The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed the fourth category of people who deserve to go to hell. Vidura explained as part of the fourth category that if a person is sharing some information with someone who is ineligible for it to be shared, this person goes to hell! Here we should understand that “information sharing” is extremely critical even in the present day – Be it personal or professional. We should make sure that we share the right information with the right people, in such a way that the information that we convey is put into the correct constructive purpose. Before sharing any piece of information to someone, we should first judge them, analyze them and only then share it.

We’ve already seen three of them in the past couple of episodes – To have a quick recap for the understanding of our readers, Vidura explained that a person whose activities are in such a way that are in no way beneficial to this world are destined to go to hell. Secondly he says that those people who try and create unwanted conflicts with more powerful people also fall under this category. This is because these people are only interested in creating problems for themselves and for others and such people are unfit to live in this world. Thirdly Vidura explains that those people, who try to achieve the unachievable and defend the indefensible, will definitely go to hell!

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the fifth category here thus,

“Yasya tushyeth yascha athivelam bhavate tvishantam!” 

Here is an important point – Those people who deliberately disobey the “Dharma” and feeling secretly happy and proud about it, will definitely go to hell and nowhere else! Yama-Dharma-Raja would correctly pick out these people and take them to the “Naraka-Loka”. If the “Dharma” prescribes certain important principles and if a person tries to deviate from the path of “Dharma” deliberately for his/her personal gains without the knowledge of anyone around, this is the biggest mistake that a human being can do! If we think that we are smart enough to do a mistake deliberately and still escape out of it by cheating others, we should note that Bhagawan has seventeen kinds of people as his witnesses for our deliberate wrongdoings! He has the five basic elements – Earth, fire, wind, water and air and apart from these five, there is the Sun (Surya Bhagawan), Moon (Chandra Bhagawan), etc. and all of them are great witnesses to our “deliberate mistakes”. We cannot perform any action in this world without atleast one of these people’s help! For instance, can we do anything in this world without light? Can we do something without breathing air in and out of our lungs? Can we do something without planting our feet on the ground?

Thus, just like how in an organization, sales representatives would give a daily report to their supervisors at the end of the day’s sale, we should realize that all these “representatives” of Bhagawan would give Him a “daily report” about all our wrong activities regularly! 🙂 Of course now we have the latest technological advancements and who is going to send these reports through post or courier? It’s all being sent in the press of a button! 🙂 Hence Bhagawan also can know about all our mistakes instantaneously and we need to be extremely careful here!

Thus the message from this explanation is that, if a person deliberately disobeys the “Dharma” and feels happy about it, he is definitely going to be trapped in the clutches of hell!

Next, Vidura explains the sixth category – “Athivelam bhavate tvishantam”! – If a person tries to glorify an enemy and respect or worship him, he goes to hell! It should also be noted that we should neither enter the house of an enemy nor have food at an enemy’s place! Unless and until this enemy transforms into our good friend, we need to be patient. Thus we should understand that we should never praise or glorify or respect an enemy at any cost! In the Ramayana if we witness, Ravana had become Lord Rama’s enemy, the moment he had abducted Mother Sita to Lanka. Post this incident, we would see that Lord Rama never talks about Ravana, nor praises him, nor glorifies him! In fact, he never even opens his mouth and talks about Ravana at all!

How relevant is this point in today’s environment? In the modern day we see politicians involving themselves actively in giving useless statements against each other. This is a common feature of today’s Indian politics wherein one of the main leading opposition party always keeps throwing barbs at the ruling government for something or the other every passing day! However it might be interesting to note if the Prime Minister of India responds to each and every barb that the opposition throws at him! He never responds to any of them! This is the secret of success! As a leader if he starts responding for each and every allegation that the useless opposition throws at him, how can he focus on his main agenda of development of the country? Moreover, the media today is scouting for “sound bytes” from these political party leaders to keep churning out some useless news to the public! The wonderful profession of “Journalism” has stooped to its biggest low today wherein every media house is only interested in its ranking and TRP ratings and they engage in useless debates and news that only misleads the people of the country! This is why we see that the current Prime Minister of India is a perfect epitome of keeping silence at critical times when the opposition parties keep fuming uselessly!

Thus we should realize that we need to keep silence at critical times if we’ve to become successful leaders. Thousand people would be scouting for thousands of nonsensical things around us and we should not fall trap into all this. If we’ve to talk something that is controversial, we should always realize that the present day media is only looking at how to blow up small things into huge controversies! We should be extremely careful while we come into an interface with the media or anywhere in the public domain today! So for today let us realize and ponder over these two important points and we shall wait till the next episode to witness the next category of people who go to hell! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the discussion on the seventeen categories of people who deserve to go to hell. So far we’ve discussed three of those seventeen categories wherein Vidura explained that a person whose activities are in such a way that are in no way beneficial to this world are destined to go to hell. Secondly he says that those people who try and create unwanted conflicts with more powerful people also fall under this category. This is because these people are only interested in creating problems for themselves and for others and such people are unfit to live in this world. Thirdly Vidura explains that those people, who try to achieve the unachievable and defend the indefensible, will definitely go to hell! The message from here is that, we should be ambitious in life, but not over-ambitious. This would make us fall into unwanted trouble and we would become answerable to unwanted people at the wrong time.

