The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important point that Vidura highlights – A King or an administrator of a country or a state should always make sure that he is not burdening his people in terms of collecting taxes. Only such a king is considered to be a successful and a righteous king or administrator in this world. Care should be ensured that the honest taxpayers shouldn’t be burdened at all times. In due course of the last episode we discussed the practicality of this advice and what is happening in the current day scenario. Sadly we see that the common man gets burdened with more and more taxes and of different forms, mainly owing to the fact that corruption is becoming the order of the day!

Moreover on the taxpayers’ part, as responsible citizens of our respective countries, it is our bound duty to pay taxes that are due to our government. It is only the taxpayers’ money that is put to use for several public welfare projects and infrastructural spending by the government. If we, for any reason whatsoever fail to pay our tax dues, what basic right do we have to blame the government for not able to address our basic needs? Sadly today, many of us think that we should get everything for free! As I had mentioned this in one of our previous episodes, we should realize that nothing in this world could be obtained for free. Thus, it is bound upon us to declare our income sources correctly as per the standard and pay taxes accordingly.

But do we do this today? Sadly we see many so-called business people forging their incomes, diverting their funds through illegitimate means for their personal benefit and end up cheating the government and in turn the people of the nation too! I do not wish to take names of those people here, but of late we’ve been seeing this quite often. Thus, just because such people do not pay their dues properly to the government, the onus goes on the honest taxpayers. Hence, just because of few peoples’ blunder, the honest taxpayers are harassed more and more by the government to make up for the loss of money. This is where we say that the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer! Here is where Vidura exactly advises administrators – They should know who are those people paying taxes correctly and those who try to loot and run away! Such people should be punished heavily and the government should recover the due money by any hook or crook means.

Hence this becomes a two-dimensional duty here – The taxpayers should be honest enough to declare all their sources of income and pay the tax dues accordingly. In turn, the government should also ensure that all its citizens act in compliance with the law of the land and thus pay their taxes correctly, failing which, the government should not shy away from punishing the criminals heavily. This would help the nation to flourish and real development would take place only then! If this happens perfectly, there would be no need for the government to harass the honest taxpayer with excessive taxes.

“Pushpam pushpam vichinveetha moolachedam na kaarayeth!

Maalaakaara ivaa raame na yathaa angaarakaaha!!”

Here again, Vidura explains and re-iterates the above point with another analogy. He compares this with a tree cutter. There can be two types of tree-cutters – For instance if we have some climbers and creeper plants that give rise to beautiful and sweet smelling flowers everyday, the first kind of tree cutter tries to maintain them by carefully cutting only the edges of their tender stems, so as to make them grow better. Here, the tree cutter doesn’t hurt the tree much. However, if there is a requirement of firewood or wood for other domestic purposes in a large scale, the second type of tree-cutter is employed. Here he has to demolish the tree completely and cut the stem into several pieces of wood logs. Thus we can see a clear demarcation here – In the first case, the tree cutter is going to employ small instruments such as scissors, knives, etc. to carefully cut only the branches of the tree for its better growth. But in the second case, the tree cutter is going to use a sharp axe or a chisel to cut open the entire tree into pieces. Thus the task here is the same – Tree cutting. But the methodology employed in both the cases is different. Similarly an administrator should also know how carefully he should extract taxes from his citizens. He should precisely receive taxes from the subjects (like in the first case of the tree cutter) , but not harass them and extract exorbitant amount of taxes from them (like in the second case of the tree cutter). Moreover, honest taxpayers should not be

Thus Vidura is explaining with excellent analogies here to emphasize the point that both the government and the people should co-operate with each other in terms of tax payments and improvement of the lifestyle of the citizens. Taxpayers should make sure that they are honest enough to pay their tax dues and in turn, the government of the day should make sure that they do not harass the taxpayers unnecessarily with truckloads of taxes. Thus, government officials are to take complete responsibility for every penny of the taxpayers’ money and it should be spent judiciously with minimal wastage. Law and order should be made stricter so that no government official keeps his hand on the public money in an illegal and illegitimate way for his own personal benefits. If such things are happening, punishment should be made severe and such people should immediately be thrown away from the responsibility.

Hence for today, let us think about it and as responsible citizens of our country and keeping in mind the development of our country in the positive direction, let us all pay our taxes correctly without any forging. Let us not get our country into a “Cache 21” situation wherein the rich only get richer and poor only get poorer! We cannot blame the government for its failures, if we are not willing to pay our dues correctly. Let us realize this important point and thus do the needful. We shall wait till tomorrow’s episode to witness Vidura’s next important explanation. He is going to explain that before we commence any action, we should make a thorough analysis of it. More explanations to follow! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed one of Vidura’s most important advice to King Dhirdiraashtra and in turn to all of us – We need to be patient till the fruit ripens, so as to pluck it and eat. Vidura uses this beautiful analogy to explain to all of us that we need to exhibit patience and a steady approach for any action of ours to become successful.

Now moving on to the next important point, Vidura now addresses all administrators again – This time with respect to the taxes that the administrator or government receives from the citizens of that particular kingdom or country. Of course in ancient days, it was kingdoms everywhere, but in the current day, we have countries. The terminology might change, but the underlying concept remains the same. Here Vidura explains how should a king or an administrator impose taxes on his subjects. He again explains this point using a beautiful analogy – A bee goes and sits on the flower to suck honey from it. All of us might know this and might have seen it too. However, does the bees’ suck out the entire quantity of honey from the flower and let the flower fade off? The answer is no! The bee only sucks a little quantity of honey from the flower, without spoiling the flower. Rather it allows the flower to blossom! Similarly, just like the bee sucking honey without spoiling the flower, a king should also extract taxes in such a way that the taxpayers (common people) are not harassed financially. In other words, taxes should be structured in such a way that the entire earning of a taxpayer should not go away only in paying taxes to the government.

