The Indian Dharma

In the last couple of episodes we had witnessed a detailed discussion on how do various items get destroyed in this world. In that way, Vidura had given a set of eight examples to highlight this point.

To summarize the whole thing in a nutshell, firstly as we get aged year after year, this factor called “Age” takes away our physical beauty. Secondly if we have excessive desires, our courage and confidence comes down and eventually get destroyed! Thirdly, the “God of Death” (Yama Dharma Raja) would take away our breath completely when the time comes for us to depart from this world! Fourth, jealousy would deviate us from the path of “Dharma” and take it away from us! Fifth, if we give room for anger (“Krodha”) to flourish, our wealth and money would go for a toss! Sixth, if we offer service (Seva) to a person who doesn’t deserve it and who is an unrighteous person, our righteousness is taken for a ride!  Seventh, if we develop unwanted desire, we would lose our self-respect and the inhibition that is essential for us, which would help us prevent doing unwanted mistakes in life. Finally Vidura says “Sarvamena abhimaaninaha” which means that if arrogance takes over us, we would lose everything in life and there is no use of living any further in this world! Saying thus, he pauses for a while.

This was a direct poke to King Dhirdiraashtra because, Vidura is now trying to make him realize that it is Duryodhana’s arrogance that is going to bring about doom for the entire “Kaurava” clan. Vidura is trying his best to illustrate King Dhirdiraashtra that arrogance is one of the extremely bad qualities that a human being can have, and that, he should mend his son’s ways without any delay, before everything slips out of the hands!

Now moving on further Vidura says thus:

“Shreer mangalaath bhavati praagalpyaath sampravartathe!

Daakshyaathu kuruthe moolam samyamaath prathi thishtathi!!”

Here in this sloka Vidura explains how does wealth (“Shreehi”) accumulate, sustains and grows further. This is a beautiful and an important sloka for all of us to introspect on. Now let uus look into the meaning of it. Firstly Vidura explains, “Shreer mangalaath bhavati” – If we aspire to do an auspicious activity that would benefit the entire world and if we think and pray to Bhagawan for such an activity to be executed and then started, Vidura explains that wealth would automatically starts coming towards us. Thus from this message, it is very clear that wealth would automatically come to us if our thoughts and actions are auspicious and clean in nature.

Next he says, “Praagalpyaath sampravartathe” – It is not enough if a person just starts an auspicious action and leaves it there. He should continue to dedicate his/her 100% effort towards executing that auspicious action. It is only then the wealth would start accumulating more and more. Thus, the harder and smarter that we work, more the wealth that we accumulate.

Next, Vidura explains “Daakshyaathu kuruthe moolam” – Now that we’ve started to accumulate the wealth, how do we sustain it over a period of time? It is with accurate and a capable way of decision making – That is, taking the right decisions in a steady manner, at the right time and also in such a way that the impact of the decisions that we take doesn’t affect anybody else’s life in any way. If such a thing happens, the wealth would sustain with us for a long time and we shall be able to enjoy the fruits of it.

We might be wondering why is Vidura pulling off this point all of a sudden from nowehere! It is to warn King Dhirdiraashtra that he is going to lose all his wealth in the near future! The enormous wealth that King Dhirdiraashtra possessed was born out of some auspicious and good actions by his ancestors long ago. However, is he sustaining that wealth in the right way? Vidura slams King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! The property and the kingdom that you possess today is an ancestral property and the way in which you’re trying to maintain and sustain this property is pathetic! When it is a mandate that you need to split a portion of this ancestral property for the Paandavas, you’re going against it. This is the most inauspicious action that you’re doing! The moment you commence an inauspicious action, the wealth would start leaving you!”

Vidura continues further, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Do you think you’re smart? You never even have an iota of smartness in you! When the Pandavas came down to the level of asking just five villages, you should have given that to them and the remaining huge kingdom could have been yours and Duryodhana’s! Giving just five villages is nothing at all! Even though you didn’t split the kingdom equally, you could have given just five villages and still could have escaped! If you were smart enough, you could have given them five villages and settled the affair then and there! Hence you do not even have an iota of smart thinking in you! Even if this smartness is absent, atleast do you have the talent to sustain the wealth that you possess? That is also missing in you! If you’ve to ask a minister to explain you all these things, as a king, in what ways are you qualified to rule such a vast kingdom efficiently? You should have known all these by yourself! If you’ve to ask each and every thing from a minister to rule the kingdom, it is evident that you do not have the capability to be a king in the first place! Thus putting all of this together, this wealth that you possess today is never going to sustain with you in the long run! Please understand this fact and try to mend your ways atleast now!”

Now the lessons for all of us are very clear from this sloka – If we’ve to earn sufficient amount of wealth, we should do so in the legitimate way with our actions benefitting the world. IF we’ve to grow this wealth further, we need to be steadfast in our approach and give our 100% effort to it. Finally if we need to sustain it, we need to have the capability to make the right decisions at the right time so that people around us do not get affected! If we get these three things right, wealth would sustain and dwell with us forever!

We shall introspect this important point for today and wait till tomorrow for more of Vidura’s explanation. Tomorrow Vidura is going to explain a very important aspect – King Dhirdiraashtra’s courtroom and how he failed in that aspect too! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had commenced yet another important discussion wherein Vidura is pointing out to King Dhirdiraashtra clearly as to which are those that would take away which items from us. In this way we’ve seen the first two cases through which Vidura is trying to drive this point home. We shall have a re-look at the sloka and then try to move on further from there.

“Jaraa roopam harathi hi dhairyamaashaa mrithyuh praanaan!

Dharmachariyaanasooya krodhahashriyamanaarya!

Sevaa hriyam kaamaha sarvamena abhimaaninaha!!”