Now moving on to the fourth category of people, Vidura explains thus:

“Yascha asishyam shaastivai..”.

Here Vidura explains that if a person is sharing some information with someone who is ineligible for it to be shared, this person goes to hell as well! From this it is clear that we should know and understand what to talk to whom! We should be very careful before sharing any information with anybody and before sharing it, we should judge if he/sheis the right person to do so. We should analyze if this person would execute the implications of the information correctly or not and only then share the information.

How relevant is this in today’s life? We’re in the present day exposed to loads and loads of information through various sources such as print, social media, online platforms, etc. Of course technological advancements should be widely appreciated, but this is not the point here – The problem here is, whether we assimilate this huge load of information and how do we use this information in the correct way. Of course again, there are smart people who know the nuances of this and adjust themselves accordingly so that they escape the wrath of getting caught due to misuse of information. Today, the social media has grown leaps and bounds and people all across the world are just under a touch away from getting connected to each other. Although there are extremely important advantages of such a technological development, there are some pitfalls as well, which are important to be addressed. Every passing day in the social media we might come across strangers who are completely unknown to us in any way! If we’re befriending strangers on the social media (be it for any purpose), we should be extremely careful with the information that we dissipate from our end – Be it our personal information or professional or any kind of information. We should be extremely careful before we open ourselves up to these strangers as we would never know as to who would use/misuse our information in what way! Today we’re seeing innumerable incidents of people getting into trouble by sharing some sensitive information to the wrong people.

This might be seen even in certain departments of the Government of any country such as Defence, Army, Finance, etc. There might always be external people who would be eager to grab critical information from these departments so as to use it in their own crooked ways to make some personal gains. One such common method of grabbing critical information illegally is by laying a “Honey Trap” – This typically happens in the Defence sector wherein some people from the enemy or the opposition camp would like to grab critical insider information with the help of a sweet-talking woman. This is becoming very common nowadays and we can see such incidents in the everyday news reports! With the help of this woman, external people put these sensitive people into a trap and obtain all critical information from them!

Hence from all these examples we should understand that “information sharing” is extremely critical – Be it personal or professional. We should make sure that we share the right information with the right people, in such a way that the information that we convey is put into the correct constructive purpose. Before sharing any piece of information to someone, we should first judge them, analyze them and only then share it.

Bhagawan Krishna explains this critical aspect in the fag end of the Bhagawad Gita as follows:

“Idam te naatapaskaaya naabhaktaaya kadaachana!

Na cha ashruushave vaakyam..!!”

Here Bhagawan explains to Arjuna that he should not be transmitting this sacred Bhagawad Gita to the people who are an epitome of jealousy, greed, desires, crooked mindset, etc. Bhagawan continues to explain that Arjuna should not transmit the Gita to those people who hates Bhagawan Krishna and also to those people who do not wish to understand the significance of Bhagawan! Hence it becomes clear from Bhagawan’s explanation that not all information should reach all people. Important information should reach only to those people who deserve to understand the importance of it.

So for today let us realize this important fact of life and act accordingly. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next category of people going to hell! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had commenced our discussion on Vidura’s explanation of the seventeen categories of people who deserve to go to Hell right away! In that, we’ve discussed the first category of people wherein they tend to engage themselves doing unwanted activities and wasting their valuable time. It is important that we realize the very purpose of our human birth, realize our potential and talents and contribute to the world in a useful way by employing our talent. This would of course not only benefit us but would also benefit the world and the society at large. We should always be clear that our talent should be used in a constructive way so that many people find solace through us.

This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here too. He says to King Dhirdiraashtra that he has to of some use to the whole world as a righteous king, but not only to his wicked son Duryodhana. By favoring him, Vidura says that King Dhirdiraashtra is becoming a disgrace to the whole world.

Moving on further, Vidura explains the next category of people going to hell:

“Dhaanavendrascha dhanuranaamyam namathobraveeth!”

Here Vidura explains that those who try and create conflicts with those people who are powerful and influencial, are not fit enough to live normally and peacefully in this world. Here again Vidura pokes King Dhirdiraashtra by saying thus, “Oh King! Now look at your son Duryodhana! What is he doing? He’s trying to create a rift directly with Bhagawan Krishna, who is the almighty and the supreme power of this whole world! Please look at the folly of your stupid son! What is he trying to do here? Can he even dream of winning a battle against Bhagawan Krishna? How is this possible in this earth?” By slamming King Dhirdiraashtra, Vidura clearly explains that there is no point in exerting one’s smartness or games against a person who is all powerful and influential. It is only a waste of time and energy!