Thus, if the government has to increase the amount of taxes that are to be collected, it should do so without burdening the common man. Vidura says thus:

“Yathaa madhu samaadatthe rakshan pushaani shadpataha!

Tadvadarthaan manushyebhya aadaddhya avihimsyathaa!!”

Here Vidura explains that a King should always make sure that he is not burdening his people in terms of collecting taxes. Only such a king is considered to be a successful and a righteous king in this world. How can this be possible? A king should exactly know what would be the expenses for the welfare and the development of his kingdom and in order to fulfill these legitimate expenses, taxes are to be collected.

How applicable is this explanation to the modern day? Are we seeing this kind of a financial management by any of our governments? The sad answer is no! Many of our readers might have a thought as to why am I always so critical and skeptical about modern day India. The main reason being that, we do not understand our rich culture and value systems and we are allegedly falling prey to some anti-national and anti-social elements that have come into India to spoil our nation. We are lacking unity amongst ourself to stand up in unison and to throw out all those destructive forces out of our country. This is exactly the reason why I’m trying to showcase the challenges that we face in the modern day, so that all of us can unite and fight those divisive forces from gaining strength.

In this context with regards to tax collection and usage of the taxpayers’ money, are we witnessing the implementation of Vidura’s advice? I would again talk on the perspective of India here – If we’ve to take a statistical analysis of how our taxpayers’ money is being constructively used by the government for uplifting our people, the dismal fact today is that hardly 5-10% of the money is put to constructive use. All the rest of the money goes in lavish spending of our third-rated politicians for fulfilling their own personal agenda and personal pockets! We talk about widespread corruption today. How does this corruption happen? It is all because successive governments in India have looted the taxpayers’ money for the past 60-70 years post independence. Having known this brazen fact, have we ever stood up and questioned the governments in the past, as to why such a lot of money has gone down to the drain without any benefit for the common man?

Sadly now, when the current government is trying its best to bring out India from the clutches of corruption, what do we do? Rather than questioning the people who were involved in looting for the past 60 years or so, we only question the rationale of this one Prime Minister who is striving hard to change our country! Instead of standing by our Prime Minister in this regard, we only throw barbs and muck on his face by not understanding fully what is changing on the ground. We are getting carried away by the false claims done by the opposition parties in India. They are propagating false news with the media in their hand, so that they could escape from the wrath of the law for all the money they’ve looted for the past so many decades!

Hence as a true Indian citizen, we should understand this hidden agenda of the anti-national forces and strive to stand by our present government in eradicating them once and for all from the country! Enough is enough! We’ve been harassed for the past 6-7 decades by the professional looters! Let us join together to build a better India, by following Vidura’s valuable advice! We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important discussion on why should we have a steady and a steadfast approach towards any task that we undertake in life. Moving on from the significance of food, Vidura explains subtly that with the “Sathva” Guna that grows in us, thanks to the balanced diet that we consume everyday, our approach towards any task in life becomes steady. In the due course of the previous episode we had also witnessed few modern day situations where we tend to get tensed and nervous while working. We understood that if we get a touch nervous and tensed, we start fumbling and our mind loses the balance. Hence, we start making mistakes that might be even deliberate and outright, thus the entire activity in hand goes for a toss. Thus, care should be taken to plan and strategize our approach towards any task that we do in a systematic way, so as to avoid last minute tensions.

Thus Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra that he is trying to take a short cut urgently by snatching away the kingdom that is due to the Paandavas. Rather, if King Dhirdiraashtra can take some time to mend his son Duryodhana, try and convince him to let go off a portion of the kingdom to the Paandavas and if Duryodhana begins to walk the path of Dharma slowly, he himself will understand that he is doing something wrong. Instead of this, what is the hurry here? Vidura asks why is King Dhirdiraashtra hurrying to give away the whole of the kingdom to Duryodhana alone. Vidura now explains this in more detail with a beautiful analogy thus:

“Vanaspaterapakvaani phalaanih prachinodiyaha!

Sanaapnothi rasam thebhyaha beejam chaasya vinasshyathi!!”

Here Vidura compares this situation of King Dhirdiraashtra with a beautiful natural phenomenon – A fruit can become sweet only if it ripens fully. That is, when the fruit appears in the tree for the first time, it is very hard and is not ripe and thus is very bitter in taste. More the fruit is made to ripen, the tastier it becomes. Thus we need to have the patience for the fruit to ripen, before we pluck it from the tree to eat. Thus, just like an impatient person plucks the fruit from the tree without waiting for it to ripen, he would never be able to enjoy the sweet taste of that fruit (“Sanaapnothi rasam thebhyaha”). This is the same mistake that King Dhirdiraashtra is also doing here – He is not ready to wait till the situation brazens out and things to settle. He is in an urgency to give away everything to Duryodhana, which is a big blunder.

Moreover, Vidura indirectly explains another important point here – If we happen to pluck the unripe fruit from the tree, try to eat it and throw the seed inside the fruit because of it’s bitterness, the next tree from the seed would never arise! Whereas if we wait till the fruit ripens, then pluck it and eat, and then throw the ripened seed on the ground, a new tree can grow from that seed! Similarly, if we wait for the situation to become favorable and then perform our actions correctly with a steady approach, we can ensure that our actions would definitely give us the desired end-result.

This can directly be linked to a business process in the modern day – If an entrepreneur is in a hurry to start a business without analyzing the situation, risks involved, cost calculations, etc. he would eventually meet disaster very soon! Whereas, if he is able to wait for the right time and situation to capture a particular business opportunity, he can earn exceedingly impressive profits, which in turn can be invested to further grow and diversify his business! This is one example wherein we can directly see the applicability of Vidura’s advice in modern day Management and the business arena!

