The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had commenced an extremely important discussion on how different categories of people consume food differently. We had started this entire discussion with Vidura’s explanation on what would be the contents or ingredients of food that is consumed by three different categories of people – Rich, middle class and the poor. Vidura had mentioned that the rich people always have food that contains meat. Middle class people consume food that is more on milk content, that is, milk and milk products like butter, ghee, etc. Finally the poor category of people consumes food that is excessive in oil. Primarily this classification of Vidura is based upon the professions each category of people undertake in their lives and of course on their financial condition and buying capacity too. Generally the kings and Kshathryas who are royal by birth make up the rich category of people. Also because their main duty is to fight for the country, they had to consume food that contains meat, owing to its abundant supply of energy and strength.

In the next sloka, Vidura extended this point further by explaining the levels of hunger for each category of people. In that he mentions that those people who are poor are blessed with hunger that would give them an opportunity to consume adequate and a balanced diet. However those people who are rich are completely pressurized mentally and with respect to various responsibilities that they’ve to carry on their shoulders and hence they consume very little food, just enough for their survival. Even if the rich people consume more amount of food at times, they end up consuming food that is unhealthy.

Thus Vidura clearly hints that in the modern day, we need to be extremely careful about our food habits. This point sparks up an important extended discussion on the modern day food habits and the various ways by which we are inviting unwanted health issues. In today’s busy lifestyle we see people running around every time, owing to extremely demanding professional and personal commitments. However, one important aspect that we always tend to compromise for our urgent lifestyle is our physical health! Today we are ready to compromise our physical health for achieving anything in this world and pathetically little do we realize that only if our physical health is intact, will we be able to enjoy the fruits of our hard work.

Now the question comes as to why do we tend to overlook our physical health for other tasks in life. One main reason is that, our physical body while being young in age, tends to absorb all kinds of “tortures” and “hardships” that it is put through on the pretext of our professional and personal commitments. However as we advance in our age beyond 40 or 45, this is the time when the physical body starts giving up! This is the point when all the disasters start unfolding one by one – Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Stomach ulcers, liver problems, etc. are becoming the order of the day as these problems start surfacing when the body gets older. Sadly we never realize these physical hazards when we are young in age! This unawareness has gone to even such an extent that “skipping” breakfast in the morning hours of the day has become a thing of fashion. Going one step forward, we skip breakfast and directly have our lunch in the afternoon, which modern day youngsters term this phenomenon as “BRUNCH”! Little do we realize the extreme hazardous effects of moving into this disastrous fashion called “Brunch”!

Hence the message from this episode is that, we should make it a point not to skip any meal of the day – Be it breakfast or lunch or dinner. Just like how we take care of our personal and professional commitments everyday, we should also take care of our physical commitments too and this is extremely important. If our physical body is out of shape owing to various reasons, then what is the use of excelling professionally and earning enormous money? Who is going to enjoy the benefits of all what we earn? Sadly the doctors and hospitals do!

Hence it is important that we strike a balance between our work commitments and maintaining our physical health intact. This is exactly what Vidura is also explaining here – He says candidly that poor people are able to balance both their professional and physical setups, whereas rich people unfortunately fail to achieve this balance. Thus Vidura advises us that we should somehow find time in such a way that we strike a balance between our work and maintaining our physical health in a good way. Our food habits need to be balanced and spread with an interval of 4 hours between each meal. We should devote time to do some physical exercise or yoga every day. These things are extremely important for our healthy living.

So for today let us ponder upon this very important point and let us try to start implementing this in our day-to-day life. We shall wait till the next episode to witness more of Vidura’s advice. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important explanation of Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra again in the context of food habits pertaining to different categories of people. He had explained that rich people’s food habits are mostly non-vegetarian in nature, that is, their food would definitely contain some amount of meat in it. He further went on to explain that people those who fall under the category of the middle-class would have food items that are rich in milk and allied milk products like curd, ghee, etc. Whereas those people who fall under the category of the poor and downtrodden would have food items that contain excessive oil in them.

In due course of this explanation we also witnessed an interesting reason why “Kshathryas” consume food that is non-vegetarian in nature – The main reason being that those people are the ones who are directly involved in warfare every time. It is only to possess that kind of extraordinary strength and energy, do Kshathryas eat meat. In fact even in the Valmiki Ramayana there is a reference wherein Lord Rama is said to have consumed meat and this is purely because Lord Rama was a Kshathrya prince and he had the bound duty to fight wars so as to protect his country. Eventually we would see that Lord Rama strictly followed the “Dharma” of a Kshathrya. Thus we should note here that non-vegetarian food in tropical countries like India is only meant for those people who are involved in Army and other allied esteemed institutions of the country’s defence, so that they obtain the required amount of power and energy levels to take on the enemies during wars.

Now moving on further, Vidura explains a bit about an important aspect of our everyday life – Hunger. He again classifies people into three categories – Rich, Middle class and poor. He explains how hunger might be different for these three categories of people. Vidura explains thus:

“Sampanna tharamevaannam daridraa bunjade sadaa!