In today’s life we also keep doing this. In an organization there might be different kinds of people who are working along with us. For instance, if I find my boss not being regular to office and if I find him whiling away time by doing nothing, can I go and exert my frustration to him and ask him the reasons for his misbehaviour? My job would be at stake if I do so, isn’t it? Why? It is because he is more powerful than I am in the organization setup. Only those people who are on top of him as part of the organizational hierarchy should raise this issue and mend his ways. It is not my job to do that! Hence we should understand that there’s no meaning in creating conflicts with those people who are more powerful and influential than us. By doing so, we are only wasting our time and effort.

Next, Vidura explains thus,

“Athaha atho mareecheenaha paadaan agraahyaan grinhatastathaa!!” 

Here Vidura is explaining that those people, who try to achieve the unachievable and defend the indefensible, will definitely go to hell! For instance, if someone is trying to fly higher and higher with the aim of capturing the sun and bringing it to his house – Will this be possible? 🙂 It might sound funny but we need to realize that there are people who behave this way! We need to understand that we need to be careful not to waste time in those activities that are practically unachievable and impossible for us to finish. This is to do with something called “Over-ambition”. Thus the message from here is that, we should be ambitious in life, but not over-ambitious. This would make us fall into unwanted trouble and we would become answerable to unwanted people at the wrong time.

Hence for today let us understand these two important categories of people who are fit to go to hell! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next category as explained by Vidura. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the introduction of the fifth “Adhyaaya” of the Vidura Neeti wherein we saw how Vidura commences this important “Adhyaaya” with a vent of anger and frustration towards King Dhirdiraashtra! Perhaps by the end of four “Adhyaayas”, Vidura has become tired of advising King Dhirdiraashtra, who is not willing to mend his ways at any cost! Hence he commences with a rash statement by highlighting the point that Duryodhana is trying to play with fire by playing his evil and wicked tricks on Bhagawan Krishna Himself and for this heinous act, he is going to reap the punishment at the apt time! In this course he commences his explanation on the seventeen different categories of people for whom “Naraka” (Hell) is assured! By explaining this, Vidura indirectly pokes and warns King Dhirdiraashtra that he is also falling under (not one, but) many of these seventeen categories!

Thus in today’s episode we shall commence the discussion on these seventeen categories of people who directly go to hell! Vidura explains thus:

“Sapta dashe maan raajendra manusvaayambhuvaha abraveeth!

Vaichitra veerya purusha anaakaasham mushti bhignataha!!”

Here interestingly we should note that Vidura is invoking the words of “Manu”, who is famous for his “Dharma-Shaastra” – Often we call it as “Manu-Dharma-Shaastra”. Vidura is explaining to King Dhirdiraashtra that the “Manu Dharma Shaastra” denotes the seventeen categories of people who go directly to Hell and nowhere else!

By that, he commences the discussion on the first category of people going to Hell. Vidura explains, “Anaakaasham mushti bhignataha!” – This means that if a person tries to pump his folded fist towards the sky, he/she would go to Hell! This might be surprising to all of us as to what’s there in pumping our fists in the air and how is this going to take us to the “Naraka”! We should realize and understand that this is just an outward meaning for a deeper significant message here – Vidura means to say that those people who do some work or action that is neither beneficial to him/her nor to the society at large, this person would go to hell! Now we’ve to combine this deeper message and the outwardly appearing message of the phrase. This is where we need to be very careful while interpreting the scriptures – There might be some phrases or sentences that if we read outwardly, it would seem to be funny or insignificant, but if we analyze that phrase in a deeper meaning, we would realize that it conveys an extremely important message to all of us. Here this phrase is an analogy to explain the fact that those people who fail to realize their purpose of birth in this world and ends up performing unwanted and undesirable actions, would certainly reach the “Naraka” world! Just like how there is no purpose in raising our fist in the air and pumping hard, we also keep doing certain actions in our day to day life that do not fulfill any purpose of our very existence in this world!

Here we should understand the fact of life that not everybody can do everything in this world! Not everybody can accomplish everything in this world too! For instance, if I’m a musician and if I’m able to sing and capture the hearts of many people, not everybody in this world can sing and accomplish this! Only a few people might have this unique gift of Bhagawan in their lives. However, it is not that Bhagawan hasn’t given other people anything! Some people might be excellent in dancing, painting and many other forms of art! If we’re able to identify our potential wherein we can excel in one particular domain, we should focus our full attention and effort in mastering that domain and giving our best shot in it, rather than attempting something just because another person is doing the same thing! This is why it is always said in Psychology studies that no human being is the same! Each human being is bestowed with some or the other inert talent and people become extremely successful only if they unearth this hidden potential in them.

