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.

VIOLENCE AND RELIGION

Does religion cause violence?
Yes the atheists say, but the religionist object saying, “it is a wrong understanding of religion.  Religion never causes violence, the wrong practitioners cause violence.”  To this the atheist says, we have seen millions of people who got killed in crusaders attack, and  the Jehadi’s attack.  Atheists continue saying, Eslamic countries have a law against changing religion, or giving up religion. If you do change your religion then there is capital punishment. To this the religionist gives his logic to save himself from taking responsibility.  The debate goes on forever. One has the story of Stalin, Hilter,  the example of  jehadis and  the cruasaders. The violence and the debate about violence continues.

Dharmik scriptures do not  disagree about the argument of  both the parties. In fact the Bhagavatam explains  three kinds of faiths, faith in the mode of ignorance, passion and goodness.  Bhagavatam explains that faith in the mode of ignorance has a separatist mentality, people are violent, proud and envious. So the Bhagavatam says this attitude  in religion causes violence. In passion faith looks for fame, opulence and enjoyment, and hence it is competitive and lacks cooperation. In goodness one offers the results to over come the faults of the action. This has the concept of cooperation. And beyond this there is faith which is beyond these three qualities, which constitutes loving the lord only to love him. The same faith when applied in human relationship  translates into friendship and compassion. It never misses humanness.

The Bhagavatam talks about the  clash between Hiranyakashipu and Prahalda. Prahalda was the son and Hiranyakashipu the father. Father was an atheist and son was an ardent devotee of lord Vishnu. The father tortured the son to give up his faith, but Prahalda did not relent. He continued being faithful but never offensive in his behaviour.

Bhagavatam also narrates the story of Daksha  Prajapati  who was faithful but violent in nature .This story is mentioned in the 4th canto. Daksha Prajapati, offended lord Shiva and caused a lot of violence. So dharmik scripture do warn us against  being fanatical about religion, and they also talk about the consequences of not being spiritual on an individual level and collective level.

Ultimately the Bhagavatam teaches us that real non violence is one which makes us develop genuine love for Sri Krishna or the worshipable lord. The Bhagavatam also says that devotees need to be compassionate to those who are distressed, and develop friendship with those who are genuinely practicing spirituality.

LIFE-ENGINEERING

Engineering is defined as something connected to an engine, and the word enginious is the root for engineering.  Humans from the very beginning of creation have made things innovatively.  Engineering is simply taking parts from  nature and producing something that is workable as one unit. A car is a collection many parts, wheel, steering wheel, engine, gas tank and other parts, including the driver who is driving.
When we see the car passiing we say, “here goes the car,”  it is amazing, no one experiences  the car as an assembly of different  parts. Even the driver becomes a part of the car.


Similarly the body is an amazing engine, a collection of many parts. However it operates as one unit. One unique thing about this body, is that it is not only a collection  of gross parts but there are the subtle  elements like the mind, intelligence and ego, which becomes  integrated with the body. The soul is the main driver. So many different  parts become integrated and the soul which is full of knowledge, bliss and eternity resides in the body with harmony.

This engineering of harmomy between matter and spirit is the art of God, who does it by remaining in the background. Human responsibility is to maintain that harmony by observing how the world works. Disaharmony ,like a dysfunctional engine is adharma,   If such a dysfunctional engine is made to function, it can cause an accident, similarly conflicting life can cause damage to oneself and others.

If we study the Bhagavad-Gita, it is all about harmony. Sri Krishna spoke to Arjuna about balanacing life, in all aspects.
Duryodhana was adharmik not because he had another culture or faith. In fact he also knew that Sri Krishna is divine God, he was performing all kinds of sacrifices too. He also had the same teacher and belonged to the same family.
He performed the Vaishnava Yagna as compared to the Rajasuya Yagna by the Pandavas. Therefore it is not that faith that is the deciding factor of whether a person is Dharmik or Adharmik . It  is how  we implement that faith in the real world, and what  we create out of it, harmony or a hell of conflict?

Pandavas lived a powerful and harmonious lfe. They coordinated everytying so that it created community spirit. It was their best act of engineering skills. Ingenious in making the engine of life to work.