The first case that he explains here is “Jaraa roopam harathi” – As we get aged year after year, this factor called “Age” takes away our physical beauty! As we advance in our age, our physical beauty starts reducing slowly and we see this practically every passing day! Secondly he says “Dhairyamaashaa” – Here Vidura explains that if we have excessive desires, our courage and confidence comes down! This too we see practically happening every day as to how we get tensed and nervous if certain things do not happen in the way it should happen! We had quite a long discussion on this point in the previous episode.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains the third case – “Mrithyuh praanaan” – Vidura explains here that the “God of Death” (Yama Dharma Raja) would take away our breath completely when the time comes for us to depart from this world!

Next he says “Dharmachariyaam asooya” – Jealousy would deviate us from the path of “Dharma” and take it away from us! Unless and until we are free of jealousy, every action of ours would be going towards the path of “Dharma”. What will happen if jealousy comes in? For instance if we see a politician who lives a luxurious life – He would have earned all his wealth through the path of “Adharma”, but even then, upon seeing him roaming around in such luxurious cars and living in a huge bungalow, somewhere down the line we would also have some thoughts as to “What if we also become an owner of such huge wealth?” Isn’t it? We keep watching such things in movies quite regularly in the modern day – A person who tries to lead a life without giving or taking bribes from anyone, whereas in his opposite house, his neighbor would be an epitome of bribery! The moment this person sees his neighbor getting so much of money through bribing, he would also start developing jealousy and thus a desire towards earning money by means of a “short cut”. Ultimately what would conspire? This jealousy would transform our behavior completely and we would also start thinking of earning money through short cut means like that of our neighbor. Hence we would also go into that track, but what if we get caught somewhere down the line? Forget getting caught by the police – We’re ultimately deviating from the path of “Dharma” isn’t it? This is even more dangerous! Even if today we escape from the police or from the vigilane authority, Bhagawan is the biggest vigilance authority from whom we can never escape! He maintains all our accounts systematically and would pull us up when the time arises. Thus the message from this point is that, the moment jealousy takes over us, we would slowly start deviating from the path of “Dharma” and enter into the zone of “Adharma”. Hence we need to very watchful and careful about ourself and our activities everyday.

Next, Vidura explains another impotant point – “Krodhaha shriyam” – Here Vidura says that if we give room for anger (“Krodha”) to flourish, our wealth and money would go for a toss! How is this possible? Why does Vidura say this? We’ve seen during our Ramayana discussion wherein Sage Vishwamithra got extremely angry and as a result of this, he had to lose all his power that he gained through years and years of penance! In case of great Maharishis, if they’ve to give in to anger, they’ll end up losing all their “Tapas” that they had accumulated for ages together! Similarly if ordinary people like us have to give in to anger, our wealth would get destroyed. This is because, if we get angry, our mind loses stability and we would end up making wrong decisions at the critical time and this would pave way for large-scale disasters to happen!

Next, Vidura explains “Anaarya Sevaa” – If we offer service (Seva) to a person who doesn’t deserve it and who is an unrigteous person, our righteousness is taken for a ride! This is because, if we start having company with people who are unrighteous in nature, by some means or the other, we would also start digressing through the path of unrighteousness. Even in the professional front, if we’ve to join an organization for work, we should first check if this organization and its head are an ethical organization and person respectively. Rather if we’ve to work with a person or an organization that doesn’t value ethics, we would also eventually fall into the trap of “Adharma” in some way or the other. Thus the message here is that, if we end up offering our service and time to people who follow “Adharma”, it is of no use, and moreover, we would eventually fall into their trap of “Adharma” and would perform unwanted activities to get into trouble! Hence we should be very careful in this regard!

Next up, Vidura says “Hriyam kaamaha” – If we develop unwanted desire, we would lose our self-respect and the inhibition that is essential for us, which would help us prevent doing unwanted mistakes in life. For instance, if our desires are excessively directed towards money, we would think of ways and means to “somehow” earn it. As a result, we would start adopting illegal means to earn money such as robbery, bribing, etc. Normally we would have an inhibition against doing such things, but if desire for money takes over, we would lose this inhibition and start getting into illegal activities!

Finally Vidura finishes with an important note – “Sarvamena abhimaaninaha” – Here Vidura drops a bombshell that King Dhirdiraashtra did not expect – He says that if arrogance takes over us, we would lose everything in life! Saying thus, he pauses a bit!The message is very clear here – So far we’ve seen in this sloka that in each case there is one item that is going to affect another item. For instance, age affects physical beauty, desire affects our confidence, anger affects our wealth, etc. Finally he says that if there is arrogance in us, we would completely be ruined! Hence we need to be very careful here. Just like how we have an English proverb, “If money is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost and if character is lost, everything is lost!” Similarly here too, if arrogance takes us over, everything is lost! In other words, our entire character is lost and we would never be able to command any sorts of respect from anyone in this world!

So for today let us introspect on this important sloka and check within ourselves as to where do we lack and where do we fix ourselves. We shall wait till the next episode to continue Vidura’s explanation further! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation on the discussion about various ways and means through which several things in this world exhibit their true colours! Vidura gives instances of six different contexts wherein the true colour is exposed – He commences with gold, wherein he says that the real purity of gold in ornaments can be ascertained by heating the ornament to high temperature. Secondly he says that a human being’s attitude is exposed to the world by the actions that he/she performs. Thirdly he explains that a person hailed as a “Saadhu” (Spiritually acclaimed person) would be exposed if he opens his mouth and talks for a few minutes! With the words that come out of his mouth while talking, we can easily understand if he is a real “Saadhu” or not! Fourth, Vidura explains that a person who claims himself to be brave and courageous would be exposed when he is put into a situation that might automatically induce a fear! Vidura goes on to substantiate this point by saying further that the real test for a person who is supposedly brave and courageous is when that person is left in the middle of nowhere without food, water or even a single penny of money in his pocket. Finally Vidura is talking about the significance of unconditional friendship. I as a person would be able to understand the true colours of another person (whether he/she is good or bad) only during a time when I’m going through a problem. Thus all instances put together, Vidura has explained for the last two episodes that in some way or the other, the true colour of a person or any object would be exposed to the world in due course of time. This reminds us of a famous proverb – “All that glitters is not gold!”