Here Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King Dhirdiraashtra! Please be patient and think for a while! Like I explained with the example of the fruit, with your impatient attitude, you are not only going to diminish the existing kingdom of Hasthinaapura, but also is trying to put a full stop for the kingdom’s further growth and expansion in future!”

Thus the message here is that, we need to patient till the fruit ripens, so as to pluck it and eat. Similarly, we need to exhibit patience and a steady approach for any action of ours to become successful. Hence for today let us ponder over this very important point and introspect within ourselves. We shall try to mend our ways in whatever we do, so as to cultivate a steady approach towards everything in life. With this steady approach, let us wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next important advice. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode also we ‘ve continued our discussion pertaining to the importance given to our food habits by our “Sanaathana Dharma”. In due course we had witnessed yet another explanation as to why should we avoid consuming non-vegetarian food and what are its spiritual implications. We’ve seen various spiritual dimensions wherein we found that non-vegetarian food items are hazardous to our spiritual growth in this important human life of ours. Hence let us take a vow today that we would slowly reduce the consumption of non-vegetarian food and gradually over a period of time, stop its consumption completely.

Now we shall move on to the next aspect of Vidura’s explanation. After a long accord on food and its purposes, Vidura explains that if we perform any action in a hurry, it would end up in a disaster. Hence we need to realize that we need to exhibit calmness, steady attitude and patience in whatever we do. Here we need to note two words – Hurry and Steady. Outwardly we might think that the word “Hurry” is exactly the opposite to the word “Steady”. We mistake “Steady” to being “Slow”. It is not actually true. “Steady” is not exactly “Slow”. It means, “uniform” and “Without any tension”. Given any kind of activity, for instance there is an infrastructure construction – Say a flyover in a busy road junction. We can undertake it in two different ways – One through extremely fast means to finish up the flyover construction in no time! The other way is to take it steadily over a period of time, analyze the activity, understand the problems and challenges behind it and then proceed further to complete it.

Now which method is better? If we have to undertake this flyover construction at a tremendous speed, it might end up in a disaster, because our focus is only on speedy completion, but not other important parameters such as safety, strength of the construction and its longevity. Whereas if we undertake a steady approach, we shall be able to understand the soil condition better, plan the construction materials accordingly, analyze other potential problems that may arise during and after the construction activity, etc. and then proceed, we shall be able to achieve near perfection in what we want to do and the full benefit of constructing the flyover will be realized.

We’ve been hearing the story of the hare and the tortoise for a long time now isn’t it? What happened in the case of the hare? It was in a sort of a hurry and at the end of the game, it messed up its chances of winning it. Whereas, the tortoise was very patient and undertook a slow and a steady approach and was finally able to win the race with ease. Of course I’m not saying here that we should perform our activities slowly. We should be extremely careful in differentiating between being “Slow” and being “Steady” in our approach. This is one big misconception that happens everywhere – Even in the case of students appearing for exams. Students should realize that they have three hours in hand to complete a 100 marks paper and they have to plan their time accordingly. Many a times we would see students rushing up their writing speed towards the end of the examination time. They would be in some sorts of a tension to finish writing within the stipulated time period. But this tension would not arise if they had analyzed the question paper in the beginning itself – This is a very important strategy for students! We should take some 5-10 minutes to go through all the questions in the paper, prioritize which questions are lengthy and which of them are short, along with the mark allocation for each question. Based on that, we need to strategize which question should be answered first and which question should be answered last. This is what is called a “Steady” approach and this is exactly what Vidura is talking about here too – He is not asking us to be slow. Instead, he is advising us to be steady in what we do. The moment we get tensed in the examination hall, we would start forgetting the answers even for easy questions. Instead, if we undertake a steady approach, we would be able to find a suitable answer even for the question that we do not know! This is possible because our mind is very clear. We know what we are doing and we have strategized our approach in a channelized manner. This is extremely important in today’s world.

Thus Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra here, “Oh King! You are exhibiting unwanted hurry by encouraging your son Duryodhana to snatch the kingdom from the Paandavas! Instead, if Duryodhana and yourself undertake a steady approach and give the due portion of the kingdom to the Paandavas, it is not a tough task to work together with them and uplift the kingdom! This can be done so easily, if your approach is steady! But rather, you’re adopting a “short-cut” and a “fast” approach in a way that you are denying the Paandavas what they truly deserve!”

Hence the message from today’s episode is that, whatever activity we undertake in our personal or professional life, we need to approach it in a steady manner rather than through a quick or a short cut method to attain success. From the whole of the above discussion, one important aspect that can be highlighted is that, there is no short cut for success in life! Let us ponder upon this important aspect for today and try to introspect within ourselves. We shall wait till the next episode for further discussion on this important point. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had a continued discussion on why is food an important phenomenon in the overall development of a human being. We’re having close to 3-4 episodes on this same subject since this is extremely important for all of us. In that way yesterday, the message for all of us was that we should strive to avoid or atleast slowly start reducing our intake of non-vegetarian food items. This is good for our physical health, mental health and also this practice would pave the way for our spiritual growth.

However, one might immediately be tempted to ask a follow-up question to the above discussion – How does this practice of avoiding non-vegetarian food aid our spiritual growth? There are multiple dimensions of looking into this question. Let us explore them today.

Before going into this discussion we should first clarify which of the food items would classify themselves into the “non-vegetarian” category. Let us discuss this in detail now. Basically those food items that are derived out of killing a living being, is considered to be non-vegetarian. This includes various kinds of fish, meat, beef, chicken and eggs. I include eggs in this category because, we are destroying a chick even before it is hatched and born. Nowadays, many people talk about a new category called “Eggitarian”, apart from vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Strictly speaking, “Eggitarians” are also considered to be non-vegetarians only. There cannot be a classification like this, because as I explained earlier – We process and make the egg edible by killing and denying a small little bird to be born out of it.

