura is now going to commence the next discussion on the “Dharma” of the “Dvaapara Yuga”. It should be remembered by our readers that the world undergoes transition once every thousands of years and this is called as “Yuga”. There are five such “Yugas” or transitions that the Hindu Sanaathana Dharma talks about – “Satya Yuga”, “Krita Yuga”, “Tretha Yuga”, “Dvaapara Yuga” and “Kali Yuga”. It is believed that in the “Satya Yuga”, Dharma occupied a center-stage and there was no requirement for Bhagwan to incarnate in this earth at all! All people were living as per the principles of the “Sanaathana Dharma” and there was no space for dissent, greed, jealousy, unwanted desires, etc. Then came the “Krita Yuga” wherein the “Dharma” started to change and deteriorate. All the above mentioned bad qualities started to slowly spurt and this prompted Bhagawan to take multiple incarnations to set things right again! Thus the “Matsya”, “Koorma”, “Varaaha”, “Narasimha” and “Vaamana” avatars of Bhagawan took place in this “Krita Yuga” at different time periods to resurrect the “Dharma” in this world. Then came the “Tretha Yuga” wherein again the “Dharma” underwent transition and change and started to deteriorate further. In order to resurrect the falling “Dharma”, Bhagawan made the incarnations of “Parasuraama” and “Bhagawan Shri Rama”! He lived in this world as a normal human being and as an embodiment of all the “Dharma” put together! Then came the “Dvaapara Yuga” wherein “Adharma” started to thrive even more. Here is where the “Dharma” started its serious downfall and Bhagawan made an elaborate incarnation as Bhagawan Krishna to teach and propagate the “Dharma” to the world – both by words (Bhagawad Gita) and by his actions! Now we’re in the “Kali Yuga” wherein we’re witnessing even greater downfall of Dharma at many instances. Of course Bhagwan is yet to incarnate in this world again to resurrect things. But it is to be noted that the “Kali Yuga” has just begun and has a long way to go still. If we’re under the impression that the “Dharma” has already deteriorated, we need to think again! This is because the “Kali Yuga” has a life span of around 4,32,100 years and we’re just 5,120 years into the Kali Yuga. We still have a long long way to go and it would be scary for us to imagine what would be the state of “Dharma” after four hundred thousand years from now!

However having said that, every Yuga has its own “Dharma” and the ways and means to attain Bhagawan’s feet. There are innumerable people who have been successful in doing so in every Yuga, including this “Kali Yuga”. This is where Vidura is going to explain to us as to what is the “Dharma” for the “Dvaapara Yuga” and how it is applicable to reach Bhagawan. Of course we might immediately tend to think that this is an outdated discussion since we’re no more in the “Dvaapara Yuga”. However we should note that whichever might be the “Yuga”, there are certain things that are never subjected to any change. The principles of our “Sanaathana Dharma” are always same for any Yuga, and only the implementation part keeps changing from one Yuga to the other! Hence let us not waste time in this argument and we shall straightaway get into the discussion of the “Dharma” of the “Dvaapara Yuga” as explained by Vidura, and what can we learn from this particular discussion of the Vidura Neeti.

Vidura says thus,

“Yasmin tathaa vartathe yo manushyastasmin tathaa vartithavyam sa dharmaaha!
Maayaachaaraha maayayaa vartithavyaha saadhvaachaaraha saadhunaah prathyupeyaha!!”

 With the above sloka, Vidura explains the “Dharma” or the way of living in the “Dvaapara Yuga”. He says that we should behave in a good and a nice way to a “Saadhvik” or a good person, and at the same time, we should behave in an equally bad manner to people who are crooked and evil. If someone is trying to cheat us in someway or the other, there is no point in being honest and sincere to that crooked guy. We should also act smart to counter his crookedness with our equally crooked behavior!