Hence the message from this discussion is that, we should be very careful not be carried away by seeing only the external appearance of anything or anybody in this world. We need to take our time, use our discrimination ability to analyze and understand who and what is good and/or bad and then move forward.

With this, we now move on to the next important set of points that Vidura is going to explain. Here he explains clearly which are those that would take away which items from us! Vidura says thus:

“Jaraa roopam harathi hi dhairyamaashaa mrithyuh praanaan!

Dharmachariyaanasooya krodhahashriyamanaarya!

Sevaa hriyam kaamaha sarvamena abhimaaninaha!!”

Now commencing the explanation, he says “Jaraa roopam harathi” – As we get aged year after year, this factor called “Age” takes away our physical beauty! Thus we can see here that our physical appearance is temporary and is always subjected to change. This is the reason why we always keep saying that we need to give more importance to the beauty of our “Aathman” or Soul rather than our physical beauty. Nowadays we keep spending so much of money to buy cosmetic products, which are used to beautify our physical body and make it look very attractive. But little do we realize and little can we accept the fact that we are getting aged day after day and our physical attractiveness continues to diminish as we become older. Unable to accept this fact of life, we are investing so much of money to get expensive cosmetic products to beautify ourselves. Rather, we should always think of ways how to beautify our “Aathman” as this is the permanent phenomenon in all of us. How do we beautify out “Aathman”? It is through “Satsangs” (Association with spiritually realized people and paying heed to what they preach) and our focus towards Bhagawan. If these two are practiced properly, our “Aathman” gets purified and automatically gets attractive for Bhagawan to look into it!

Secondly Vidura says, “Dhairyamaashaa” – Here Vidura explains that if we have excessive desires, our courage and confidence comes down! We can see this in our everyday life – If we do not have a desire on something, we would never care about what happens with regards to that! But if we have a strong desire towards something or someone, we would be so tensed and scared until we fulfil that desire and get the desired result. For instance, we fall in love with someone – Unless and until we get married to that person, we would be so tensed and restless. This is because, we would be scared all the time as to what would happen if our marriage is stopped owing to various reasons and what would happen to my life if something would stop the marriage! Thus we can clearly see here that desires in us take away the courage and braveness that we possess!

This is an extremely important learning for all of us. Let us see another instance to substantiate this point – Nowadays we undertake lot of travel from one place to the other owing to professional and personal reasons. Everytime we take the travel by bus or train or by flight and we normally do not feel scared of it. But if we’ve to carry a bulk amount of cash – say 50,000 rupees or 3000 dollars or whatever it might be, or if we’ve to carry a huge quantity of gold with us during one of our travel schedules, how would we feel? Won’t we feel tensed and scared throughout the journey? Won’t we have a thought at the back of our mind that what if someone notices our expensive belongings and robs them from us? This is how we start losing our courage when our desires take over us! Because, on ordinary journeys when we do not carry any expensive belongings of ours, we would never feel this scared. However, if something expensive is with us during travel, we feel differently. This is why Vidura emphasizes that the extent to which we can lessen our desires, the greater we can be courageous and brave in our life!

So for today let us ponder over these two important points explained by Vidura and introspect within ourselves. Let us look into ways through which we can lessen our desires in our lives so that we can live peacefully and with courage! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the remaining points that Vidura is going to explain in the above sloka! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had started yet another important discussion of Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra about how each item in this world gets exposed with its true colour. Yesterday we had seen that gold exposes its true colour when we heat it to extremely high temperatures. If we do so, we can understand and identify the actual level of purity of gold that is present in the ornaments that we wear. Secondly, a human being’s attitude is exposed to the world by the actions that he/she performs. If a person performs good activities, he is hailed to be a good person and if the actions are bad, he gets exposed right royally at some point in time. Thirdly, a person who is hailed as a “Saadhu” would be exposed if he opens his mouth and talks for a few minutes! If he talks sense and in a very limited manner, he is accepted as a real “Saadhu” and on the contrary if he’s going to open his mouth and utter crappy words and language, his image gets severely dented. This is why we always keep saying that it is better to remain silent rather than unwantedly opening our mouths and getting exposed by ourselves!

Now moving on further, Vidura says “Sooraha bhayeshu” – A brave person’s behavior when he is put into a situation that would automatically induce a fear! By nature, some people might be extremely courageous and brave to face any situation. Some of them atleast project themselves that way! J Now if we’ve to put them in a situation that would automatically induce great fear, this would expose their stance here – If he is really brave and courageous, he would try and come out of the situation somehow through some means. Whereas if he was “acting” as if he was brave and courageous, would panic and bog down – Thus he gets exposed for the lie that he has been propagating so far!

Next, Vidura explains “Artha krithseshu dheeraha” – One more way to test if a person is brave or not – In other words, when would a person’s timidness be exposed to the world? The real test is when that person is left in the middle of nowehere without food, water or even a single penny of money in his pocket. At this situation, if he still has the courage within himself to manage it, his real braveness is exposed to the world! Conversly, if the person panics and bogs down during this situation by giving up completely, he is an absolute timid person and this nature of him gets exposed easily!

This can be interpreted to the current lifestyle of people in this way – If a person, because of whatsoever reason had borrowed enormous amounts of money before as debts from many other people and if he takes it upon himself to work hard and repay all the debts that he had taken, without even a single penny as a balance, such person is hailed as an extremely confident and a courageous person. Of course in the modern day we see several people like that who are very sincere and honest in their approach towards work and family, who take greater responsibilities for all what happens within the family. These persons would easily stand out of the crowd in terms of their hard work, honesty and sincerety. But on the other side of the spectrum, today we see many people – especially businessmen who are over-ambitious in the beginning, get enormous amounts of loans from a consortium of banks, do not use that money in the proper channel to run their business profitably, and finally take out all that bank money and run away from India to settle in London or wherever in the world where they cannot be touched! We’ve seen this happening in the recent years too! However if a person who is taking up this failure of business upon himself and declare to the world that I would not run out of the country anywhere, I shall re-structure my business in a better way so as to earn profits, and subsequently re-settle all the loans that the banks had lended him, would be hailed by the world as a real successful businessman and a professionally ethical person. If this is the case, even the lenders who had lent enormous money as debts, would get that confidence that their money is safe in this person’s hands. It is only when this businessman acts in a dishonest way of swindling all the money and flying abroad secretly, will all problems commence.