Kshutu svaadutaam janayati saachaadyeshu su durlabhaa!!”

Here Vidura explains clearly that a person who is poor, feels extremely hungry and thereby consumes food out of intense hunger! Here we can see that for those people who are poor, hunger is a boon! This is the biggest blessing and property that poor people possess in this world! Whereas, this same hunger becomes a bane for people who are rich! Thus in terms of hunger, poor people become rich and the rich become poor!

We might wonder why is Vidura’s explanation so unique in this context. In this modern day too we can observe this phenomenon. How? If we compare the apetite of a daily wageworker in a factory to that of the manager of the same factory, we would be able to witness a clear difference. The daily wageworker comes to work everyday, involves himself in hard physical labor till the evening and as a result he becomes extremely tired and exhausted. Hence when he returns back home, he tends to have a sumptuous dinner with full mental peace and satisfaction. His body also takes adequate rest for the night and gets ready for the next day’s work schedule.

However is this the case for the factory manager? Never! Although he might be a rich person in terms of money and luxuries, his job profile at work is extremely demanding – He is totally responsible for the safety and well being of all the workers put together in the factory and hence to enforce this into practice, he has to undergo innumerable trials and tribulations every day at office. Moreover, the mental pressure would be so severe that he would not be able to find sufficient time to focus on his own self and his own apetite. Hence if we observe the food habits of those people who are rich and in top positions of organizations, they would consume food just enough for them to continue their living and to keep moving on with their everyday hectic schedules. Eventually many of them would start developing physical and mental illness, as they grow older in age!

From the above example we can see how relevant are Vidura’s words in today’s context too! Thus the message from today’s sloka is that, poor people have an excellent apetite and hunger can be considered to be a boon to them given by Bhagawan – The reason being that they do not have any sorts of mental stress and strain, although they might be physically exhausted due to their work demand. However if we look at the case of rich people in the top-level positions, the responsibility becomes higher, which implies that the mental stress and strain is extremely high! This is what affects their food habits very badly and they get into all kinds of physical and mental health complications. Thus for rich people, hunger becomes a big bane and in terms of hunger and food consumption, the poor people appear to be richer and the richer people appear to be poorer!

Hence for today let us ponder over this point and let us realize that health is more significant than many other things in this world! We should ensure that we consume food on a periodic basis without skipping any meal at any time of the day (Breakfast, lunch or dinner). We shall take this point forward in the upcoming tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important message from Vidura wherein he says that as a king or a leader, he/she is bound under certain basic behavior and mannerisms that would earn him/her respect amongst the subjects. If the king tries to deviate from these mannerisms, the subjects would brand the king as a person with a “cheap mentality”. This advice not only applies to King Dhirdiraashtra but also to each and every one of us.

Now moving on further, Vidura backs this important point through the next sloka thus:

“Aadyaanaam maamsa paramam madhyaanaam ghora sottharam!

Thilotharam daridhraanaam bhojanam bharata rishabha!!”

Now Vidura talks about different types of people and how do these different types of people differ in terms of their food habits. Here he talks about three categories of people – Rich, medium and the poor. Of course in those days, rich people would inadvertently be Kshatriyas because they would constitute the royal family of the kingdom. The other people would fall into the remaining two categories depending upon their amount of wealth they possess. Thus Vidura explains here that rich people’s food would always be containing flesh and non-vegetarian items (“Aadyaanaam maamsa paramam”). People who form the middle category would always have food that is rich in milk and ghee (“madhyaanaam ghora sottharam”) whereas the people who constitute the poor category, would have food stuff that would contain more of oil (“Thilotharam daridhraanaam”).

If we’ve to explore this sloka deeper we can infer three important points clearly – Firstly, rich people always have some kind of non-vegetarian items in their food. Even today if we see the food habits of filthy rich people, we would find them eating whatever they like and however they wish to! I’m not blaming anyone in particular here, but this is the norm of the world! Many people around the world, who are filthy rich, would mostly not have any control over their food and eating habits, barring very few people. Whereas if we see those people who constitute the middle class, their food items would be rich in milk, ghee and other milk products. This is a much better food habit to be having rather than eating non-vegetarian food. I’ve already explained about the alarming bad side effects that we would be inviting if we’re consuming non-vegetarian food in countries like India wherein the climatic conditions are mostly hot and humid.

However there might be a question here that if this is the case,  why do Kshathriyas eat non-vegetarian food. Even if we closely look into the Valmiki Ramayana text, Valmiki Maharishi himself has said at quite a few places that Lord Rama has had the practice of consuming food that contained meat. Why is this so? The simple reason being that Lord Rama was born as a Kshathrya prince and he was entitled to consume such food items. He has lived by the “Dharma” of a Kshathriya throughout his life. Moreover, why should only Kshathriya people consume non-vegetarian food? It is because their main job is to engage in warfare most of the time. It should be remembered here that the Kshathriyas’ main duty is to protect the kingdom and the people from the raging enemies. It is for this reason that they were consuming foodstuff that are non-vegetarian. Consuming non-vegetarian food items would generate loads of heat and energy from within the body and of course since the main purpose of Kshathriyas was to engage in fighting and lot of allied physical activities, they require enormous amounts of energy in their body and this amount of energy could be supplied to the body only by consuming non-vegetarian food.

