The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of a very important explanation about the significance of the “Aathman” or the “Soul” and how it is a permanent entity without destruction in this whole world. We witnessed how the “Aathman” assumes different physical forms for every birth that we take, according to our “Punya Karma” (Good deeds) and “Paapa Karma” (Bad deeds). Also, all the happiness and sufferings that we undergo in our day-to-day life are only because of the extent to which we’ve accumulated our “Paapa/Punya Karma” in our previous birth/s. However there is one more clause to it here – Even if we try to diminish our “Paapa Karma” or “Punya Karma” in some way or the other, it only keeps mounting on and on through some other way in this birth. Hence the next birth of ours would again be based on what kind of deeds (good or bad) we do today! Why does this keep happening this way always? We might ask that can’t there any end for all these “Paapa” and “Punya Karmas”? Why is it rolling one after the other again and again? How many births are we going to keep on taking and suffer this uncertainty?

Now let’s look at a simple analogy to explain this concept – We would have seen big balloons flying high in the air in the centre of many cities around the world. There might be even some companies who would advertise their brands over these high-flying balloons and we often see it in the present day. Now how do these balloons stay afloat in the air, although it is lighter in density? These balloons are tied to the surface or on top of some high rise buildings with a rope. However for some reason, if this rope is cut off, what happens to that balloon? It will not stay afloat in that one particular position anymore. Rather, it would keep flying somewhere and would continue flying along with the wind direction and with the speed of the wind.

Now let us use this analogy to explain the “Karma” theory and its relationship with the “Aathman”. To answer the above question, just like how the rope holds on the balloon from flying away somewhere, our “Karma” (Both good and bad) holds our “Aathman” firmly from advancing towards Vaikunta (Heaven). Hence we can see that the “Karma” that we perform is the rope here. However, just like when the rope is cut off, the balloon flies off, if the rope called “Karma” is cut off, our “Aathman” can easily advance upwards towards Vaikunta. Thus we can understand a very important thing here – When can we reach Vaikunta? We can reach Vaikunta only when we finish off both the “Paapa Karma” and “Punya Karma” and their effects. We’ve already seen that if we start experiencing the effects of whatever Karma we’ve accumulated, these Karma gets dissolved. This not only applies for the “Paapa Karma” but also for the “Punya Karma” too. This of course means that the more happiness and more luxuries we experience in our everyday life, the more of the “Punya Karma” we’re dissolving off. Hence at a time when both these “Paapa Karma” and “Punya Karma” are completely dissolved off, the rope gets cut off, and we advance upwards towards Vaikunta!

Thus the answer to yesterday’s question is that, there would be an end to this cycle of “Karma” and birth-death repetition only when our “Paapa” and “Punya Karma” neutralizes to zero. Once the neutralization happens, we’re completely free of all the “baggages” and we become ready to fly towards Vaikunta. Of course we can again ask the question that if we’re successful in burning down all the Karma in this birth itself, will we still be able to attain Vaikunta. The answer is of course “Yes”. But a small glitch here is that, in this birth, we would do some fresh “Paapa” and “Punya Karma”. Now when do we experience the results of these freshly performed Karma? Now the mathematics becomes more complicated! How many births would we be required to take after this present one?

The best way to escape out of this vicious cycle is to practice “detachment”. This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is advising us to do – Whatever actions we do, if we perform them with complete detachment from the fruits of the actions, we get liberated from the cycle of “Paapa” and “Punya Karma”. Of course the action is performed, but if we’re performing it without expecting anything from it, the “Paapa” and/or “Punya” account doesn’t get incremented. In other words, if we realize that we’re performing certain actions only to neutralize our past Karma and if we make sure that we should perform this compensatory Karma with the utmost detachment, we do not accumulate the resultant “Paapa” or “Punya” that is attached to it and thus we escape from it completely.

If we witness the important advice to Arjuna by Bhagawan Krishna in depth now, with all the answeres that we’ve derived so far, what can we infer? When Bhagawan Krishna asks Arjuna to take his bow and arrow and start the war with Duryodhana, he asks Arjuna to do his duty as a “Kshathrya” prince. The main duty of a “Kshathrya” is to protect the country from the enemy and restore the “Dharma”. It is only for this reason Bhagawan Krishna asks Arjuna to fight. Many people might misinterpret this important meaning by saying that Bhagawan Krishna himself is encouraging Arjuna to fight and kill people. It is not true – Here Bhagawan Krishna is only asking Arjuna to perform his duty, but with complete detachment so that, although killing another human being is an act of sin, Arjuna does not get that sin on to himself! Here we can see that, if we do our duty with complete detachment, we can get over the Paapa-Punya account easily and attain Vaikunta.

So for today let us think over this aspect and try to perform our actions everyday with utmost detachment. Let us try and meticulously practice detachment in whatever we do. However, we should also ensure that just because we practice detachment, we do not run away from performing our duty with perfection. There should be no excuse for not performing our duty correctly. Hence let us practice this from today! We shall wait till the next episode for more explanation! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed an extremely important explanation with regards to our “Aathman” or the “Soul” wherein we reiterated the point that the “Aathman” is one thing that is permanent, although it is invisible for our naked eyes. Our physical body is temporary, with innumerable differentiations that create innumerable issues in today’s world. If we’ve to be united as a world and if we’ve to ensure that peace should reign throughout the world, we should see all living beings as one and this can be done only if we understand the significance of the “Aathman”.

Moreover, we also witnessed that our physical body that we’ve got today in our hands, is due to our past actions in our “n” number of previous births that we would have taken. Each time we take birth in this world, our body changes, but the “Aathman” within each of the physical body that we had taken so far, and would be taking henceforth is the same! If we understand this fact in the right sense, lot of unanswered questions pertaining to the “Karma” theory could be answered. Hence, the previous couple of episodes were extremely important in making us understand this important concept of the “Aathman” or the “Soul” and its significance.