As we see here that Vidura is just explaining all these things through his words, Bhagawan Krishna demonstrated these things during the famous Kurukshetra war that followed! When Duryodhana and Co. planned a crooked plot to trap Abhimanyu (Son of Arjuna) wherein all the important bigheads of the “Kaurava” army joined hands secretly to kill one child, Bhagawan Krishna now decided to play the same game and turn the tables back to the opposition camp. During the fight between Arjuna and Karna was taking place, Bhagawan Krishna purposefully played the trick of trapping Karna’s chariot by “artificially” reducing the ground level! Many of us would know how Bhagawan Krishna played a “smart” game in killing Karna. Similar was the case when Guru Dhronaachaarya was killed! Yuddhishtra was made to “lie” amidst the raging battlefield and with that lie Dhronaachaarya was weakened to nothing! Similarly Bhagawan Krishna demonstrated that in the “Dvaapara Yuga”, one has to demolish the evil by playing “smart games” just like how they do!

This is an extremely important point for us to grasp here. We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode to witness more such details. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point of discussion wherein Vidura had explained that if a person uses his communication skill as a weapon to convert a lie into a truth, would definitely be knocking doors at Hell! We had a detailed discussion on the plight of the judicial system in India today and how “Dharma” is deteriorating where it is supposed to thrive. Thus the point here is that, we should make sure that we do not twist a truth into a lie or a lie into a truth. We should strive hard to protect the Dharma and the judiciary system should overhaul itself for the betterment of the people of this nation and for us to regain the lost trust. As I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s episode, it should be mistaken by anyone that I’m against the judicial system and I’m making some derogatory statements against the judiciary in India. It should be very clear that I’m only against the widespread inefficiency that exists in the system, which directly results in the justice being denied or often delayed (for no reason) for innocent and common people like us!

Saying thus, Vidura concludes this discussion on the seventeen categories of people going to Hell. Vidura says,

“Yetaam nayanti nerayam pasha hasthaaha!!”

 Thus Vidura concludes this mammoth discussion by saying that Yama Dharma Raja is looking forward to meet these seventeen categories of people so as to give them “free tickets” to Hell! 🙂 He says that the “Yama-Dhootas” (Assistants of Yama-Dharma-Raja) are trying to trap all these seventeen people in their net, so as to take them to Hell at one go!

Saying thus, Vidura pokes and warns King Dhirdiraashtra by saying thus, “Oh King! I’m sure you would have listened to all these seventeen categories of people carefully and by now, your heart and conscience should have started to prick you that you’re falling under many of these seventeen categories of people! Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Even now it is not too late! If you’re going to make a conscious effort in the positive direction to mend your and your son Duryodhana’s ways now, Bhagawan Krishna is going to get pleased by your action and He is going to forget and forgive you for falling under these seventeen categories! One positive move from your side is going to make a lot of difference and this has to be done now! Please do not delay it and if you do so, you can be sure that you’re going to be at the brink of Hell! Your entire clan is going to be wiped off by Bhagawan Krishna’s anger and if you’ve to prevent that from happening, please do the needful to the Paandavas and escape from the great danger!”

This is an important message not only for King Dhirdiraashtra, but also for all of us – Every passing day we keep committing sin after sin and eventually we keep falling under any or many of these above mentioned seventeen categories! Now that we’ve listened carefully to Vidura’s golden words of advice, we should consciously make a step to mend our ways in the positive direction. After reading these seventeen categories, we should never get depressed and disappointed that we’re falling atleast under one out of the seventeen. We should never think that Bhagawan is going to desert us just because we fall under these categories. If we exhibit our sincerity in mending our ways in the right direction towards our “Dharma”, Bhagawan observes it carefully and He gets pleased with our positive actions. Once Bhagwan gets pleased with us, we can be rest assured that Yama-Dharma-Raja can in no way come close to us to take us to Hell! Once we’re in the shield of Bhagawan, we need not worry about any “Yama-Dhoodas” approaching us. We can be confident that Bhagwan would catch hold of our hands and lift us slowly and lovingly towards his abode, the Vaikunta!

Hence the message from today’s concluding episode on this discussion is that, we should make a conscious and a sincere effort to mend our ways. There is nothing wrong that we’re were in the wrong path till today. The question that now arises is that, whether we’re correcting ourselves after listening to Vidura’s advice or not! If we’re doing so, we shall be rest-assured of Bhagawan’s unending grace! So for today, let us strive for course correction and take a positive step forward!