But in today’s world, who goes to fight with whom? 🙂 We should give this a thought and alter our food habits accordingly. Thus the message from today’s episode is that, the food of filthy rich people (supposedly Kshathryas) contains non-vegetarian food items as their main course. Whereas if we consider the middle class people, our food would always be rich in milk and other milk products. However, the food of the poor people would have more of oil in it. Care should also be taken here that we should lessen the usage of oil while cooking food! We talk about many issues pertaining to oil in the food today – Cholestrol for instance! Thus Vidura explains through the above sloka as to how to be careful with our food habits.

In the next sloka Vidura is going to explain the difference in hunger between a rich and a poor person. Can there ever be such a difference in hunger between people? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point emphasized by Vidura to King Dhirdiraashtra. He reminds King Dhirdiraashtra of an important “Raaja Dharma” that irrespective of whatever family or community background a person hails from, we should make it a point not to derogate that person, if his austerities and character is good and impeccable. At the same time, we should make sure that we don’t encourage and appreciate a person for his bad qualities, just because he/she hails from a high family or community background. Thus as a leader, we should know to balance these two aspects correctly and this is where unfortunately King Dhirdiraashtra failed!

Taking this point forward still, we can witness innumerable characters in our epics – Ramayana and Mahaabhaarata to illustrate this point. From the Ramayana we can always take Lord Rama as the biggest example and role model for all of us with respect to this characteristic. This is where Vaalmiki Maharishi asks the first out of the sixteen questions to Sage Naarada – “Gunavaan”, wherein he asks Sage Narada, “Who is that one person living in this world, who would be able to transcend to any level so as to make his devotees happy?” This is what we call as “Sousheelyam” in Sanskrit. How did Lord Rama exhibit this characteristic of “Sousheelyam”? He went to Guha, who is from a low class hunter community and makes friends with him. He then goes to Sugriva who is from the monkey community and accepts him as his own brother! Needless to say, Hanuman is Lord Rama’s most staunch and ardent devotee ever! Hanuman is also a monkey by birth. Next comes Vibhishana – He was basically a “Raakshasa” or a “Demon” by birth as he was Ravana’s brother! Lord Rama was so compassionate that he even accepted Vibhishana as his own brother!

Similarly when we look into Prahlaadha’s story, even Prahlaada was Hiranya’s son, who by birth is a Raakshasa. However Bhagawan’s Narasimha incarnation was solely to protect this little child Prahlaadha, although he was a Raakshasa by birth! Thus from all these instances we can see that Bhagawan would show his unconditional love and compassion to everybody irrespective of whom we are and what background or clan we hail from. All what is important for Him is our unconditional love and surrender to his feet. However if we look at Indra (Leader of the Celestial Beings or Devas), even though he is extremely high-class by birth and by living, he still gets into trouble constantly with Bhagawan and hence he had to be punished every now and then for his wicked activities! Thus as a leader, the important lesson to be learnt by all of us from this section is that, we should accept good and noble people unconditionally, irrespective of whichever clan or community they come from.

Using this explanation, Vidura once more pokes King Dhirdiraashtra by saying that he has been ignoring the Paandavas just because they were the sons of his brother Paandu, who was physically not keeping well. However, King Dhirdiraashtra was hailing Duryodhana just because he was his son and also a prince by birth! Vidura is trying his best to check King Dhirdiraashtra’s actions and to somehow mend his ways. But is King Dhirdiraashtra ready to mend his ways according to Vidura’s words? Till now Vidura has been unsuccessful in his attempt. However that shouldn’t be a cause of worry for us. Our focus should always be on what Vidura is explaining here and what we can learn from Vidura’s important advice.

Moving on thus, Vidura is now taking a different route to convince King Dhirdiraashtra. He is now going to talk about “Responsibility” and “Mannerisms”. Vidura explains thus:

“Sheelam pradhaanam purushe tath yasyeha pranashyati!

Na tasya jeevithenaarthaha na dhanena na bandhubhihi!!”

Here Vidura clearly explains that if a person lacks his responsible behavior or mannerisms amidst the society, everybody would desert him then and there, without any concern! This is of prime importance for anybody in this world – Be it a king or a servant! Each one of us have a certain level of “societal commitments” in our life. In other terms, as human beings, our society expects us to behave in a certain specific manner that would earn us the respect amongst other fellow human beings. For instance, all of us know how to conduct ourselves in public places in such a way that nobody would insult us. According to some important societal rules, we should not litter public places like roads, railway stations, buses, trains, etc. We should not disobey traffic rules while driving on the road. We should not get into any sorts of illicit behavior towards the opposite gender in a public place. The list goes on. Here, if we obey all these common societal rules correctly, people would respect us in whatever small way possible and hail us in a nice manner. However if we start misbehaving in any of the above points, the society would start insulting us and would not give us any sorts of respect.

