RESPONSE AND BELIEF

Actions and consequences are in a constant flow. There is no action which has no consequences. But yet people are acting boldly, blindly, and badly without  thinking of the consequences believing at times that action in itself is the perfection.

Sometimes actions are based upon preconceived notions and hence the observation of action has different responses. They are called belief systems. Some belief systems are system and process based and some are based on isolated, unintegrated and short term benefits.

When the whites saw the native Americans, native Indians, their own belief system made them respond in  inhuman ways and there was ample bloodshed and colossal murder. The Africans were treated as if they were lesser than the pet dogs of white men and women. The Whites could buy and sell the Africans and this was done without any guilt.

Similarly in India the forest dwelling tribes were looked upon as beasts of the lowest order. They were robbed of their resources and culture and were forced to convert to an alien religion. They were forced to stop respecting and worshiping their own God, and were made to worship some God of a distant land of Israel. 

Therefore the Mahabharata expects us to see things from where they stand rather than seeing them from where we stand.  If we are able to see this, then there is coordination and coherency.

Dharma traditions handle any kind of diversity as long as it is not an issue of proper governance. Such diversity is seen as limbo jumbo mix by those who want to create an artificial oneness.  One language, one culture, one opinion in regards to religion.When seen from a perspective of reality we understand that life is a forest full of diversity.

We need to ask this question that, can we break diversity and make a one class society? If we can then our nature will be destroyed and if we respect nature then diversity in every sphere of life is a reality .

LOYALTY AND RESOURCES

After kidnapping mother Sita, Ravana often came and tried to tempt mother Sita to become his wife. He terrorised  her by saying  that he would cut her to pieces. Ravana also tried to coax mother Sita by telling her that her youth was passing away and that it was pointless  wasting it without enjoying her youth.   He also said that there was no chance for Rama to ever figure out where mother Sita  was. He said that even if Rama found out where Sita was hidden it would be impossible for him to break the security of Lanka.

On hearing this Sita was not overcome by hopelessness. She also did not take the bait of all the resources which Ravana was offering . She spoke with great confidence  about the futility of Ravana's attempt to have her as his wife.
She said, " take away your mind from me and be happy with  those who consider you their soul mates. Being disloyal and getting obsessed by other women, will ruin you .I think there is no one residing in this land who has great values, if they live here you do not listen to them. When people like you are finished by death every one experiences satisfaction. If you want to save yourself be a friend Sri Rama and take His shelter. If you do not do as I advise, then it may be impossible for Indra's weapon to fail,and for the time factor to be indifferent and Sri Rama will not spare you. How can one dog face the fierce tiger in the form of Sri Rama and Laxman. Where ever you try to hide you will be shot by the angry arrows of Sri Rama  and you are already getting killed by the power of time."

Mother Sita was always convinced about the course of action in her difficult times. Her conviction came from her confidence in Sri Rama and her personal values. When some one is full of courage, culture and confidence in one's master then no force in the world can alter and change one's resolve.  It is easy to be confident about protection by others as long as one experiences the protection. But if protection is  missing then is it that one will switch over to wherever resources are available and do away with the culture of loyalty?
It is a possibility that this could happen, but Sita's conviction was two fold and hence it was complete and strong, like the wheel of Sudarshana which no one could penetrate. She was loyal to her values, the value of her great upbringing, there was no chance of her compromising. She would lay down her  life if her confidence was not reciprocated by Sri Rama but she would never compromise  her values.

Mother Sita taught the following lessons: 1. Look for the right people to seek shelter
2. Live life on certain values  which need never be compromised.

Let us reflect  as to why are we faithful to some one?
Is it only for convenience or is there conviction in the value of dharma?

Mother  Sita's  resource was Sri Rama Himself and her greater resources were her dharma of complete loyalty to Sri Rams in all condition. Her resources and her relationship were one and the same, Her convenience and her value were non different and certainly her protection and her conviction were fortunately all directed in Sri Rama.  Hence it has become inseparable mantra for all the lovers of Sti Rama.   "Jai Sita Rama."

THE BEAUTY OF LIMITATION

Limitation and beauty? Strange pair?
However when we reflect upon the two it makes life meaningful and beautiful.

Nature has awarded us with limitations. If we touch something which is hotter than our limitation can handle it burns us.
If we come in contact with some thing colder then too our body retracts.
Any senses when they interact with an object, if the object has greater capacity than the limited senses  then the senses are jolted as if they are being electrocuted.
Either we are thrown away or dragged irresistibly towards the object. Like a wave in the ocean drags an object or throws it  out of the ocean.

Information or some theory which is beyond our intelligence confuses us.
This limitation gives us the experience of humility but not inaction.The difference between humility and inaction is that, the former is wisdom and the latter is ignorance caused by the wrong premise of, " what can we do? we are insignificant." 

Limitation when saturated with contentment, gives rise to the  utilisation of our full potential .The flip side of contentment is laziness or inaction, caused by the wrong translation  of the reality of limitation.

Therefore inner fulfillment and external action to the limit of our potential gives rise to complete composure, which is nothing but self reliance.

The great Monkeys during the search of mother Sita, when faced with the mighty ocean whilst  crossing over to the other side were humbled.
Every one talked about the monkeys limitations --that the ocean was beyond their limited power. Such churning and analysis of their limited capacity and the ocean's  power brought many emotions -sadness, helplessness, betrayal, a feeling of non fulfillment but not hopelessness.  While churning emotions and discussing how to get there, Jambhavana realised that Hanumana had the capacity to go beyond the power of the ocean. Jambhavana approached Hanumana and made him aware of his power which was beyond the limit of  the oceans, so  that Hanumana could cross the ocean very easily.

It is pertinent to understand that we  always face two realities, one that some things are beyond us and second that in some things we have greater capacity than the object we are trying to approach. This understanding gives rise to facing reality with practicality which Jambhavana did for Hanumana.

Hence it is not about whether we are good or bad but it is about what our limitation is in regards to what we are trying to approach which makes us  humble and fulfilled. In other words the limitless fire when limited in a burner has the facility to help make wonderful dishes, and who makes it happen ?
Our limited capacity. 
Does it makes sense?

GOD---SUBSTANCE OR SHADOW?

The sectarian concept of god is prevalent everywhere by propaganda but the substance of God is in everything and it is for every one.

The sectarian concept of god requires history and on other hand the substance and experience of God goes beyond history.

Even when Param Brahman descends as an Avatara, people get stuck by what He does rather than the purpose behind what He does.

The historians question the action but the substance seeker experiences the purpose. Hence they see no duality between the action of an Avatara and his purpose.

Sri Krishna and Sri Rama, when they appeared defined the character, qualities and the cause of coming together with the consequences of their descent.

The historians see facts, the poets see the flow and the intellectuals see the flaw, but the substance seekers are floored by experiencing the substance of God.

God's Avatara is not for creating history rather it is to sensitize the human being of his overwhelming presence within and without.

The great teachers of dharmik traditions have summoned us to experience God by personally developing a relationship with Him.

Some one else's experience is a theory for others,  hence we  need to experience God.

Dharmik traditions say there are different kinds of proof for God's existence,
direct perception, hypothesis and the sabda or sruti. The highest is the  sakshatkara or direct experience of God by inner science of Sadhana and grace of the very substance who we want to experience.

Therefore the Sri Krishna and Sri Rama appear to give us their essence which is beyond history.

Their appearance is not to  prove their existence but to facilitate our experience.

TRAINED INDEPENDENCE AND UNTRAINED INDEPENDENCE

Training is considered as a process through which any person of any background can be made to act or feel or believe in a particular fashion.
For eg:- being a black smith is a skill in which anyone can be trained .Similarly one can be trained to be an altar- boy. One can be trained to believe a particular concept or any religious concept. But the critics say that this kind of training could create dogmatic people like robots.
In the traditional system of schooling students were trained to be disciplined so that as they grow, they become independently thoughtful.

Training is nothing but conditioning but how do we judge which training is good? Good or bad depends upon the consequences it brings. Consequences from a personal point of view and from a society point of view.

Getting trained to be coherent in life, may be tough but the result of such training is that such a person does not depend on others for his growth .

Sri Krishna was trained by Sandipani muni in different aspects of life . Sandipani muni had to part with his student even though he would have preferred to keep Sri Krishna with him forever. Trained students become truly independent, mentally, physically and intellectually but they maintain gratitude towards their teacher in their hearts forever and this makes them dependent on their teacher.

Modernity creates conditions where a person is trained to be untrained with respect to health, food, relationships and self confidence.
Such a life style creates a great burden on the society and on the family.

Ravana created such a civilisation where he had complete control over his citizens. The citizens never objected to Ravana doing anything .This was against normal and humanistic life. The consequences of this was a colossal amount of damage; millions of families lost their life in the war of Lanka between Sri Rama and Ravana.