We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next topic of discussion. Here he’s going to talk about the “Dharma” of the “Dvaapara Yuga” and how the “Dharma” changes itself as the world transcends through every “Yuga”. This is an extremely important and an interesting phase in the entire Vidura Neeti. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an important discussion wherein Vidura explains that those people who actively publicize Seva or Voluntarily activities for making personal gains would definitely go to Hell at any cost! Performing Seva activities with a hidden personal agenda is a mere waste of time and is not going to be beneficial for anybody in this world! We should realize that “Seva” is a noble aspect and it should be done without any fanfare, and our focus should only be the benefit of the world and not on our personal gains!

Now moving on to the next point, Vidura explains that a person who tries to “transform” a lie into a “truth” in a “smart” and a “convincing” way will also go to Hell! He says thus:

“Yascha asataha satva upaanayeetam!!”

Here Vidura says that if a person uses his communication skill as a weapon to convert a lie into a truth, would definitely be knocing doors at Hell! We again see this very common in our present day judicial system – How many advocates try and “twist” the substance in the case so that they hide the truth by projecting a lie in a convincing fashion for the magistrate to believe it! In fact, the profession of being a “Lawyer” doesn’t mean that he/she can twist any truth or lie in favour of the client who comes. Vidura never says all that. Irrespective of whoever the client might be, and whatever the case might be, a Lawyer should always strive to protect the “Dharma” or the “Truth”. Just because the client is a politician, or a big businessman, can the lawyer do whatever it takes to twist a lie into a truth? Unfortunately this is what is happening today in our judicial system!

Many of our readers might have been wondering over the past few days as to why am I constantly criticizing our judicial system and here is the justification for it. The judicial system (especially in India) today has stooped to such a low level that for whatsoever reason, if a person who had committed a capital crime roams around scot free, and an innocent person who hasn’t committed any crime of any sorts, faces the brunt of the so-called “law” of the land! Irrespective of a person being a big businessman or a third-rated politician or a doctor or anybody, the law is nothing but “Dharma” and we have no rights to “twist” this law according to our favor! If everyone starts to twist the law in this fashion with the help of the so-called lawyers, then where is the “Dharma” and how do we protect it? The main aim of having a judicial system is to protect the truth and punish the guilty. But by the way it is going today, only the opposite is happening – Protecting the guilty and punishing the truth! It is very saddening and painful to see such a pathetic situation with respect to the judicial system in India and in many other countries as well, wherein justice is not aimed at protecting “Dharma”.

Moreover nowadays we see another trend – Many of the lawyers today are part of the “Bar Council” and these “Bar Councils” are politically affiliated. This means in simple words that most of the advocates who practise in the courts today are all affiliated to any political party – Maybe the ruling or the opposition party! What does this mean for the common public like us? Just because of their political affiliation, these so-called lawyers can easily twist the truth into a lie and vice versa for their own personal agenda of making enormous money from their bigshot third-rated politician clients!

This is why I’m of the strong opinion that the Judiciary can never be treated like “Gods” and can go untouched! In fact, I reckon that the maximum amount of corruption today happens only amongst the people in the judicial system! I would strongly recommend the sleuths from the Income Tax department to conduct surprise raids in the houses of these magistrates, lawyers, etc. who are part of the so-called “Judicial System” and they would be surprised for sure to unearth crores and crores of black money from their underground drawers! Given such a widespread inefficiency, there is no point in “glorifying” either the so-called “judges” or lawyers for anything, because many a times they end up only doing such a huge disservice to the common people and to the nation who come to them with trust, seeking a justice!