This is exactly what Vidura says here – As a king, he is bound under certain basic behavior and mannerisms that would earn him respect amongst his subjects. If the king is trying to deviate from these mannerisms, the subjects would brand the king as a person with a “cheap mentality”. This advice not only applies to King Dhirdiraashtra but also to each and every one of us. So for today, let us start pondering over this important point emphasized by Vidura. We shall wait till the next episode to extend this discussion further. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode Vidura had continued his explanation on which would protect which other aspect in this world. In that way, yesterday Vidura had clearly explained that “Dhaanyam” could be protected properly only if we are able to spend it wisely and for a useful purpose (“Maanena”). If a horse (“Ashwam”) needs to be protected, we need to make it run often. Thus in order to protect the horse, it has to be kept on toes always! However on the contrast, a cow that gives milk regularly should be pampered frequently so that it gives more and more milk. Finally Vidura explains that the body of a woman is protected by a beautiful silk cloth!

It is at this point that Vidura candidly reminds King Dhirdiraashtra of the misdeed that he and his sons had inflicted to Draupati once upon a time amidst the public courtroom! Vidura indirectly pokes King Dhirdiraashtra that for this greatest “Adharma” that he and his sons have committed, punishment is round the corner and hence, it is time now to act accordingly so as to prevent that punishment to take over. That is, rather than the entire clan of Kauravas being washed away by the war, it is better that King Dhirdiraashtra takes the initiative to split the kingdom according to the agreement.

Thus so far we’ve seen which items can be protected by what strategies and now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain the next important thing here. This is an extremely important aspect of “Raaja Dharma”. He says thus,

“Na kulam vritthiheenasya pramaanamithi me mathihi!

Antheshvapihi jaathaanaam vrithhameva vishishyate!!”

Here Vidura explains that if a person is exhibiting the highest level of austerity and good practices, we should not look at his family background and derogate him. On the contrary, if a person doesn’t even have an iota of austerity and good practices in this world, even though if he is from a highly revered family background, it is not right to give importance to such a person.

This might be a little complicated to understand for our readers and hence I would try and describe this in simpler terms. For instance if a person hails from a community that is known to be extremely low class, yet his austerities, character and other practices are extremely good, we should never ill-treat such a person and shouldn’t pass derogatory comments against him or her. Rather, we should stand up and appreciate him for his good behavior, even though he is from a low community. In other words, if we find a person to be good in terms of his austerities, behavior, character, etc. we should never look into his family or community background. On the contrary for instance, if a person hails from a high class Brahmin family and yet doesn’t exhibit even an iota of goodness or austerities or character, there is no point in respecting such a person, just because he hails from a high-class background.

Thus the point that Vidura tries to communicate is that, in order to judge a person we should never look into his/her family or community background. We should treat everybody on the equal plane and judge them according to their individual character, austeritiy, etc.

If we’ve to extend this explanation further, how many of the famous “Alwars” were born in a Brahmin community? If we happen to look into their life stories, the first three “Alwars” do not even have parents as they were born out of a flower. If we look at “Thirumazhisai Alwar”, although he was born in a Brahmin community, he did not grow up in that way. Similarly if we look at “Thrumangai Alwar”, he was born amidst thieves! The very famous “Nammazhwar” was born in a “Velaalar” community. All these “Alwars” put together, how much of “Bhakti” and “Dharma” have they preached to this world, although they aren’t born in a high-class Brahmin community?

Many of us, although born in the Brahmin community, are we doing justice to our clan and to our family background today? Most of the times the answer to this question is “No”! We keep running behind money every time and involve ourselves in all the worldly pleasures as much as possible. Even going one step further, if we’re born in the Brahmin Community in India, we are supposed to involve ourself only in “Veda-Adhyayana” (Learning of Vedas) and other spiritual practices. But are we doing this in the modern day world? Only a few of them practice this today. Brahmins are never supposed to touch money by their hands! But unfortunately we’re doing just the contrary today! Of course we can argue that the norms of the world have changed with time and there is no other way through which Brahmins in the present day can protect themselves. Given such a situation in the present day, we don’t even have the right to blame others for what they are. Hence, we should accept people who are good, irrespective of who and what they are.

This is exactly what Vidura is advising King Dhirdiraashtra here. He indirectly explains thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! You’re trying to ignore the Pandavas just because they were born to your brother Paandu, who was a perennial sick person! Thus you’re trying to ignore the fact that these Paandavas are an embodiment of impeccable character! However you’re trying to favor Duryodhana who, irrespective of being born as a great prince, is ultimately an embodiment of all Adharma put together!”

Hence, the message from today’s episode is that, irrespective of whatever family or community background a person hails from, we should make it a point not to derogate that person, if his austerities and character is good and impeccable. At the same time, we should make sure that we don’t encourage and appreciate a person for his bad qualities, just because he/she hails from a high family or community background. Thus as a leader, we should know to balance these two aspects correctly and this is where unfortunately King Dhirdiraashtra failed! We shall wait till the next episode to extend this argument further. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed Vidura’s yet another important explanation that “Sathyam” (Truth) will protect “Dharma” in this world. “Persistent and dedicated Education” will protect “Vidyaa” (Knowledge). The broader message from the previous episode was that, all what we learn in our school and college should be of some use to the society through our meticulous practice – Especially the value systems that we imbibe. We should make sure that we make a conscious attempt to follow each and every principle of “Dharma” that we are learning here everyday.