Now immediately some people will ask – Will milk also come under the non-vegetarian category, because milk is also obtained from the cow, wherein we deny the milk to its own calf. Here is a small clarification – Milk is obtained from the cow, only after its calf feeds on it. Moreover, if we do not extract the milk from the cow on time, it becomes detrimental for the cow’s health. Hence it is a must that all of the milk from the cow be extracted, so that it stays healthy and generates more milk. Thus since we are not hurting the cow in anyway by churning milk from it, milk cannot be considered to be a non-vegetarian food item. Same is the case with fruits and vegetables too – If we do not pluck the vegetables from the plants on time, the plant gets rotten and eventually dies. Moreover, even if we pluck the fruits and vegetables from the plants, they are going to regenerate again. Thus in any way, we are not killing plants by plucking vegetables or fruits from them. Hence fruits and vegetables fall under the vegetarian category.

Thus the distinction is now very clear – Vegetarian food items include milk, fruits, vegetables and other allied items that we get naturally without harming any living being in this world. Whereas non-vegetarian items including fish, eggs, meat of various animals, beef, etc. are obtained by torturing and killing living beings.

Now having cleared the air on the differentiation, we shall now look into the reasons why we should avoid non-vegetarian food, so as to grow spiritually.

One of the most important and a primary reasons why we should avoid non-vegetarian food is because, if we need to progress higher in the path of spirituality, we should refrain from hurting or killing other fellow living beings. When I say living beings, it includes all living organisms from ants to elephants! The moment we are resorting to eating something that is from a killed living being, the sanctity of the food is lost, because food is considered to be “Brahman” or Bhagawan himself.

In our Hindu Sanaathana Dharma, nowhere it is mentioned that food should be prepared by killing other living beings. It is an unfortunate misconception that some other preposterous religious groups are spreading across today. Thus if we consume food that is prepared out of an innocent animal’s flesh, we are doing a disgrace to our fellow living beings. Importantly, Bhagawan never likes or approves of this behavior. We need to respect animals as they are and we should never disturb their freedom of living their life. Just like how our life is precious for us, isn’t their life precious for the animals as well? Hence by consuming non-vegetarian food, we are openly denying animals to live their life peacefully and thus it disturbs the ecosystem in the world.

Second perspective as to why should we avoid non-vegetarian food items for growing spiritually – Whenever we kill an animal for its flesh or meat or whatever, do we think that the animals die happily in our hands? Do we ever realize that the poor animals die such a painful death? We cut the body of the poor animal mercilessly with the knife and the blade. Nowadays people talk of “Halal” foods – What nonsense is this? Can we justify killing of these poor living beings by any means? Death is death and killing is killing. Then what is the point in killing animals “with mercy” and “without mercy”? Moreover when these animals die of a painful death, they sob within themselves that they are leaving behind their kith and kin like an orphan! Eventually when their soul splits off from its body, it curses us for the misdeed of killing them for no mistake of theirs! This curse is not only for the butcher who cuts the animal into pieces. This curse transcends to all those people who consume these cut pieces of the animal! The side-effects of this curse are disastrous. According to the law of Karma, for every misdeed there is a punishment. For this particular misdeed that we are doing day in and day out, the punishment is that, in our next birth we would be born as a handicapped person or an animal and undergo all the sufferings that we have given this poor animal in this birth. I suppose all of us know what kind of sufferings one would have to undergo if handicapped. Hence let us realize what kind of a big mistake we are doing and let us correct ourselves to escape from this great danger lying in front of us.

Third important perspective of looking at this is that, the more we consume non-vegetarian food, the more we move away from Bhagawan. This is because our mind becomes “Thaamasic” or “Lethargic” and lazy, that we totally lose our focus towards Bhagawan. And moreover, if we have to do a prayer for Bhagawan, it is said that we should always do it without consuming non-vegetarian food. If we happen to go to many professional astrologers, they would advice this – If we have to do a “Parihaara” for coming out of a “Dosha” due to an unfavourable planetary position, the first thing that we should do is to stop consuming non-vegetarian food. This is because of the fact that if a prayer or a “Parihaara” is done with an impure heart, it has no effect. If we are consuming non-vegetarian food, our heart automatically becomes impure because we’re eating food that is derived out of killing!

Hence the important message from today’s episode is that, given all the above-mentioned perspectives, we should try and avoid consuming non-vegetarian food items and if we fail to do so, it is going to be detrimental to our spiritual growth as well. Let us think and reflect upon ourselves today with this important point. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next explanation. Stay tuned! 🙂

The previous episode witnessed the continuation of an important discussion upon Vidura’s take on food and how do we balance our food intake in a way that it would nourish our physical and mental health. In that way, we have discussed various points – Right from avoiding consumption of food items from “Fast-food” centers on the roadside, trying to avoid “instant” and “readymade” food items, avoiding too much of sweet or too much of spicy food items and most importantly avoiding those food items that are not offered to Bhagawan. All this put together, is what we call a “Balanced Diet” in the modern day science. In other terms, a balanced diet contains equal and necessary amounts of all ingredients and variety of food items that we should consume and this will lead to a healthy lifestyle, free of any kinds of unwanted diseases.

Moreover in the last episode we had discussed more important and contemporary points with regards to the intake of food – Only based on what we consume as food, our character gets formed. Thus, if we practice a balanced diet everyday, our mind would be stable and calm at all times, which directly infers to “Sathva Guna”. Also, there was a question about how many times do we consume food per day. Ideally it should be twice a day – Once during the daytime and once during the night. However, things have changed nowadays and modern day doctors are advising us to keep eating little by little every now and then so that our digestion process gets streamlined. Of course what we should assume here is that, with the changing lifestyle and with our personal and professional commitments, we undergo lot of stress and strain every passing day. Hence to adapt to these changes, perhaps our food habits should also undergo a change and maybe this is one of the reasons why modern day doctors are prescribing “regular” intake of food.