Hence the message from today’s episode is that, there is no use of doing unwanted actions and such people who involve themselves in this are surely going to face the “Naraka!” Rather, if we try to identify and focus on our strengths, build upon them and gain expertise in it, this might benefit us as well as the society at large! Ultimately we should always remember that whatever we do should not only benefit us – It should be of benefit to others as well and this is very important! Hence, let us not compare each other in terms of good/bad qualities. Instead, let us focus on our individual capabilities and talents that Bhagawan has gifted us with and try to excel in them for the benefit of the society. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next category of people who go to hell! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an overview of the fifth “Adhyaaya” (Chapter) of the Vidura Neeti, wherein we started with an introductory note that knowledge without implementation is always a waste and it doesn’t get popularized for people to realize and follow. We witnessed how Vidura was an epitome of all the “Dharma” that he had preached to King Dhirdiraashtra. However, King Dhirdiraashtra although being a king and to have listened to all the “Dharma” from Vidura, failed to adopt even one principle of it in his life and this ignorance of his cost him his downfall! Hence we should make it very clear at this point that we shouldn’t be falling into the trap that King Dhirdiraashtra fell into and make a conscious effort to implement as many principles of “Dharma” as we can, in our short lifespan. In that way, we would not only be able to wash away or “Karma” but also would be able to take a step closer to Bhagawan. We should realize that Bhagawan has given us this golden opportunity to learn and understand our scriptures and we should make the full use of it to attain his lotus feet.

Thus moving on with the Vidura Neeti – Adhyaaya 5, Vidura starts by telling King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! It’s still fine if Duryodhana limits himself to doing something wrong to ordinary people like us or the Paandavas. Of course this itself is wrong, but he is going one step beyond this and is trying to play his wicked trick to Bhagawan Krishna also! Do you ever realize that your evil and crooked son is playing with fire by doing something wrong to Bhagawan Himself? Do you remember the anger in which Bhagawan Krishna was on that particular day? Doon’t you remember how Bhishma and others had to intervene and calm down Bhagawan Krishna? If He hadn’t calmed down on that day, Bhagawan would have burned you and your entire Kaurava clan to ashes that very moment itself! How foolish was your son Duryodhana to inflict such a dirty trick on Bhagawan himself?”

Saying thus, Vidura continues further to slam King Dhirdiraashtra! His anger and frustration knows no bounds here! He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Let me tell you one thing – Your son Duryodhana has over the time become a maverick! He has developed such a lot of greed for power and wealth that he’s failing to realize that he’s playing with a huge fire that can burn him down any time! How do you sit quietly like this without mending your son’s ways as a dutiful father?”

Saying thus, Vidura vents his frustration to King Dhirdiraashtra and is again trying all the ways possible to mend the King’s approach towards his wicked son. As we move on into the fifth Adhyaaya, our readers should remember that we’re in the “Udyoga Parva” of the Mahaabhaarata and under this “Udyoga Parva” we are inside the “Upa-Parva” (Sub-Chapter) called “Prajaakara Parva”. In this “Prajaakara Parva”, we are witnessing this important “Vidura Neeti” from the 33’th Adhyaaya till the 40’th Adhyaaya, wherein Vidura is rendering some important and golden pieces of advices pertaining to “Dharma” to King Dhirdiraashtra. Thus we’ve so far witnessed the 33’rd till the 36’th Adhyaaya of this “Prajaakara Parva” and now we’re moving into the 37’th Adhyaaya.

Thus moving further into this important Adhyaaya, Vidura explains further that the following 17 people are going to be the direct targets of “Yama-Dharma Raaja” and He takes these people immediately to the world of “Naraka” (Hell). Here we can witness that Vidura starts directly by dropping an “Atom Bomb”! 🙂 He further explains to King Dhirdiraashtra candidly thus, “Oh King! These are the following seventeen categories of people who are assured to go into the world of Naraka! I suppose that you would definitely be falling into atleast more than one of these categories of people! If you continue doing what’re you doing now, I’m sure you would face the Naraka sooner or later! Hence this is the right time and perhaps the last opportunity for you to mend your ways and escape the Naraka! Please do accordingly!”

Saying thus, Vidura starts to explain each of the seventeen categories of people for whom, Naraka is assured! What are those seventeen categories? We shall wait till the next episode to find them out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another extension of the discussion on the important message of “unity”. Here Vidura slams King Dhirdiraashtra extremely badly that he is the culprit fuelling the fight between the Kaurava and Pandava brothers just for his own personal stakes. Vidura repeatedly explains the importance of “Unity” in the kingdom and that his heart pains upon seeing infighting within the family! He conveys the important message that the kingdom of Hastinapura would prosper further only if the two groups of brothers stay united by understanding each other.