Now moving on to the next sloka, Vidura is going to explain how are each of the following items protected in this world:

“Maanena rakshate dhaanyam ashwaan rakshatyanukramaha!

Abheeksha dachanam gaascha striyoho rakshyaaha kuchailathaha!!”

 This is precisely the continuation of the previous sloka wherein Vidura continues to explain the different strategies that we need to adopt to protect various things in this world. Here he says that “Dhaanyam” (Can be equated to any kind of property) can be protected properly only if we are able to spend it wisely and for a useful purpose (“Maanena”). If it is money, we need to understand that the money that we earn would sustain with us only if we spend it judiciously and wisely. If we’re starting to spend money lavishly on unwanted stuff, it is never going to sustain in our pocket! Similar analogy applies to all other kinds of property as well. Thus the message from the first portion of the sloka is that, we should learn to spend our money or any property in our possession in a judicious manner.

Next Vidura says “Ashwaan rakshatyanukramaha” Here he means that if a horse (“Ashwam”) needs to be protected, we need to make it run often. In other words, it is not enough if we just give enough food for the horse. We need to keep the horse on its toes always. We need to ensure that the horse is able to run at high speeds and thus, it is good for it’s health. We can see this often where people train horses for racing purposes and other allied sports activities. For this the trainer would train the horse in such a way that it is completely alert and is able to run at high speeds without losing its focus elsewhere. Of course, the horse should be fed with adequate quantities of food, so as to maintain it up and running.

Moving on to the third part of the sloka, Vidura mentions “Abheeksha dachanam gaascha”. Here he says that a cow that gives milk regularly should be pampered frequently so that it gives more and more milk. Here we can see that different animals are to be treated differently since they serve different purposes. In the previous section we had seen how a horse should be maintained and there, the methodology was entirely opposite. Now we’re seeing how to maintain a cow. Here, the cow should be as much pampered as possible with all the love and affection, so that it would enable it to give more and more milk.

Lastly Vidura mentions “striyoho rakshyaaha kuchailathaha”, which means that the body of a woman is proteted by a beautiful silk cloth! This is because the body of a woman is soft, silky and beautiful and is to be protected by an equally beautiful silk cloth! This can perhaps be one of the reasons why women are more interested in shopping apparels everytime! 🙂 We can see here that Vidura himself has given an “approval” that women are eligible to wear such beautiful clothes! 🙂 That was anyway on the lighter side.

But however, the inner meaning here is that, Vidura pokes King Dhirdiraashtra about one of his past misdeed! What was that? Our readers might know this instance where Draupati (Wife of the Pandavas) was insulted publicly by Duryodhana and co. right under the nose of King Dhirdiraashtra. Even though this insult happened in front of King Dhirdiraashtra, he had failed to punish Duryodhana for this heinous crime, just because Duryodhana was his own son!

Thus Vidura explains indirectly here, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! A lady is supposed to be protected with a beautiful silk cloth, but what did you and your sons do to a lady few years back? You guys insulted Draupati by pulling off her saree in the public courtroom amidst the presence of so many men! It was finally Bhagawan Krishna’s grace that she escaped unscathed! Do you think Bhagawan Krishna would have forgotten this huge insult? Hence, rather than acting in a biased way towards your wicked son Duryodhana, who is the biggest criminal in your kingdom, go ahead and fall on the feet of Bhagawan Krishna and thereby split the kingdom for the Pandavas according to the agreement!”

Thus the message is clear here – We should make sure that even if we do not perform actions pertaining to “Dharma”, alteast we should make sure that we do not perform any act of “Adharma” in our life. If we end up going the path of “Adharma”, Bhagawan is never going to tolerate us even for a second! Hence for today let us realize this important fact and introspect within ourselves accordingly. We shall wait for the next episode to explore the next sloka of Vidura Neeti! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the discussion on doing our duty without exhibiting unwanted resistance. Now Vidura tries to “emotionally” target King Dhirdiraashtra to make him mend his ways atleast now. He explains clearly that if we really want to do a task, we would find ways to finish it successfully and there cannot be any reason for its stoppage. Whereas, if we’ve to put off a task, we would have thousands of reasons for not performing that task. Thus the question from Vidura here is that, if that task is one that has to be somehow done by us, why do we need to put it off? If the task becomes a duty, it is better to perform it irrespective of whether we like doing it or not. If we’ve to still resist and keep putting the duty off our “to-do” list, we would never be able to earn a good name amidst people, as well as we would be getting unwanted punishment for not finishing the duty on time. Here Vidura clearly explains that King Dhirdiraashtra is not fulfilling his duties as a righteous king, rather he is trying to put off the inevitable. For this, Vidura warns King Dhirdiraashtra of the severe consequences that are going to follow in the near future if he doesn’t fulfill his righteous duties now!