ONE PLUS ONE IS NOT ALWAYS TWO

Numerically one plus one is truly two. However  when we are referring to a person or a thing is one plus one always two?  No the equation changes completely. One gram of deadly poison mixed with one litre of milk, is more than one litre one gram. It is a deadly poison, with the power to destroy.

One spark striking one kilo of cotton is not simply two differeng things coming together. It has the power to burn the cotton and burn anything in the vicinity  of the cotton.

A young man and woman can come together for a marriage alliance, but if the combinationit's wrong, the two of them have the power to detstroy two hundred . Marriage of Prithivaraja and with the daughter of Jayacandra changed the entire history of India.

Similarly in Mahabharata, Dhritharasthra did not understand this mathematics of relationship.  For him it was hundred children whilst Vidura kept repeating that, “hundred minus one is equal to ninety nine but ninety nine plus one is equal to death of all and more.  Dhritharasthra was trying to be simplistic to the extent of being stupid, and his stupidity led to stubbornness, and then it was too late to learn the maths taught by Vidura.

Vidura kept trying to convince Dhritharasthra that if he agreed to let Duryodhana die  he would have 99 sons, but if he insisted on allowing Duryodhana to live then not only would he  lose Duryodhana but along with him all the sons would be wiped out.

Bhisma deva was too following this maths, he wanted the Pandavas and Kauravas to stay together and rule separately.  He divided the kingdom into two, but this led to the bloody war in the future. In reality it was Yudhisthira who was supposed to be the only ruler and all others were his subordinates. But when both were made different kings, one for Hastinapura and one for Indraprastha, this decision led to destruction of not only the Kuru dynasty but many more dynasties.

Therefore it is not addition or substraction that is important, but what kind of addition and what kind of substraction. Vidura’s substraction was a positive one. It would add value to the Kuru dynasty, hundred children minus one Duryodhana would allow millions of people to live without bloodshed.  But Dhritharasthra’s addition was detrimental to growth.  Ninety nine plus one Duryodhana was deadly, it created such a substraction that it wiped out many  families in tradition.

Learnig this maths is important in life, it teaches maths plus maturity, .

What kind of maths are we willing ot learn, the building one or the breaking one? Does addition add or substraction add, think over it, and use the technique of maths appropriately.

NARADA THE MANAGEMENT GURU

Unfortunately in Indian dramas the great sage Narada muni is depicted unlike his real personality in the scriptures. One needs to go a little deeper to understand such a personality.  One of the main characteristic of Narada muni is to create a rift. Ultimately the rift  creates universal good. He comes to the stage at a time, when there is a need to create superficial confusion for everlasting harmony. He is never presented as the naughty, quarrel picker who enjoys at the cost of others. When Narad muni narrates his personal story to the great Vyasadeva, one of the qualities he enumerates about himself is about his being a reflective person, and a person free from frolicking mentality .

He is a musician singing the glories of lord Hari, or Krishna and that is the essence of his characer. Simultaneously  he knows every aspect of life and is able  to uplift people upto the ultimate stage.  One who is realy elevated knows how to uplift people and bring them to the higher level and Naradamuni is one such personality.

This is the incident when Narad muni  came to Yudhisthira and gave him advise about how to rule the kingdom.

He asked Yudhisthira,
“Because of artha are you neglecting dharma, and because of dharma are you neglecting artha?
Are you able to do things at their stipulated time?
Are you providing food and salarly at the right time, if not then the workers will rebel.
Are you taking extra care of those families whose family members have laid down their life for the cause of the state?
Do you have big water bodies in your country?
Or  do you only depend on rain water?  Do you have the right kind of knowledge bank to run your country? "
Narada raised  many such questions which were pertinent to living a practical life.  They were not grossly materialistic in nature even though they related to matter . For the upkeep of the state and to facilitate the citizens to live their life in  harmony and for keeping God in the centre these questions were pertinent .  Narada muni represents the perfect balance, he is always in ecstacy singing the glories but, does not fail to ask astutue questions to kings who have taken the repsonsbility of governing people. If they fail he creates playful conflicts so that the lord can appear and punish the culprit, as was the case of Kamsa, whom Narada muni instigated to invite Krishna to Mathura and eventually punished him at the right time. Narada plays sweet Vina to invite us to divine dance but if we are like Kamsa he uses his Vina to invite wrath of God.
Its our choice which one to hear.