The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode we had witnessed an important discussion on the eight different attributes that contribute to a person’s immense happiness and satisfaction in his/her lifetime. We had taken up the discussion in two parts of four each for the past two episodes. In due course of the previous episode we had spoken about the significance of the valuable advice that elders give us during the time of our need and when we pass through bad times. In fact, it is a blessing to have elders at our vicinity who can serve as a guiding light for us when the going gets tough. Their experience and views provide an unparalleled guidance, which can enable us to see through the tough times.

Now moving on further, in today’s episode we’re going to witness the next sloka wherein Vidura is going to pack nine attributes in each of them! Today we shall commence the discussion on the “first nine” attributes. Here he is going to talk about the nine different outlets that are present in our human body! Let us see what Vidura has got to say:

“Navadvaaramidam veshma tristhoonam panchasaakshikam!

Kshethragnyaa tishtitham vidwaan yo veda saparah kavihi!!”

Here Vidura says, “Nava dvaaramidam veshma”, which means that we should consider our human body as a city that is enclosed within nine different gates or entry/exit points! What are the nine-entry/exit points in our human body? We have two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth and our two excretory outlets. If we total these together, we would realize that we have nine gates in our body!

We’ve already discussed in one of our previous episodes recently that there are three important “Gunas” that make up the human body – “Sathva Guna”, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”, which together we call as “Tristhoonam” or the three important pillars with which a human being is made of! We’ve already spoken at length about this previously.

There are another three important aspects, as far as our human body is concerned – “Vaatam”, “Pittham” and “Sleshmam” or “Kapam”. These three aspects would always be present in our physical body throughout our entire lifetime. These three aspects assume significance during three different time periods of our lifetime. For instance if we’ve to split our lifetime into 33 years each, “Kapam” or “Sleshmam” assumes more significance during the first 33 years of our life. This is why we would often see that small children and youngsters would predominantly suffer from diseases that are related to this “Kapam”. For instance, diseases like common cold, fever, throat infection and other diseases aligned to it would occur during this stage of the human lifetime. As we progress into the next 33 years of our lifetime (until the age of 66), “Pitham” would occupy the center-stage. This is when we would start having some ailments with respect to our stomach, digestion, etc. because our physical activities gradually start reducing as we age further. This is why we see many people getting affected by diabetes, blood pressure, etc. during this particular age period. Now as we move towards the advanced age group of beyond 66 years, “Vaatam” takes center-stage. This is where many of us would start experiencing ailments like pain in the knee joints, backache, etc.

Thus only based upon these three important classifications, our traditional medicinal practices like Ayurveda, Sidda, etc. would prescribe medicines for different types of ailments. When we go to an Ayurvedic doctor, normally the first thing that they would do is to hold our fist with their fingers for a few seconds and with the pulse rate that our fist shows, they would conclude whether we have an ailment pertaining to “Vaadam” or “Pittham” or “Kapam”. Normally for a healthy person, all the three parameters of “Vaadam”, “Pittham” and “Kapam” should be on an equal plane. A person would start having problems only when one or two out of these three parameters show an abnormal increase or decrease.

Thus, an entire medicinal science of Ayurveda is based upon these three important pillars, and with basis of these three, our five senses in our body operate smoothly. If we are able to maintain our physical body in line with the prescribed “Vaadam”, “Pittham” and “Kapam” levels as per the Ayurvedic science, we would be completely free from any health problems at any point in our lifetime.

“Idam shareeram kountheya kshetramithyabi deeyathe!

Yethath yoveshtitham praahuhu kshetragnya ithi tadhvitaha!!”

The above verse is from the Bhagawat Gita wherein Bhagawan Krishna explains the importance of maintaining our physical body in a proper way. He says that this human body is like a fertile piece of land and the “Aathman” (Soul) is the farmer. Thus, just like a farmer who knows well about his piece of land where he has do his farming, the “Aathman” should know well about the body in which it resides. Just as the farmer sows useful crops in his land to reap good harvest, we should also sow good thoughts and actions through our physical body so as to reap good benefits. Here the good crops are nothing but the good “Gunas” that we need to inculcate within ourselves. Just like how a farmer would try to maximize his revenue by sowing the right crops at the right season, by removing the unwanted and harmful weeds, we also should try and maximize our opportunity to be born as a human being by inculcating the good “Gunas” and weeding out the bad ones, so that our thoughts and actions are pure.

Thus for today, let us introspect on this important sloka and reflect upon ourselves. Let us realize the significance of our human body and try to maintain it in a proper way. Only if our human body is fit and fine, will we be able to focus on our spiritual development. Hence, adequate care is to be taken to ensure that our physical health is up to the mark. We shall wait till the next episode to explore Vidura’s next important sloka. Here he’s going to explain ten different aspects in one sloka. Let’s stay tuned to find out! 🙂

In the previous episode we had commenced yet another important discussion based on Vidura’s explanation on eight important aspects in our life that would give us immense happiness. In due course we’ve discussed four out of the eight aspects in yesterday’s episode. They were, “Samaanabhascha sakhibhihi” (Friendship with good and kind-hearted people), “Mahaanschaiva dhanaagamaha” (Sufficient level of income for a sustained living), “Puthrenacha parishvangaha” (Having children of noble character and who respect elders) and “Sannipaathascha maithune” (Our spouse complementing us in every way). Vidura explains that if we have all these attributes going in the right direction, it would give us immense happiness every passing day.

Now moving on further, we are going to witness the next four attributes that fall in line with the same explanation. For the convenience of our readers, let us witness the sloka once again:

“Ashtaa vimaani harshasya navaneethaani bhaaratha!

Varthamaanaani drishyanthe taanyeva sva sukhaannapi!

Samaanabhascha sakhibhihi mahaanschaiva dhanaagamaha!!

Puthrenacha parishvangaha sannipaathascha maithune!

Samayecha priyaa laapaha svayuutheshu samannatithi!

Abhiprethascha laabhascha poojaacha janasamsathi!!”