So till now we’ve understood that our present birth as a human being (in whatever way, background, etc.) is only because of our deeds that we’ve performed in our past births. If we’ve to go one step further still, we can classify these deeds into two – Good deeds (“Punya Karma”) and Bad deeds (“Paapa Karma”). If we’ve committed more of “Punya Karma” in our previous births, we would get a birth of a high-class human being with all richness in this world. This is one of the main reasons why we find few people who lead a luxurious life in today’s world. Whereas if we’ve performed more of “Paapa Karma” (Bad deeds) in our previous births, we’re going to reap the punishments for all of those in this birth and this is why some people undergo immense sufferings during this lifetime in whatsoever ways. Hence if we’ve to lead a luxurious life and also according to the principles of “Dharma”, we should perform lot of “Punya Karma” (Good deeds).

Of course when we take birth again and again, each time we’re born with a different physical body and we’ve to start everything afresh. We cannot remember what kind of good or bad deeds we would have committed in our last birth/s. Hence there should be someone to teach us the “Dharma”, the important life principles, do’s and don’ts in life. Now who is going to teach us all these things? Of course our parents are going to be our guiding light until a certain age till we grow up and mature. But once we’re matured, the learning should never stop. But how do we get to know more about our “Dharma” and from where do we get to know all this? Here is where our Vedas, Ithihasas, etc. come into play. Irrespective of we taking numerous births in this world, these scriptures of Vedas, Ithihasas, etc. remain the same throughout and are permanent in nature. This is why we always say that “Dharma” can never be destroyed and this is also the reason why we call the religion of Hinduism as “Sanaathana Dharma”. Thus the name “Sanaathana Dharma” is popular because the content that Hinduism propagates are extremely high in philosophy and substance, and it is one thing that never changes irrespective of whatever happens in this world!

If we’ve to look at our present-day lives in this way and introspect our present human birth, most of us (I would still say all of us) must have committed innumerable “Punya Karma” in our previous births to first of all be born as a human being in this world. As we know, human beings are the only species on the earth, who can enjoy life to the fullest with whatsoever ways, as compared to other animals. Secondly, it’s not enough if we’re just born as a human being. We’re so fortunate that we’ve been born to good parents and we’ve got an opportunity to have access to such high scriptural values of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. We should think for a moment here as to how many millions of human beings in this world do not even know what is our “Sanaathana Dharma” and its significance. If we’ve to compare ourselves with all of them, how fortunate we are to know about all these important scriptures that inculcate ways to lead a happy and a peaceful life! Hence we should realize that it is only because of our good deeds (“Punya Karma”) in our last birth/s, we’re born as human beings, who have direct and easy access to our “Sanaathana Dharma” in some way or the other.

Thus the important lesson to be learnt is that, “Aathman” transcends from one birth to the other and has no start or end to it. “Aathman” is permanent, whereas our physical body is temporary and it is only for this particular birth. This current physical body and the happiness, sadness, sufferings, luxury, etc. that we experience today is all because of our good/bad deeds that we’ve committed in our previous birth/s.

However there is one more clause to it here – Even if we try to diminish our “Paapa Karma” or “Punya Karma” in some way or the other, it only keeps mounting on and on through some other way in this birth. Hence the next birth of ours would again be based on what kind of deeds (good or bad) we do today! Why does this keep happening this way always? We might ask that can’t there any end for all these “Paapa” and “Punya Karmas”? Why is it rolling one after the other again and again? How many births are we going to keep on taking and suffer this uncertainty? Let us answer these important questions in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

 

 

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed a very important point that is emphasized by Vidura and also by all of the scriptures of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. We discussed yesterday as to why should we focus on our “Aathman” more than that of our physical body. We witnessed that there are innumerable differences in terms of our physical body and that we can never eradicate those differences that occur between us. Each human being would be different in some way or the other! However, if one thing that would be able to unite all of us in the world together, it can only be the “Aathman” or the “Soul”, which is all-pervasive. Once we realize this uniting factor within all of us, all fights with respect to whatever differences we see externally would start reducing and ultimately we would be able to witness peace and love blossoming all around us!

Now is it the end of all? We would again ask the next question – Why should we treat everybody as equal? Why can’t we live with all the differences that we have in each of us? Let the differences be what they are, and what is the problem with that? The answer might outwardly be “yes”! We can still live with the differences that we see amongst each other. But the person who is asking such a question should answer a follow-up question – “Why are these kind of differences appearing in this world?” For instance, I might be 6 feet tall whereas my friend would just be 5 feet tall. My friend can understand a subject by just reading the text book once, whereas I’m unable to understand that same subject even after reading the same text book ten times! Why is this happening? If those people who insist that they would believe only what they see in front of them and wouldn’t believe what they do not see, should answer this above question as to why are these differences happening in front of their eyes, isn’t it? If these differences occur with our knowledge, then we should be able to control and minimize the differences. For instance, if there is a difference in height between myself and another person, I should be able to adjust both of our heights and bring it to the same level! But can we do this? We can’t! So this clearly shows that we are not responsible for the differences that occur between us. But still there are differences! But how do they occur if we’re not responsible for it? Shouldn’t it be an “invisible hand” that is responsible for all these differences to happen? Isn’t it because of that invisible hand that I’m what I am, and you are what you are? As we discussed yesterday, every human being is different in his/her own way in terms of many many things – Gender, intelligence, background, race, nationality, religion, etc. If we go one step further, the life spans of different human beings are different. Some may live for 70 years, some for 45 years and some for 90+ years. If we see innumerable differences like these, why is it like this? At the same time, if all these things keep changing, is there anything that doesn’t change? As mentioned yesterday that there is definitely an invisible hand in whatever we do in this world and this invisible hand is nothing but the “Aathman” or the “Soul”.