Reckless civilisations will perish due to negligence of dharma. Hence to be trained in becoming free of dependence on wrong things is the dharma of every person

HERO AND LEADER

In Both the great work of Valmiki and Vyasadeva, they define the concept of leadership.  In the first place the Sanskrita terminology for leadership is completely different in regards what is stands for.
The Hindi word 'neta' comes from word 'Netratva' it means Netra means eyes tva is suffix in Sanskrita it denotes of possessing, holding.  Hence it is having  a vision, that is a leader.
'Adhyaksya' is another word for leader which denotes one whose vision is from above or before others.
'Karnadhara' means one who has ears, meaning he hears. 
Leadership is not defined as doer but visionary and listener,  of course that does not mean he does not work, but he thinks I am not the doer, I am simply facilitator.  Unfortunately in the modern world, leader is made into or expected of doing most impossible things, and time some such leader do promise to their irresponsible voters of doing something which is not do-able. This leads to voters being disappointed with their leader too fast. The leaders also thing they are the one who move everything every where.  But this  is greatest tragedy for the leader and the subjects. 
Sri Krishna in Mahabharata was mover certainly but never the broker of tradition of decentralized leadership.  When Jarasandha was removed, Sri Krishna did not impose His or Pandavas leadership on them rather local leader was placed. The son of Jarasandha was placed with giving some lesson in taking care of his people.  This was Sri Krishna's policy.
Yudhsthira was made emperor but not the ruler of every state.   Every state had its own leader who was inspiring his place and the people were inspired by their local leader.
Sri Rama after killing Vali placed Sugriva on the throne, because Sugriva was local and good person hence he was naturally respected.  In one sense the Sugriva's citizen had no influence of Ayodhya, but we're grateful to Ayodhya for giving Sugriva. Rama certainly facilitated but never ruled them. 
Vibhishana was made King at death of Ravana, not because he was the Yes man of Sri Rama but he was natural next leader of Lanka who was affectionate his people and his people accepted if so. 
Great Chanakya speaks the same concept in his Artha sastra leader is not the one who inspires, controls, and becomes leader in every kingdom, rather the local leaders are facilitated and the national leader only facilitates and makes him grow better in his area.
Our modern leaders do seldom follow this path, they think they can be famous and influencer everywhere, but this becomes counter productive and negative. Instead becoming leader they become arrogant even if they are good and hard working. 
The lessons are taught by our great incarnations how to be leaders; hear, see, facilitate and make more leaders in many areas rather simply becoming a synthetic hero like in the Bollywood movies, who do most impossible task and the un enlightened people believe? How farce! Worst the leader(hero) to believes, I am the great and no one like me. 
Choose people who have the inspiration Sri Rama and Sri Krishna  , shun and fear the Bollywood type heroes and their fans.

VYASA'S INDICATION

An interesting aspect of life is getting signals about future consequences. It is not distinctly expressed but abstractly indicated and at the same time a suspense is experienced by the person actively pursuing his journey.

In Mahabharata the indicator 's role is played by Srila Vyasadeva. More than Sri Krishna, Vyasa plays this role. Sri Krishna played the role of a human being and hence he did not give indicative signals of future events.

On the other hand Srila Vyasadeva gave  indications from time to time to the stake holders to be alert and to play their roles more sensitively. He also indicated that if they failed then they would  experience the indicated consequences.

One such indication was in the instance of the misbehaviour of Duryodhana . At the time his birth Vyasadev gave an indication to Dhrithrasthra. Unfortunately Dhrithrasthra did not care about this indication and instead desired to carve out something which was almost impossible. He desired that his son Duryodhana become the king of Hastinapura . Duryodhana  and his brothers died trying to fulfill this desire and Dhrithrasthra lived to experience the death of his sons.

When Srila Vyasadeva was ordered  by his mother Satyavati to procreate with her daughter in law, Vyasa gave her an indication of the consequences of such activities. He told her to wait for some time and let the daughter in law  get  more purified but Satyavati insisted and the consequences followed .

Vyasadeva  has indicated many times that if people follow dharma they will be happy. If they fail to follow dharma disastrous consequences will follow.

Therefore it is pertinent to be sensitive to our surroundings so that we hear and experience the indication and save ourselves from the pain of consequences

DIWALI THE DOUBLE MEANING

Culturally and historically Diwali is the welcome celebration Sri Rama’s return to Ayodhya. The land of Dharma is celebrating this festival from time and immemorial. Lately the celebrations are becoming more and more pompous with lots of merry and mirth. But unfortunately the purpose of celebration is becoming less known and is hardly discussed while celebrating the festival.

When celebration loses its purpose, then the celebration becomes cause of another diwali.
What is the second of diwali? In Maharasthra, this word is also used for some one who becomes bankrupt. When one becomes bankrupt of their consciousness and culture, it is disastrous. Diwali without Sri Rama’s culture creates another diwali. The Diwali of cultural and spiritual bankruptcy with lot of noise and pollution.

When Sri Rama arrived in Ayodhya, the citizens of Ayodhya were celebrating his return with a heart which was lit up with unlimited love and affection. The lamps were a symbol of their patience being rewarded. It was the exhibition of their feeling of never forgetting their leader. Bharata was ruling the Kingdom as well as Sri Rama and Bharata gave them affection and efficiency. Yet the citizens never forgot Rama.
Bharata too was waiting eagerly with his citizens for the return of Sri Rama. It is human tendency to forget the past when someone is taking good care of you in the present , but the Ayodhyavasis although content with the affection and efficiency of Bharata were eagerly waiting for Sri Rama as he was their life and breath.

Living mechanically and living with feelings and devotional sentiments are two different things, Ayodhyavasis practised discipline in all spheres of life except their heart. With the return of Sri Rama they had heart discipline and their very life.

Similarly Diwali without heart is diwali of the second kind, diwali with a heart and feelings is the diwali of the first kind. In the second type of Diwali there is poverty of consciousness and the first one is full of prosperity of culture.
Are we welcoming Sri Rama, and Sita as the ever green and fresh couple who are asking us to welcome in the consciousness of our heart and experience the real deepavali?

The choice is ours.

DUNG IN THE BRAIN

Some so called "educated people" make statements like "I ate beef come and kill me."  They make these statements as if the statements  were intellectual logical and economically beneficial to society.

The Ramayana speaks about the demon  Ravana, who was a criminal of the highest order. However even Ravana in the Yuddha Kanda has explained the power of cows, saying that cows were a sign of prosperity.

Duryodhana too had a clear understanding about godhana meaning the wealth in cows.

Use of cow dung on land instead of fertilisers makes land fertile and brings more production than using all kinds of fertilisers which are eventually dangerous to health.

Even simple people living in the jungles or for that matter even tribal people never eat the cow for they know that the sustainability of cows is important .

Why do the idiotic people not study  cows before making comments whilst eating flesh and drinking alcoholic  spirit? It's simply arrogance of the highest order that while eating beef statements which are neither logical nor sensitive are being made.

Statistics proves that cow dung and cow urine have a great potential to give large amount of production for a sustainable time. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are being used instead of cow dung  have caused destruction of land, soil and the health of farmers.

It would be better if these people used some cow dung and urine to clean their system. Then humility and sensitivity would prevail .
Sri Krishna's love  for cows and Vraj is not an isolated personal affection. It has deep philosophical and practical value.  Vrindavana represents prosperity of devotion and economical growth.

Those who are honest to the core will speak and think with deep observation and will refuse to say " I ate beef come and kill me."  In fact they will say there is something special about the cow.

KNOWING, UNDERSTANDING AND EXPERIENCING

If these three things are interconnected then it leads to growth of the highest order. But if there is a clash amongst the three then an obstacle to growth is created .

Some people know but may not understand then knowledge simply remains a piece of information, some may understand but may not experience, then it remains an analysis without feeling, and some others experience but do not understand giving rise to feeling but not meaning.

People following the sanatana dharma largely fell in the category of experiencing but not knowing and understanding . Hence when the missionary indologists wrote and published translations of our holy scriptures in English language with slanderous meanings the subordinate Indians took it as a revelation.
One can easily observe that those who have become British in taste and are the so called refined prople are bereft of proper understanding of their own culture.

When Dharmic people create coherency at all three level of realities it gives them the legacy of sustainability.

The Pandavas were fortunate to know the power of Sri Krishna. They understood  from the great sages the capacity of Sri krishna and in the kurukshetra war they were fortunate to  experience  the power of Sri krishna. Hence their growth was sustainable.

On the other hand people like Karna and others had continuous conflict between knowing acting and feeling .They  took many wrong decisions leading to their death.

Does it make sense?

MEANING OR FEELING?

When some one behaves in a particular way, we try to look for meaning in their behavior. But people expect feeling in other words empathy from us.
Even when we read scriptures we look for technicalities in judging others lives however we could look for empathy, sensitivity and magnanimity in  scriptures with reference to our wrong behavior.
Scripture plays the role of giving meaning and feeling. Simply looking for meaning gives us dry scholarship and simply feeling gives us sentiments, but when we have the ability to understand when to see meaning in scriptures and when to find feeling in the scriptures then we get the wisdom to deal with people and ourselves appropriately.