Now let us see one after the other in detail:

“Samayecha priyaa laapaha” – If we are able to listen to a good piece of advice from an experienced person, while we pass through difficult times is another blessing! This is similar to getting a glass of cold water at a time when we feel extremely thirsty. All of us know how pleasurable this would be! Similarly if we have the opportunity of having an experienced person to guide us, to support us and to pull out of our difficulty, what more do we want in life? We should realize that many of us are blessed with excellent parents, grandparents and other elders at home who can serve as a guiding light for our future. Hence we should make it a point to listen to their important advice and act accordingly. But do we do this today? If any of our elders start advising us on something, we immediately tend to give a reply – “Oh! Please do not advise me on this! You people are 15 years behind! You don’t know what’s happening in the modern day! You’re not updated with the current day happenings!” Of course, sometimes this might be true. But the underlying value systems that our elders try to inculcate in us would never change irrespective of whatever time period we belong to. Values and responsibilities are always the same, be it 1950’s or 2018. Hence the message from today’s episode is that, if we have elders at home to provide expert guidance and advice on certain important issues, let us listen carefully to them and try to have a re-look at the problem in a different perspective. We would never know – Sometimes what we might think outwardly that their advice doesn’t make sense would backfire at us at a later stage. At that crucial stage we might have a feeling that we should have followed our elders’ advice long back! If we need to avoid such unforeseen situations from happening, we should never reject any advice from our elders. We should always remember that they would talk out of their real-time experience and we should respect that.

“Svayuutheshu samannathithi” – If we are able to get the due recognition, name and fame for our contributions, in the place where we actually belong to, this is a big achievement and this brings lot of happiness and satisfaction in our life. For instance, people who are artistic in fine arts such as music, dance, etc. – It would be a proud moment if we were recognized for our art in our country and our city. There is no use of any recognition that we get in an unknown foreign territory, because in that place nobody knows about our classical music and dance forms. Nowadays it has become a trend for many artists (both music and dance) to go abroad and give concerts and performances. Of course I’m not saying it is wrong to do such things – We should definitely take our rich music and art forms to the rest of the world and make the world respect our culture and heritage. However, we should also ensure that we perform equal amounts of music or dance concerts within India as well. As artists, it would be more significant an achievement if we get a good recognition for what we do in India, rather than getting a recognition from a foreign country. This would be a greater challenge than getting recognition abroad. Hence we need to prioritize and focus on getting due recognition for what we do within our country and our city.

“Abhiprethascha laabhascha” – If at any point in time we are able to get whatever we think of, what more happiness do we need in life? Isn’t one of the greatest blessings Bhagawan can give us? For instance, if we dream of buying an expensive car and if our financial status supports us to go for it, what more happiness can be obtain? Similarly just as we desire for obtaining worldly things, we should at some point in time desire that we should reach the lotus feet of Bhagawan at the end of this human birth. Of course, if our dreams and desires are in the right direction, Bhagawan is ready to fulfill them for us. Hence as responsible human beings, let us use this golden opportunity to pray to Bhagawan to attain his lotus feet!

“Poojaacha janasamsathi” – If we are able to be a respectable person amidst our society or workplace and if we are able to command respect from everybody around us, this itself is another huge blessing. We might be able to witness few people around us who have that in-built “charisma” wherein many people would approach them and voluntarily respect them for what they are! Such people are quite rare to find and if we happen to be in that list, we can really consider ourselves lucky!

Hence these are the eight different attributes that make us extremely happy, satisfied and successful in our lives. For today let us continue our introspection in this regard, and of course we need to put a firm step in trying to implement these eight attributes in our everyday life and only then would we be able to really experience the ultimate happiness. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next explanation. Now he is going to explain nine aspects packed in each sloka. Let’s witness the “first nine” tomorrow! Stay tuned! 🙂

 

In the previous episode we had witnessed the continuation of the discussion on why Brahmins are being hated in the modern day society. We had witnessed the reasons behind the hatred and the “false propaganda” spread by certain elements in the society today along with the validity of those reasons. Importantly in the previous episode we had witnessed an important lesson that all of us should focus on our food habits, so as to keep our intelligence coefficient in check. The more we’re able to contain and avoid non-vegetarian food items, the better it is for us to maintain and further improve our smartness, sharpness, alertness and intelligence.

Now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain the next eight items in the coming sloka, wherein he says that these eight attributes are extremely necessary for our happiness and satisfaction. Vidura says thus;

“Ashtaa vimaani harshasya navaneethaani bhaaratha!”

 Here Vidura says that these eight attributes are as soft as butter, that are going to give us extreme happiness in this world!

“Varthamaanaani drishyanthe taanyeva sva sukhaannapi!

Samaanabhascha sakhibhihi mahaanschaiva dhanaagamaha!!

Puthrenacha parishvangaha sannipaathascha maithune!

Samayecha priyaa laapaha svayuutheshu samannapithi!

Abhiprethascha laabhascha poojaacha janasamsathi!!”

Here Vidura explains the eight different attributes. For easy understanding of all our readers, we shall discuss four today and four tomorrow.

“Samaanabhascha sakhibhihi” – Friendship with good and kind-hearted people will always bring immense happiness to our life. This is the reason why our ancestors and forefathers have always advised us to be amidst a “Sathsanga” or a “Saadhu Samaagama”, which means that we need to be a part of a group of people who are devotees of Bhagawan, who only talk about Bhagawan and who follow the teachings of Bhagawan meticulously without any blemish. If we were part of such a wonderful community, automatically our thoughts, words, actions would be directed towards  “Dharma” and eventually our mind would be clear and happy! Thus the message for all of us here is that, we should maintain friendship with good people and should always be in the association of Bhagawan’s ardent devotees. This would help us to grow both personally and spiritually.