There is one more important point that we touched upon yesterday, however I had denied an explanation in yesterday’s episode. It is a question that is also part of what kinds of food items can we consume. What kind of food items should we take so that our “Sathva Guna” would grow within us? Here is an important answer – Might be a little harsh but is worth to give it a thought.

Our food should contain a combination of rice/wheat, fresh fruits and vegetables, ghee, permissible quantity of oil and curd. This combination was in practice by our ancestors and forefathers for many thousands of years and this is what our “Sanaathana Dharma” prescribes. Moreover on a scientific perspective, different food habits are practiced by different cultures across the world based on the climatic conditions in the respective geographical locations. For instance if we consider the geographical location and the climatic condition of India, we have a tropical climate owing to our proximity to the equator. This means that India experiences a hot and a dry climate almost throughout the year (Barring couple of months during winter) with temperatures soaring above 35 degrees Celsius many a times. Given this climatic condition, the food that we consume should be in such a way that it reduces the heat within our body. For this reason, fresh fruits, vegetables, buttermilk, etc. are staple food items in India.

On the contrary, due to the climatic condition we should restrain from consuming food substances that would generate more heat within the body. What are those foodstuffs that generate more amounts of body heat? All kinds of non-vegetarian food items, certain varieties of fruits, alcoholic drinks, etc. fall into this category. If we end up consuming food items that generate excessive body heat, it would directly result in many physical complications such as haemorrhoids (Piles), urinary tract infection, kidney stones and various problems in our liver. It is for this reason we advice that, given the nature of our Indian climatic condition, we should try to avoid non-vegetarian food items.

However in the modern day, there is a big misconception in the Indian society – Just because people from the west, along with certain religious groups consume non-vegetarian food, we’ve been brainwashed by them to consume what they do. Isn’t it shameful? Where is our individuality? Why should we fall prey to such anti-national fringe groups? Thus scientifically if we’ve to look into this, if we consume non-vegetarian food it makes the body generate more amounts of heat than it is required, which affects our body metabolism, which makes the body tired and ultimately reduces the efficiency of the body and the mind. This is where the “Thaamasic” character creeps in. It is for this reason that our “Sanaathana Dharma” advises us against consuming non-vegetarian food.

This is another misconception that even people from our Hindu community have. Many people are wrongly guided that Hinduism encourages consumption of non-vegetarian food. This is utterly nonsense. The “Sanaathana Dharma” clearly emphasizes that we should never consume non-vegetarian food items at any point in time. This might be faked and propagated by the other “so-called” religious groups for their own personal benefits, but our “Sanaathana Dharma” never preaches nonsense like others do! Let us be very clear on this fact.

And moreover, if we are consuming non-vegetarian food, we are directly or indirectly hurting and killing other living beings. Every religion in this world is supposed to promote peace and harmony amongst all living beings in this world. Unfortunately today this is not the case. It is sad to see certain religions being hypocritical – On one side they preach peace and harmony and on the other side they end up hurting poor and innocent animals! If a religion tries to be hypocritical like this, it cannot be considered to be a path to attain Bhagawan. I know that I’m pretty harsh on this issue, but I don’t mind to be harsh if I’m talking the fact or the truth.

Hence the message from today’s episode is that, we should strive to avoid or atleast slowly start reducing our intake of non-vegetarian food items. This is good for our physical health, mental health and also this practice would pave the way for our spiritual growth. How does this practice of avoiding non-vegetarian food aid our spiritual growth? An interesting discussion follows up in the next episode. Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important advice from Vidura with regards to the food that we consume. Based on a segment of Vidura’s explanation, we’ve commenced an important discussion as to why should we avoid food items that are cooked in other places apart from our home. Of course one can argue that it is very difficult to stick to consuming home cooked food all the time, given our busy professional schedules and travel commitments. I’m not trying to force my view upon our readers, however, it is a choice that each of us should make in life.

As we discussed in the previous episode, food items that are available today as “instant mixes”, “ready-to-eat” items, etc. are unfortunately extremely hazardous to our health and can cause severe irreparable damages to our physical body. In the western countries for instance, the “Food security” norms are extremely strict and food-manufacturing companies should strictly adhere to the norms, rules and regulations. Whereas in a country like India, we cannot expect that level of strictness owing to several loopholes in the implementation of the law, coupled with an inefficient & defunct judicial system wherein punishment for criminals are almost nil! Hence it is up to us as common people to take care of our own health and there is no point in putting the onus on the companies because the people who manufacture faulty and adulterated food products are involved in heavy political lobbying, thus would easily get away from the lens of the law. Hence, the least that we can do here is to take care of our food consumption, have a strict control over our diet, try as much as possible to avoid food from outside, and most importantly we should only consume food that is offered to Bhagawan. If we try and follow these four important things, we can lead a relatively healthier lifestyle, free of major diseases.

Now moving on to the next segment of this same segment – Why is Vidura advising us to be careful with the food that we consume? Here’s another explanation from a different perspective. Of course we’ve seen the potential dangers and threats of eating nonsense food items from outside. Now we are going to witness the important fact that our character would be framed based on the food that we consume.

“Yad annam bhakshyate nityam jaayathe taadrusheemathihi!!”