Extending this point further, if we’ve to answer one of the common questions that we have in our mind many a times – “What is the purpose for our birth as a human being in this world?” We would immediately say that something that has happened before this birth was responsible for this birth of mine! Now it is evident that we go to a state called “before” our human birth. This is a tricky point to understand and hence I request all our readers to focus with full attention. For instance, let us consider a car. If there is a car that is running on the road, there should be some company that has conceptualised and manufactured this car, isn’t it? The car cannot be on the road just like that! Similarly, if I’m there in this world as a full-fledged human being, there should be a reason why I’m living in this world and there should be someone who has created or manufactured me, isn’t it? Who manufactured me? If we assume that my parents had manufactured me, every parent would always want an ideal child to be born to them – A child with absolute fairness, handsome appearance, beauty, supreme intelligence, no defects in my body, etc. However, are all of us born with all of these above-mentioned characteristics? Only very few people in this world are blessed to be born this way, isn’t it? Thus from this example we can understand that we are born in this world, not in the way that our parents desired us to be born! If our characteristics during birth is not in the control of our parents, it implies that there is something else that decides how should we be born in this world! Else what would happen? If given an option to any parent, they would only choose a right kind of a child to be born to them, isn’t it? Why should any parent choose a defective baby to be born to them? This never happens in this world.

Now let us look at this point in a different perspective as well – If we still assume that our parents are responsible for the way I’m born, it means that our parents have the power and authority to decide how should I be born in this world, isn’t it? If that is the case, any human being’s fate can be decided by any other human being, isn’t it? This would create lot of confusion in the world if this happens to be true! How? For instance, if I have a cold or fever, my friend can take tablets and I should get cured of it! Similarly, if he falls sick with any disease and he might get cured if I take a medication for it! Similarly, if I feel hungry, someone else can consume food and my hunger would be satisfied! Is it happening this way in the world? The answer is “no”! If I fall sick, I’ve to take medication to get myself cured! If I’m feeling hungry, I’ve to eat something to satisfy my hunger! Similarly, if something happens to me, there can never be another person who can be responsible for it. Thus on the whole, if I were born in a particular fashion and amidst a particular way, it would be only me who is responsible for it. Also, my parents too do not seem to be responsible for the way in which I’m born! So who else can be responsible? The reason could only be that, in my previous birth I had performed some sorts of actions that had determined the way in which I was born in this birth of mine. It is only these actions of my last birth that determines what I am today! However I do not know what are those actions and whether they were good or bad! Of course it would be nice if I could know those details and this would have given me an opportunity to correct my course of actions atleast in this birth!

Also this physical body that we possess today cannot function without “something” that runs inside. It was born because that “something” has taken life into the body. Similarly when we pass away, that “something” has gone out of our body. Hence, it is that “something” that keeps us going when we are alive. It is this same “something” that would have been born during my previous birth also. This is the same “something” that is going to take a re-birth after this present birth as well. Now what is this “something”? This “something” should be none other than the “Aathman” or the “Soul”! This is why we say that the “Aathman” is all pervasive and it recurs for every birth that we take! This “Aathman” can never be destroyed, but our physical body gets destroyed at the end of every birth. It is only because of the actions that this “Aathman” has performed when it was in our previous body in our previous birth, that this same “Aathman” has taken a re-birth with this physical body.

Now all the questions that we had asked before would seem to be answered perfectly! Thus we understand that we are the sole responsibility for which we are born in this world – It is only our actions that decide our birth and experiences that we face in this life time with this physical body. It is only because of our actions that we are born with all these innumerable differences that exist today! If this physical body gets destroyed birth after birth, there should be one permanent thing that should take rebirths again and again and this permanent thing is nothing but the “Aathman” or the “Soul”!

Hence for today, let us realize this important concept of the “Aathman” and let us try and give more focus and importance to our “Aathman” than the physical body! We shall wait till the next episode to explore more of Vidura’s advice! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s important answer to King Dhirdiraashtra’s question. It may be recalled by our readers that King Dhirdiraashtra had posed a question to Vidura as to why wasn’t he alerted about his wrongdoings and misdeeds at much earlier stage, so that he could have taken corrective action immediately! For this, Vidura replies back by saying that there’s no point in asking such a question wherein Bhagawan has given all of us the sense of “Discrimination” between the right and the wrong. He has in addition given all the necessary infrastructure along with it – Our sense organs, hands, legs, etc that function properly, great spiritually renowned “Gurus” and “Mahatmas” to render valuable advice and in the case of King Dhirdiraashtra, he even had Bhagawan Krishna himself with him! What more does he want? Hence Vidura strikes down the question of King Dhirdiraashtra by indirectly saying that it was not the lack of indication of wrongdoings that is letting him down, but it’s his foolishness to not use the available resources properly to take corrective action.

In that course, we were discussing the application of this important answer of Vidura to our modern day life, wherein we said that we need to give equal importance to our “Aathman” and our physical body so as to achieve a good balance in our spiritual life. Also, we had completed yesterday’s episode with couple of important questions: What if we stop ourselves in focusing only on our physical body? What if we do not care about the “Aathman”? Is it still going to be a problem? In other words, why should at all we think and ponder about the “Aathman”, which is an invisible element to our naked eyes? Why don’t we just look at what is visible to our eyes (our physical body) and why did our ancestors waste lot of their time to compose the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which ultimately talks about the invisible object (“Aathman”)?

Now let us witness the answers for the above questions today, before we proceed further. Assuming that we give full 100% importance only to the object that is visible to us (Physical Body) what would ultimately happen in this world? We would only keep doing all the activities that would satisfy the needs of our physical body. Now if everybody start doing this, the entire world would lose its status of “equality” amongst all human beings.

Why do I say so? It’s because, although all of us have a physical human body that functions almost quite similarly, no two individuals can have the same features of appearance in us! To start with, one major difference between individual human beings might be “male” and “female”. Not everybody can be a male and at the same time, not everybody can be a female too. Apart from this major differentiation, some people might be tall, some might be short. Some might be fair in appearance, some might be dark in appearance. Some people have long hair, some people do not even have hair on their heads! 🙂 Some might wear a saree, some might wear a salwar or jeans! Some might wear dhoti, some might wear formal wears! Of course in today’s world there are innumerable types of apparels available. Apart from all these things, we have many other differences like caste, community, creed, nationality, westerner, etc.