Upon hearing more and more of Vidura’s advice, King Dhirdiraashtra’s conscience is pricking him rather too badly. He is in tears! But will this rush of emotions enable him to mend his ways atleast now? Vidura is however not willing to give it up! He tries all tricks in the book to somehow convince King Dhirdiraashtra to stop his “Adharmic” activity of favoring Duryodhana in a biased manner. He backs himself and continues with the next sloka thus:

“Satyena rakshate dharmaha vidyaa yogena rakshate!

Mrujayaa rakshate roopam kulam vruthena rakshate!!”

Here Vidura explains which are the items that are going to be protected by which! He says that “Sathyam” (The Ultimate Truth) will protect “Dharma” in this world. “Persistent and dedicated Education” will protect “Vidyaa” (Knowledge). Finally Vidura drops a bombshell here – He says that the perfumes and aromatic items that we use everyday protect our physical body! 🙂

Many of our readers might infer that this third point is a complete “shocker” from Vidura! Of course in the modern day we see innumerable varieties and brands of cosmetic products available in the market that would enable us to “beautify” our physical body in various different ways. If we happen to walk inside a cosmetic store in a shopping mall today, we would find various kinds and varieties of perfumes being sold at different price tags – For instance we might even see such a small bottle of perfume that can be extremely expensive in the range of a few thousands of rupees! The moment we apply that expensive perfume on our body, it makes us feel as if we are one among the divine celestial beings! 🙂 But all of these are just gimmicks and they just give us short-term pleasure! We should remember that this human body of ours is respected so much only until the point that our skin is covering all the flesh and bones within. The moment these flesh and bones with blood are exposed to the outside world, will anybody even be able to stand near us? Sadly this is the reality behind our human body, however due to unavoidable reasons in the present day world, we are unable to realize this! Hence, just because of these momentous pleasures we tend to go behind all these cosmetic products to make ourselves look attractive and beautiful! What we actually need to focus is our “Inner Beauty” that is our “Aatman” or the “Soul”. As Bhagawan Krishna himself explains at various places in the Bhagawad Gita, purity of the soul is what is going to take us to “Moksha” or “Salvation” and not anything else! Hence we need to realize this fact and work towards it.

In the last portion of the sloka Vidura says “Kulam vruthena rakshate!” This means, it is just not enough if we have all the knowledge that is required to be possessed. We should also put this knowledge into practice (“Anushtaana”). It is only when we put these principles of Dharma into practice, will our name and fame spread across the world in a positive way.

Thus in a nutshell, through the above sloka Vidura emphasizes that the ultimate “Dharma” in this world gets protected by the “Sathyam” (The Ultimate Truth). This “Sathyam” can be grasped through dedicated education and it is through this dedicated education, “Vidya” (Skillsets) are protected. Finally Vidura explains that it is not enough that we have just acquired the education and do nothing with it. We should bring into practice whatever we’ve learnt through our education and only then this would be useful for both the individual as well as for the society at large.

Thus the broad message from this important episode is that all what we learn in our school and college should be of some use to the society through our meticulous practice – Especially the value systems that we imbibe. We should make sure that we make a conscious attempt to follow each and every principle of “Dharma” that we are learning here everyday. It is not enough that our readers just read through and appreciate it. It should be noted here that I’m not writing and developing this blog for my personal gains. My sole intention through this mission is that, our rich value systems of our “Sanaathana Dharma” should reach every nook and corner of this world and our readers worldwide should make a conscious attempt to try and implement these value systems propagated by Vidura and our other ancestors! We shall wait till the next episode to continue Vidura’s next advice! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had a continuation of the discussion on why we should exhibit a pleasing demeneaur at work and execute our duties correctly with due diligence, failing which, we need to be prepared to face the flak from our employer. Vidura took up two analogies to explain this important point to King Dhirdiraashtra. One was a simple analogy involving a branch of a tree and the other was from a more scientific perspective wherein he compared the smelting process of iron to drive this point home.

From this we can observe two things – First one being, it is surprising to note that scientific processes of extraction of metals from the earth surface were already known to people some 5000 years ago! It is evident because, if Vidura has to take a scientific process to explain lessons for life, these processes were commonly being used. Of course the artillery and weapons that were in use in those times are believed to be made of iron, steel, etc. and hence validates this claim. The second thing is that Vidura himself must have had an excellent knowledge and understanding of certain key scientific processes. This is evident not only in this particular analogy, but many others that we’ve seen in the past and also those we’re going to witness in future.

Now we shall move on to the next sloka that Vidura is going to explain – We can again find here that he’s still relentlessly trying to emphasize this point to King Dhirdiraashtra. Vidura says thus:

“Yethayopamayaa dheeraha sannametha baleeyase!

Indraaya sa pranamathe namathe yo baleeyase!!” 