This is a popular saying in Sanskrit, which means to explain that the functioning of our brain is only based on the food that we consume! For instance, if we consume food that satisfies all requirements of a “Balanced diet”, we would be high on “Sathva Guna”, that is, we would be able to balance the functioning of our mind very well. For instance, if we consume too much of food items that are salty and spicy, our “Rajo Guna” would be on the higher end of the spectrum, wherein we always tend to get angry and frustrated even for small things! Our patience goes for a toss and our mind becomes imbalanced. At the same time, if we consume non-vegetarian food items a lot, it would lead to an increase in the “Thamo Guna” or “Thaamasic” characteristic. Here, we start feeling lazy and our brain goes into an inactive mode, thus our efficiency starts reducing. I shall explain the adverse effects that we would encounter if we eat non-vegetarian food items shortly. But before that, let us see what Vidura has got to say in this regard:

“Yadchakyam grasitum grasyam grastham parinamecchayath!”

 In the above sloka Vidura clearly explains that we should consume only those food items that are palatable for us to eat. In simpler terms, we should consume only those food items that are easy for our teeth to chew, good in taste and the ones that aren’t rotten or spoilt. Moreover, the food items that we consume should be easy for our stomach to digest. More than even the digestion part, we should consume food items that would be good for maintaining our health properly. For instance, there might be food items that are extremely tasty for the tongue, but brings extremely bad side effects to our body conditions. Whereas there are some food items that might not be very tasty for the tongue, but if we still consume them, they would give some extremely good effects to our body.

In fact, the word “food” in Sanskrit is denoted as “Annam”. This is actually a very interesting term. If we look deeply into the structure of the word “Annam”, it has two components – “Adhyate” and “Atthicha”. “Adhyate” means the one that we swallow through our mouth and tongue. “Atthicha” means the one that swallows us! It seems contrasting isn’t it? Thus the word “Annam” in Sanskrit can be defined as “The one that we swallow through our mouth, if it is done in a controlled manner. At the same time, if it goes beyond control, the same food will swallow us with its side-effects!”

Now the next important question comes – How many times do we consume food per day? Of course if we go to today’s medical practitioners, nowadays they advise us to keep “munching” some small quantities of food once every 2-3 hours, so that it gets digested easily! I’m not going into the debate whether this is right or wrong, because I’m not a qualified doctor to comment on these issues. However as per our “Sanaathana Dharma” we should consume food twice a day – Once during the daytime and the other during the evening/night, accompanied with periodic watery intakes. Our ancestors and forefathers have been practicing this kind of a timetable for food for so many decades. It is only very recently that we’ve started having this concept of eating once every four hours, eating occasionally, eating while standing, swallowing food in a hurry, eating at any time of the day or night, eating without taking bath, eating without offering the food to Bhagawan, etc. The list is too long to comprehend, however, I’ve just mentioned few of the big blunders that we currently do in the modern day with respect to food. There might be various physical diseases that might arise in our body due to all these wrong food practices, but one major thing that we need to keep in mind here is that, if we have disastrous food habits like these, our “Sathva Guna” will never grow. This is what directly results in mental imbalance, thinking in a crooked way, inefficiency in the work that we perform, etc.

Thus the important message from today’s episode is that we should cultivate proper food habits – We should make sure that we eat food that is easily digestible by our system, food that is prepared at home with correct amounts of sugar, salt, oil, etc. in it, food that is not preserved for a long time, food that is healthy for our body to be active and that which would enhance our “Sathva Guna”. For today let us ponder over this very important point with regards to the food that we take everyday. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed yet another important aspect that Vidura is explaining to King Dhirdiraashtra – The crux of the aspect is that, if we know that we are doing something that falls under the “Adharma” category, we should be able to put a full stop to that activity immediately, rather than waiting for a “correct” time to stop it. Here is where Vidura for the first time lambasts King Dhirdiraashtra that he knows that he’s going down the path of “Adharma” and yet, he’s not taking any effort to stop himself. Thus the important point for all of us here is that, if we realize through some ways or means that what we are doing is wrong, we should stop it now, rather than waiting it to get too late. Thus we need too develop that maturity in our minds and only if we have this maturity, we would realize how good it is for a peaceful sleep at night, without any worries. Whereas if we keep putting things off constantly, it would keep haunting our mind and conscience that we are doing something wrong and that itself would deprive us of our basic peace of mind and hence the sleep too.

Now moving forward thus, as Vidura talks in detail about having a “limit” in everything in life, we’ve seen the first few aspects for which limit is important. Now we’re going to see the next important aspect wherein having a limit is extremely significant – Food. How do we develop our limit for the quantity and type of food that we consume? Of course in today’s world we live amidst a wide range of very “popular diseases” and hence automatically according to the doctor’s prescriptions, many of us have started to have a control on our diet. For instance, many of us today are suffering from “High/low Blood pressure”, wherein we are more often advised by the doctor to reduce our salt intake. Similarly many of us suffer from “Diabetes” wherein the doctors advise us to reduce the intake of sugar and sweet foods. Also, there is a wide talk about “Cholesterol”, “Good Cholesterol”, “Bad Cholesterol”, etc. and hence we somehow tend to have a control over that as well. The list goes on and on.

If we’ve to limit ourselves in various types of food items, we might wonder as to what should we eat – For instance again, we nowadays go to different doctors for different ailments. Previously we used to have one “family doctor” whom we might approach regularly for any kind of illness. Thus he knows in and out of our body and will give an overall prescription as to which food items to take and which of them to avoid. But now since we go to different doctors for different ailments, each doctor prescribes his/her own sets of medicines and food items to avoid! Thus when we collate all the food stuffs to avoid, it seems pretty alarming! We would not be able to eat any food item properly!

Thus the lesson from all these above modern day scenarios is that, we should have a strict control over our diet. We should refrain from consuming food items that are potentially harmful to our health condition. Just like our modern day doctors prescribe the food time table for us for having a better health, Our “Sanaathana Dharma” prescribes certain varieties and types of food items to consume, if our “Sathva” Guna should grow and our “Rajo Guna” and “Thaamasa Guna” should reduce. Vidura explains it beautifully in the following sloka thus:

“Bhakshothamah prathichhannam matsyo badichamaayasam!