Hence if we’ve to summarise all of the above-mentioned points, in terms of our physical body, we can never eradicate differences that occur between us. Each human being would be different in some way or the other! These differences, over a period of time might lead to unwanted conflicts between people in terms of all the above factors mentioned. This is exactly what we’re seeing today in many parts of the world, including in India. Basically, why do we still have clashes within different religions, communities, castes, race, divide between rich and poor, etc. across the world? It is only because of the very fact that we as an integrated human community, have over the time failed to look at what would unite all of us together. We’ve only been seeing the differences that separate us and which is nothing but this human body and physical form that all of us possess. As Bhagawan Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita, this human body is never going to be a permanent entity and is going to be changing its appearance as we advance in age. Whereas, if there is one thing in this world that never faces any change because of anything, is our “Aathman”. Our “Aathman” or “Soul” does not know any difference between any living organisms in this world. The “Aathman” dwells into all living beings and it is that one factor that unites the whole world into one, irrespective of whatever or whoever we are! If we are able to realize this supreme truth and if we are able to realize that all of us are one and the same with respect to the “Aathman”, then why do we need to fight and/or kill fellow human beings or animals for any reason? The whole world is in chaos with respect to innumerable problems, solely because we’ve failed to realize this supreme truth.

Once we realize this fact that all of us are the same entity with respect to our “Aathman”, we would automatically forget all the differences that exist within each other – Be it religion, caste, creed, race, community, nationality, rich, poor, middle class, differences in professional capabilities, intelligent, dumb, etc. Once this differenciation stops, we would not see any enemies in anybody and all of us would only exhibit love and affection amongst each other! The moment we realize that all of us are united under one umbrella called the “Aathman”, all of us together can join hands and surrender to Bhagawan totally! In turn, Bhagawan would be the happiest person upon seeing all of us happy and prosperous! Once Bhagawan becomes happy, the entire world becomes happy with His divine grace, isn’t it?

Why can’t all of us try to start creating a positive change in this regard? Thus as a kind request to all our readers – This is a very special episode that we’re witnessing today! Once we’re going through this episode all of us need to take a positive step forward to shun all of our differences between people and try to send a message to the whole world that all of us are one and the same and we’re nobody to fight with each other for all the petty issues! Once we take this positive step forward, I’m sure the world can change its course gradually over the years! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next eplanation to King Dhirdiraashtra! Stay tuned! 🙂

“Lokah Samasthah Sthukino Bhavantu!!!”

In the previous episode we had witnessed King Dhirdiraashtra’s important question to Vidura wherein he asks why hasn’t he got some kind of signals if he had committed innumerable wrongdoings like how Vidura projects! If he had got some signal somewhere through some means, he could have taken corrective actions then and there, isn’t it? But why didn’t it happen and why is all of a sudden that all my wrongdoings are projected in such a scary manner and that too in the last minute?

Now Vidura starts giving his explanation to this important question that might constantly linger in our minds too in the present day! The answer that Vidura gives here, signifies the reason why human beings like us are blessed with a sixth sense, apart from the regular five senses that all animals might have. This sixth sense is nothing but the sense of discrimination – The capability to analyse which is right and which is wrong. It is also the ability to identify clearly and differentiate between the do’s and don’ts’ in our lives. This is the reason why human beings are held accountable for all our actions, irrespective of whether they are good or bad. However if we take the case of other animals, they’re not accountable under the “Karma” theory because they do not have this unique ability to discriminate between their actions. Thus it is only we human beings that we are bound under certain rules and regulations of life and there are definitive ways according to “Dharma” that we’re supposed to lead our lives in this world.

Thus the main duty of Bhagawan is to lay down all the rules and regulations and above and more, he has blessed us with the art of discrimination and analysis. In order to execute the game of life according to the prescribed rules and regulations, Bhagawan has also blessed us with a capable human body, our sense organs and the ability to work. Of course we’ve also been blessed with great “Gurus” and “Mahatmas” who are perfectly capable of teaching us the right path. More than anything else, we have all these rules and regulations documented carefully in the form of Vedas, Ithihasas (Ramayana and Mahabharata), and other Puraanas and Bhagawan himself has incarnated in this world to teach us all these rules and regulations. With all this in place, it is upto each one of us to analyse and execute what is right and what is wrong. It is upto us to make sure that we follow the rules and regulations strictly.

Hence if we have all these authentic infrastructure in place, there is no point in asking this question that we’re not being informed when we’re doing something wrong. All we’ve to do is to read the “rule books” carefully, understand the do’s and don’t’s with utmost attention and execute our actions accordingly! This is exactly like how we buy some electrical or electronic items at our home – For instance, if we buy a new refrigerator, what do we do? Along with the product, there is a manual that the refrigerator manufacturing company gives us. This manual would contain all the details pertaining to the effective operations of the refrigerator for optimal usage at home. It is upto us to read this manual carefully before the refrigerator is operated. If we fail to read the manual and still go on to operate the refrigerator during an unfavourable condition like a low voltage, of course the system is going to get spoilt. Similarly, if we fail to read through the “manual” of life, (that is, the Vedas, or Ithihasas, etc.) and go ahead with life, we’re bound to fail at some point in time. If we encounter failure in this manner due to our carelessness, whom can we blame for it, other than our own self? If we’re not using our discriminating ability then we’re becoming one amongst all the other animals in this world isn’t it? However, Bhagawan hasn’t created us like those animals. We have something special in us.

All of us are blessed with the equal amount of brains and thinking capabilities when we are born. Just like how we tune an FM radio to the correct and desired frequency level, if we attune our brain in the right channel, we would automatically be able to grasp the correct meaning of life. If we understand life in the right sense and right spirit, we would lead our life in the righteous path according to the Dharma. However, if we grasp the meaning of life in the wrong sense, we would deviate into the path of Adharma.