“Mahaanschaiva dhanaagamaha” – This would be quite well known to many of us – If we get sufficient and more income to sustain our living, it brings immense happiness. Here we need to be careful to draw the line at the right place – How much money do we need per month? Are our expenses within the frame of the income that we receive? Are we somewhere spending money lavishly on unwanted things? We should constantly keep asking these questions within our family, and ourselves so that we would be able to maintain our income and expenditure within a balance. Just because we are earning lot of money, it doesn’t mean that we spend all of it lavishly. We should do two important things with our income, apart from our regular expenditure – One is saving money for our future needs and the other is allocating some money to serve the poor and the needy. If we try and include these two important agenda into our income-expenditure balance, automatically our life would be full of happiness and satisfaction. Let’s try!

“Puthrenacha parishvangaha” – If we have the blessing to have children with a good character and a noble heart and if they earn a good name, respect, admiration and appreciation amidst the society, what more do we want in life! Hence Vidura lists this important aspect as one of the eight attributes that gives us extreme happiness and satisfaction.

“Sannipaathascha maithune” – If our spouse (husband or wife) understands us well and complements our thoughts, words and actions, this is another blessing in life! Of course as a married couple, the bound duty of both the husband and the wife is to understand each other’s preferences, feelings, emotions, etc. and adjust with each other to lead a life together in the path of “Dharma”. This is the very purpose of a marriage. We’ve already seen this in one of our previous episodes as well as during our Ramayana project. Why did King Janaka marry Sita to Lord Rama? It is not only for an intimate married life together, but also to lead a life together so as to walk the path of “Dharma” by holding each other’s hands.

Thus in the modern day we should make it a point that we try and follow this important point. Of course there might be differences of opinions, small fights, etc. between the couple. But at any cost, we should refrain from blowing up small issues out of proportions and go to the extent of separation or divorce. It is sad to witness in today’s world that lot of young people are going in for divorce, without realizing the amount of problems that they would undergo in their life after getting it. Thus as a society we need to realize that a happy family life is where, people adjust, let go and give into each other’s desires, preferences and emotions. Only if we learn to let go of certain small things, will happiness reign in life. The moment we start shrugging off unwanted things and adjusting with our partner, automatically the love and trust would start building up. If we are to be stubborn and sticking to our points of views only, the partner would start feeling disconnected and unhappy. Hence, care should be taken to complement each other for a happy living.

Thus for today, let us introspect within ourselves about these four important attributes. I’m repeatedly saying this again and again – It is not enough if we just read all this and forget. We should take a conscious step forward to try and implement whatever Vidura is advising us to do. We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s next sloka and explanation. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we were amidst yet another important discussion with regards to the hatred that prevails against Brahmins in the current day society. We witnessed Vidura’s explanation pertaining to this wherein he says that hating Brahmins or expressing hatred towards them in any way brings harm and downfall. We witnessed some fundamental reasons why Brahmins are being hated so much today – One of the main reasons being intelligence. It is a hard fact for everyone to accept and digest in India that Brahmins are the most intelligent set of people and they have the capability to excel in any and every domain. This is because Brahmins are used to “Veda-Adhyayanam” (Means, gaining mastery over the tough lessons of Vedas). Constant learning and reciting of the Vedas and other scriptures of our “Sanaathana Dharma” enables Brahmins to have more concentration and focusing power in whatever they do and this in turn increases their shrewdness and smartness in their actions.

We shall continue and take this important discussion forward in today’s episode and witness what other reasons make Brahmins the most preferred people for high level jobs even in today’s world.

One another reason why Brahmins are considered to be intelligent is the food (“Aahaara Shuddhi”). How does “Aahaara Shuddhi” or in other words, “Food habits” decide the level of intelligence of a person? Let’s witness a brief explanation today.

As Lord Krishna explains in the Bhagawat Gita, “Aahaara Shuddhi” decides what kind of people are we – Basically as many of us know, there are three main “Gunas” or “Characteristics” that all human beings are made of. They are “Sathva Guna”, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”. As many might know, a person having more of “Sathva Guna” tends to be balanced in terms of everything in life. A person who has more of “Rajo Guna” tends to feel angry and tensed all the time. He loses his cool very often and tends to yell at people even for small things. Whereas, a person more of “Tamo Guna” feels very lazy and secluded from other people. He likes to sleep and rest all the time and thus more or less, in an inactive state.

Now how does our food habit decide which of these three “Gunas” dominate within our self? If we tend to eat too much of spicy food all the time, it is said that our “Rajo Guna” starts increasing gradually. This is the reason why we find that those who consume more of spicy food every time constantly keep get angry and frustrated. The spicy essence can be found in chillies and the powders made from them, the modern day readymade “Masala” packs that we use for our day-to-day cooking. So what are those foodstuffs that contain “Tamo Guna”? Mostly those food items that we consume from the modern day “Fast food” centers, which are half-cooked or over-cooked are all “Thaamasic” in nature. Also, all kinds of non-vegetarian food items contribute to the “Thaamasic” (Lazy) character in a person.

Now here is where the differentiation lies – Those people who are Brahmins totally refrain from taking any kind of non-vegetarian foodstuffs. This would prevent their mind and body to go into the “Thaamasic” nature. Also, if we look into the food habits of Brahmins, in most of the cases, it would be a mix or a blend of sweet, spice and salt and thus there is no unwanted rise in any of the tastes. This also prevents Brahmins from being “Raajasic” (Anger and tensed). If these two characteristics are made bare minimal, automatically the “Saathvic” (Balanced) nature would start blossoming. This is exactly what we call “Balanced Diet” in modern-day Biological science.

Thus we can infer that if we have a “Balanced Diet” we would be able to develop “Saathvic” or a balanced mind. It is only with a balanced mind, will the intelligence quotient of our human brain would be at its maximum efficiency. Thus it is clear that since Brahmins are used to “balanced” food habits right from their childhood days, they are able to have a balanced frame of mind, which in turn enables their intelligence coefficient to increase. This is also one reason why others are not able to match the intelligence levels of Brahmins – The moment we start consuming non-vegetarian foodstuff, it directly leads us to the lazy (“Thaamasic”) state and in turn, the intelligence coefficient gradually starts decreasing. This eventually leads to lesser thinking and reasoning power and hence, the competitiveness, shrewdness, smartness, etc. takes a hit! This is why the other sects of people can never compete with Brahmins with respect to the “intelligence quotient”.