Thus a person can be judged for his courage and confidence only if he’s left with no money to even manage himself.

Finally, Vidura says “Krishvesvaapatsu suhrudascha arayascha!” Here he says that I as a person would come to know about another person (whether he/she is good or bad) only during a time when I’m going through a problem. If during tough times a person comes unconditionally to render help and support, he/she can be rated as a true friend. If it is in such a way that a so-called friend leaves me alone and deserts me during a crisis situation, we would come to know his/her true color as the worst enemy! This is what we explain with the modern day proverb in English – “A friend in need is a friend indeed!” Nowadays people weigh everything in life only in terms of money and nothing else. For instance if I’m from a wealthy family, many people would come behind me like “friends” all the time. They would voluntarily come up to me and talk, go out with me for movies, have fun, etc. Whereas tomorrow for whatsoever reason, all my money gets vanished away, how many of these same “friends” would come up to me and talk? Many of them would just turn their back and walk away when we’re in a crisis! Not many people would have the heart to come to us and offer unconditional help and support.

This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here. So for today let us introspect these above-mentioned points within ourself. Let us be careful in understanding the real nature of people around us while we move with them. We shall wait till the next episode to explore more of Vidura’s advice! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had completed the discussion on the seven different categories of people we should never encourage as part of having them as a witness or seeking their advice for any important aspect in our life. The seven important categories are: A person claiming expertise in Palmistry, a person who was once a thief but is in a high position today by whatsoever means, a doctor (medical practitioner, if in case of calling him/her as a witness), a friend, an enemy and finally a person who never leads a righteous life at all!

By explaining thus, Vidura pauses for a while and looks at King Dhirdiraashtra as if to say, “Oh King! I hope you would have got my message by now!” It was because, Sahuni exactly falls under this last category of people to be avoided completely! Vidura thus reminds King Dhirdiraashtra that Sahuni is such a notorious and an irresponsible person and that, he should not get carried away by his words of advice! In fact, Vidura warns King Dhirdiraashtra that he should not even encourage Sahuni to open his mouth and utter even a single word!

Saying thus, Vidura moves on further:

“Thrinolkayaagnyaathe jaatharoopam vridhena bhaadraha!

Vyavahaarena saadhuhu shooraha bhayeshu artha krithseshu dheeraha!

krishvesvaapatsu suhrudascha arayascha!!”

Here Vidura clearly explains as a continuation for the previous discussion saying that at a certain point in time, all things in this world would expose their inner true colour to the world. For instance he says “Thrinolkayaagnyaathe jaatharoopam”, which means that the true color of gold would be exposed only when we heat it to extremely high temperatures. Today we go to any jewellery shop and try to buy a 24-carat gold bangle. We see it glittering and sparkling and wear it constantly on our hands every passing day. Finally after 4-5 years we see that the bangle has lost its sheen and hence we take it to another jeweler to replace it with something else. Now when the jeweler takes the bangle and heats it, he might well say that this is not exactly 24-carat gold but maybe 18 or 17-carat. We might be surprised upon hearing this and only then we would realize that we have been fooled by the other jeweler four years ago! Thus when would we know that this gold bangle is not worth 24-carat and is worth much lesser than that? When would we know the true color of the gold that we wear in our hand or body as an ornament? It is only when we heat and boil it.

Now moving on to the next one, Vidura says “Vridhena bhaadraha!” A person’s attitude stands exposed to the world by the actions that he/she performs. If a person performs good activities, he is hailed to be a good person. Whereas, if a person commits wrong and illegal activities, he is dumped by the world as a wicked person. Thus a human being is exposed to the world by his/her actions or “Karma”! This is why we always stress upon the fact that our actions should be good and beneficial for our own self as well as for the society to which we belong.

The next point – “Vyavahaarena saadhuhu” – Here Vidura explains a critical point – A person who is hailed as a “Saadhu” would be exposed if he opens his mouth and talks for a few minutes! Here the word “Saadhu” means a person who doesn’t talk much to the outside world. Now if this person opens his mouth and utters few words, he would be exposed to the world and we would know if this person is really a “Saadhu” or not! This is again why we say that we should avoid unwanted gossiping in our everyday life. The more we talk unwantedly about others by criticizing them, the more we are trying to expose ourselves and our ignorance to the world! Hence it is always important that we should remain as silent as possible and try to remain indifferent to gossips that others tempt us to do! Of course I’m not saying that we should never talk at all! We should always talk when there is a necessity and when there is an important communication to be done. All I’m saying here is that, we should cut down on unnecessary gossiping about others in their absence. The more we do this, the more we expose ourselves!

So for today, let us introspect upon these important points and realize how we get exposed to the world uunwantedly! Let us strive hard to plug in the loopholes that we have and take a step forward in achieving perfection within ourself! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the remaining factors through which exposing happens! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had commenced an important discussion wherein Vidura is explaining to King Dhirdiraashtra on the seven important categories of people that one should completely avoid and to keep at bay. In due course of yesterday’s discussion we had spoken at length about the first category of people to be distanced – Those of them who claim “expertise” in Palmistry and Astrology and trying to predict one’s future. In the modern day of course we’re seeing widespread and an alarming level of commercialisation of Astrology – An important section of our Vedas. Nowadays many people have started using this highly rated Astrological science to cash into people’s problems and make enormous money out of it. Such people should be identified and kept at bay. Of course, our readers should not mistake and wrongly interpret that I’m propagating something bad about all astrologers. This is not the point here. There are people who are highly trained and have gained a mastery over the subject by systematically performing the “Veda-Adhyayana” (Repeated chanting of the sacred Vedas and other allied texts) and such people know exactly how to use the science of Astrology in the correct manner. We can always approach such people who are highly dedicated.