Lobhaabibaathih grasathe na anubandham avekshate!!”

Here he says that before we consume a food item, we should analyze the after effects that we might have to face, if we consume that particular food item. This is an extremely important point and here is where all of us make blunders. For instance, all of us know that eating at fast food outlets would make us land in unwanted physical health problems, but still we continue eating in those places. All of us know that if we consume food that is extremely oily and spicy, would land us into various kinds of complications with respect to blood pressure and cholesterol, but we still keep consuming that! Just like how a fish runs towards a food particle that is tied to the fishing net, without understanding that it is going to be trapped in the net by the fisherman, we also keep running towards “tasty” foodstuffs just because our tongue craves for them, without realizing that these so called “tasty” foods are going to land us in health problems later on. Little do we know as to when those food items were prepared. Little do we know as to what ingredients were used to prepare them. Nowadays we also get something called “Instant foods” and they even advertise in the television and media that the food will be ready in just 3 minutes or so! This is even more dangerous. We never know what kind of chemicals do they use to manufacture those food items and what would be the disastrous side effects that might arise when we consume those foods! Of course we are in a world of “hurry” and many a times we do not have choices other than consuming those kinds of “packed” or “instant food” items.

Worse than all these, we many a times end up consuming food that is not offered to Bhagawan. Nothing can be more disastrous than this! If we go to any restaurant, will they serve us food that is offered to Bhagawan? Many a times, the answer is a big “No!” Why do our elders advice us not to go to roadside restaurants to have food? It is because of this reason only. And moreover, consuming such food items from such restaurants would bring down our “Sathva Guna”. This is because, the chef who is preparing the food might have so many different thoughts running within him while he cooks, since he is also doing it as a professional commitment, and not with a personal touch. Why do we feel that home cooked food is always tastier than those in restaurants? The simple reason being, home cooked food has that “extra ingredient” called “love” and “Affection” in it, whereas this cannot be seen in those foodstuffs cooked outside – Be it in any star hotel. Most importantly, we would offer the food that we cook at home to Bhagawan before we consume it and hence it becomes divine with Bhagawan’s blessings.

Hence the important message from today’s episode is that, we need to keep a check on our food habits – We should more or less consume food only that is homemade, and most importantly, only those food items that are offered to Bhagawan. We shall ponder over this for today and reflect upon our everyday food habits. Let us make a small effort to try and align our food habits as per Vidura’s advice and for sure we would find a significant change in our lifestyle. We shall take this discussion forward in the next episode as well. Stay tuned! 🙂

The three previous episodes have witnessed intense discussions on how does a ruler or an administrator deal with public money. We’re in the process of discussing the important do’s and don’ts of an administrator and in that way, yesterday we had discussed yet another important point pertaining to this aspect wherein Vidura has explained about “self-satisfaction” and “contentment” with whatever we have and possess. The moment we start giving room for greed, it starts to blow our desires out of proportion and therefore we end up going to any extent to make money!

This is where many of our modern day politicians are stranded – We can see their mindset very clearly, that is, to make money, grab public wealth through any means that is illegitimate and get away easily as well! However, little do they realize that even though they possess so much of wealth and money, they lose out their peace of mind as they’re in a constant run to save and protect their illegitimately earned wealth. My question to all these third-rated politicians is, why can’t you have a satisfaction that “enough is enough”? Why do you want to run behind money so crazily in such a way that you let down your morality and social ethics?

Thus the important lesson here is that we should realize that we are none other than the “Aathman” or the “Soul” and we’ve to keep our senses and mind under control, rather than the vice versa situation. It is we who have to instruct our mind to go by the principles of our “Sanaathana Dharma” and lead a peaceful life, rather than going behind all sorts of crazy worldly pleasures and spoil both our family and ourselves.

In fact, all of us are gifted to be in direct connection with our Hindu “Sanaathana Dharma” and trust me – No other religion in this world has such principles written in depth with lot of research and analysis. Of course I’m making a blunt statement here, but what’s wrong to be blunt if we are telling the truth? Hence we need to realize how lucky and fortunate all of us to get an opportunity in being followers of our “Sanaathana Dharma”. It is also because we can see that many other people from other religions, other countries and cultures are not even exposed or aware of such things in life and in that way, we should realize that we are fortunate enough to have access to such highly researched spiritual ideas and value systems for life.

Now moving on further, Vidura says thus:

“Yasthu yethaani pramaanaani yathokthaan yanu pashyathi!

Yukthaha dharmaarthayo gnyaane sa raajyam adhi gacchathi!!”

Thus through the above sloka Vidura firmly asserts and drives home the important point that a person who knows the limits for the above explained four or five important aspects in life, he/she can lead a contended and a happy life with adequate and sufficient amount of peaceful sleep.

“Na raajyam praapthamitthyeva varthithavyam asampradham!!”

Vidura continues to lambast King Dhirdiraashtra thus, “Oh King! You’re currently thinking that the whole integrated and undivided kingdom of Hasthinaapura is yours! Please think of one more point here – Just because you are the king today and you think that the whole kingdom is under you and it will be under you forever! Please realize that this is not going to last long!The moment you have others’ property under your possession, you are forced to be even more careful than normal and as a result, you are always going to be under some sort of tension every time. Thus if you’re not going to wake up from your inactive state, you are going to lose all of your peaceful sleep completely! Currently you’re unable to sleep only tonight! But if this status quo continues, you’ll be unable to sleep for the rest of the nights too! You would only keep looking for ways and means as to how to protect your illegally acquired wealth!”