Of course this is a blatant truth and it might offend many of our readers. However is this the end of all? Is there any solution for this? The answer is “Yes”! The moment we take a vow to slowly reduce the intake of “non-vegetarian” food items, our “Saathvic” characteristic would start increase, which in turn would reduce the “Thaamasic” characteristic. In simpler words, our mind and body would start working more efficiently as they come out of the inactive state and only by reducing the intake of non-vegetarian food can enable this to happen. Hence the message from today’s episode is that, instead of cribbing about someone’s intelligence, let us take the first step forward to increase our intelligence coefficient and one efficient way to attain this is to take care of our food habits and consciously reduce/cut the intake of non-vegetarian food items.

Of course, many of us might ask this question – Those people especially in Western Countries like Europe, US, Canada, etc. consume non-vegetarian food all the time and yet how do they excel in whatever they do? How is this argument valid here? My answer to this important question is that, we should realize that food habits are followed across the world depending on the climatic conditions prevailing in every place. Western countries are cold throughout the year, whereas countries like India lie on the tropical zone close to the equator and hence the temperatures can be soaring high. Since the climate is cold in the west, eating non-vegetarian food, drinking alcohol, etc. adds to the warmth of the human body and to balance the cold outside. Hence, for that climate, consuming non-vegetarian food might be fine. But in countries like India, if we’ve to consume the same kind of non-vegetarian food, alcohol, etc. it is only going to add up to our body heat (since the surrounding temperature is higher too) and will eventually make us tired and inactive. Hence in my opinion, non-vegetarian foodstuff is unsuitable for a tropical country like India and unfortunately many of us fall prey to it just because of the “Western influence”. Thus if we are able to come out of this “false prestige” of consuming non-vegetarian food, our lives would become much better with respect to physical and mental health.

So let us take some time today and introspect within us to realize this folly! We shall wait till the next episode to move on with Vidura’s next explanation. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous couple of episodes we had witnessed an elaborated discussion on seven important attributes that are extremely dangerous for a person in every day life and such things should be avoided or eliminated completely. To summarize all the seven in a nutshell, Vidura explains that “Striyahaaksha” (Misbehaving or wrong conduct with women), “Mrigayaa” (Obsessed with gambling and other kinds of illicit games), “Paanam” (Obsessed with alcohol), “Vaak paarushyam” (Usage of foul language), “Mahaccha dhanda” (Punishing people heavily even for small mistakes) and “Artha dhoosahanam” (Misusing of public property for personal benefit) are detrimental to one’s growth in life. Hence, we should make a conscious attempt and effort to try and keep ourselves away from all these attributes.

Now moving on further, in the coming sloka, Vidura is going to explain eight different attributes. What these eight attributes signify? Here Vidura explains that these eight different attributes were eight different evil actions that Duryodhana was performing every passing day. We should make sure that our actions do not fall into any of these eight attributes. Vidura says thus,

“Ashtau poorna nimithhaani narasya vinisishyasaha!

Braahmanaam prathamam dveshti braahmanaischa virudhyate!

Braahmanasvaanicha aadakte braahmanaancha jighaamsathi!

Ramathe nindayachaishaam prashamsaam naabhinandathi!!”

 

Here Vidura is explaining eight different evil actions that we should never be part of. In today’s context if I’ve to explain it, it might be a little controversial in nature. However, it is not that I’m cooking up my own explanation – It’s Vidura’s explanation that I’m just trying to interpret and hence, readers should not get offended. Now let us see each of the eight evil activities in detail:

“Braahmanaam prathamam dveshti” – A person who is trying to neglect “Andhanas” (Brahmins) will surely suffer a lot in life. Vidura explains that Duryodhana has done this evil activity. In the modern day context too, needless to say in India, we’re witnessing such an attitude in a widespread nature. I don’t want to go further deep into explaining this because we ourselves know what is happening in today’s world.

“Braahmanaischa virudhyate” – A person who sees Brahmins as enemies or threats in his personal or professional life. Again, this is also widespread in today’s world and we see this hatred towards Brahmins percolating so much into the society. Vidura explains that such hatred towards Brahmins brings about bad happenings in the country.

“Braahmanasvaanicha aadakte” – A person who takes away or steals the property of Brahmins forcefully will have to face all kinds of difficulties in life. Such things are to be avoided.

“Braahmanaancha jighaamsathi” – A person who even goes to the extent of killing Brahmins are the cruelest people on this earth!

“Ramathe nindayachaishaam” – A person who feels happy when Brahmins are insulted in public, will also meet a ghastly end to his life.

“Prashamsaam naabhinandathi” – A person who feels jealous when Brahmins are appreciated amidst a gathering, will never be able to prosper in life.

Thus these people according to Vidura would never be successful in their lives by any means. Duryodhana was again an embodiment of all these wrong activities and Vidura narrates to King Dhirdiraashtra that only because of his son’s such wicked activities, he is suffering today with lack of sleep and innumerable worries in mind. Thus Vidura advises King Dhirdiraashtra to confront his son Duryodhana and condemn such heinous acts. If these activities continue, the war cannot be stopped and eventually Duryodhana and his entire clan would have to be wiped out once for all!

This important advice is not only for King Dhirdiraashtra and his son Duryodhana, but also for all of us. It is quite pathetic in the modern day to witness that the society is turning out to be “Brahmin-hatred” for whatsoever reasons only best known for those hate mongers.