Here Vidura goes on to explain that if we’ve to perform a task, there might be only one reason so as to finish the task successfully. However, there might be thousands of reasons for not executing it. For instance, if we request someone at our home (maybe our son or daughter) for getting a small bottle of water or some grocery items, what might happen? If that person is really interested to help us out, he/she would immediately go to the shop and by all the required items and come back. However if this person is not interested in going out, what all reasons he/she might give us for not going? The reasons that might surface up might be that the shop would not be open at this time of the day, the shop is closed for today, the quality of items that this shop sells aren’t really good, there’s no money with me to go and buy stuff, the shopkeeper never has sufficient coins to exchange money, etc. 🙂 This list goes on endlessly! However if a very close friend of his comes home, immediately this same person would run to the same shop to buy all the required items to host his friend! Now how is that possible? Till now this guy has been telling reasons not to go to that shop to buy anything, however when his close friend is about to come, he quickly hurries to that same shop to buy some water, eatables, etc. from the same shop!

Thus, what do we understand from this example here? If we really want to do a task, we would find ways to finish it successfully and there cannot be any reason for its stoppage. Whereas, if we’ve to put off a task, we would have thousands of reasons for not performing that task. Thus the question from Vidura here is that, if that task is one that has to be somehow done by us, why do we need to put it off? If the task becomes a duty, it is better to perform it irrespective of whether we like doing it or not. If we’ve to still resist and keep putting the duty off our “to-do” list, we would never be able to earn a good name amidst people, as well as we would be getting unwanted punishment for not finishing the duty on time.

Through this explanation, Vidura once again pokes King Dhirdiraashtra and directly tells him that what he is doing is wrong. He says thus, “Oh King! Irrespective of whether you are giving this Hasthinaapura kingdom to the Paandavas or not, Lord Krishna is going to ensure that the Paandavas would somehow get it from you. You might ask me how! If you are not going as per the agreement made, there is going to be a war and since Bhagawan Krishna is always on the side of Dharma, your sons including Duryodhana are definitely going to face flak and death. Thus if you’re not going to do this duty now, you are going to lose not just one or two – but all your hundred sons! Your entire family and clan is going to be completely destroyed because of your reluctance to adhere to this agreement and failure to do your duty at the right time!

Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please realize that you are resisting and putting off your important duty as a righteous king just because you are not interested in it. However, you’re not realizing that this duty that you are putting off, is nothing but the “Dharma” and you’re going to pay a heavy price for this act of yours! Thus please do not delay this important duty of yours. Please buck up and rise to the occasion. You need to somehow pull it off and there’s no question of not doing it. Please realize that if you do not perform your Dharma at the right time, there is no point in feeling helpless later on!”

Hearing thus, King Dhirdiraashtra is completely in tears! He knows that his actions are in the wrong path of “Adharma” but somehow he is unable to re-track himself back to the path of “Dharma”. He is blinded by his excessive affection towards his son! Is he going to change his ways atleast after listening to this Vidura’s elaborate discussion on this important point? We shall find out soon! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important explanation from Vidura – This time on a very interesting area of modern day management – Organizational Psychology. There was a very interesting explanation with regards to two important concepts in Organizational Psychology – “Mutual Expectations” and “Psychological Contract”, wherein the message was that, we should at any time be focused on our duty towards our workplace and should not deviate unnecessarily from the track. If we do that, we should also be prepared to face flak from the organization in some way or the other. Similarly the organization should also maintain its’ due diligence at all times towards its employees. These two should go hand in hand, which is essential for an organization’s survival and growth.

Vidura continues to back his explanation with a couple of more analogies here. It is going to be extremely interesting in this context. Vidura says thus:

“Yad adadttham pranamati na tath santaabhayantyapi!!”

Here Vidura explains an analogy from Chemistry. We’ve witnessed a glimpse of it in the previous episode itself however, Vidura explains it here in much more detail. We might have heard the process of “Smelting” of iron ore to extract pure iron from it. This smelting is done so as to liquefy the iron ore by bending it with extremely high temperature. As part of the iron extraction process, we put the raw iron ore into a “smelter” wherein the ore is heated for a long time and to an extremely high temperature. Only if we do such a thing we would be able to get the desired output of iron with a certain level of purity, which in turn can be used to manufacture many other items that we use everyday. Now if the iron ore starts to bend and melt inside the smelter immediately within a shorter span of time, the smelter is stopped. However if the iron ore is extremely hard and is refusing to bend and melt down, the smelter needs to be operated with higher and higher temperatures till the iron ore is melting down. Similarly here, if we do our duty correctly without any hiccups anywhere, things go normal. However if we are trying to resist for each and every task that we are assigned to, we would definitely have to face the flak from the top management.

Hence Vidura explains this example to King Dhirdiraashtra to drive his point home. He says thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please remember this!” He signals a warning to him by indirectly driving the point that if he splits the kingdom according to the earlier made agreement without any hiccups, he and his clan can escape the wrath of the war that is going to follow. However if he is still unrelenting and keeps protesting against this move, he should be ready to face the war threat from the Pandavas and Lord Krishna.

“Yacchassvayam na tham dhaaru na tath sammananyapi!!”