But at the same time, we should also remember that there is nothing by the term “Parihara” and those who propagate this “Parihara” as a solution for all our problems and sufferings is just nonsense! If we’ve taken birth as a human being in this earth, we’re bound to enjoy both happiness and sufferings and neither an astrologer nor “Parihara” can alter the course of one’s life. if it was that easy, then almost the whole world would be in ultimate bliss and happiness by now! Moreover, no scriptural reference can be found in the Vedas with regards to this nonsense called “Parihara”. This is where the commercialization factor comes in, and this is what needs to be avoided. The Vedas along with the science of Astrology only talks about how to lead a righteous life, and not how to escape from a problem through a short cut. Moreover, there is a method of living life as prescribed by Bhagawan and we are supposed to abide by the rules and regulations. There can be no compromise for it.

Now moving on to the next category – “Chora poorvam” – A person who was a thief before, but is now in a high position as a businessman or any other profession. Such people should never be approached for anything! In other words, if a person was a thief in the recent past and had made enormous money by robbing other people, but somehow through hook or crook, gets a huge position and a status today, such people should never be encouraged even an inch! It is to be noted here by our readers that I’m not saying this – Vidura is saying this! 🙂 If we’ve to apply these words of Vidura in today’s scenario, I don’t even think we can approach anybody in this world today for anything! If we look at the political scenario today, we would be able to witness (in many places) that the biggest qualification for a person to become a politician is that he/she should have been a thief and should be able to involve in corruption at an “advanced level” while being in power! I do not want to elaborate this any further as I’m sure that all our readers would have understood the message very clearly by now. It should be noted that such people are to be avoided as well.

Moving on to the next category, “Salaaka dhoorthancha” – A person, who tries to predict the future with the help of a stick, should also be kept at bay. We should not go very close to that person everytime. We might have seen even in today’s world that few people have this profession of having a stick in their hand and using that stick to analyze our life events and predict our future. Vidura is explaining here that such people also are to be avoided if in case we require them as a witness for something.

Now the next category – “Chikitsakancha” – Here “Chikitsa” means a doctor or a medical practitioner. Vidura explains that even a doctor should not be approached for being a witness for something. This is because, the main professional duty of a doctor is to cure the health of his/her patients. If he/she is called for any other purpose other than this, it becomes difficult for him/her to do justice to their profession. For instance if there is a case of a murder or a terrorist case, what is the use of calling the doctor as a witness? (Of course in some cases in the modern day we might slightly tend to disagree, as sometimes doctors might also be involved in some complex cases! This is of course an exception.) Normally the doctor should be consulted only with regards to health, and not with regards to any other thing. Even today if we consider many examples, a doctor would care for the life of a patient, irrespective of he is a good or bad person, or a terrorist or a robber, or whatever! The doctor would never stand for or against the patient in any case, since their duty is only to give proper treatment to that human being.

Moving on further – “Arincha Mithrancha” – We should never approach neither an enemy nor a friend to be a witness for anything. The next one – “Kusheelavancha” – We should never have a person as a witness, who doesn’t lead a righteous life!

Thus these seven categories of people should never be approached to be a witness for whatever we do in life. Explaining thus, Vidura says, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! You had asked me a question and I had given an answer! I hope you would have got the message from my answer by now!”

It is to be recollected by our readers that King Dhirdiraashtra had asked Vidura that why should he listen only to Vidura’s words and not that of Sahuni. Vidura did not give a direct answer for his question – Instead he had listed down seven categories of people to be kept at a distance! Hearing this from Vidura, King Dhiridiraashtra was wondering as to which category of people would Sahuni fit into! He is neither an astrologer nor a person who knows Palmistry. He is neither a doctor nor a friend nor an enemy. Then where does Sahuni fit in this list? It was the last point that Vidura had mentioned – “Kusheelavancha” – Sahuni exactly falls under this category! Vidura thus reminds King Dhirdiraashtra that Sahuni is such a notorious and an irresponsible person and that, he should not get carried away by his words of advice! In fact, Vidura warns King Dhirdiraashtra that he should not even encourage Sahuni to open his mouth and utter even a single word!

So for today let us introspect within ourself as to which category of people are we encouraging in our daily lives and how to cut down on our interactions with them! We shall wait till the next episode to witness more of Vidura’s important explanations! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the prvious episode we moved on to witness how Vidura connected the concept of “Aathman” or the “Soul” to the context of King Dhirdiraashtra. By using this context, Vidura slams King Dhirdiraashtra that he was getting carried away by the thought that he would be protected by the “Dharma” somehow, irrespective of whatever he does. He warns King Dhirdirashtra that Bhagawan Krishna is giving him a long rope and it is upto him to use the rope to climb out of the mess that is happening currently. Rather, if he is not doing so, this same rope would tighten around his neck like a noose and would put him to a painful death! As King Dhirdiraashtra listens to Vidura’s words, he’s all at sea! This is because he has been completely brainwashed by his brother Sahuni and his words are in direct contradiction to that of Vidura’s! It is to be noted that Sahuni has advised King Dhirdiraashtra many a times to act against the interests of the Paandavas as they are a threat to his son’s Duryodhana’s future. So King Dhirdiraashtra is now confused as to whose words should he listen to – Vidura’s or Sahuni’s! He openly asks Vidura to advise him on this.

Now Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra very clearly that he shouldn’t have encouraged Sahuni to talk to him in the first place – Forget the advice that he has given! Because, Sahuni is an epitome of “Adharma” and is capable of poisoning any pure heart easily with his wicked words! To add more clarity to this point, Vidura is now going to explain seven different categories of people that a King should avoid and discourage from approaching him. From this, we can also learn that we need to be extremely careful if we come across any of these categories of people in our daily life today! Vidura explains thus:

“Saamudrika vanijam chora poorvam salaaka dhoorthancha chikitsakancha arincha mithrancha kusheelavancha na ethaan saakshe tvadhathi kurveeta sapta!!”