However, one reason for which Brahmins are hated so much in today’s society is that, the other people can never replicate the intelligence coefficient of Brahmins. In other words, Brahmins are the most intelligent set of people in any domain – We can take examples in every domain, every industry, every field, be it Medicine, Technology, Commerce, Business, etc. in the modern day and Brahmins tend to excel in whatever they do and thus others end up feeling jealous of them. But before feeling jealous, we should think about something – Why is that, Brahmins are able to do anything possible on this earth with utmost intelligence, diligence and smartness and why aren’t others able to achieve the same laurels as Brahmins achieve? It is because, for innumerable number of years, Brahmins have been trained and accustomed in learning and chanting of Vedas and performing spiritual practices. These activities are never easy to perform. If one has to attain mastery over the Vedas, it is only with the immense levels of concentration and dedication towards learning it properly with utmost perfection. This concentration and dedication is what gets reflected in the professional arena too and eventually Brahmins end up topping the list of successful achievers.

So there is nothing for the others to crib about – If others aren’t successful, it simply means that the concentration level and the amount of dedication to complete a job successfully isn’t there in them! This doesn’t have anything to do with hating Brahmin people. If one has to be successful, he/she should give their 100% effort into it. It’s as simple as that. If they’re unable to do that, why waste time in criticizing and singling out Brahmins for it? Rather, this time can be used to critically analyze within onselelf as to why they’re not able to succeed.

So for today, let us think about this important point. Of course, I’m not against anybody in the society and this explanation is not aimed at hurting any sect or community of people. All what I’m trying to explain here is that, if someone has that intelligent coefficient in them, let us learn to appreciate them for that and not to feel jealous about them. Moreover, if these intelligent people happen to be Brahmins, let us try to accept the fact that Brahmins are intelligent people and there’s no point cribbing about it. We should rather focus our mind and activities as to how to improve our intelligent coefficient in us, instead of cribbing about others’ success.

We shall wait till the next episode to witness Vidura’s explanation on the next eight attributes. Stay tuned! 🙂

We’re once again in the midst of an extremely important discussion wherein we’ve witnessed seven important attributes that one needs to let go, if he needs to be in the path of “Dharma”. It is quite interesting to note from the way in which Vidura’s explains – He’s indirectly giving a punch to King Dhiridraashtra that his son Duryodhana was an embodiment of all these seven evil attributes and that he is going to meet his end very soon in the hands of the Paandavas and Bhagawan Krishna. In the previous episode we had discussed four out of these seven attributes and in today’s episode we shall complete the discussion on the remaining three. Along with this, we’re also discussing the current day relevance of each of these attributes, so that we could learn lessons from Vidura’s advice so as to mend our ways.

For the convenience of our readers, we shall witness the sloka once more. Vidura says thus,

“Saptha doshaaha sadaa raagnyaaha haathavyaa vyasanodayaaha!

Praayasoyair vinashyanti kritha moolaaha apeeshwaraaha!!

Striyahaaksha mrigayaa paanam vaak paarushyancha panchamam!

Mahaccha dhanda paarushyam artha dhoosahanamevacha!!”

In this, we’ve discussed the first four attributes – “Striyahaaksha”, “Mrigayaa”, “Paanam” and “Vaak paarushyam”. Today let us witness the remaining three.

“Mahaccha dhanda” – Here Vidura says that if someone does a small mistake, we should never magnify it and met out a huge punishment. Duryodhana did this mistake as well – Just for a small error from the side of the Paandavas, he sentenced them to go on exile for the next fourteen years! How big a punishment is this! We’ve already seen a similar situation during our Ramayana project, wherein Vaali had thrown away Sugriva from Kishkinta, abused him very badly and finally went to the extreme step of abducting Sugriva’s wife, Ruma. Vaali meted out such a huge punishment for Sugriva just because he had accidently made a mistake by assuming that the raakshasa Dundubhi had killed Vaali and henceforth assumed the duties of the Kishkinta kingdom. Even when Sugriva apologized for his mistake, Vaali was not in a mood to listen to him. This became the biggest cause of Vaali’s death in the hands of Lord Rama. Our readers can recollect this important episode – When Vaali asks Lord Rama for the reasons why he’s killing him, Lord Rama lists out various reasons and the major reason why Rama was forced to kill Vaali was that, he failed to give refuge to his brother Sugriva by accepting his surrender. Rather, he ended up insulting him, abusing him and finally abducting his wife. Thus, as per the “Raaja Dharma” it is a heinous crime! From this, we need to understand that if someone seeks forgiveness for a mistake that they’ve committed to us, it is our bound duty to accept their profound apologies and forgive them. But do we see this in the current day? Rather, we’re only trying to take revenge on them for what they’ve done to us today. Even if it is a small mistake, we take it too much personally, brood over it, magnify it, project it as a huge problem and thereby seek revenge! Is all these things necessary? Why can’t we take things lightly and easily and move on? We’ve got so much of work and learning to do and we’re not having sufficient time for all the useful activities. In this case, why do we waste our valuable and precious time in gossiping about others’ mistakes, trying to paint an ugly picture of them, seek revenge, etc.? Hence, the important lesson that all of us should learn today is that, if there’s a mistake from someone we should try and let go of it, rather than blowing it out of proportion and magnifying it! Let us learn to let go off things slowly and if we’re able to successfully practice this every day, gradually our life would become peaceful and harmonious.

“Artha dhoosahanam” – If a ruler or king or an administrator uses the government’s or public’s property for satisfying his/her personal wishes and enjoyment, it is another huge crime as per our “Sanaathana Dharma”. I’m not saying this, but Vidura is saying it! 🙂 This needs no further explanation, as all of us know the amount of corruption that is taking place day in day out with regards to affairs pertaining to the government. We can see that corruption has spread nooks and corners to every department of the government today. If we’re going to have such selfish people adorning the chairs of such departments, the country is never going to prosper.