Sri Krishna heard of Yudhsthira being offensive to Arjuna in regards to Arjuna not fulfilling his vow of killing Karna.  Arjuna had come looking forYudhishthira enquiring about his welfare when Yudhishthira was hurt in the battle and had returned  back to the camp.   Yudhsthira thought Arjuna had come to give the good news of his having killed Karna. When Yudhsthira realized Arjuna had not killed Karna, Yudhsthira insulted Arjuna. Arjuna was angry and was about to attack Yudhisthira.
Sri Krishna stopped Arjuna,  asking him if he knew the reason of why his elder brother spoke that way.  Sri Krishna told Arjuna, "in one sense you heard what he said, but you should have felt why he  said what he said."   In other words Sri Krishna told Arjuna that the feeling is more important than the meaning.  Sri Krishna with great feeling communicated  to Arjuna the feelings of Yudhisthira's difficulties.
Arjuna understood and eventually with the blessings of his brother accomplished the difficult task of killing Karna.

Looking for meaning is important but what about feeling?  It is the difference between knowing and understanding or having a right map and reaching the actual destination or seeing gulab jamoon and eating jamoon.

Why not harmonize knowing and feeling, acting and living, conveying and communicating teaching and learning. Does it make sense?

HANUMANA APPROVES

After a long struggle Hanumana eventually came to the place where Sita was kept as hostage by the demon Ravana.
As Hanumana saw mother Sita, he spoke to himself, " the golden hued Sita is certainly the dear queen of Sri Rama. Even though she is not in the sight of Sri Rama she has not separated from his heart. This is the same Sita for whose sake he is constantly tormented because of compassion,magnanimity,lamentation and love."
His heart was overwhelmed and he said while reflecting about Sri Rama's thinking, one woman has taken our shelter hence there is a feeling of helping her, a feeling of lamentation because she is separated from me  .She is dear to me and I am feeling great separation. sustaining my life only because of the immense love for one another ." Hanuman reflecting on this transformed himself to Sri Rama in his mind and he congratulated Sri Rama for chosing mother Sita as His wife.

Hanumana was celibate but not insensitive  in his understanding of the needs of others .He was sensitive and  appreciative of what a householder could go through in separation of his wife. The great renunciate approved their marriage and considered  Sri Rama very fortunate.

Hanumana taught us the power of handling a contradictory lifestyle with great empathy.
Hanumana could have been indifferent to a house holders life since he was celibate, but he had a view that was integral and hence he lovingly decided to unite Sri Rama and Sita . He dived into action mode and his goal became Jai Sita Rama.

RESOURCES OR RELATIONSHIP ?

When we  are faced with a choice between relationship and resources, it is a difficult choice to make. The mean people also exhibit their affection to near and dear ones what to speak of ordinary people. It would be easier to have both or at least having relations and resources in a satisfying quantity.

Before the battle of Kurukshetra Arjuna, had to make the difficult choice between Sri Krishna and Sri Krishna's army.
Sri Krishna asked, " you want me, who will neither fight nor throw missiles or you want my army, which is large in number and every soldier is as powerful as me?"

Sri Krishna was asking Arjuna to make a choice between resources and relationships. Choice between priceless values and convenience.
From a practical perspective,Arjuna had come to krishna for collecting resources and conveniences, so that his army could out number the Kaurava army.

Arjuna without even the slightest  hesitation asked for relationship over resources and values over convenience.  It was an emotional  decision but was it a good strategy?
Affection is one thing but fighting with insufficient resources was a reality for Arjuna, then why was he unrealistic?  Duryodhana was convinced that the Pandavas had ruined their prospects of victory.
Arjuna told Sri krishna in response to the question of why Arjuna chose Sri  Krishna, he said that he needed Sri Krishna alone, even if it meant facing challenges.  Arjuna's understanding was, wherever there is Sri Krishna that itself is victory, and everything else is a detail. Arjuna knew that he himself was very resourceful, but he needed the guidance and grace which was available only with Sri Krishna.

In our life we will not be challenged with such conflicting situations. We may face the challenge of wanting more resources  vs a relationship.
Unfortunately people chose to cut all relationships because they are  inconvenienced and they choose some resources at the price of completely severing a relationship.

Is it possible to balance?
If one does that then he becomes satisfied like Arjuna, who was enterprising in acquiring resources but not stupid to give up his relationship.
He was practical and prayerful.  Duryodhana on the other hand was down right stupid and senseless.  He lost Sri Krishna his resources and his life.

Reflect about this and work on your labour which is your responsibility and balance between Sri Krishna's love and your leadership

HRISHIKESH AND GUDHAKESHA

Sri Krishna is also called Hrishikesh for he directs the senses from getting diverted or withdrawn from action.  Gudakesha is another name for Arjuna, which means one who controls senses including sleep or one who has conquered ignorance.

Controlling senses as an inspired act is good but not using them for positive engagement is an abuse of the society.
The abuse may be active or passive .   Arjuna not wanting to retaliate or give justice to the wrong doers and genuinely wanting to forgive and retract from engagement in the world was noble, but when Arjuna  decided to live on begging it seemed like a crime. It almost felt as if he were attacking some one for no cause other than abuse  of the person.

Arjuna's senses were getting distracted and were not focused on his duty, hence Sri Hrishikesh, the director of the senses had to direct Arjuna's senses by inspiring him through the song of compassion, the Bhagavad-Gita.

It was a long dialogue between a person who was distracted for good reason and the person who directs the senses in the right direction.  The conversation between Hrishikesha and Gudakesha is an immortal one.
Whether one is a Gudakesha like Arjuna withdrawing senses for a noble reason or one who is full of ignorance and passion, engaging his senses in a brutal way, both need the direction of the director of the senses. 
Sri Krishna is available through his immortal words to direct our senses.  This alliance of Gudakesha and Hrishikesha is guaranteed to give us contentment and fulfillment.

CHAOS TO COHERENCY

The cosmos has the inherent qualities of diversity and duality. Diversity and duality exist with as much surety as the surety of water quenching thirst.
Diversity is in every aspect of existence, and duality is in everything that we experience.  But the strange and stubborn human mind with its brain tries to create uniformity by destroying diversity and tries to create a uniform  experience.
An experience of pleasure by eliminating suffering . Humans by their limited technological advancement try to eliminate suffering  but sure enough and  fail again and again .This endeavour is a the privileged characteristic of humans, but it is applied in the wrong direction since ages.

The Mahabharata speaks and presents this reality with great force. It does not impose the same like a diktat, rather  narrates it with history and logic.
The reality of life is to find order in chaos. This is the theme of the Mahabharata .
In other words even if we win there is an inherent disadvantage of some one else suffering. In loss there is an inherent advantage of learning a lesson of what does not work. In loving relationships there is the fear of losing  them. When we reflect upon this reality we realise that we shall experience this duality till we have this corporal existence.

Yudhisthira was the epitome of this understanding. Therefore he was reluctant to be intoxicated by victory or to be miserable in defeat. Position or power did not make him arrogant.Losing all that he had in an instant did not make him lament. This demenour  of his made him the most qualified in the eyes of Sri Krishna. He was qualified to sit on the throne as the dharma raja.

It's our choice whether to deny this reality or accept it . Reality in terms of duality and diversity exists anyway

INTENTIONS AND SURROUNDING

Good intentions need favourable surroundings to fructify .This can be proved by a sensitive observation of the world. No newspaper or news channel can recount this phenomenon.

What makes one do what he or she is reluctant to do is a conflict between sincerity and surrounding. This clash is the story of the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
Duryodhana and Ravana also experienced this clash at least for a few moments, but their surrounding was insurmountable.
Duryodhana developed intense detachment from the world when he was saved by the Pandavas from the haughty Gandharvas. He decided to renounce everything and fast till death. He convinced Dushasana to rule. Karna and Dushasana failed in convincing him other wise. But when the lower beings came and convinced him about his enemity towards the Pandavas and when they promised that they would assist him, Duryodhana suddenly changed his attitude and regained his arrogance and ambition.
Another time Duryodhana agreed to accept Sri Krishna as supremely powerful, but when Sri Krishna sided the Pandavas Duryodhana excused himself and preferred to die in battle.

Ravana had unlimited power and resources. He had no reason to be lusty. Maricha, his uncle instructed him not to mess with Sita and Rama, by narrating his personal encounter with Sri Rama. Ravana like a sensible person went back to Lanka, but his sister Surphanaka, changed everything for him and for the destiny of Lanka.

For good sense to prevail one has to create a good surrounding either the external or the internal surrounding . The problem with an external  surrounding is that it is always in a flux, hence one who does not work from an internal surrounding becomes an integral part of the external surrounding.

Duryodhana and Ravana are extreme examples.They were thinking of something good but their surrounding was unfriendly. No one is as evil as Duryodhana and Ravana.
Yet we see a constant clash between intentions and surroundings. Depending upon who influences whom people make decisions. Some become good with good surrounding and some wanting to be good change into doing what the external world influences them to do .