Now we might ask a question here – What is right and what is wrong? Is there anything like that in the world? The answer is yes. There is a right thing and a wrong thing in this world – If we think that our physical body is permanent and if we go behind all the worldly pleasures that would make the physical body happy, it might be completely leading us towards Adharma. Whereas, if we realize that this physical body given to us by Bhagawan is just an instrument and nothing more than that, we would autiomatically start giving importance to our “Aathman” or “Soul”, which is the ultimate truth and the permanent entity. If one assumes that the physical body and the “Aathman” are one and the same, he/she would never get into the path of “Dharma”. This person would tend to believe only whatever is seen by the two eyes every minute. This person would never realize that the invisible “Aathman” is the ultimate truth. If one is not giving importance to the “Aathman” and gives 100% importance only to the visible physical body, then there is no use of reading through the Vedas or Ramayana or Mahabharata. It should be remembered that all these scriptures were authored to preach the significance of the “Aathman” and not the physical body. Thus our sixth sense of discrimination should be channelized in the path of understanding that the invisible Aathman is more significant than the visible physical body, which is never permanent. Bhagawan has given us this physical body and a life attached to it because, this should be used to uplift our “Aathman” towards Vaikunta and towards Him.

Of course if we talk this way, many of us would have lot of questions and doubts. For instance, what if we stop ourselves in focusing only on our physical body? What if we do not care about the “Aathman”? Is it still going to be a problem? Interesting answers await us for the above questions in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the all-important and the much-anticipated verdict from Prahlada on the dispute of “supremacy” between his son Virochana and the great Brahmin Scholar Sudhanvaa. Irrespective of his son Virochana being one of the contestants, Prahlada stood by his Dharma and declared that Sudhanvaa was the supreme between the two – The reason being, Sudhanvaa was completely devoid of any form of greed, jealousy, anxiety, aggressiveness, etc. and was an epitome of a learned scholar with a balanced mind and complete calmness. Moreover, Sudhanvaa was a person who expected the truth and stood by the Dharma everytime, which prompted Prahlada to give his verdict in favor of him. With this verdict, Prahlada too proved to the world that although he is a son of a Raakshasa, he is a person who stands by the Dharma, be it anybody or any situation.

As Vidura narrates thus, he pauses for a while and looks at King Dhirdiraashtra. He is now poking King Dhirdiraashtra with his sudden silence, thus reminding the king that he is also falling in line with the arrogant Virochana in the above story, and that he needs to mend his ways to transform himself and fall into the category of Sudhanvaa.

This important story makes up this whole “Adhyaaya” of Vidura Neeti. Now as we move on to the next “Adhyaaya”, King Dhirdiraashtra after hearing the above advice from Vidura, is going to ask a few questions to him and Vidura is going to answer all of his questions both directly and indirectly in the form of beautiful stories. Let us see one by one.

King Dhirdiraashtra’s first doubt to Vidura goes like this. He asks thus: “Oh Vidura! So far you’ve explained to me all the possible Dharma in this world. I’m so grateful to you! And yes, more than just explaining the Dharma to me, you’ve also pinpointed at various levels as to where I had gone wrong in my life as a king. However, why didn’t I know about my wrongdoings much earlier? Isn’t it too late for me to correct things now? If anybody including the Devas (Celestial Beings) had given me some kind of an indication that I’m walking the wrong path, I would have taken the corrective action then and there, and that would have solved many of my current issues! Why didn’t anybody pinpoint my wrongdoings at that time itself? Why is it that everything is left till the last minute for course correction?”

This is a valid question from King Dhirdiraashtra and at times even we might have the same questions in our mind too! We pray to Bhagawan every day without fail. But why is Bhagawan not pinpointing our wrongdoings then and there, so that we could get an opportunity to correct ourself instantly? Why is he waiting till the last minute and giving us a big punishment for our mistakes? Why can’t he send us regular posts or letters indicating our wrongdoings? 🙂 Of course, in today’s world of technology, sending posts through post offices are outdated and everything is exchanged via emails today! Hence, why can’t Bhagawan update himself to the modern day technology and send us an email listing out all our wrongdoings periodically? 🙂 Of course this is on the lighter side, but then, this can be one potential question in all our minds – Why can’t Bhagawan apprise us on our wrongdoings periodically, so that we’re given ample time and opportunities to streamline ourselves?

This is exactly the same question that King Dhirdiraashtra has in his mind too, and thus asks it to Vidura. Now Vidura is going to give a very interesting reply to this important question. Let us witness what Vidura has to say:

“Na devaa dhandam aadhaaya rakshanti pashu paalavath!

Yanthu rakshitum icchanthi buddhyaa samvibhajanthi tham!!”

Vidura now categorically replies to King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! You’ve asked a very important and a valid question here. My reply goes like this: Oh King! The business of the Devas’ is not to every-time take the stick in hand and instructs human beings as to what is right and what is wrong. We human beings are blessed with the sixth sense, unlike other animals and plants – The sense of “Discrimination”.

For instance, assuming that the Devas take the stick and keep instructing us every now and then – Will we like it after a point of time? Won’t we feel that we’re being tortured and we’ve got no freedom to live our life as we want? It is only because of this, we’ve got the factor called “Discriminating Capability”. But that does not mean that we can live our lives in whatever way we want! Of course there are rules and regulations in the game of life and we need to adhere to it. This discriminating capability given to us by Bhagawan is to ensure that we ourselves fall in line with the rules and regulations of a righteous life by using it at the right time!”