Thus we’ve witnessed seven important attributes that are extremely dangerous for a person and this is an important lesson for all of us to learn. Of course, King Dhirdiraashtra wasn’t ready to follow Vidura’s advice and mend his and Duryodhana’s ways, however we are not like King Dhirdiraashtra and Duryodhana. We can listen to Vidura’s advice carefully and try to implement them in our lives so as to lead a happy living. In tomorrow’s episode we are going to see Vidura explaining eight different aspects packed within one sloka. What are those eight attributes? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! 🙂

The previous episode saw the conclusion of the discussion on who are the six biggest opportunists in this world. Vidura had explained six categories of opportunists and to summarise them in a nutshell he says that, “Aachaaryam sikshithaaha sishyaaha” meaning, a student who deserts his teacher after finishing his education, “Kritha dhaaraascha maatharam” meaning, a person who deserts his mother on the behest of his newly married wife and “Naareem vikatha kaamasthu” meaning, a person who fulfills his desire with a woman and deserts her after that. “Krithaasthaascha prayojakam” means that a person deserts those who have helped him at the time of need, “Naavam vistheerna kaanthaaraa” means that a person deserts those people by not paying them for their service to him and finally “Aathuraascha chikitsakam” means that a person who goes to a doctor to get treated for a certain disease and he does not care for that doctor anymore after getting cured. Thus Vidura explains that all these above six categories of people are considered to be opportunists and we should try to keep away from such people. Moreover, if we happen to fall into any one of these six categories, firstly we should try and mend our ways, before correcting or avoiding others.

Now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain seven aspects in each sloka. Today we shall commence the discussion on the “first seven”. Vidura explains thus,

“Saptha doshaaha sadaa raagnyaaha haathavyaa vyasanodayaaha!”

Here Vidura explains an important set of seven aspects that would make us feel bad and sad in our life. Hence we should make a conscious step to let these seven aspects off from our life. What are those seven? Vidura says,

“Praayasoyair vinashyanti kritha moolaaha apeeshwaraaha!

Striyahaaksha mrigayaa paanam vaak paarushyancha panchamam!

Mahaccha dhanda paarushyam artha dhoosahanamevacha!!”

 It is interesting to note from this above sloka that Duryodhana was an embodiment of all these seven aspects. In the modern day, many of us have these seven aspects imbibed in us in some way or the other. Now what are these aspects? Let us discuss one by one.

“Striyahaaksha” – This directly signifies the worst quality of insulting women in public. It is quite known to all of us as to how Duryodhana was an epitome of this aspect – When the courtroom was convened by King Dhirdiraashtra, Duryodhana had publicly insulted Draupati (Wife of the Paandavas) in front of the whole gathering. Moreover, what stood out during that entire episode is that, none of the “bigwigs” (Bhishma, Guru Dhronaachaarya, Karna, etc.) who were also present there remained silent. None of them had the guts to criticize Duryodhana for the blunder that he was committing. It is said that it was mainly for this one big blunder that the whole Mahaabhaarata war was fought at Kurukshetra. Hence we should realize here that insulting women is a wrong practice and it should be completely avoided. Nowadays, it is alarming to see in the present day society that women are being subjected to public assault and insults quite regularly. We’ve been hearing heart-moving and stunning cases of violence against women such as rape, blackmailing, threats, etc. and those who are accused in such heinous crimes largely escape untouched and unnoticed. Is this the safety we give for our women? Moreover, what is the point in blaming the government if the mindset of our society doesn’t change for the good? The basic problem in this case is that, the society of ours has been too conservative and the implementation of law and judicial practices has been the weakest in India. It is only because of these reasons that our women have become a victim today. Thus the important message here is that, women should be respected at any cost, and if there is violence against women in any form, we as a society should stand by the woman and protect them.

“Mrigayaa” – This means, involving oneself in excessive “betting games” and draining off all the wealth. Of course again, all of us know that the entire problem started when Duryodhana and his wicked uncle Sahuni started with the infamous “ludo” game and tricked the Paandavas into it. Thus we should realize that we shouldn’t get addicted to these kinds of games that have the potential to drain away our wealth, name and fame. In the modern day we have similar things like “Casinos” wherein people get addicted and waste lot of time, money and effort into it. Hence, care should be taken to avoid such things.

“Paanam” – This maybe familiar to many of us – The excessive desire towards consuming alcohol. This is one important menace into which Duryodhana got himself entangled into. He got drunk often and because of that, behaved wrongly with women around him and hence he had to meet his demise. How applicable is this to the modern day! How many families do we see today, being ruined because of alcoholism and drug addiction! Hence this is rather a rude wake up call from Vidura that we should keep ourselves away from this important societal menace. By looking at families suffering from this, we should realize that getting addicted to alcohol and drugs would not only ruin oneself, but also our family members who are near and dear to us. I don’t think this aspect needs more explanation and hence let us think within us and do the needful.

“Vaak paarushyam” – This means, using foul language to insult and scold others. Duryodhana did this too – He insulted the Paandavas in front of the whole courtroom with whatever foul language he shouldn’t be using at that point in time as a king. This also led to his demise eventually. Hence the lesson that all of us should learn from this point is that, whatever maybe the situation, we should try and refrain ourselves from scolding others by employing foul language. This not only hurts them very badly, but also sows the seeds for vengeance and retaliation. We should always keep in mind that venting out anger and frustration over somebody could never be a solution for a problem. Rather, we should keep ourselves calm and try to analyze the root cause of the problem. We should focus our mind in solving the matter, rather then venting our frustration on others by scolding them with foul language. We should remember that this would eventually backfire at us at some point in time and hence strive maximum to keep away from this menace.

Thus for today, we have witnessed four out of the seven aspects that we should completely avoid in our everyday lives. We shall spend some time today to introspect within us and if at all we are into any one of these aspects, let us make a conscious attempt to come out of it at the earliest. We shall wait till the next episode to witnessed the final three aspects. Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode we had witnessed three important points with regards to people being opportunistic. We’re currently witnessing Vidura’s explanation on six different categories of people who are considered to be opportunists in this world and for the convenience of our readers, we shall re-visit the sloka once more as we proceed further:

“Shadethe avamanyathe nithyam poorvopakaarinam!

Aachaaryam sikshithaaha sishyaaha Kritha dhaaraascha maatharam!!