With developed sensitivity and the recreation of a strong internal surrounding through sadhana, svadhyaya sadhu-association and selfless service one can be like Vibhishana, Hanumana and Vidura whose surroundings were unfavourable but they acted upon their good intentions.
We might fail to change the external  surrounding but whay about the internal surrounding?
Is it not our choice?

ABHIMANYU THE CAST

In life we cast something which is not  precious or even if it is precious not to the extent where it takes the life of the person whom we cast. We seldom take such risks, unless we are mentally and intellectually crazy and fanatical.

Abhimanyu was cast by Yudhdthira in the battle field not because he was a burden in the war field, rather he was the one who would shape  the positive future of Hastinapura. The stakes were high. It was victory at the cost of life, or life at the cost of the complete routing of the Pandava army, including the capture of Yudhishthira.

Abhimanyu feeling the tension of the moment, wanted to take the burden of becoming the cause of relief to the pandavas. The choice was between a conscious present and an unconscious future,  both being opposite of each other .

The eventuality did occur, Abhimanyu was brutally killed,  but not before damaging the Kuru army to an irreparable extent.

Some people in this world are difficult to  forget. They are unforgettable because  of their nastiness like Ravana whose   name made  people cry, and others are unforgettable due to their mind-blowing achievements. Arjuna belonged to the latter category .He was a person who brought happiness to the lives of many.

People like Abhimanyu are like hot sugar cane, you can't drink the hot sugar cane and can't  even resist the temptation to taste. Abhimanyu was the person who made people cry with joy pride and gratitude.

In life for creating lasting impressions in  war like situations, we will be forced to have more Abhimanyus, since Arjuna's of our life will need to fight  the battle elsewhere. We can hope that our Arjuna  always be with us, but the battle of life may not allow us that privilege, and we may be forced to make a decision to be an Abhimanyu or a leader like Yudhisthira-- who is forced to send his dear and near one in battle knowing clearly the consequences of such a  decision.

In Mahabharata Arjuna is the greatest hero, but Abhimanyu is the one who was willing to be put under the power of fire, so that others could have better resources to continue the battle of life and be victorious and for the battle to continue

COW AND SENTIMENTS

Sympathizing with the sentiments of people is one thing  but is it viable from an economical point of view?
This is the question raised by those who support the slaughtering of cows.

Those who want cows to be protected  say it does not matter whether it is economically viable or not it is a matter of our tradition,our emotion and our devotion to cows.
They say "an economic  calculation is brutal and quote the eg of old mothers, fathers, blind or handicapped and mentally-ill people saying even they are a burden so why not kill them ? "

The realists say "we already have burden why add one more because of religious sentiments ? Why not be practical? Affection towards parents, caring of sick and old is secular it has no religious connotation, but protection of cow is a Hindu sentiment and for others who are non Hindu it is a delicacy, nutritious and a habit since ages, why should they be forced to not eat beef? It's unreasonable and communal."

To this the cow lovers who are generally the follower of Sanatana dharma, Jains, Buddhists or Sikhs say, "this is the land of cow lovers and why should we compromise to the cause of the minority at the cost of majority?
When the Islamic invaders came even though they never had cow killing practices in the Arab countries they killed  cows to hurt  Hindu sentiments  When  they were uncompromising and hurtful why should we submit to them?
why not support non violence and ban cow killing for ever? They need to submit to the law of the land and respect the sentiments of the majority .They also say that the Hindu minority in other parts of the world  never creates or agitates
the law of their land."

Cow supporters also challenge saying
" the question of economics is easily solved if we make  the cow and land interdependent."

Unfortunately the western educated mind set does not want to understand the whole story of cows and its effect on economics. It's an open secret and implementable. To make land prosperous by cowdung and urine.

Few points to reflect.
The amount of subsidy given for pesticide and chemical fertilisers is colossal.
We are importing fertilisers which are banned in America and Europe.
Why not study why they are banned in Europe and America and why we are still using them?
Land is becoming poisonous and useless because of the poisonous fertilisers  and in turn  the immune system of humans and animals is getting destroyed.
Ordinary farmers who were promised  huge profits are crying for losing their land and health.
Cow and cow products have a solutions to this .
One can see how the British  destroyed the prosperity of the Indians by killing cows everyday. They killed a minimum of thirty thousand cows so that the land would become barren and they could advertise their chemical pesticides and control the economics of India by forcing the Indian farmers to depend on their products.
Why not both parties go beyond  sentiments and debate on the history of India for the last three hundred years? One will notice that cows grazing on land was synonymous to GDP being very high.
The Mahabharata says;
"The great Laxmi symbolically was given a place to reside in urine and dung of the cow." 
Does this ring a bell or are we so stubborn that we cannot hear it?
Mahabharata says that profits need to be dharma centric and dharma needs to be practicable.
The cause of cow protection  is challenging our sentiments.
The issue is not that it is good to protect  cows rather the fact that only cows can protect us from perishing due to lack of food and health,.
Why not give mother cow a chance to make India prosperous again?
Are we hearing?
The issue is beyond sentimental but certainly full of sentiments.

TIME PERSPECTIVE NOT FEELING

The Pandavas were looking for Duryodhana who was resting in the lake. He was  exhausted physically and emotionally after almost losing everything.  When the Pandavas found him they challenged him to come and fight with  any one of them. Duryodhana came out and challenged Bhima to fight with him.

Sri Krishna discussed with Arjuna the strengths and weaknesses of both the opponents.  At that time Balarama appeared. Both the brothers, Krishna and Balaram had different perspectives . Krishna was seeing from the over all perspective  and Balarama was seeing only from the perspective of a battle between two students. For Balarama it was a test of skills and practice, for Krishna it was question of establishing dharma as against allowing Duryodhana to snatch away the kingdom from the Dharmik Pandavas.
Sri Krishna told the Pandavas, “Duryodhana has lost everything, hence for him living or dying  makes no difference and he will be deadly in fighting. Secondly, Duryodhana has practiced without fail for thirteen years fighting keeping Bhima in his mind, hence he is extremely skillfull and fast. Bhima on the other hand being in the forest for all these years does not have practice.  Bhima is powerful but Duryodhana is skillful, skill is more important than power, therefore Duryodhana has to be defeated by  means of  an unfair fight.”

Eventually Duryodhana, was struck by Bhima on his thighs, which was against the law of mace fight.  This infuriated Balarama, who came to strike Bhima and punish  him with death penalty.  Krishna interrupted  Balarama and shared with  him how Duryodhana was meant to be struck on his thighs as predicted by Maitreya, and as promised by Bhima. Krishna narrated the past sins and the unjust death of Abhimanyu, but Balarama was unconvinced,and walked cursing Bhima and glorifying Duryodhana."

Similarly all the Siddhas, Gandharvas and Apsaras danced at the fighting spirit of Duryodhana, making  the Pandavas feel guilty. Ofcourse Sri Krishna gave a better and complete picture.

It is important to see the over all picture of a peson rather than seeing his present condition and make conclusions of dharma and adharma. Certainly dharma’s outlook is compassionate, but not at the cost of wrong assumptions and perceptions.

Duryodhan even while dying created confusion caused by apparent injustice to him but Sri Krishna cleared the cloudy and adharmik vision and gave a  complete  and wholesome vision

DIFFERENT EMOTIONS

When Yudhisthira maharaja was lamenting about the consequences of war, and taking the responsibility of war upon himself Vyasadeva shared his wisdom and with this Yudhisthira agreed to be coronated.

Vyasadeva said, “ When a king is forced to punish his subjects  by giving death penalty for the sake of the subject and the country, then it is not adharma. On the contrary if some one has evil intentions  and performs this activity then there is no question of repentence and neither do they feel repentant. 
All their rituals are useless. You never desired this war, and you are still repenting, even though they were all killed by their own sins.

On other hand Duryodhana or Dushashana even while dying, maintained the same arrogance that they had when they were living, because they were habituated to live a life of evil. They had mastered it as if that was dharma.  Duryodhana condemned Sri Krishna and here Yudhisthira condmned himself for the war. It is strikingly visible who is fit to rule, and who is fit to be punished." Vyasadeva being impartial to both the parties, made it very clear that Duryodhana and party deserved to be punished.

Sensitivity for oneself was Duryodhana’s legacy and sensitivity for others was Yudhisthira’s legacy.  Reflecting and inquiring from people of wisdom was Yudhisthira’s culture,  boasting and lying was Duryodhana’s perversion.

Even the Gandharvas and  Charanas failed to recognize this and got caught up with the skills of Duryodhana rather than seeing his over all purpose of life. They foolishly glorified Duryodhana at the cost of making the Pandavas feel guilty.

Yudhisthira was sensitive and at the same time spent his time listeining to his superiors, and eventually made the right deicison to rule reluctantly.  Duryodhana never listened to good counsel and made decisions unilaterally.
Choosing our decision is our right but the consequences and the reaction of our deicion is the realm of the time factor.

SKILL FOR KILLING?

Any skill acquired due to practice and passion makes one an expert and s masters of that skill.