Thus by completing this explanation, we come to the end of the fourth “Adhyaaya” (Chapter) of the Vidura Neeti. We still have four more “Adhyaayas” to explore into. In the upcoming “Adhyaayas”, Vidura is going to narrate more analogies and examples to highlight and drive home all his advice to King Dhirdiraashtra. I shall give an introduction to the fifth “Adhyaaya” in today’s episode.

We might be wondering as to why is Vidura “wasting” his time here, to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand the “Dharma”, although he knows that King Dhirdiraashtra is an incorrigible person! There are two purposes here – One is of course, as all of us know, this whole scripture of Mahabhaarata (and also Ramayana) is not just to explain the story part of it. Each event in the storyline conveys certain unique messages to mankind and to the future world. Thus, we should focus on those messages keenly and try to understand and implement those important messages in our life. In other words, all of us are entangled in the trap called “Samsaara” and “Maaya” (Illusion) in this world. But how do we get liberated from these traps and how do we reach Bhagawan from here? One of the ways and perhaps the easiest and the best way is to understand our scriptures thoroughly – Especially the Ramayana and the Mahaabharata. This is the very purpose for which this entire blog series titled “The Indian Dharma” was founded. Our Sanaathana Dharma is an epitome explaining the different ways in which a human being should lead his/her life in the path of “Dharma”, which would not only benefit him/her but also the whole world. This is one purpose.

The second reason is the continuation of the above purpose – If we know and understand everything from the Ramayana & Mahabharata and if we do not put our understanding into practice, what is the use of learning all of it? Hence implementation is the key here! Understanding the “Dharma” is 50% and implementing the “Dharma” is the remaining 50%. Thus we should make sure that we not only understand the principles of our Sanaathana Dharma, but also try meticulously to implement them in our daily lives. If we are weak in the implementation part, nobody in this would believe or trust our words. Why do we focus so much on Vidura’s words and why do we hail Vidura’s advice like gold? It is only because Vidura preaches the Dharma and is also an epitome of the same Dharma that he preaches. Whatever message he conveys in each sloka of the Vidura Neeti, he himself is an epitome of each and every message that he conveys! Such a “Panditha” (Learned Scholar) in Vidura was also down to earth, when Bhagawan Krishna paid a surprise visit to his small house. He was so overwhelmed with devotion and love towards Bhagawan that he unknowingly offered the skins of the bananas rather than the actual fruit. Such was Vidura’s immense devotion to his Lord!

Whereas if we contrast this same thing to the characteristics which King Dhirdiraashtra exhibited, it would be so funny! When Bhagawan Krishna came to King Dhirdiraashtra and the Kaurava group as a messenger to broker peace between the two rival groups, King Dhirdiraashtra wasn’t interested in the peace-making agenda! Rather, he somehow wanted to pull Bhagawan Krishna to his side and prevent him from leaning towards the Paandavas. So what did King Dhirdiraashtra do? He suggested to Vidura (who was present near him at that time too) if he can give 10 villages from his Hastinaapura to Bhagawan Krishna as a token of “gift”, so that he leans towards Duryodhana and Co.! Upon hearing this, Vidura did not know whether to laugh or cry! He replies back, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Till date I was under the impression that only your external eyes are blind. But today I came to know that your internal eyes are also blind! You do not have even an iota of common sense in you – What are you saying? Are you going to give 10 villages to Bhagawan Krishna? If you give five of those villages to the Paandavas, this whole crisis could easily be put to rest forever! You wouldn’t give the Paandavas an inch of the land, whereas you’ll give Bhagawan Krishna 10 villages isn’t it? Fantastic! This is why you and your sons are facing doom and are going to continue facing doom in future too!”

From this we can see that the act of “Bribing” had existed even in those days! 🙂 Today we’re complaining about bribery, corruption, etc. But all these were present even in the “Tretha Yuga” itself! From this, the message is clear that it is important that we focus both on understanding and implementing the Dharma as explained by Vidura.

Saying thus, Vidura now commences the fifth “Adhyaaya” wherein as mentioned before, he is going to narrate different analogies, stories, invoke different people’s advice and narratives to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand the practical and the ground reality. We shall wait till the next episode to formally commence the interesting Adhyaaya – 5 of the Vidura Neeti! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had taken forward the discussion on “Unity” and had witnessed some dangers that are looming large on us owing to the lack of unity within ourself. Hence it should be realized that any team or any community or any religion or any organization can never succeed without this factor called “Unity” and it is upon us to develop that positive synergy within, so as to take on the forces that oppose us in whatever way possible.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains thus,

“Dhuumaayante vyapetaani jvalanti sahitaanicha!!”