Thus the point here is that, we should make sure that we do not twist a truth into a lie or a lie into a truth and by doing so, we would definitely be knocking doors at Hell! We should strive hard to protect the Dharma and the judiciary system should overhaul itself for the betterment of the people of this nation and for us to regain the lost trust. It should be noted here that I’m not against the judicial system, but I’m only against the widespread inefficiency that exists in the system, which directly results in the justice being denied for innocent and common people like us! So for today let us give this important point a thought and those of you who are reading this episode – If you’re a lawyer or a magistrate, please do not get offended! Rather, my request to all of you is to think of ways how to resurrect the system so that it regains the lost efficiency and trust! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important point that Vidura is going to explain! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed two important points as explained by Vidura in the context of the seventeen categories of people who reach Hell. In that, we witnessed that if a person tries to act smart by cheating others, with respect to borrowing something (inclusive of money) and not returning it back to the owner, he straightaway goes to Hell! Unfortunately we’re witnessing quite a lot of examples in this regard, right from ordinary people like us to big corporate businessmen! It is saddening to note that some so-called highly educated businessmen today borrow money from a consortium of banks for their business purpose, but flee away to a different country by looting all of that money without repaying even a single penny to the banks that had lent the loans! Such people might be smart enough even to evade the government machinery and also the useless judiciary system today! (I purposefully brand the judicial system in India to be a useless and one of the most inefficient organizations in the world as it never delivers justice correctly and also on time!) But it should always be remembered that there is a perfect and a flawless judicial system with Bhagawan, which can deliver verdicts with perfection and punishments are imminent and compulsory, unlike in ours! Hence we should be extremely watchful that Bhagawan is noting down all our good and bad deeds that we perform in this world.

Moreover, the second point that we discussed yesterday requires a bit more of a discussion – Vidura had mentioned that if we do a “Seva” or a “Service” by donating something to someone who is in need, we should not popularize and publicize it in a big way and if we do so, there is no point in doing the “Seva” or “Service” and ultimately we would again be knocking the doors of Hell! How often do we see this in today’s world! Many people associated with many renowned “Mutts” and “Ashrams” today mistake the meaning of the word “Seva” or “Voluntary Service”. Just because they’re doing “Seva”, they get elevated into an important position of an “Ashram” and because of this so-called elevation, they start creating tantrums on others and make their lives Hell! This is because, the “Seva” or “Donation” that they give are being publicized so heavily that crooks like these people take advantage of it to publicize themselves! Such things should stop happening! A “Mutt” or an “Ashram” is meant to help the needy and it is their duty to do that. Hence by just doing their duty, there is no point in going for “Marketing campaigns” to propagate their voluntary activities so widely to the whole world! Seva activities should always be performed with minimal fanfare so that the charm of doing it doesn’t vanish. This is where many ashrams fail, wherein they eventually convert a “Seva” into something commercial. This is one thing that every ashram should avoid doing. Our Hindu Sanaathana Dharma encourages all of us to involve ourselves in “Seva” activities, which would indirectly wash away all our sins. This should be taken up in a serious manner and with the highest amount of accountability. Just because something is done for free doesn’t mean that it can go unaccounted!

Hence the message from this point of Vidura is that, when we do something voluntarily as a help or as a “Seva”, it should never be publicized in a grand manner with so much of a fanfare. It is said that if our right hand does “Seva”, even our left hand should not know about it! It should be done that secretly. If such amount of secrecy is prescribed by our “Sanaathana Dharma”, there is no question of even talking about it in public.

Sometimes whenever I go to some temples, I feel surprised to see that the temple displays the list of “donors”! Some people might have donated a tube light, or any kind of sound systems, etc. to the temple and their names would be highlighted in a big manner on the temple wall! This poster can be seen much more clearly than even Bhagawan in those temples! This is how we tend to “glorify” ourselves for doing a voluntary contribution. We should always remember that we’re doing service to Bhagawan! We’re not doing service or “Seva” to obtain name and fame out of it!

Of course I understand that I might sound a bit harsh here. I’m not pin-pointing at anyone or any ashram or any other organization in particular and that is not my aim here. All I’m doing is to express my pain and anguish that we’re unwantedly publicizing the wrong things too much and is in direct contradiction to our “Sanaathana Dharma” principles. My only request to those who do such marketing and propagation activities is to stop doing so immediately as “Seva” is such a noble aspect that we can do to benefit the world! Doing Seva is a wonderful way to get closer to Bhagawan’s heart and we should only focus on this aspect and not on anything else. Doing “Seva” with a hidden personal agenda would always take us only to Hell and nowhere else! So for today let us realize this fact and act accordingly! We shall wait till the next episode to witness some more aspects beyond these seventeen that would take us to Hell! Stay tuned! 🙂