This might be a little complex to understand for our readers, but I shall try my best to simplify and put them in perspective. Here Vidura is explaining that these seven categories of people should be avoided if a person wants to have a witness or to seek some valuable advice on certain issues. Vidura explains, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! These seven people would advice you in such a way that it would seem extremely pleasurable for you during that present time, however on the long run, you might face a big disaster if you listen to them!”

Now who are those seven categories of people? These seven people who we’re going to witness, might create a rude shock for many of our readers, however, I can’t help it! 🙂 I’m just writing what Vidura has mentioned. I’m not mentioning anything new here!

“Saamudrika vanijam” – Those people who just look at our palms and try to predict our future course of life! In other words, those people who are experts in “Palmistry” – We need to keep these kinds of people at bay. It is because it is not possible to predict one’s entire future just by looking at the palms. The lines that run in our palms are subjected to change at any point in time, owing to many reasons – Some people might do extensive physical work and as a result, our palms would have changed their texture. Some people might do lesser amount of physical work and hence their palms would be intact. Indeed if we’ve to predict one’s future course of life accurately, we need to understand the different planetary positions of that person’s horoscope. More than all these things, we can easily predict the future of a person if we’re able to check if this person’s actions are according to the “Dharma” or not. If we’re not able to understand this properly and if we’re unable to understand what are “Paapa” and “Punya Karma”, then what is the use of prescribing “Parihaara” for the person?

Nowadays this science called “Astrology” or “Jyotisha Shaastra” has become a commercial and a money making tool for many people around the world. Everyday we’re witnessing innumerable people “blabbering” something on various television channels and in newspapers about different aspects of astrology on a highly commercial basis. All these are just about marketing themselves to gain some name and fame and there is absolutely no value addition for the viewers watching such programs.

It should be noted here that I’m not against Astrology. In fact, Astrology or “Jyotisha Shaastra” is a huge science and is an integral part of the Vedas. Such a high-level science can never be false or fake. All I’m saying is that, if one has to deal with such a sensitive subject called astrology, he/she should have mastered it thoroughly with all it’s nooks and corners.

For instance, if we go to an astrologer today, many a time he would start with something called “Parihaara”! Now what is this “Parihaara”? It is supposedly done so as to escape the wrath of a particular planet on one’s life. Are such things possible? Can anybody escape sufferings in life? If we’ve to escape the sufferings of our life, what would happen to all the “Paapa Karma” that we’ve accumulated over the period of so many births? How will we burn down all of them? In fact if you ask me, there’s nothing called “Parihaara” that exists for any planetary position in this world! All these are just commercial businesses that have sprouted over the past few years just to make money. If we’ve to burn down our “Paapa Karma”, we need to undergo the required suffering in life at any stage. There is no other way out! No “Parihaara” can bring us out of any suffering and this is just a blatant lie.

Hence, the message from today’s episode is that we need to think twice if we’ve to consult an astrologer or a person who claims himself to be an expert in “Palmistry”. We need to understand that everybody in life have to face certain problems and challenges and if we’ve to start going behind astrologers just because we’re facing some problems, this is where these people make business out of our suffering. We need to understand this – Many modern day astrologers make money by making use of our weakness and problems. Hence it is not advisable on our part to fall prey to someone who might use us as a tool to make enormous money! So let us think about this important point for today. We shall witness the next six categories of people to avoid in tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the reiteration of the clear message from Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra that Bhagawan would not keep sending alarms and signals of warning everytime when we commit mistakes. Moresoever, it is not his job to keep doing that everytime. It is for this purpose he has blessed human beings with the sense of discrimination and it is upto us to use it to the fullest and walk the path of Dharma. It is like an announcement board kept at the bank of a fast-flowing river saying “If you jump into the river on the pretext of swimming, the water current would pull you away to danger!” It is upto us to use our discrimination not to jump into the fast-flowing river and getting drowned! Similarly, our Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata are like this announcement board – These texts would “announce” to the world that this is the path of “Dharma”. It is upto us to realize this, use our sense of discrimination properly and follow what is mentioned in our scriptures. This is exactly what Vidura is trying to advise King Dhirdiraashtra – That he is getting along with his son Duryodhana with all the illicit means to grab the rightful property of the Paandavas and this should stop immediately to avoid drastic and dire consequences that are to follow!

“Nainam chandaamsi vriginaath taarayanti maayaavinam maayaavayaa varthamaanam!!”

Now moving on further, Vidura slams and warns King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! Please remember that if a person goes behind “Maaya” (Worldly Illusion) and tries to cheat others to grab away their property, all the scriptures would push him into hell at the last minute. Everytime when you’re doing something wrong, it would be pleasurable for you at that moment. However in the longer term, you’ll have to face all the consequences for what you’ve done! For instance, you might be extremely happy that your son Duryodhana had won the game of gambling against Uddishtra and his Paandava brothers! You might be extremely happy that Duryodhana sent the Paandavas on exile for the next thirteen years! You might be extremely happy today that the Paandavas are undergoing immense suffering (for no fault of theirs’) and by that way, your son can easily snatch away the Hasthinapura kingdom from them just because you’re projecting the Paandavas as traitors! So by all this, you’re thinking that everytime you’ve won over the Paandavas! But please remember one thing – Bhagawan Krishna is watching all of this and is giving you a long rope! However, it is only Bhagawan Krishna who knows how and where to pull up the noose and straps of the rope, so as to strangle you at the right time! At that time, whatever and however you shout, is not going to yield any help! Please realize that Bhagawan Krishna is giving you ample opportunities to mend your ways. If you fail to grab these opportuinities at the right time, there is no point feeling sorry later on! Hence, Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please realize this immediately and do the needful!”

Saying thus, Vidura pauses for a minute. King Dhirdiraashtra is all in tears now. He understands that he’s committing blunder after blunder as a king. However he is unable to accept his faults and mend himself and his sons. He now asks Vidura back thus, “Oh Vidura! You’re telling me so many things and you’re advising me in innumerable ways with all the “Dharma” of a righteous king! However, my brother Sahuni (Duryodhana’s uncle who was responsible for the game of gambling) is also preaching me lot of things similar to what you’re doing to me currently! Now whom do I follow? You’re saying that I have to listen to your words. Sahuni is also telling me that I’ve to listen to his words! Now whom should I follow, and why?”