 Here again Vidura explains the importance of “Unity” with a beautiful analogy – If we’ve to start a fire in a “Homa-Kunta” (A place where a fire is commenced to do spiritual offerings to Agni Bhagawan), one or two wooden sticks aren’t enough. If the fire is commenced just with that one or two sticks alone, only smoke would come and the fire wouldn’t be able to burn with the yellow flame. It is only when numerous sticks are clubbed together in the “Homa-Kunta” combined with ghee, the fire glows with the characteristic yellow flame for a long time. Similarly Vidura uses another analogy here – If in a forest there is only one tree that stands tall, this tree would be shaken very badly when there is a big gust of wind. However, if there are many trees standing there in unison, this one tree would not be fully affected by the wind gust. All the trees around would ensure that the wind gust doesn’t have much impact on this tree. This is why Vidura repeatedly emphasizes the point that Unity is extremely important and it has loads of benefits for mankind. Thus Vidura is advising King Dhirdiraashtra as to try and unite both the Paandava and Kaurava camps and this would be beneficial for the kingdom in future.

“Sandhassva tvam kaurava paandu putrair maatentaram ripavah praartayantu!

Satyesthithaasye naradena sarve duryodhanam sthaapaya tvam narendra!!”

Adding on thus, Vidura explains and advises King Dhirdiraashtra, “Oh King! Please take this one-time opportunity to mend Duryodhana’s ways as a father and as a king. This is your duty – If you fail in your duty in mending your son’s ways now, you’re going to face a huge risk in terms of your whole clan! Thus, educate your son about this important point on unity and try to make him understand that he should not be fighting dirtily like this with his brother Yudishtra. Please make him realize his folly and ask him to forget the bitter past. Please make him united with the Paandavas and this is the most important step that you need to do right away! Please do not delay it. Enough is enough! This kingdom has seen enough and more of bitterness between the two groups of brothers. Thus before this fight escalates into a full-fledged war, try to unite the two camps on an urgent basis. You’re supposed to share the kingdom with the Paandavas and please do so immediately without delay. Your kingdom would strengthen only if these two camps are united. Hence, please try and satisfy the requirements of the Paandavas and make them happy. By doing so, you’re going to stand by the “Dharma” and Bhagawan Krishna is overseeing all this. Please do not go against the will of Bhagawan Krishna. This might bring about disastrous consequences, which would make you and your sons totally extinct from this world altogether!”

Slamming thus, Vidura repeatedly tries to make King Dhirdiraashtra understand his folly and is putting his best effort to mend his ways by changing his mindset. But is it going to work? Sadly all of us know what conspired later on and how did the infamous family war at Kurukshetra destroyed the whole of the Kaurava community! Of course if King Dhirdiraashtra did not pay heed to Vidura’s golden words of advice, it was his problem! But we can always listen to Vidura’s words and mend our ways in our lives, isn’t it? Hence let us make a conscious step forward in understanding each and every advice of Vidura and try to implement it in our every day life. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important message! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the importance of “Unity” as explained by Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra. This is very much applicable to all of us in today’s scenario too. We’ve seen couple of modern-day applications of this virtue of “unity” and today we shall elaborate this a bit more for the understanding of our readers. As mentioned by Vidura, unity is a very important aspect that a righteous king should possess and unfortunately King Dhirdiraashtra fell short of it. He was virtually fuelling the divide between the “Kauravas” and the “Paandavas” so as to favour his Kaurava sons, against the Paandavas. King Dhirdiraashtra’s calculation was, if a fight is instigated or incited between the two groups, eventually Duryodhana can take that as an advantage and claim the throne after King Dhirdiraashtra. But Vidura is extremely skeptical about this and warns King Dhirdiraashtra of dire consequences. He advises King Dhirdiraashtra that the Hastinaapura kingdom would be intact only if the Kauravas and Paandavas are united with each other. If one has to plot against the other, the kingdom becomes vulnerable to external attacks!

How important is this message in today’s scenario? We keep witnessing innumerable instances wherein lack of unity weighs defeat and surrender to a force that is perfectly united. We’ve seen yesterday how did the British capture or lack of unity amongst Indians and cashed in to loot and drain away all the richness and wealth of our country! Similar thing happens today too – With respect to our Hindu “Sanaathana Dharma”. We witness that our religion is in threat amidst the hands of some “external forces’ that are united! It is saddening to note that there is a clear lack of unity amongst we Hindus to safeguard, stand up and uplift our religion and its rich values. Normally I’m not a person who talks such sensitive matters in the public domain, but since the context entails and compels me to speak out, I’m doing so. Please note that this discussion is not aimed at offending anybody’s self-interests and beliefs.