How valid is this argument today! If we’ve to start a new business venture, is it enough that we start and then keep quiet? We need to make sure that we administer the business venture properly every passing day and because of that we would always be tensed and a touch nervous. This is because of the constant fear that what if the competitor overtakes us and grabs away our market share and clients! Thus if we begin to do something, there is no end to it and we need to keep doing it continuously. In the same way, if we start stealing and grabbing others’ property, this “Adharma” would never let us go scot-free. We would only tend to continue doing it on and on. Thus Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra that if he has to mend his ways, he has to do so now! It is now or never! It is a do or a die situation! Similarly in our case, if we’ve to stop doing an “Adharma”, we need to stop it right away! If we keep postponing it, we would only continue doing the “Adharmic” activity and eventually we would be pulled into the trap of destruction and downfall.

So for today let us ponder over this extremely important advice from Vidura and let us introspect within ourselves. If we feel that we are performing any activity that is against “Dharma”, let us make a decision to stop it right away, rather than feeling sorry later on. We shall wait till the next episode to expand this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the discussion on how a ruler or an administrator should conduct himself with respect to public money and property. We’ve had a detailed discussion for the past two episodes over contemporary issues that are plaguing the world such as corruption, illegitimate amassing of wealth, misusing public taxpayers’ money for purposes other than development, etc. In the same course of discussion Vidura had a small caution for all of us as well – We should be very careful with the “limit” upto which we can go on to pump money into a business. For instance if the business has started to make enormous amount of losses, it is not wise on our part to pump in more and more money with the hope of making a turnaround. Of course we need to strive with all our efforts and money and try to make a turnaround, provided the losses are within the manageable limits. Whereas if the losses start widening beyond a threshold point, it is only wise to close down the business rather than pumping more and more hard-earned money into it.

How valuable is this advice from Vidura for the modern day! In today’s business scenario we’ve seen quite a few companies going down the undesired path of losses, yet people keep on pumping funds into it. We’ve seen an example of an airline company that had taken enormous amounts of loans from a consortium of various banks and finally had to wind up the business within a few years! The owner of the airline company had recently fled India to the United Kingdom (UK) by squatting all the money from India! Isn’t this a perfect fit to what Vidura had advised us not to do? Even though the owner knew that this airline company is never going to generate any profit, why was he pumping in so much money into it? This has also created a lot of stress to the banks that have lent this huge money! This is what we call today as “Non-Performing Assets” (NPA’s) or simply “Bad Loans” (Loans that are “written off” by banks due to non-payment of dues). Hence, NPA’s of banks are only because of such unethical business houses taking enormous amounts of money as loans and fail to repay them to the banks!

This is exactly what Vidura is advising here – If we are commencing a business or a company, we need to analyze if this business would generate considerable and sustainable amount of profit or not. We should analyze the various risks involved in this venture, evaluate them and only then make a decision to start business. This is extremely important not only for the person who is starting the business, but also for the employees who are going to work with the organization, the banks that are going to lend loans for developing the business and finally the nation, which is going to ultimately enjoy the fruits of the company’s success. Hence, modern day business leaders should think about this important advice from Vidura.

On top of this and as a continuation of this important discussion, we should also note another important aspect here – We should try and develop “self-satisfaction” or “Self-contention” with whatever we have. In pursuit of more and more money, in the modern day for instance, we go and invest in real estate. Of course it is required, because we require a decent house to stay put. However, that desire wouldn’t stop there – If we have one house, we would immediately start thinking, why can’t we have a second house? Why can’t we rent it and earn some money out of it? Thinking thus, we invest money to buy one more house. Once we start getting good returns from it, immediately we would think, why not a third house? The limit becomes endless! We need to think for a moment here – If we keep buying more and more houses like this, who is going to maintain all of them? Who is going to manage all the problems and challenges that would come along with the investments? Sadly, it is we who have to manage everything. Moreover, although we might be having four or five houses, ultimately we can stay or sleep only at one house at a time, isn’t it? We’re not omni-present like Bhagawan to be in many houses simultaneously! Even if we manage to reside at ten different houses for ten different days, will we be able to get a good sleep? We wouldn’t! It is because, we would not be able to get a proper sleep if we are not accustomed to that particular place for sleeping every night! This is a human limitation and we’ve to live with it! Hence, just because we have ten houses at ten different locations, it would not be feasible for us to enjoy the comfort of all the ten houses at the same time. This is exactly why we insist on the point of “Self-Satisfaction”. That is, we need to develop the satisfaction within ourselves with whatever little property we have, rather than craving and running behind more and more money and properties. We should make sure that we inculcate this self-satisfaction within us and limit ourselves from excessive running behind money and property. We’ve already discussed many times in the past that we are nothing but the “Aathman” or the “Soul”. This “Aathman” has nothing called “mine” in this world! It doesn’t own any materialistic things. It is only our mind and our physical body that keeps torturing our “Aathman” by getting carried away with innumerable worldly pleasures. Hence it is upto each one of us to realize that we are none other than “Aathman” and our “Aathman” does not require all these worldly items like money, property, real estate, gold, etc. It only requires Bhagawan’s grace and nothing else. With this knowledge, we should thus be able to control our mind by saying that, “Oh mind! I’m not going to run behind you searching for worldly pleasures. I’m hereby controlling you to follow the principles of Dharma and implement them without any blemish!” It is upto each one of us to take this pledge within us.

This is exactly the mistake what King Dhirdiraastra is making too. Vidura advises thus, “Oh Dhirdiraashtra! What will you do with such a huge kingdom ultimately? You cannot enjoy all of the wealth at the same time. Hence, why do you want to keep everything under your possession only? What’s wrong in giving away a portion of it to someone else too? Hence, please do not go forward and commit the mistake that you’re doing right now!”

Here we can see that Vidura is trying to take different routes so as to convince King Dhirdiraashtra somehow! But is he going to budge to Vidura’s words? Let’s wait till the next episode and see the next route that Vidura is going to take. Stay tuned! 🙂