Arjuna was skilled due to his extreme degree of focus, practice and passion.  Practice and patience are an interesting combination for becoming successful.  Both qualites are opposite of each other.  Patience is full of goodness, and action or practice denotes passion. In one sense they destroy each other. Patience destroys practice and action leads to impatience.  But Arjuna was harmonizing  both.

Many skills are inbuilt. Some are born with those skills due to the  influence of past karma. Expertise  and mastery  comes with skill practice with patience.

Ashwathama was impatient  unlike Arjuna. He wanted Drona his father to give him weapons just because he was Drona’s son, but that was an insufficient  qualfication.  But he insisted out of impatience. Karna also asked his  teacher to give him the brahmastra.
Drona refused to give knowledge of the brahmastra to his son and Karna, because they were impatient and not  qualifed to receive it . Their passion to get it made them lose their patience and honesty.  Ashwathama insisted and blackmailed his father, and Karna went to Parashurama and disguised himself as a brahamana. The consequeces that followed were terrible.

Karna was cursed when his education was almost complete. Parashurama cursed him for the lie, and told him that he would forget the astra when he needed it the most. Ashwathama was cursed for using it against Parikshita the only heir to the kingdom of the Pandavas.  Sri Krishna cursed him to suffer for three thousand years.

Arjuna who was most qualifed to use it never used it , rather he used it to counteract the weapon released by Ashwathama and was able to retract it when Vyasa and Narada requested him.  Arjuna was glorified by Vyasa and Ashwathama was  condemned  for misusing and causing such destruction.

Skill is good, but patience and right attitude is a special grace of God and  our superiors.

WICKED IN; WEAK OUT

The Bhagavad Gita begins with Dhritharasthra asking Sanjaya the updates of the preparation of the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas.

The beginning of the Bhagavad gita  reveals the heart of Dhritharasthra.
He did not want his children to compromise with the Pandavas Internally, externally  he always showed the  signs of weakness due to their unwillingness to listen to good counsel.  He would play this card to all, including  Sri Krishna, he would say, “what can I do they are not listening to me, I am blind hence weak and cant mend their behaviour, please understand my predicament.”  But internally he was hand in gloves with his wicked sons in conspiring against the pandavas.

When the news of the burning of the house of lac reached Dhritharasthra, he feigned lamentation for the death of his brother’s sons , but in reality he was very much a part of the consiparacy to eliminate the Pandavas, rather he supported the activity of his sons.

This comibination is very deadly.  This syndrome of Dhritharasthra is still  prevelant. When a religious body plays this card, it is dangerous.
In the evangelical movements, the stmpathy card is played very strongly. They provoke and make others attack them and  then act as victims to gain sympathy. They do this so that their conversion mission continues.

Dharma on the other hand gives us  deep and honest perceptions. It challenges us to go down and dig out intentions and our agendas. It questions what do we do with our weakness? Do we make it a deadly weapon to be selfish and unreasonably ambitious?

Since this combination is deadly, the reaction for such behaviour is also  severe. Dhritharasthra paid the price for this. He saw his sons getting slaughtered by Bhima.  Dhritharasthra lost both his resouces and all his sons.

We have to analyze, understand and then execute with great wisdom and foresight.

EXHIBITION DISCOURAGED.

Being sensitive towards others is a desirable quality , since it enhances continuity.  Sensitivity towards oneself is required to be functional but to be over sensitive is selfish. Selfishness leads to blindness of the future legacy and non sustenance of one's surrounding.
This aspect is illustrated very effectively in one episode in the Pandavas life.  When Arjuna came back from the heavenly realms learning and acquiring celestial weapons the other Pandavas wanted him to exhibit the power of those weapons.
As Arjuna started invoking the dreadful  weapons, they started creating a disturbance all around. All the elements started to act violently .
When Naradamuni noticed this, he came down and warned Arjuna not to use the weapons for the sake of display. Naradamuni told Arjuna the disadvantages of these deadly weapons  and how sensitively one had to use them  else they could cause colossal destruction.

Arjuna desisted and stopped the display.   In this episode the sensitivity of the great sage Naradamuni who is ever cognizant about the consequences of our actions is seen in abundance .
On the other hand we see that the modern civilization has become expert in display of technology however  sensitivity whilst displaying is either absent or is present in a very minuscule quantity .Inventions of today are popular but the effects of these inventions are more on the negative side. Presently the  invention may appear fascinating however the long term effect could be alarmingly dangerous.
Arjuna,  never became a warrior who would display his weapons and skills  rather he remained a sensitive warrior, who used his skills and weapons with great precaution.
In the modern civilisation slaughtering of humans has been increased many fold with restless minds and ruthless weapons including death of babies in the womb.
Hence sensitive people warn us to be cautious in using our power or else it may cause harm for long.

TEN HEAD BUT BRAIN?

When Vibhishana was speaking to Ravana after knowing that Sri Rama had  already come to fight Ravana, he gave good advise, which was rejected by the brainless Ravana.

Vibhishana was precise in his advise he said, "you can attack your enemy, If he is inattentive or if other’s have conquered him, or is diseased,  or destroyed by the Daiva.

But Sri Rama is very attentive, He has come to conquer and  his army is there. He has conquered  his anger- (person with anger is not strategic) SriRama has not offended you and Khara was killed because every one has the right to protect himself.

Therefore give back mother Sita, else it  will be disastrous for Lanka."  Vibhshana advised Ravana to give back Sita and along with that give lots of gifts to Sri Rama, to pacify him. Vibhishana  was right but Ravana was more obsessed with his ego than a right strategy for life.  Honesty and humility are not only good qualities but they are sustainable for legacy.

Being harsh and egoistic is unsustainable, they destroy the one who has it and those who fan such egoism.  Ravana was doomed by his ego, and the ministers were fanning his ego, so that they could get better remuneration. However instead of better remuneration   they got cremation . On the other hand Vibhishana took the risk of losing every thing , and took the side of truth and dharma. Destiny and the lord of destiny coronoated him as the king of Lanka, even before Ravana was killed. Sri Rama was kind and confident enough to declare Vibhishana as the next king.

Ravana’s destiny was sealed with his behaviour, and this was true for Vibhishana too. However Vibhshana went through some serious churning of  thought process and separated  himself from his brother at the cost of losing all shelter and the relationship with his brother.  However  the reality was that Ravana lost everything while Vibhishana gained everything.

A question  that is  raised ..
Are  transferency and dharma time bound or eternal?

The answer  is  you think  and choose.  Dharma and transferency are like finger burns in fire, time bound or eternal?

HANUMANA’S INTEGRAL ADVICE

When Bhima was looking for some special flowers for Druapadi, he met with Sri Hanumanaji. Bhima was delighted to see the great devotee of Sri Rama, who was full of energy, devotion and sensitivity.

Hanumana in a causal way instructed  Bhima about the yuga cycle and how it operates and how one needs to respect the changing times. He spoke of the effect of different yugas on people, but beyond this information, Hanumana, spoke of an eternal  and unchangeable principle of life.

Hanumana said, “do not be so adventurous that it is destructive, follow the path of dharma and understand the deeper aspects of dharma. Without understanding dharma and serving the superiors it is difficult even to some one like Brihaspati to experience dharma and explain artha properly. Only by proper behaviour dharma is realized, and dharma is the foundation of the vedas, and vedas reveal yagnas,and devas are situated in yagna.”  Hanumana continued speaking about Raja dharma to Bhima, which explained the duties of the administrative class.

Interestingly we see that Hanumana was warning Bhima to not be destructively adventurous . We see in the modern world  that adventures are deadly and dangerous, they have only entertainment value and a less constructive value. Adventures relating to protecting some one, saving others, and standing for truth are hardly discussed and shown on  televsion whereas adventure sports pre occupies most of the world.

Hanumana said that according to the vedic texts, it is not possible to understand the vedas simply by critical study. One needs honesty on a dharma platform ,mercy and blessing of superiors to understand the vedic texts  so that its knowledge is never misused and wrongly interpreted.

Modern indologists have speculated on the vedic knowledge without having the proper  qualification,lifestyle and humility to understand  the vedic texts by service and honesty. Think about it .

BUTCHER ENLIGHTENS THE BRAHAMANA

Dharmik scriptures depict life in a very dynamic way. They narrate systems which are rigid and fluid, but the purpose of both is to create harmony and  the legacy of a dharmik life.

One such incident is narrated in the Mahabharata. An austere brahaman who burnt a bird to ashes with his power,  felt sorry and simultaneously  was amazed by his power. He came to a house to beg for some food. The lady made him wait as she was busy serving her husband a meal. When she came out to offer him the charity of food, the brahamana stared at her, not to burn her with his power but to show his disapproval for making him wait. She told him she is not the bird but a chaste lady. He was shocked to know that she knew about the incident .
She asked him to go to a butcher who was known as Dharma vyadha, meaning dharmik butcher.
When the Brahamana came to Janaka puri, he got in touch with the butcher who took him to his house, and offered him a place to sit. They started discussing,  the brahamana heard form the butcher because he found him to be the knower of the essence of scriptures and having all the qualities of an  advanced person with character. Some of the things the butcher said to the Brhamana was “greed is the house of sin.  One who covers adharma by the show of dharma will not suffice, however big they talk.   To find good character is difficult in them.