What a masterstroke explanation is this from Vidura! For today let us start introspecting and thinking about this answer from him. We shall continue this important explanation forward in the upcoming tomorrow’s episode too. Till then, stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had arrived at a crucial juncture wherein Prahlada is confronted by both Virochana and Sudhanvaa as part of a contest for supremacy! Both of them have approached Prahlada because he is a person who would stand by his Dharma and the truth even when the going gets tough. This is exactly what Prahlada asked during the previous episode – When Prahlada realizes that he’s now getting pushed into a tricky situation, he gets scared for a moment and asks what would be the repercussions if at all he happens to utter a lie in this case! He asks Sudhanvaa this important question because Sudhanvaa is a learned Brahmin scholar and he was the person who was qualified enough to give a suitable answer. As Sudhanvaa answers Prahlada’s question, the most important point that Sudhanvaa highlights is that, if a lie is uttered here, the person who is uttering that lie would suffer in a way equivalent to that of a person who is suffering because he had cheated others with respect to land and property – That is, the person who cheats someone with respect to land and property, all his generations before and after are going to be depleted or would suffer immensely!

This sends shockwaves not only to Prahlada, but also to King Dhirdiraashtra who’s listening to this story from Vidura! To add fuel to the fire, Vidura tactically pauses at this point and looks at King Dhirdiraashtra, to indirectly send the message across to him that he’s also falling into this same category – He is denying the moral right of the Paandavas ruling Hasthinapura and is trying to cheat them.

“Matthashreyaan angiraavai sudhanvaa tath virochana!

Maathasasshreyathi maathuhu tasmaartham thena vairjithaha!!”

After hearing thus from Sudhanvaa, Prahladha calms himself down a little bit, gets up from his throne and answers Virochana: “Oh Virochana! If you compare myself with the father of Sudhanvaa – Angiras Maharishi, he is far higher in status and enlightenment than me! (“Matthashreyaan angiraavai”!) Thus, if we compare you with Sudhanvaa, I would always say that Sudhanvaa is always several times more significant than you! Sudhanvaa’s mother is also several times more significant when compared with your mother! Thus with all these points put together, my conclusion is that Sudhanvaa is more significant than you and is more supreme than you in all ways!”

This blunt answer from Prahlada stuns Virochana! He did not expect this from his father! As Virochana looks on, Prahlada continues further thus: “Oh Virochana! The moment you expressed your greed and aggressiveness to Sudhanvaa and disrespected him for the chair, you’ve lost the battle! Your unwanted jealousy, greed and aggressiveness is pulling you several notches down every minute! Irrespective of whether you like it or not, Oh Virochana! This is the truth!”

As Prahlada says thus, he bursts out into tears! We might wonder why should Prahlada cry now? He has spoken the truth and exhibited his impartiality in his judgement even though Virochana is his own son! But we should remember here that the two contestants have pledged their own lives for this contest. That is, the rule of the contest is that, whoever loses the contest should give up or sacrifice their life!

Thus Prahladha now turns to Sudhanvaa and says thus, “Oh Mighty Sudhanvaa! I know and I’m aware that I’ve spoken the truth, however, my “Puthra-Vaatsalya” is coming my way in between! Therefore I beg you to take back your pledge of giving up Virochana’s life, given that my verdict is against him! Virochana is my son – However, I’ve stood by the truth that you are more significant than him in all ways. Now, even if my son can never equal you in any way, Virochana’s life is precious for me as I’m his father! So can you relent on this?”

Now Sudhanvaa gives the important answer thus: “Oh Prahlada! As I had mentioned to you before, I came here expecting your truth and not anything else! I was confident that you would stand by the Dharma and I’m extremely happy that you made my confidence come true! After this, I don’t care if Virochana stays alive or gives up his life! I totally relent my stance on this one. Virochana is completely free to live his life as per his wish! My purpose was only the truth and I’ve got it. Hence, please take your son Virochana as it is! You can take all your property. Even I don’t mind if Virochana weds Kesini too! I don’t have a desire towards Kesini as well. All that was important for me was to establish the fact to the world that King Prahlada would not mince his words just for the sake of the welfare of his son and not for others! Now this is proved to the world! Hence I’m taking leave!”

As Vidura narrates this story to King Dhirdiraashtra, he again pauses at this moment. King Dhirdiraashtra is all at sea! He has just listened to a beautiful story from Vidura indicating that “Putra-Vaatsalya” is a dangerous trap that he is falling into! Now Vidura concludes this anecdode by just saying thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please do the needful!”

As we’ve also listened to this beautiful anecdode from Vidura just now, let us also introspect within ourselves and do the needful! 🙂 We shall wait till the next episode to move further! Stay tuned! 🙂

Dear esteemed readers,

With the divine grace of Bhagwan Rama and Krishna, I’m happy to inform all of you that the viewership of our blog page titled “The Indian Dharma” has crossed 20,000 views from across 87 countries across the globe!

At this wonderful moment I wish to extend my humble gratitude to all of you for making this mission grow leaps and bounds within such a short span of 18 months! I thank all of you for your time, comments and feedbacks that has propelled me to strive better to make it more interesting and relevant to the modern day context!

For many of you who had been asking me for the archived episodes of our previous Ramayana project, you can visit our blog site:

http://www.theindiandharma.wordpress.com

Here you can find all the archives of all the 324 episodes of our Ramayana project as well as the 151 episodes of our currently running Vidura Neeti project. If you still have difficulty accessing the archives, please let me know through the “Comment” section and I shall sort it out.

Alternatively if you’re an active Facebook user, you can visit the Facebook Page titled “The Indian Dharma”. Link is given below:

https://www.facebook.com/LeadershiplessonsfromMahabharata/

All you need to do is to “Like” and/or “Follow” the above Facebook page to get live updates everyday.

Once again, my deepest gratitude to all of you for taking off some time for this noble cause. Let us join together to create a better lifestyle, a better society and in turn a better world for all of us and for the future generations to come!