Upon hearing this from King Dhirdiraashtra, Vidura is transfixed for a moment. He doesn’t understand whether to laugh or cry, upon seeing the plight of his king. However he makes up his mind once more and advises King Dhirdiraashtra once again thus: “Oh King! Don’t you know and understand who’s advice you should follow and who’s advice you should reject? Don’t you know who is Sahuni and what is his background? Inspite of knowing that Sahuni is poisoning your heart everytime, you’re still confused if you should pay heed to what he says!”

Saying thus, Vidura lists out the various types of people whom we should never listen or pay heed to! In other words, the following sloka of Vidura explains that we should completely reject the words of advice given by this list of people, as they’re capable of poisoning our pure heart and eventually they would make us to digress towards the path of Adharma! Who are those people constituting this list that Vidura is explaining? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another extension to the discussion on the “Aathman” and its significance. We had yesterday discussed a couple of analogies and a few examples to go with it, in order to explain that our actions should not be obsessively focused on outcomes. Rather, the outcomes should be of a very high level and should be surrendered to Bhagawan’s feet. If we do this, we needn’t worry about the result of our action and focus our full attention and efficiency in performing our actions to the 100% of our capability. In other words, we should give our full attention to the task in hand and not on the result that is expected out of the completion of the task.

Again, if for example I would start thinking that, the purpose of writing this blog – “The Indian Dharma” on Vidura Neeti and Valmiki Ramayana just for the sake of enriching my name and fame and for making money out of it, I would get prepared to do anything and everything – Good or bad to achieve that. If my focus goes into achieving commercial results, name and fame, I may go to any wrong extent to achieve it! Whereas if my aim is for a good cause of making our people aware of the richness of our “Sanaathana Dharma” and thus trying to create atleast a small change in the approach and behavior of our people through this mission, this would be a higher level outcome that I would be thinking of. Moreover, on top of this, if I can surrender this whole outcome to the feet of Bhagawan and think that Bhagawan is using me as an instrument to propagate the greatness of the “Sanaathana Dharma” to the world, this would automatically motivate me to give my 100% effort in my writing, rather than becoming obsessive with the name and the fame that I would get out of doing it. We should be aware that if we give our 100% to whatever we do, name and fame would automatically follow us, rather than we running behind it. This is what all of us should realize by reading these last couple of episodes of our blog. And finally if we’re able to surrender the results or outcomes of our actions to Bhagawan’s feet, our “Paapa” and “Punya” accounts would be untouched because of these actions.

Now the next question would arise – “Oh! Are all these things possible for us to execute?” The answer is a big “yes”. Any scriptural text of our “Sanaathana Dharma” would never preach anything that is impossible to execute by us. All our ancient Maharishis and Gurus have only propagated those principles of life that are easy and possible for us to follow. If this was the contrary, and if the principles that Ramayana and Mahaabharata talk about were impossible for us to implement in our lives, these would have become fiction books and would have disappeared from the world long back! But that hasn’t happened, isn’t it? The Ramayana and Mahaabhaarata are texts that can never be destroyed by anything or anybody in this world isn’t it?

Even if we look back at our India’s history, how many invasions has our country witnessed? Right from the Muslim invasions to the Mughals to the British, French, Portugese, etc. – Although they were successful in conquering and ruling India for long periods of time, were they able to destroy the roots of our “Sanaathana Dharma”? Were they able to destroy the Ramayana or Mahabharata or the Vedas or Upanishads? The answer is “No”! None of them can even touch our scriptural texts and the amount of knowledge our forefathers and ancestors had on the subject! In majority of the cases, the invaders couldn’t even change the lifestyle of the people of India, because it is deeply rooted to our “Sanaathana Dharma” principles, which of course the Ramayana and Mahabharata talk about! Hence we should realize that our “Sanaathana Dharma” can never be destroyed, no matter how much anybody tries to and hence, we should make a conscious effort to follow what is prescribed in our “Sanaathana Dharma” literature, which is completely doable by any means! Since the principles are executable, it is up to us to make up our minds to take a conscious step and follow them in the right way.

This is exactly what Vidura is advising King Dhirdiraashtra to do. Vidura says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please make use of this golden opportunity to execute your “Karma” in the proper way! You’re trying to run away from your duties by anticipating the result of your actions. Please do not do this. Please make up your mind to perform your duties, although they are tough in nature! You’re trying to only postpone your duties owing to your excessive obsession towards your wicked son Duryodhana and thus you’re only looking at a short-term benefit of your son. You’re not looking at the long-term benefit of the kingdom of Hasthinaprua and by this, you are going to accumulate more and more sins for yourself and also for your sons!”

With all the above explanations that we’ve seen for quite a few episodes now,it should be remembered that Vidura is trying to drive home the point to King Dhirdiraashtra that Bhagawan would not be at the back of us every time to remind or signal us for our wrongdoings. It is for this reason he has given us brains and the power to discriminate between the good and the bad and right and wrong. Hence, it is upto us to use our brains in the channelized way to correct and resurrect ourselves whenever we feel that we’re walking the wrong path of Adharma. Hence there is no point here by expecting Bhagawan or someone else to warn us of our wrongdoings. We need to realize them by ourselves.

“Na devaa dhandamaadhaayam rakshanti pashu paalavath!

Yanthu rakshitum icchanthi buddhyaa sam vibhajanthi tham!!”