Naareem vikatha kaamasthu krithaasthaascha prayojakam!

Naavam vistheerna kaanthaaraa aathuraascha chikitsakam!!”

In this, we’ve already witnessed the first three categories – “Aachaaryam sikshithaaha sishyaaha” meaning, a student who deserts his teacher after finishing his studies, “Krithadhaaraascha maatharam” meaning, a person who deserts his mother on the behest of his newly married wife, “Naareem vikatha kaamasthu” meaning, a person who fulfils his desire with a woman and deserts her after that are all considered to be highly opportunistic people.

Now moving on further, we shall discuss the remaining three categories of opportunistic people as explained by Vidura.

“Krithaasthaascha prayojakam” – Here Vidura explains the next category wherein a person approaches another person for an obligation or seeking a help. Once the obligation is fulfilled, he deserts the person who has helped him. Such people who desert those who were extremely helpful are highly opportunistic in nature. We can witness this in the modern day as well – For instance, our friends or relatives might come to us seeking an obligation to find a job – Given their critical situation we might have also helped them in finding a good job and making them settle down. However after a few months or years, when they start to settle down in their work and family life, those people would not even care a damn for us! This is exactly what Vidura is explaining here that such people are highly opportunistic in nature. Thus the message from this part is that we should never forget the help rendered by our friends or family members and express our gratitude towards them at every possible time and in every possible way.

“Naavam vistheerna kaanthaara” – Here Vidura explains that a person who tries to cross a huge river like the Ganges in boat, deserts the boat as well as the boatman after crossing the river, without paying for the service, is an opportunistic person. Here we should understand this in the sense that we should honour the service done by others to us in the best possible way and not to desert them just like that. We can see this in the modern day in quite a few contexts – For instance, many of us today use the public transportation system in any city our country that we might be living. We take the bus, train, tram, etc. to commute to our workplace and back home. For using the system, we need to pay money duly and buy the tickets for our travel. Sometimes it is painful to witness that many people try to travel in the public transport system without buying the tickets. Is it fair on our part to do that? We should note three things here – Firstly, we should realise that nothing in this world can be obtained for free. We should pay for for what we enjoy and it’s our bound duty to do that. Secondly, for the travel that we are offered by the system, it is our legitimacy to pay for what we are using. Thirdly, if we fail to pay for the service, how will the governing authority be able to maintain and improve the system? Won’t the system collapse if everybody starts using the system for free? Isn’t it our social responsibility to protect our transport system for the welfare of our fellow brothers and sisters? Hence as per Vidura’s explanation, a person who uses something and deserts it after the usage without paying for the service is considered to be an opportunist.

“Aathuraascha chikitsakam” – Here Vidura explains that a person who goes to a doctor to get treated for a certain disease deserts him after getting cured, is also considered to be an opportunist. Of course all of us in the world would prefer to lead a life wherein we never get a chance to visit a doctor. Even though it might not be possible for many of us, how many of us would voluntarily like to visit a doctor? The answer would be zero! This is what Vidura says here – When we’ve to go to a doctor we reluctantly go to the clinic or the hospital, get cured and never look back at the doctor again. This in a way is also considered to be an opportunistic behaviour as per Vidura.

Thus we’ve discussed all the six categories of people who are opportunistic in nature. From the next episode we’re going to witness slokas wherein Vidura has packed seven aspects into each. Let’s wait till the next episode to commence! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode we had witnessed that we should be extremely vigilant and alert at all times times so as to prevent problems pertaining to six aspects in our everyday life. These six of them are “Gaavaha” (Cow), “Sevaa” (Employer), “Krishihi” (Paddy), “Bhaarya” (Wife), “Vidhya” (Knowledge) and “Vrishala sangathihi” (People who are in lower levels than us). These six aspects should be taken care of in a proper way so as to avoid potential problems in future.

Now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain the next six aspects. Here the context is going to be those six people who are considered to be highly opportunistic in nature. Who are those six opportunistic categories of people according to Vidura?

“Shadethe avamanyathe nithyam poorvopakaarinam!

Aachaaryam sikshithaaha sishyaaha Kritha dhaaraascha maatharam!!

Naareem vikatha kaamasthu krithaasthaascha prayojakam!

Naavam vistheerna kaanthaaraa aathuraascha chikitsakam!!

Here Vidura explains the six categories of opportunistic people and we shall witness one by one in detail. For today’s episode we shall discuss the first three and the remaining in the next episode.

Aachaaryam sikshithaaha – Here Vidura explains that one of the biggest opportunists in the world is a person who forgets and ignores his/her teacher (Guru) after the education is completed. This is an important point to be discussed as this has become quite common in the modern day as well. After finishing our schooling and graduation do we go back to our school and beet up with our teachers/professors? If we’ve to go one step further, even if we happen to cross our teachers on the road or at a public place, do we really go up to them and wish them? Do we care to enquire about them and thank them for their wonderful service? The reason why I’m asking this series of questions is that, we should resize the valuable contributions that our teachers and professors have made in shaping up what we are today! Each one of us for sure would be having atleast one or two teachers or professors who would have been instrumental for our growth and immense success. Hence we should always make it s point that we pay back our respects to them in some way or the other. In the present day it is pathetic to note that students are building up a mindset that they are becoming more qualified than their teachers and also earning much more money than what they do! Because of this mindset students have started to look down at their teachers with great disrespect. Little do they realise that it was those same teachers who have struggled with the students for many years to shape them up to what they are today! Moreover, little do the students realise that the teachers are also human beings and he/she feels very sad and insulted when the students look down at them! Our teachers are our stepping-stones behind our success story and we should make sure that we give them the due respect and care. After all this would be the greatest gift that we can give back to our incredible teachers isn’t it? 😊

Kritha dhaaraascha maatharam – A person who leaves behind or deserts his mother on the behest of his newly married wife is another big opportunist in this world! Here again, Vidura reminds us through this point that our mother is of prime importance in our lives – Just because of the simple reason that she was the person who had given us the opportunity to live in this world! We should always have that gratitude within us at every moment. Of course I’m not saying that the wife is not important. As a man, one should be able to balance the relationship between his wife and mother equally. He should not compromise one for the other. In the modern day the menace of deserving the parents have started to increase – Many people are now sending away their aged parents to old age homes because they consider them as “extra luggage” to handle and take care of! How pathetic a level are we stopping to? This, one important message that goes out from today’s episode is that at any cost or for anybody in our life, we should never ever desert our parents till their last breath. It is our bound duty as per our “Sanaathana Dharma” to take care of them in a proper way so that they feel blessed to have a son or daughter like us! We should pay our respects to them and express our gratitude for the greatest service that they’ve rendered for our betterment of our life. This is exactly what Vidura explains here – A person who deserts his mother for the sake of his wife is an opportunist!