Those who are real people with character, serve their superiors,  their speech  is constructive or truthful, and they are free form anger and are charitable.

This body is like a river,  the five senses are the water in the river, greed and obesession are the whales, who will swallow, and this river is flowing in the difficult terrain of life and death. You sit on the boat of sobertiy and cross this difficult place."

The butcher went on to speak on varied subjects, causing great fascination in the heart of  the Brhamana. The Bahamana was humble enough to receive the knowledge coming from a person with great character even though apparentely he was  from a low background.

The butcher said that destiny  had placed him in this kind of a family but it was possible to transcend the situation and be placed in proper behaviour.  It was truly amazing and certainly possible.  Dharmik scriptures try to encompass every one while maintaing the system in a such way that every one has the chance for perfection.

DISADVANTAGE OF A LONG LIFE

Yudhishthira Maharaja heard from Markandeya Rishi about the disadvantages of a long life.  The rishi narrated a story of the discussion between the sage Baka and Indra. Baka had  a  long life hence Indra asked him the disadvantages of a long life.

Baka said, “One of the main problem with  a long life is that you have  to stay with those people  with whom you cannot relate . One has to suffer the death of dear one’s continuously, unfortunately one is forced to associate with unwanted people.  One is forced to see the death of his wife, children and relatives.  For sustenance one has to depend on outsiders, and they certainly neglect if not ridicule.”

The mundane world offers the pain of a short life and the disadvantage of a long life  There are some good sides and some bad sides , but to think that one enjoys immensely the long life span is  superficial . People who live long lives  are living for the sake of living  without contributing much to anyone's life.

Dhritharasthra survived beyond the death of his sons. It was not a happy life, and neither was it a fulfilling life .
He had a very strong desire to stay in this world even though  he was ridiculed by Bhima. He did not want to get rid of this useless life, till Vidura put sense in his blinded and depressed ego. What a curse to be living a long life without contributing anything.

Therefore one great devotee  (the descendent of Pandavas )Parikshita when he was cursed to die within seven days, he did nto pray to the lord to keep him alive for the sake of living, rather he prayed, “if I have to come back then I would prefer complete affection to lord Sri Krishna, association of saintly people, and compassion or friendliness towards all suffering people."

Dharma tells us that if you can stay long and do something good then it is a good life, but living a long life and simply dragging it becomes a burden on  others.
Think about it make a choice of life which is meaningful and fruitful.

YAGNA

The dharmik scriptures define yagna(sacrifice) more as an affair of every moment rather than the ritual of a seasonal cycle.The yagna of rituals is being rejected today because of lack of understanding, or an increase in superficiality by the perfomer.

Mahabharata defines yagna as:
Not becoming too joyful on receiving wealth,
Performance of welfare work,
Freedom from desire caused by proper detachement,
Tolerating an undesirable event,
Not desiring relationships of wife, children,
Giving charity only to qualified people.

These yagnas  are eternal  and can be performed  by one and all.  It does not require  a priest or a specialized teacher to perform.
It is the way in which one lives  life and that which has the power to create a legacy of coherency.

The Pandvas were never too absorbed in celebration, rather they were reflective in the administration of their kingdom. In Sri Krishna’s Dwaraka, where there were  nine hundred thousand palaces, it was a  part of  the daily routine of Sri Krishna to perform welfare work.
Proper detachement means to move to the next stage of life. Once Yudhisthira maharaja heard of the departure of Sri Krishna from this world, and Parikshita was qualified to rule, Yudhisthira moved from his duty of being king to the duty of being a reflective sage in the woods.

Undesirable events are happening in the world that we live in because that is the nature of this world. One need not  pray for them nor deny their existence. One should deal with them and some events  simpy  need to be tolerated. Like  the fiery Bhima tolerated the saintly Yudhisthira who was always ready to withdraw from action even against those people who were extremely brutal.

Not desiring the basics of life like wife and children, means having no obsession about them, one needs them but one should not overly disturbed for getting them.

Giving charity only to qualified people is one of the most important instructions.  Some people do not how to make money and others who know how to make money do not how to spend it.
The most difficult thing is knowng who is qualified to receive charity.
Charity can be offered to :
1.Those who are living a life of inspired poverty so that they can do more effective work in the society.
2.Those who are straving because of circumstances.
3 Or charity can be given for the cause of Dharma and at the same time one needs to be alert to see that one's charity is not hijacked by those who are evil and slanderous of dharma in the name of dharma.

Dharma glani happened because of Drona and Bhisma  who sided and gave the charity of their life for the cause Duryodhana.

We can reflect and live in perpetual yagna.

HANUMANA‘S THREE SECRETS

Hanumana is a non controversial personality. There are no disputes in regards to his activities.  He brings excitement and bliss to one and all, old or young, men or women.
Hanumana represents, Bhakti, Shakti and Yukti.  Bhakti represents his devotion, shakti represents his resources, and yukti represents his strategy.  This combined force is the force of positivity. It builds,protects, unites and destroys the power of adharma.

In this world, being right is good but being resourceful to push right is important. Being right gets diluted if the resources are limited.  Resources and skills are not compelete without the culture of devotion.

Hanumana is the personfication of these three which constitute completeness.  When he flew to Lanka to look for Mother Sita, he had devotion towards Sri Rama, that was the impetus.  However devotion without action is sentimental.  Hanumana had  the resources and along with powerful resources and devotion he had great strategy.
When he found mother Sita he gave her the message of full  reassurance of her delivery. He found out how Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana appeared as a part of  his study for future attack. He got caught by his own will and gave a warning to Ravana in a very tactical way.  Evenutally he gave the glimpse of Sri Rama’s power by burning the lanka.

One important quality along with bhakti shakti and yukti was mukti from pride of being successful.  Hanumana was a performer of herculean taks but he was humble and meek like a shy introvert  child.

This combination is the dream of all those who are aspiring to be successful.
Let us bring Hanumana back into our life by becoming the soldiers of Hanumana.  Not to destroy but to construct the broken life of people.  Mother Sita represents prosperity, Sri Rama is the husband of that prosperity.  If Sri Rama and Sita are together then Ayodhay will be happy.

We need skills, resources and the culture of devotion, that is like Hanumana being present everywhere.

PRIVILEGES AND PROBLEMS

In life there are privileges and problems both . Sometimes there are privileged problems. Of course priveleges are not problems in one sense, but the mind  cheats us  and makes priveleges into problems .

Dhritharasthra, Duryodhana and Dushasana had priveleges of being born in a royal family, but they saw the Pandavas as the their biggest problem.  The Pandavas were their relatives and had not caused any problem.
When Sri Krishna came as the peace maker, he told the Kauravas the benefits of making Pandavas their ally. He explained  that no one  would dare to look in their direction if the Kurus and the Pandavas were togther.Unfortunately the kurus  did not see this as an advantage rather they saw the Pandavas  as problems in their life.

Privileged people, often become narrow minded.  They have sufficient resources but  their world becomes very small, “its me and mine,” and their understanding of mine becomes clouded by imaginary problems .They forget their good fortune of being born in a privileged family.

Therefore Dharmik Scriptures advise us to be trained in a all situations of life . It begins in the Gurukula or teacher’s residence, where even though one is born privileged, he is inspired to stay  in the association of other students so that one learns the art of  living a cooperative life.

Unfortunately Duryodhana never went to the house of a Guru, rather the guru was made to stay in the royal family.  Dronacharya stayed within the close proximity of  the royal family, hence he lost the honor of being impartial. Drona told Yudhisthira in the battle of Kurukshetra that he was forced fight against the Pandavas as he had been purchased by Duryodhana.

Pandavas also stayed in the palace and studied under the same Guru  but  they did not take the value of slavery of Dronacharya.
While the Pandavas were living in the forest they were offered help by the Yadavas  but Yudhisthira refused help. As a kshatriya it was his duty not to live on favours.
Yudhisthira had a problem but he turned it into a privilege of confidence and self reliance.  He did not make the Kaurvas  his problem rather remained  as his relatives.  Eventually when they became a problem to the dharmik kingdom, Yudhisthira used the svadharma  of a kshatriya to rectify the situation by uprooting them from the position of power.

Privileges can be a problem and problems can be privelges, it all depends on whom we follow Yudhisthira or Duryodhana?

DASARATHA AND TRAGEDY

Dasharatha Maharaja, father of Sri Rama had a tragic life. The tragedy was caused by wealth, power and the birth of Sri Rama. Tragedy struck not due to misuse of resources but due to accidental mistakes and promises made by him.

Dasaratha maharaja wanting to please his citizens entered the forest to hunt wild animals.The wild animals would cause disturbance by attacking the city if they were allowed to roam free.   Unfortunately whilst hunting these animals Dasharatha accidentally killed Shravana Kumara, who was escorting his aged and blind parents. Dasaratha had mistook the sound of the filling of water pots as animals drinking water and through a sonic weapon had attacked. He killed the person by sound recognition. Shravana's father  cursed Dasarath to experience the same pain  of separation as he was experiencing on the death of Shravana.