In the present day, we find few external “organizations” trying to propagate religions that do not have any substance nor value system and use “Sales & marketing tactics” to convert innocent people, thereby making huge sums of money from it! Unfortunately since there is a clear lack of unity amongst followers of our Hindu Sanaathana Dharma, we’re loosing out to the concerted efforts of the united evil opposition forces! This should be stopped immediately at any cost, because today our Hinduism is in threat! We’ve started to witness some other religious “clerics” declaring in the public media that India is not a Hindu country and Hinduism was “brought” to India just 200 years back! If this trend goes unchecked for the next 5-10 years, no wonder we would start hearing to statements that our rich scriptures like “Ramayana” and “Mahaabhaarata” were “copied” from some other idiotic texts of some other religions! Hence as a huge group of people who ardently follow our “Sanaathana Dharma”, it is time for us to step up in a united way to protect our culture, tradition and value systems. Of course I understand that it is more easily said than done, but somewhere down the line we need to make a concerted effort towards achieving this. We should never give room for external forces to rule over us again and we’ve seen this enough and more for the past so many decades!

Thus the message from this important episode is that, we should understand the significance of unity and should implement it in our personal life as well as our professional and public life too. If there is an external threat (in whatever way), we should stand up united and fight out that threat. Can a team that does not have a unity and co-ordination amongst them win a cricket or a football match? Can an organization succeed without the united coordination of high-impact and high-performing teams? We should give it a serious thought today with regards to the important idea of “Unity”. We shall wait till the next episode to witness more of Vidura’s messages. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important discussion wherein Vidura clearly explained four different ways for a person to grow spiritually, rather than worrying about worldly pleasures and their plight. Vidura particularly spoke about Vidyaa (Quality Education), Tapas (Will power to do things the right way), “Indrya Nighrahaat” (Controlling our five senses in the right way) and “Anyatra lobha santhyaadaath” (Letting go of unwanted and excessive desire and greed). If we’re able to mend ourself in these four ways, Vidura assures us of a robust spiritual growth towards Bhagawan.

Now moving on further, Vidura goes into the next important point and this time he’s going to talk about “Unity”. How important is “Unity” in this world and how important a leadership quality is it? If a leader is unable to unite all his people and aides together and drive them, it is going to end up in a disaster wherein the whole team is going to be split with ego and ideology clashes. Ultimately the task to be accomplished by the team goes for a toss! This is why in modern day management and leadership theory, this phenomenon called “Unity” is given a prime importance.

This is exactly what Vidura is also saying here. He explains to King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! Do you know to what extent your greed has taken you? You’ve forgotten about the significance of the kingdom’s unity! You’re trying to implement a policy called ‘Divide & Rule’, which is an extremely dangerous approach for a king. You’re favoring your sons (Kauravas) and you’re trying to safeguard them (even if they’re doing innumerable wrongdoings) by splitting & dividing them from the Paandavas. Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Because of your greed and jealousy you’ve even forgotten that Duryodhana and Yudishtra are none other than brothers! Your greed knows no bounds that you’re even going to the extent of breaking relationships. Hence rather than stopping your crooked son Duryodhana from doing sins, you’re only motivating him further to widen the gap between him and the Paandavas! Little do you realize how dangerous this strategy is! You’re not realizing the fact that only if all the brothers (Paandavas & Kauravas) are together, this Hasthinaapura kingdom is going to prosper!”

Conveying the above message, Vidura explains thus:

“Tam tavaha pyaaytaa nithyam tanavo bahunaassamaaha!!”

 Here Vidura explains the importance of “Unity” and why should we be united amongst all of the people surrounding us! Let us look at an interesting analogy here – If there are  many strands of cloth flying here and there in a room haphazardly, what is the use of these strands of cloth? Rather, if these strands are brought together and stitched into a beautiful garment, how useful can it be? Similarly if there is a mat that is wound together with so many bamboo sticks, unless and until the bamboo sticks stay together, the mat is usable. However if some sticks start to come out of the stitch, what would happen? Here, we can see two categories of people – One category of people realize the importance of the mat and hence they insert those few sticks that have come out from the stitch, seal them with their hands and make the mat intact for further usage. Whereas, there is another category of people who start pulling out all the remaining sticks from the mat, just because one or two of them have come out from the stitch! We should always make sure that we never fall under this second category of people. Whatever it is, our mat is important and not that one or two sticks that come out from the stitch. All we need to do is to re-insert those one or two sticks and tighten it up. This is where the unity comes to play. Just like how we unite those sticks in the bamboo mat to make it intact, we should also try and unite all our people together without haste and fights, so that our ultimate aim called “Bhakti” is achieved!

Here we should note that, more than performing individual prayers, Bhagawan always likes when we pray to Him together as a group! If we pray together along with hundreds or thousands of people, the effect of the prayer is extremely high and this is one huge way in which we can transform the whole world! The more and more people join us in a good way for a good cause, the more effective it is. In olden days, why did people have the habit of celebrating a temple festival by pulling the chariot wherein the deity is placed over it? It should be noted that this temple chariot is so huge that one person cannot even lift the lever to pull it forward. We can see this in many places even today – A minimum of 300-400 people would come together, lift the lever together and pull the chariot forward. This signifies that unity is very important amongst people.