Naareem vikatha kaamasthu – Here Vidura explains that a man who deserts a girl after his desires are fulfilled is also an opportunist! Again this augurs well with the current day happenings wherein we’re able to witness many men having multiple relationships with different women and use them at different times to satisfy his desires. This is also a wrong thing to do and Vidura explains that such people are also falling under the “opportunist” category.

So for today we’ve got three important messages to introspect within us. Let us make a conscious attempt to try and implement these points in our everyday life. We shall wait till the next episode to continue the discussion on the next three categories of opportunists. Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode we had concluded an important discussion in the six categories of people who depend on six other counterparts for their success. We’ve had a detailed discussion in this for the past couple of episodes and to summarize all of them in a nutshell – “Chowraaha pramathe jeevanthi” which means that a thief depends on fools to cheat and become successful. “Vyaadideshu chikitsakaaha” means a doctor’s success depends on the number of sick patients he/she attends to and “Pramadaaha kaamayaneshu” means a prostitution makes more and more money when she meets more and more men with excessive sexual desires. “Yajamaaneshu yaajakaaha” means that a “Rithvik” depends on people who are willing to perform spiritual offerings. “Raaja vividhamaaneshu” means a king depends on his enemies to keep waging battles to prove his valor so as to gain name and fame. Finally “Nithyam moorkeshu pandithaaha” means a “Panditha” (Scholar) is dependent on fools so as to showcase his knowledge and expertise to the world.

Now moving on further, Vidura is going to explain the next six aspects. Here he says that we need to be extremely vigilant every passing minute and keep an eye on these six important things. Else they would get spoilt and eventually we would land up in danger. What are those six? Vidura explains thus:

“Shadimaani vinashyanti muhurtham anavekshanaath!

Gaavaha sevaa krishihi bhaaryaa vidhyaa vrishala sangathihi!!”

Here Vidura is explaining those six important things that we need to keep a vigil on at every point in time:

“Gaavaha” – Here the word “Gaavaha” means cow! Many of us today might have a cowshed and maintain a number of cows there. We need to make sure that all the cows are taken care properly with the requisite food for them. As all of us would agree that the cow is one of the most sacred animal explained by our “Sanaathana Dharma” and hence it is our bound duty to respect our cows and make them happy and comfortable. The significance of a cow is enormous and we would need a separate episode to discuss it. However it is saddening to note today that some people are getting carried away by the false preaching and propaganda of few so-called “religious groups” and outfits and tend to hurt and kill our beloved cows! At this point, I make an earnest and an emotional appeal to all our readers and to the entire world through this blog series that it is our duty to protect our cows and make sure that they are fed and maintained in a proper way. Let us not join hands with those unethical groups and let us not knowingly commit one of the most heinous sins of killing and hurting our beloved and the most sacred cows!

“Sevaa” – Here Vidura explains and reminds us of the very fact that as employees, we should always be alert to what our employer wants and says. It is because the employer or our boss is the person who has the authority to decide our fate in the organization that we work. Hence we need to be extremely careful while we talk or move with our employer and also on our work that the employer asks us to perform.

“Krishihi” – Here Vidura has a food for thought for our esteemed farmers and those of us who are directly or indirectly involved in activities pertaining to agriculture. He says that we need to keep a constant eye on the paddy crops after they are sowed in the ground. They need to be monitored 24*7 to check if the paddy is free from insects, worms, etc. else the whole investment of time, Meenu and seeds would go waste. Hence farmers need to be very careful in this regard.

“Bhaarya” – Here Vidura says that taking care of the “wife” is extremely important. We’ve discussed this at length in our previous episodes when we spoke about “Work-life balance” and readers are requested to recollect that length discussion. In a nutshell we should realise that we need to devote certain time for our daily and that is extremely important for a happy and a contented personal life.

“Vidhyaa” – Here “Vidhyaa” means “knowledge” and “Education” and Vidura advises us hat we should constantly keep updating our knowledge so as to stay relevant in our corresponding professions. Many of us have the wrong perception today that once we finish our examinations in the school or college, our education had come to s full stop! In fact we should realise that only after we finish our schooling, our real education starts. We need to constantly keep reading a lot, observing things around us, talk with learned and scholarly people so as to update ourselves with the current happening and the latest trends in our subject and profession. If we happen to stop our pursuit of knowledge at any point of time we tend to become stagnated and outdated from the modern day development in technology, etc.

“Veishala sangathihi” – Here again Vidura has an important piece of advice for all of us – We need to be extremely vigilant with those propel who are below us in levels of financials, intelligence, job profile, etc. Particularly in today’s world we tend to witness many cases of “backstabbing” wherein those people who are lower than us in their level, tend to cheat, ditch or dump us for the sake of getting their benefits like promotion, salary hikes, etc. Hence we need to be extremely cautious and careful while we move with these kinds of people so as to prevent them from outsmarting us.

Thus the message from today’s episode is that we need to understand that we should be extremely vigilant and alert at all times so as to prevent problems pertaining to the above explained six aspects. We shall wait till the next episode to find out Vidura’s explanation in the next six aspects. Stay tuned! 😊