Dasaratha was shell shocked and never revealed this story to any one. He did not know what kind of separation and pain he would encounter.  Would it be the death of his son or would his son go out of Ayodhya? The uncertainty added to the misery. The anticipation and not speaking to any one about this curse led to insurmountable suffering.
Secondly, when Dasarath was about to marry Kaikeyi his third wife, her father put a condition saying  that only her son would be the next king. Eager and bereft of sons from other wives Dasaratha consented.  But with the birth of Sri Rama and other sons Dasaratha maharaja realized his folly.
How could any one other than Sri Rama be king?
But Dasaratha had promised that Kaikeyi's  son Bharata would be king.
No one knew about this promise not even Kaikeyi and Bharata.
Therefore when Dasharatha maharaja decided to coronate Sri Rama he did not  let Bharata know  about the coronation what to speak inviting him. Bharata was at his uncle 's place at the time of the coronation.

Strangely enough Dasarath Maharaja  successfully crossed these problems and Sri Rama's coronation was about to take place when Kaikeyi struck. She reminded  Dasharatha of the benediction which he had given her. Dasharatha was unprepared for this .  He had promised her two benediction when she had helped him in s battle.  Granting the benediction to Kaikeyi  made him  experience the pain of separation from Sri Rama and Bharata's ruling of Ayodhya.

Through this story and other stories of Ramayana we learn how life operates in this world.

TIME HEALS

Kala is loosely translated as time.  In Bhagavad-Gita Sri Krishna explains kala as power which manifests as destructive energy and also it is creative energy.  The beauty of Gitopanishada is that it presents the story of anything connected to this world from both the side, the destructive as well as constructive.  It has power to present reconciliation. Because reconciliation is natural phenomena of this  world. 

Therefore time presented as hurting at times and at other times it heals.
In fact life is so designed in this world and time is major contributor of this phenomena. The entire Vedic source of knowledge gives us this perspective.   Kala purusha has the audacity even to humbly request the lord the creation to wind up His activity in the mortal world when He comes as Avatara.   When Sri Rama came as Avatara in the conclusion of his pastimes kala purusha(time personified) came to him asking for personal audience, he said Sti Rama to wind up his pastimes in that particular time zone.  Sri Rama respected kala's request because the lord of creation does not defy his own law even though He is beyond law.

Sri Krishna eventually accepted the so called  curse of  sages given to his sons and grandsons for destruction of His yadu clan.   He thought the lessons to all those who want to permanently create their impression by avoiding the influence of time.  No one in this world has the power to create permanent influence in the works, it is sheer foolishness because time simply By its presence makes every one and every great civilization to go into oblivion. 

Therefore the lord of the time descends down to this world time and again just so that balancing is done.  Sri Krishna mentions in Gita about how knowledge becomes obscured because of time but then he spoke to Arjuna to review the wisdom which was covered over. 

This the complexity in how time and lord of time functions.  Becoming and unbecoming. This the drama of life and also the things of this world also moves on this principle

MOTHER AND SHAKTI

Dharmik tradition defines feminine power in many different ways. Many people propose that she is subordinate to men. Some present her as an embodiment of all refineness .Her shyness is described as an ornament that enhances her beauty and charm.  Some present her as a helpless victim of abuse or as if she  undergoes  continuous exploitation.  Some more present her as the ultimate representation of motherhood. Or her as an ultimate destination or some speak  of the success of her feminine position. These analysis are all true and real. The good definitions need be protected and her abuse and exploitation needs to be eliminated.
Dharmik wisdom presents another aspect of feminine diversity and that is her "SHAKTI" or she being  a source of energy.  The Vedic wisdom enumerates the source of everything as the personal God who is the energetic and his counter part as energy. They are inseparable, there is no energy without the energetic and vice versa . Motherhood is one aspect and not all the aspects.   Motherhood represents nourishment of what she brings to this world. But her main aspects should not be forgotten.

Srimati Laxmi, Srimati  Radha, Srimati Sitadevi are the  energies of the pleasure giving potency, pleasure through compassion. But the same Shakti can also be a power house of a different nature .In their justice dissemination they can empower women with the power of destruction of mother Kali  or Mother Rudrani or Durgadevi.

This Shakti's display of compassion and bring a cruel judge to us are her original aspects. Hence we need to deal with Shakti in a more sensitive way.
In her original form she is all good and magnanimous but in her administrative form, especially  towards those who tend to rebel against her see her disciplinarian side.
Draupadi the wife of Pandavas, who was born in fire was compassionate even to some one who killed her own son.  But the Kurus who tried to disrobe Druapadi were beyond forgiveness, therefore she was like a blazing fire who instigated the termination of the entire Kshatriyas race.

Mother Sita who is very compassionate, for Ravana ,and his army  became death personified  and therefore the great Mandodhari while wailing over the dead body of her husband, Ravana, spoke,"my dear husband, you are not dead by the arrows of Rama, but simply by the tears of mother Sita."

It is our choice whether we want  Shakti's compassion and grace or Shakti's passion and be trounced by her?

THE WIFE OF DURYODHANA.

Duryodhana married the daughter of  the king of Kashi with the help of his friend Karna as it is mentioned  in the Mahabharata.
Vyasa's Mahabharata is silent about her name and her response to her husband's behavior. Some folklore tales mention her name as Bhanumati.
It is interesting to note that the wives of major villains in the Ramayana play an important role in trying to convince their husbands to abandon their evil ways.  Tara in Ramayana tries to convince Vali not to accept the challenge of Sugriva the second time since he had an alliance with Rama.

Ravana was repeatedly advised by his chaste and good wife Mandodhari to abandon his evil intentions. Both Tara and Mandodhari reflect upon the death of their husbands. They show their loyalty as wives but maintain an independent view of things from the dharma point of view. Both blame their husbands for being punished by Sri Rama.

The Bhagavata Purana states that wives are the intelligence behind the men. However the demons Ravana and Vanara Vali rejected their good advise. On the other hand Duryodhana, Karna and Shakuni shut their intelligence to such an extent that they did not give their wives any importance in  their life. Vyasadeva mentions the name of their son in battle but does not make any mention of their wives. Their greatest ill fortune was that they shut their intelligence. Exactly as Dhrithrashtra had shut his heart and ear  to  the good advise of his wise wife.   Surely they must have made their wives cry repeatedly . The only good thing was that Duryodhana 's daughter was married to Sri Krishna's son Sambha . But even his daughter could not change her father.

Therefore Manu says that in a family where women are not respected and are made to cry, their prosperity is destroyed.

DO RIGHTLY THE RIGHT THINGS

Doing things rightly is one thing but doing right things rightly is the perfection of efficiency.

It is seen seldom that right things are done with less efficiency because focus is on having the confidence of doing right things rather than also doing it rightly. 

In other hand we see the world we live in especially the modern technological world is extremely efficient centric.  Every technological invention increases the preciseness of its action and the effect, rarely failing.  The missiles hit the target as far as few hundred miles.   The modern medical industry has been braking through so many mysteries of  human anatomy.  The business world's goods are being sold in any part of the world any product within amazing quantity and quality, but what we have done with the life and multi faced relations itself.  We are doing things rightly but are they right things?  
Human intellect as developed skillful things but what about skills in relating to each other, the environment and the sensitivity for the future generation. Pollution of human mind is as deadly as the pollution of external environment.  In fact it's reflection of human heart and mind. The result is very challenging and looks unrepairable.  Human efficiency only centered around in regards to flying, driving, texting, calling and  is eating is bound to brake because it does not cover all the time zone.  It is present centric not legacy centric. 

Therefore Mahabharata forces us to see everything as one time zone.  All three spheres of time zone is like flowing waters of mother Ganga.  If the source is polluted the confluence in Ganga sagar will be disturbingly polluted and certainly the whole land scape through which Ganga flows. 

The Kurus headed by Shakuni, Karna and their leader Duryodhana where experts but in what? Certainly destruction.  Krpacharya, Bhisma and Drona were good and had a great school but whom were they using it, certainly to the side of destructive party.  Pandavas on other hand maneuvered by Sri Krishna were doing right things for right reason with a right intention, it was wholesome right.  Tough but right, challenging but fulfilling painful but meaningful.

The choice is ours which category we fall in? bad things rightly done-it's worst.  Bad things badly done-bad.  Righ thing badly done, good.   Or right thing rightly done- excellent pandavas.

VOTING OR ACTING

Kuruksetra which was addressed as Dharmaksetra even by Dhristhrasthra, shows that it was a field for planting dharma and uprooting adharma.  Dharma is compared to a healthy and wholesome creeper and adharma is compared to an unwanted creeper, which has the power to choke the growth of the dharma creeper.

Field signifies a place for action and every one in the field is asked to be active. Those representing the unwanted creeper are as active as those  representing the  good creeper. The task of pulling out the bad creeper is a  Herculean one but nevertheless a  fulfilling one. Many good creepers are  lost in uprooting the bad ones but at the end of the day good prevails.