Vidura continues further by highlighting this important point with yet another analogy – If I need to pluck flowers from the branch of a tree, I of course need to bend the branch a little bit so as to make it easy for me to pluck the flowers. If the branch is flexible enough for me to catch hold of it and bend it towards me, I do it with ease, without affecting the branch and the tree. However if the branch is way too hard and is highly rigid in nature, I would automatically employ my full force on it to bend the branch as per my convenience, to pluck the flowers. In this way what might happen? Either the branch would break down, or there would be a permanent damage to the branch in some way. Hence in a nutshell, if the branch is flexible enough on its own, it becomes easy for us to pluck the flowers without much effort. However if the branch is rigid, we need to employ force to make it flexible. Similarly, if we keep on showing too much of rigidity at our workplace just like the rigid branch of the tree, our employer would have no other option but to employ some harsh actions so as to extract the work from me.

Thus the underlying message from these two analogies is that we should always remember that we should exhibit a pleasing demeanour at work and execute our duties correctly with due diligence, failing which, we need to be prepared to face the flak from our employer. So for today, let us continue to think about this important point and introspect within us. We shall wait till the next episode to discuss Vidura’s next important point. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed a detailed discussion on why we should inculcate the habit of taking the positives from any situation in life. Vidura clearly explains that just like how precious metals like gold, silver, etc. is always found amidst innumerable unwanted other elements; precious messages of “Dharma” would always be present even amidst a mad person’s junk talk. Thus, irrespective of whoever talks whatever matter, we should always take the positives out of it. Thus we should develop the “Viveka-Gnyaana” to understand, differentiate between the good and the bad in whatever we see and listen to in everyday life. Irrespective of who talks what, we should be able to grasp the good messages from it.

Hence, the message is very clear here. Let us try to introspect this important message of Vidura and figure out ways how to implement them in our everyday life. Now moving on further, Vidura goes on to explain why should we perform any action without showing out much of our resistence against it. If we start exhibiting too much of resistance for every task that is assigned to us, we would only be pressurised more and more by our top bosses to execute those tasks. Vidura says thus,

“Bhooyaamsam labhathe klesham yaa gaur bhavati dhurduha!

Athayaa suruhaa raajan naivam thaam vitudantyapi!!”

Thus through the above sloka Vidura explains that we should not keep on exhibiting too much of resistance while performing any task at work. If we do so, others might start exerting tremendous and unwanted pressure and difficulty, so that we abide by their words and instructions. Here Vidura explains this point with an analogy again – A cow’s main job is to give milk. However sometimes we might observe that a few of the cows might keep kicking the person who is trying to milk it. What would happen in this case? Will the milkman stop milking from the cow just because the cow is kicking him? No! The milkman would tie the legs of the cow and try to control its actions and then continue milking it. Similarly, whatever work is given to us in hands, we should perform it without showing stiff resistance. If we’ve to keep on talking ill against it or our instructor, he would make sure that you obey his instructions by using various “pressure tactics”. Thus Vidura explains that we need to do our duty correctly and sincerely.

How is this applicable to the modern day? In an organization where we work, we are assigned certain set of tasks and roles as an employee in any given position. Unless and until we keep fulfilling all the expectations of the employer with respect to our tasks and roles, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. This is where the modern day concepts of Organizational Psychology, “Mutual Expectations” and “Psychological Contract” come into picture. What do we mean by these two terms? “Mutual Expectations” is a term that signifies the level of expectations that are present between the employer and the employee that are mutual in nature – Employer expects the employee to fulfil all the duties, roles and responsibilities associated with his/her job in the organization. Similarly, employees expect the employer to reward and recognize their contributions to the organization in the form of salary, incentives, bonus, etc. “Psychological Contract” is nothing but an “unwritten” contract within the employer and the employee with an understanding on the behavior towards each other at all times during the tenure of employment.

This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here – We should abide by these “expectations” from the employer’s side at all times during the tenure of our employment with the organization. However, if we start to protest against doing our duties and start to “bad-mouth” the organization outside, the problems would start. First and foremost, we would be straining our relationship between the organization and ourself. Because of this strained relationship, there is always going to be a friction, which might either result in a war of words or disciplinary action that might be taken against us by the organization. Hence we need to be careful here – Our focus should be on our job and to fulfil our duties as part of being in this particular job.

Of course I’m not saying here that we shouldn’t raise our protests or concerns. But we need to understand when this should be done. If the “Psychological Contract” is breached by some way by the employer, or in other words, if the expectations from the employer to the employee are not satisfied in some way, we can definitely stand up and claim it. But even in this case, there should always be a structured way of registering our protest with the organization. Thus it is clear that we can raise the flag towards the organization, but only at a point when the expectations are not met.

On the whole thus the message here is that, we should at any time be focused on our duty towards our workplace and should not deviate unnecessarily from the track. If we do that, we should also be prepared to face flak from the organization in some way or the other. So for today let us introspect on this important point explained by Vidura and also by the present day “Organiztional Behavior” science and act accordingly. We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode with some interesting examples that Vidura is going to narrate, so as to drive home this discussion better! Stay tuned! 🙂