We are at a really critical juncture in the story that Vidura is currently narrating to King Dhirdiraashtra. He’s trying to establish how important is for a leader to be honest, straightforward and truthful, irrespective of the circumstance. As we’ve seen yesterday, Sudhanvaa and Virochana are locked up in a tight contest to establish each other’s supremacy in front of Kesini, for whom the “Svyamvara” is going on. Initially we had witnessed that Virochana and Sudhanvaa were engaging themselves in a brief war of words and finally they decided to pledge their whole life to prove their supremacy. The judge for this event is none other than the great Prahlada, who is the father of Virochana. Sudhanvaa was still fine with this fact because of the only confidence that Prahlada was an embodiment of Dharma and will always stand by the truth at whatever situation. Even if the contestant is his own son, Prahlada was expected to take a neutral stance and judge the contest.

As the two contestants approach Prahlada to get his consent to judge the contest, Prahlada is both surprised and nervous together when he sees both these two bitter rivals coming together! His first question to his son Virochana was that whether he had become friends with Sudhanvaa! Virochana then explains the situation to his father about the contest of supremacy with Sudhanvaa and requests his father to judge the contest.

“Udhakam madhuvarkam vaa pyaanayanthu sudhanvane!

Brahmanyah varjaneeyosi shweta gofhpeevareekruthaa!!”

As Prahlaada meets Sudhanvaa, he gives a nice healthy white cow as a gift to him, makes him seated in a high chair, worships him by falling on his feet and gives him all the respects that are to be done to him. Now Sudhanvaa replies to Prahlada and Virochana thus, “I’ve got all these respects while I was on the way. Oh King Prahlada! I’ve not come here to receive all these respects from you at the moment, however I appreciate your gesture! I’ve come here trusting your firm stance towards Dharma and Truth. I have full confidence on you that you would talk only the truth and nothing else!”

“Puthra eko mama brahmasthvamscha saakshaad ihaasthithaaha!

Thayor vibhatathor prashnam kathamasthvat vidhodbhaveth!!”

 Upon hearing this from Sudhanvaa, Prahlada poses a counter question to him thus: “Oh Sudhanvaa! One one hand you are a great “Brahma-Gnyaani” (The person who knows the ultimate truth of this world)! I cannot disrespect you in any way, whereas on the other hand, Virochana is my own son. I can’t disrespect that fact as well! Given these two challenges, what do you expect me to do? Which side do you want me to take? Both of you asked me the question. But did any of you think about my position and my situation? Don’t you guys know how tough is my situation right now?”

Hearing thus from Prahlada, Sudhanvaa replies him back thus:

“Graam pradadhyaasthourasaaya yadhvaanyath saath priyam dhanam!

Dvayor vibhatatostathyam vaachyanthamathivamsthvaya!!”

 Sudhanvaa replies thus, “Oh King Prahladha! I never asked you to take sides! I think you’re mistaking my request. All what I’m asking you to do is that you’ve to be neutral and give what both of us truly deserve! Did I ask or demand for your property? Did I ask for your money? Did I ask for your love? You might give all these things to your son Virochana! If you do this, you’re not giving up your son. All I’m asking you to give me is truth and Dharma! If you’re giving that to me, it implies that you’re not giving me up! All I’m requesting you to do is to protect the Dharma and the truth and this is my biggest expectation from you! To go one step further, I’m not even interested in marrying Kesini. All I’m interested is Dharma and Truth to be upheld!”

This answer from Sudhanvaa leaves King Prahlada in a deep thought! He is impressed with what Sudhanvaa has requested him. On the other hand, he has his son Virochana who is claiming his supremacy with arrogance. Now after a deep thinking, Prahlada replies thus:

“Athayo naivah prahbruuyaath sathyam vaa yadhivaanrutham!

Ye tath Sudhanvan pruchhyaami dhuvivaktaastha kim vaseth??”

 King Prahlada frames his reply in the form of a question towards Sudhanvaa: “Oh Sudhanvaa! If at all by any chance I utter a lie, what would happen to me at this stage? Please let me know! You are the most respectable person here and you should educate me on this!” Sudhanvaa replies King Prahlada thus:

“Yaam vaathri adhivinnasthri yam chaiva aksha paraajithaha!

Yaam cha bhaaraa abitapthaangaha dhurivasthaamathaam vaseth!!”

 Here Sudhanvaa gives a categorical reply that shocks Prahladha a bit. He says thus, “Oh King Prahladha! You’ve asked a valid question. If you fail to stand by the truth at this stage, you’ll receive the following: Firstly the difficulty that a first divorced wife of a husband faces, when he marries another woman! Secondly, you’ll experience a difficulty as that of a person who had lost a game of gambling and lost all of his property in it. I’m saying this because, your only property is “Sathyam” or “Truth”! If you give up this important property of “Sathya”, it is equivalent of you losing all properties in this world. Moreover, you’ll also face a level of difficulty which a person pulling a heavy loaded truck under the hot sun!”

Sudhanvaa continues further still: Here we’re going to see what all difficulties one would face if we lie on the following aspects in life.

He says thus, “Oh Prahladha! If a person is lying or spreading false information with respect to any living being in this world, his next five generations would experience suffering! Especially, if that living being is a cow, the next ten generations would experience difficulties! If a person tries to be selfish and is lying in the context of horses, the next hundred generations of this person is going to experience difficulty! If a lie is uttered in the context of a husband-wife relationship, this person suffers difficulty for the next thousand births! Finally if a lie is uttered with respect to land and property (“Bhumi”), the suffering is so huge that all the future generations of him and his family would experience immense suffering! Here, Kesini is equivalent of Goddess BhumaDevi and hence Prahlada! If you’re going to utter a lie in this aspect, all your generations before and after you are going to experience immense suffering! Hence be careful in what you’re going to utter!”

As this particular context comes, Vidura purposefully stops at this point and looks at King Dhirdiraashtra tantalizingly! It should be noted here that King Dhirdiraashtra is playing the plot only with respect to the final aspect, that is, Bhumi (Kingdom). Thus the significance of today’s episode that all of us should realize is that, if we deny anybody’s moral right with regard to property or land, all his generations before and after are going to be depleted or would suffer immensely!