Thus the message from today’s episode is that unity of prime importance amongst a family, a team in an organization or even people of our entire nation. If this unity goes missing, we’re inviting trouble for ourselves – How did the British people capture India 200 years ago? It is because India was never a united country at that time and the British used this as an opportunity to enter inside and invade us. Because of lack of unity, we had to lose battle after battle and finally we had to meekly surrender to the hands of the British! This is what would happen if there is lack of unity. Hence we should realize that unity is extremely important and that we shouldn’t keep fighting with someone every time. So for today, let us ponder over this important point and do the needful accordingly! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next message! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous two to three episodes we’ve been discussing an important point as to why we should not always keep cribbing about worldly happenings and how do we insulate ourself from all these unwanted things. Of course there are certain things that happen in this world, which is beyond our control and there is no point in worrying about those happenings. Hence rather than wasting time on all these activities, we should always aim for the higher spiritual advancement in our individual lives. We need to realize Bhagawan Krishna’s words – “Maashuchaha”, which means “Please do not feel afraid!” Hence it is upto each and every one of us to introspect this important point and try to mend our ways. If Bhagawan says “Please do not worry”, we should make up our mind not to worry or crib about anything in life. We should have belief and trust in Bhagawan’s words. If we do not trust His words, then whose words in this world are we going to trust?

Now moving on further, Vidura suggests solutions how to implement the points that we’ve been discussing for the past 2-3 episodes. He suggests four ways. What are those four ways? Vidura explains thus:

“Vidyaa tapasaha indrya nigrahaath anyatra lobha santhyaadaath!!”

Here Vidura lists down the four ways through which we can realize our true potential – He commences with the first way, “Vidyaa” – This of course all of us know, which is nothing but quality education. Education is the first requirement for many aspects in life. This is why even in the modern day we give so much importance to quality education. If a person is educated in the correct way, he/she would automatically know which is right and which is wrong. The power of “discrimination” that we’ve been talking about for so many episodes now, would get activated more and more as we get educated more and more. Hence, education occupies a prime importance in a person’s life, both in terms of professional growth as well as spiritual growth.

The next one being “Tapas” – The ability of an individual to control his mind and engage in penance. If I use the word “Penance” it does not always mean that one should be in a meditative state by sitting in one corner and by closing his eyes. If we’re performing our actions with complete detachment and with complete devotion towards Bhagwan, this itself is a penance or a “Saadhana”. Thus, if we’ve to perform our actions with detachment, which is the primary aspect that is required for it? It is the mind! Thus, complete control of our mind would automatically result in detachment. The moment our mind is going to wander here and there and go towards the fruits of our actions, we’re going to land up in sorrow and depression if we’re unable to achieve what we wanted to! This is the reason why we always keep saying that the lesser our expectations from this world, the happier we become. The more our expectations and desires, the more we’ve to suffer. Hence we need to realize this important point.

Of course this is still a difficult proposition to many of us, but can we just ignore it because it is tough to implement? For instance, if we fall sick and when we go to a doctor, he prescribes some medicines and an injection. Now just because I do not like to take a bitter medicine and since taking an injection is painful, do I say to the doctor that I’m not interested to take the medication? Similarly, just because it is difficult, it doesn’t mean that we ignore it. We should keep trying constantly to practice detachment. The more we practice detachmnent again and again, irrespective of failing multiple times, the more perfect we become!

Now miving on to the third one, Vidura says – “Indrya nigrahaath” – The ability to control our five vital senses effectively. This is of course the continuation of the previous point and we’ve spoken a lot on this as well. The moment we lose control on our senses, it means that we’re going behind unwanted activities in life, which is going to lead us to disaster. Hence, controlling our senses is a very important task that all of us should focus on.

Now Vidura explains the fourth and the final way – “Anyatra lobha santhyaadaath!” – This means, controlling and letting go of excessive greed and desire from us. As explained above, the more we desire, the more closer we’r getting towards disaster in life. Hence we’ve to constantly have a check on our desires. Of course I’m not saying that desires are totally unwarranted. If it leads to a constructive purpose, desires are good. For instance, if we desire to reach Vaikunta and attain the closeness of Bhagawan, this is a good desire and this would make us work meticulously towards it. Whereas, if the desires go into worldly aspects, it is only then they create problems in our lives.

Thus these four ways according to Vidura would be helpful for any person in this world so as to grow spiritually upwards. The message is very clear and we need to start implementing these ways immediately. Let’s try! We shall wait till the next episode to explore what is Vidura going to explain about “Unity”! This is a very important phase of Vidura Neeti! Stay tuned! 🙂