There is difference between acting and voting.The voting concept culminates at the ballot box. Large number of change seeking citizens take part only upto the voting stage and that too the number of people seeking change is  usually  not beyond fifty percent. So how can one expect the growth of the  dharma creeper ?
Voting should be action centric, both for the voters and voted.
In the battle of Mahabharata every one was responsible actively  to root out the unwanted creeper and then the dharma prevailed for a long time.
Unfortunately in the modern system, most of the citizens are busy with sense  gratification or in working for future gratification or complaining for not having enough gratification.
When the field is filled  with more people who are eager to exploit the resources and with  less people fighting to increase the good resources it is bound to create an imbalance.
For however long we wish to create a healthy society without actually being actively involved--- our war for dharma will continue to remain on Twitter, what's app and other screens.

Therefore Sri Krishna makes it clear to Arjuna and all other potential followers  of Arjuna’s to rise and go beyond the ballot box and work in divine consciousness.
This is the theory of success, it is with responsibility.

THE SAGE AND HIS PRACTICALITY

During their exile when the Pandavas were living in the forest , they met many Rishis, and wise people from whom they learned many things.
Once they met Markandaya Rishi who offered many lessons to them.

Markandaya said, “One who has wealth,  spends the wealth decorating his body, absorbed in bodily gratification .They are attached to the body  and they only enjoy life in this world.

Those who engage in astanga yoga, peform tapasya, absorbed in acquiring knowledge  and retire from all kind of gratification. They cause pain to others and make their physical  body lean .They do not aspire for any pleasure in this world, they wait for the higher realms to be happy.

But there are those who are duty bound and practice dharma(their occupational duty)and by dharma only they earn  their living. They get married and perform different kinds of sacrifices and devotional services to the lord.These people enjoy in this world and the next world.

The beauty of dharmik tradition is, “options,” and along with the options are their consequences.  Usually people take  the easier option, either  pleasure in this world, or pleasure in the other world. Either they are selfish in this world, or are selfish for the future.
The last kind of people who are represented by the Pandavas,  along with being duty bound also help others to follow their dharma. They are willing to be competent so that their talents are beneficial to others.

Markandeya rishi concluded by saying to the Pandavas, “ You are born with valour, and come to fulfill the desire of the Gods, hence do not be discouraged by your present suffering, but be assured by your tapasya, heroism, sense restrain, good behaviour, and while pleasing the rishis, teachers and gods you will  gain everything in the future.  Eventually you will achieve his planet by being loyal to the lord in the heart "

This is the picture of a true dharmik person, they see God everywhere. They see it in their sva-dharma,  their austerity,  their difficulty, and in their prosperity. Eventually they achieve transcendence in reality.

GITA A BOOK OR AN EXPERIENCE ?

When Sri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad- Gita to Arjuna, it was an experience which Arjuna could only relish in the core of his heart. Experiences are different from events.  Events can be reproduced, but experiences are difficult to reproduce.  A mother experiencing  childbirth cannot experience child birth again with the same child . She can officially celebrate the birthday, but the birth experience of the same baby ---not possible.
When someone gets married, it is an event, but more so it’s a powerful experience, which can be recollected as a memory, “oh it was great experience.”   The marriage album does not give the feelings they can only give memory.

For Arjuna hearing the Gita was an amazing experience. After the Kurukshetra war when Arjuna asked Sri Krishna to speak the bhagvad gita again as they were strolling along the river Yamuna Sri Krishna declined, saying it is impossible to repeat.

One may raise the question ," then why do we take shelter of the Gita, if the experience cannot be repeated?"
The Gita teaches us, to learn the concept of experiencing divinity but experiencing it is our responsibility.

How can we experience what Arjuna experienced? It is possible, Sri Krishna gives the process, which when applied has the power to make us experience.  Process and result are one and the same as we progress on the path of Yoga, specially the yoga of bhakti. Everybody has a different  experience. To expect that we can relish the Gita only if Krishna comes and speaks to us is outrageous.  Speaking the gita is a prerogative of God. Our situations will allow us to experience Krishna, if we decide to take shelter of the Gita. It was Arjuna’s choice to take shelter and krishna took him through the journey of the Gita, and that experience, Arjuna, recounted when Sri Krishna departed from this world. The beauty with spiritual substance is that it not only gives memory but gives experience.

The power of spiritual substance is that it has the power to influence our experiences.  We see that all of us have the same situation as Arjuna confusion and conflict, to do it or not, so Gita’s wisdom is not information centric it is transformation centric.  Gita was spoken historically a few thousand years ago, but it can be heard  even today by every one those who has the same  predicament as Arjuna. In fact everyone has similar situations  and if we are ready like Arjuna, then we will be able to access the experience. Simple political history is a collection of facts, but the Gita while being a fact has an impact.  Let us try to take wisdom of Gita and see the difference.

VIDURA TO DHRITHARASTHRA

Vidura was speaking to  the afflicted Dhritharasthra, who was lamenting for the death of his sons. Vidura spoke strongly but compassionately to his brother about the nature of this world.

Dhritharastha needed to develop detachment and not lament
because lamentation would give him nothing. He had to be prepared for giving up his attachement, while Yudhisthira needed to act responsibly to lead the kingdom. As Dhritharasthra was hearing about detachment, Vyasadeva, Krishna and Bhisma were advising Yudhisthira to give up detachment and indifference towards the kingdom because it was time for Yudhsthira to be involved to create a new dharmik order.
Dharmik scriptures give medicine according to the need of the patient.

Here is some of the wisdom that came forth form Vidura:
Of all that is collected will end in destruction.
Elvation in material life will lead to a fall down
All union leads to separation and life is moving towards death.
Those who are lamenting for  the death of their near and dear cannot go along with them nor they can die immediately.
Lamentation has millions of sources and even fear has many openings .These attack the fools not the wise.
Beauty, youth, life, wealth, health and being with the near and dear one’s is never permanent. Your lamentation, is neither a tool for wealth, nor for dharma neither for happiness.
Just like different earthern pots get destroyed at different intervals---- some whilst making, some while putting them on the potters wheel, some whilst they're half done, some while being cut with the thread, some while being  removed from  the wheel, some after being removed from the wheel, some while they are still wet, some when they are almost dry, some whilst being used as cooking pots, and some while carrying the contents in the cooking pot.
Human body is exactly like the earthern pot.  It gets destroyed at different intervals, so Vidura  said "my dear brother there is no point in lamentation.  Living beings are like animals swimming in the water ---some times they come on the surface of the water, some times they are within the water unseen.  Similarly the living beings are born and visible and some time dead and invisible.  Only those who are endowed with the mode of goodness, can ascertain the movement of the living entities as the karma cycle and can attain the higer consciousness."

This was Vidura. He was involved in the affairs of the kingdom more diligently than Dhritharasthra but there was an element of detachment in him which was not bordering on indifference
Dhritharasthra was completely involved, attached, alert but full of anxiety and fear hence he neither had the tool, skill nor  the morality to deal and run the kingdom with proper dharma.
One who was attached suffered . One who was responsible and detached comtinued as the minister of the Pandavas.

MORALITY AND DHARMA

The debate between the religious people and those who do not practice  religion  continues with regards to morality.  Do we need to religion to be moral? The religious people say if we are not religious then we create people like Hitler, Stalin and Mao. To this the non religious people cite examples of the crusaders and jehadis for untold violence caused by religion. To this relgious people say they are not real practitioners of religion and non religious people cause so much violence because they do not have a reference point for what is morality, hence it create limitless sensuality.  The non religious people hit back saying that it is easier to separate from religion the religious bigoter by saying that, “they are not our true followers, but ultimately their bigotry comes from the very religion you are talking about.” The debate goes on forever, and both parties can prove it statastically that each party has caused violence.

The Dharmik scriptures, make it clear that you do not have have to be a spiritualitst to be a moralist, but a spiritualist needs to be moralist.
The two offshoots of Dharmik tradition--- the Buddhists and the Jains are agnostic and atheistic in nature but teach high moral values beginning form compassion to charity and human sensitivity.

Then why do we need dharma if it is not required for the sake of morality?  Morality in dharma, is one of the lowest denominator. Spirituality goes beyond simply being a moralist. A dharmik spirtualist does not escape moral laws rather he transcends morality.  Because morality is space,culture and  time bound, but spirituality is timelss and beyond space and civilization. Morality is for the body, but spirituality is the essence of the soul.

Dharma talks about integral growth, from physical to supramundane.   Here God is not used for our moral purity, rather in Dharmik tradition one becomes connected to God in service.  Therefore spiritual advacement becomes an inner calling while doing the external responsibility expertly and never becoming attached to them and at the same never being irresponsible towards them.

Therefore in the Mahabharata war, the Pandavas were on a spiritual journey, but never at the cost of being irresponsible.  They fought the war along with maintaining their inner spiritual connection.  Kauravas on the hand collected moral people immoral people and some who were spiritual internally. Externally these people were going against God and his law, and the laws of nature and Sri Krishna’s power eventually terminated all of them.