Hence for today, let us realize the fact that it is upto us to correct ourselves by using the discriminatory power that Bhagawan has given us in whatever way possible. Of course this itself is an action, and the result of which, we should surrender to Bhagawan. Correcting us in the right direction is his job! But taking a conscious step forward towards it is ours! So let us do our job with utmost involvement and perfection! We shall wait till the next episode to witness what Vidura is going to explain next! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continued the discussion on the significance of the “Aathman” and how do we transcend into different births owing to our good and bad deeds (“Paapa” and “Punya Karma”). Although we transcend different births with different physical forms in each birth, our “Aathman” is the same throughout for all our births. Yesterday there was a juncture wherein we asked an important question as to how do we escape this cycle of birth and death? Is there any sort of escape route from this? The answer is definitely “yes”. If we’re able to neutralize and nullify both our “Paapa” and “Punya Karma” accounts to zero, then we become free from all “baggages” and thus we attain Moksha or Salvation or Bhagawan’s abode – Vaikunta. Until we are plagued with these baggages of “Paapa” and “Punya” we would still be lingering around in this world to exhaust all of them.

However we witnessed another clause to this point – Now that we’ve taken birth as a human being and in this birth, knowingly and unknowingly we’re accumulating fresh “Paapa” and “Punya” by our day-to-day activities. How do we address and nullify these fresh entries into our account? Do we need to take another birth to nullify these deeds again? The answer to this question is “not necessary”! If we perform our activities with complete detachment and without any expectation of the outcome of the activity, our “Paapa” and “Punya” account doesn’t get altered any further. The problem comes only when we have excessive attachment to whatever we do.

Now if we link this to modern day theories of Psychology and Management,  it says the same thing – If we do our job only with the outcome or the result in mind, we might tend to either underperform or overperform, because of the obsessiveness towards achieving the target. Whereas if we focus on the job in hand more than the target, we would be able to concentrate on how to complete the job with perfection. Once perfection is attained in our job, results would automatically be taken care of and we need not worry about it.

Many modern day “Organizational Behavior” theories too revolve around this important point wherein we say that in an organization, employees join with a set of expectations and if their expectations are not met, they resort to all sorts of rebellious activities that would hamper the growth and progress of the organization. This is why many researchers in this area stress upon the point that organizations need to create a good working environment to its employees so that their focus is only on the work and not on anything else. From the employees’ perspective, if we do our duty sincerely without compromising on our “Dharma” and ethics, results would automatically come and any organization would take care of us in a special way. It is always a common practice in the corporate setup that every organization would go the extra mile and would be ready to take any extreme step to somehow retain highly ethical, focused and high performing employees, come what may! Hence as employees, it is our “Dharma” to fall into this category. But how do we make sure that we would fall into this category? If we perform our tasks sincerely with perfection, but with complete detachment by not anticipating the outcome everytime, we can easily attain this level.

Thus we can see clearly that if we link all these points on detachment, we get excellent answers to modern day management problems. This might be an important point to ponder over for those of us who are in top positions in organizations. This once again reiterates the fact that the entire subject of Management that we discuss today is completely derived from the very principles of our own “Sanaathana Dharma”.

To apply this important concept into what’s happening in the current day, I shall explain another small analogy – Let us assume that we’re sitting on the bank of a fast flowing river and we’ve to cross the river with a small boat to reach the other bank. There is only one boat and that boat can carry only 5 persons at a time. We’re standing in a queue and there are some ten people in front of us in the queue. The time taken for the boat to ferry people from this bank to the other bank and return back is 30 minutes. Since we’re in the queue and we know that it would take half an hour for our turn to get into the boat, we start playing a game of gambling. If we assume that we’re not playing the gambling game without pledging our money into it, we would keep playing till the boat comes back and once the boat is ready we would be able to wrap up the game and enter into the boat. Whereas, if we start playing the same gambling game with our money and property, what would happen? We might either win or lose our money, isn’t it? The moment we start playing the same game with an expectation of a “definitive result” attached to it, our focus would be only on the money part of it and not on the boat anymore! Now if the boat comes and if it is time for us to board the boat, will we be able to stop the game? This might lead us to an unwanted fight within us over the loss/gain of money and ultimately the purpose of waiting for the boat is destroyed!

What do we infer from this story? If we treat a game as just a game, we can enjoy it and will be able to wrap it up without any harsh misunderstandings between people. This is a problem in today’s world – How many times do we see sports like cricket and football being treated as something beyond just a game? Especially in India, cricket is seen as a religion and not a game! For instance, if there is a match between India and Pakistan, what kind of a build-up do we give to it? Ultimately we end up transforming cricket (a game) into a political tool to encourage enmity amongst people! Why do we see people getting heart-broken if India doesn’t win a world cup final or any high profile tournament? It is because of our obsessiveness towards the outcome of the game! We need to think for a moment here – Can any human being or any team keep winning everytime whenever they take to the field? Every human being has limitations, isn’t it? This is what we fail to realize and the moment our Indian cricket team ends up on the losing side, fans go violent, ransack the houses of cricket players, etc. Whereas if we try and see cricket as a game, without getting obsessed with its outcome, we can enjoy the game more than what we do now!

Of course I’m not telling that we should never expect outcomes from anything. We should do. But what I’m trying to say here is that, the outcomes are to be surrendered to Bhagawan’s feet. However, this doesn’t mean that we do not work properly. We should give our 100% effort towards our action and surrender the result to Bhagawan.

Moreover, the outcome that we are working for, should be of a very high level and should benefit the society as a whole. For instance, today we find many universities and schools run by spiritual organizations and “Mutts”. If the main aim of these universities is to make money by opening new campuses all over the country, then the purpose doesn’t get served! Whereas, if the main aim of the spiritual organization is to spread the message of “Dharma” through these universities and schools, it is only then the ultimate purpose of establishing them at different places gets solved! Sadly today we see that even spiritual universities run behind commercial purposes and deviate from the principle of “Dharma” on the pretext of making money by projecting a “quick” growth! This system should change. Our very purpose of education is to spread the message of “Dharma”. As Sadguru Mata AmritanandamayiDevi aptly points out with her statement, “Education should be for life, more than for just a living!”

So for today, let us extend our introspection with respect to detachment and how to practise it effectively without compromising on perfection in doing our activities and tasks. We shall wait till the next episode to witness more of Vidura’s advice! Stay tuned! 🙂