So for today let us ponder over this important point and introspect on our activities. Let us realize the significance of cheating someone with respect to property and land and do the needful accordingly! Now is Prahlada’s turn to give the reply and both Sudhanvaa and Virochana are eagerly waiting for him to give his verdict. Along with Sudhanvaa and Virochana, we shall also continue to wait till the next episode to listen to Prahlada’s important reply! Stay tuned! 🙂

Right now we are at a juncture of an interesting story that Vidura is narrating to King Dhirdiraashtra to establish and drive home the important aspect of a righteous and a successful leader – Maintaining our honesty and truth at all times. We’ve commenced the story wherein two people – Sudhanvaa and Virochanaa are all set to attend the “Svyamvara” of Kesini. As we’ve discussed yesterday, this “Svyamvara” is nothing but a contest between princes and the winner of this contest will marry the girl. Now Virochana has already taken his seat on the throne-like chair as Kesini approaches him. She quips Virochanaa tactically by asking what makes him to be a deserving candidate to sit on that throne-like chair. Virochana has replied that he is a representative of the “Raakshasa” community, which has already established its supremacy over all other communities like Devas, Gandharvas, Dhaanavas, etc. and that, he is the most eligible candidate to be on that chair! Hearing this, Kesini replies back that we would wait till the next morning until Sudhanvaa arrives to the scene, and later will decide.

Thus we are waiting for Sudhanvaa to arrive! The next day morning, everybody take their place along with Kesini. Virochana goes and sits on the chair that is next to Kesini. It is after he takes up the chair to sit, Sudhanvaa enters inside the hall. Upon Sudhanvaa’s arrival, Kesini gets up and pays her respects to him, as he is a Brahmin. As this formality gets over, Virochana invites Sudhanvaa to come and sit on the chair that is lying vacant beside him. Now Sudhanvaa responsds to Virochana’s gesture thus: “Oh Virochana! It is the normal practice that a Brahmin sits near a Brahmin, a Kshathrya sits near a Kshathrya, a Deva sits near another Deva and a Raakshasa sits near another Raakshasa. Here too, it is bound upon us to practice this protocol and thus, I cannot sit near a Raakshasa who is an embodiment of greed, desire and jealousy!”

Hearing thus, Virochana gets offended and replies back to Sudhanvaa, “Oh Sudhanvaa! What you’ve said is correct! The best “Aasana” (Seat) for a Brahmin is the Dharba grass spread on the floor and hence you sit on the floor and let me sit on the chair! Moreover, I’m the king who has won over all the other forces and people around the world! So in all ways, I’m the most deserving person to occupy this chair!”

As Sudhanvaa hears this arrogant answer from Virochana, he replies fumingly, “You know what Virochana? If I sit on a chair, your father, Prahlada would always sit down on the floor in front of me!” For this, Virochana gets even more angry and irritated. He now counters Sudhanvaa’s claim thus: “Oh Sudhanvaa! If that’s the case, let us have the contest right away! If you win the contest, all my property, kingdom would be yours!”

“Hiranyancha gavaashvancha yath vitthamasureshunaha!

Sudhanvan vishane tena prashnam prichaava ye viduhu!!”

 Virochana continues thus, “For our contest, we need a judge who should supervise its proceedings! Let the judge decide who is better amongst you and me!”

Hearing all this from Virochana, Sudhanvaa replies back thus: “Oh Virochana! I never desire to have your property and kingdom! You can keep all of it with you only! If you want to bet something for this contest, let us pledge and bet our life for it! I’m ready to pledge my entire life for this contest! Are you ready? And, whom do you want to call upon as the judge?” For this, Virochana replies thus,

“Na thu deveshvamsthaataa na manushyeshu karihichith!!”

Virochana explains the parameters that the judge should possess: The judge should neither be any of the “Devas” (Celestial Beings) nor any “Manushya” (Human being), nor a person who is close to you. Apart from these two criteria, the judge can be any other person. Upon hearing this from Virochana, Sudhanvaa replies back, “If that’s the case, let us go to your father Prahlada and let us ask him if he’s ready to judge our contest! I’m okay if he’s the judge, although he is your father. I’m confident that your father Prahlada would talk only the truth at all times and he’s a righteous person who stands by Dharma. Come, let us go and check out!”

Thus both of them go in search of Prahlada.

“Pitharam te gamishyaavaha pranayor vipane krithe!

Puthrasyaapi sa hetor hi prahlaado naanritham vatheth!!”

Thus Sudhanvaa is extremely confident that Prahlada is a person who always stands by the truth and Dharma. He is one person who never compromises Dharma on the context of “Puthra-Vaatsalya” (Attachment towards the son). On seeing these two coming towards him, Prahlada himself started to tremble. Prahlada started wondering, “Oh! How come these two are coming together? Aren’t these two the worst enemies ever in this world? Why are Virochana and Sudhanvaa coming together towards me?” Thinking and wondering thus, Prahladha was tensed as to what is going to unfold! Now Prahlada talks to both of them thus:

Prahlaadha Uvaacha:

“Imau tau sampradishyethe yaabhyaam na charitham saha!

Aasheevishaaviva krudhaa vegamaargaa vihaa gathau!!”

Prahladha thus wonders why these two are coming together and asks his son Virochana, “Is Sudhanvaa your friend by any means?” Virochana thus explains the situation to his father, “Oh Father! We’re never friends together and can never be in future too! We’re in a problem and we’ve come to you seeking a solution for it! The issue here is that who is more significant amongst both of us. You should be able to give a verdict to this, in a neutral manner. Sudhanvaa felt that you would be an appropriate person to be the judge for this issue, since you’re an embodiment of Dharma!”

Now how is Prahlada going to react to this tricky situation? What is his answer going to be? What lessons can King Dhirdiraashtra and all of us can learn? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! 🙂 Stay tuned!