INDEPENDENTLY DEPENDENT

The sanatana dharma has a unique approach to life. If we observe and analyze, we experience and realize.  Dharma principles are realistic and friendly rather than imaginary and easy.
Modernity talks about freedom without any discipline, but it fails to recognize that the very freedom creates restrictions. Freedom of throwing or squandering  away one’s wealth without discrimination makes restrictions in a future healthy living.
Unrestricted habits makes one exhaust resources and to fix these unhealthy habits we are forced to follow a restrictive life style.

There is nothing  free in this world.  Material nature does not allow that.  Therefore Santana dharma urges one to live a harmonious life. A little restriction gives a little pleasure.  Restrictions becomes the currency and we can buy pleasure.  Unrestricted pleasure leads to paying in the future with greater interest and by force.

Ravana wanted to convey something which the modern world is proposing. It  sounds great but is highly  unrealistic.
Ravana  said “Sita why you are wasting your youth and time for Rama, why cant you  enjoy with me, whatever you want I will provide, just agree to my proposal.”
Sita was not foolish and imaginary.   She retorted back at Ravana, and informed  him of her commitment to Rama.
The point is who is right and realistic?
Is it Sita or Ravana?
We  see  that eventually Ravana  lost everything including his pride.
One may raise a question that even  Sita lost everything.
No she did not lose everything she had her self righteousness, her healthy pride and her dignity even though she had to go to the forest in the asrama of Valimiki Maharshi. No one punished her, rather she continued to live her dignified life.  Dignified life is not showy and superficial. Dignified life is a life of commitment to values which gives result to inner satisfaction.

At the end of the day when we live a   life of free flow it takes away our very vitality at every level.
There are very few people who make tons of disproportionate wealth based on this unrestricted  life style. They make these bucks in health, food, fashion, psychology, and certainly in technology.  What is the market strategy? 
Target the uncontrolled mind that will  buy everything you tell them to  buy in the name of sweet freedom.They say, “freedom is your right,”  and the silent part of this slogan  is “money and wealth is mine.”

With a controlled mind and controlled   senses we save money and head aches. Look around and you will realize this. No rocket science is required to understand this  principle . Hence we see that Ayurveda professes dietary restriction and medicine to bring your health back.  restrictions give rise to self control, food gives nourishment.  when nourishment happens along with self control, it gives rise to life which is meaningful and fulfilling.

FREE THINKER?

Real intellectualism is free from all prejudice. Free from a prejudice caused either by being purchased by some one with more resources or a prejudice caused by our own personal experiences.Our prejudice  should not decide, how we see things and people around us.

However much intellectual power one may possess, unfortunately most people make systems and analysis based on some influence other than intellect. Unfortunately they do not have the dharma to be honest in themselves. The so called intellectual rigor only comes where they are comfortable to criticize, but they do not dwell or have the guts to speak  when the realities go against their own so called intellectual observations. It is very selective.  Intellectual ego is of the highest order, because the so called intelligencia is preoccupied in judging others but fails to self analyze.

Therefore Dharma calls for deep self observation to hear the inner voice.  The  traditional  dharma says" in dwelling  the soul witnesses the supersoul." He is the observer and the witness, we cant avoid him.

Therefore intelligence without proper sadhana can easily be purchased.  If we see the intellectual club of the world, either they are  either exclusive religionists or they are bought by the prejudice.

Rishis in yore time could not be purchased , therefore the vedic knowledge was transparent. One such Rishi was Daumya, he was chosen as the pandava priest.
He was selected when they were in the jungle, and he continued as their priest when they were the kings of Indraprastha.When they lost everything he did not deter rather he stayed on with the penniless   Pandavas. Duryodhana could not purchase him.Daumya gave advise to the Pandavas even without having any resources in return coming from the Pandavas.

Vasishtha was the Priest of Dasaratha Maharaja, he too could not be purchased.He lived with Dasaratha, but lived without his resources so that he  could remain uncontaminated.

If the king was mean, the priest   would  try to make him meaningful by making him understand. If the king would not budge they would leave the king but to move them from their integrity was impossible. The Pandavas  and Dasaratha maharaja were fortunate and at the same time they were kept dharmik by the power of these independent thinking rishis.

Therefore to be free from influence for an ordinary intellectual is a rare phenomena. It is possible when one is truly dharmik, and does rigorous self analysis for his motives and purpose.
A purpose that is beyond himself  his community and his religion.

DIFFERENT INFLUENCES

Some people are good at impressing,
some are good at inspiring and some others are good at impacting.  Impressing is a consciously thought out  action with an aim to impress, it is very superficial, dazzling and glittering.It has a short of life, like a Divali crackers.

People who inspire are those who in their field of activity do really well steadily and they create inspiration in the hearts of people who see them steadily achieving their goal.

Those who create impact are those, who establish the legacy of transformation. It creates an impact over a large area sometimes an entire nation, if not the entire globe. People who create an impact could be either  a political leader, or a spiritual leader. In India, a great spiritual leader created such an impact and the impact is still continuing. We also have  political leaders, who create impact on a national scale.

In Mahabharata we see the story of Abhimanyu which was very inspiring.
He did something wonderful and  it has stayed in the heart of listeners of Mahabharata. He lived a short life,   but the  story of his life was heart melting.The story has valour and character combined and though it could not make the Pandavas win, it created a lasting effect from the inspiration point of view.

Karna was very impressive, he had great skills, great friendship but it was not beneficial to any one neither the Pandavas nor Duryodhana. But people who seek to be impressed over something external and superficial follow his example.

Arjuna and Bhima  were impact creators.They brought unlimited changes from transforming bad governance to good governance.  They may not be very impressive or    inspiring at all  times , but they create an impact for sure. They were impressive and inspiring  and  they made the legacy of good governance continue for long . 

Impressing can be purchased by advertisement. One can have a grand marriage to impress, but does it fulfill the purpose of an impact creating marriage  ? Impressing can be intoxicating for those who are impressing and those who are getting impressed. But the  intoxication dies down once the festival is over.
Of the three, those who inspire, are non controversial. The general mass likes people who impress and always  wants  to be like them.
Inspiration is heart melting, but inspirational  people are few.
We do need inspiration, but what we really need is impact creators who move things for large number of people and  for a longer duration of time.
Impact creators are not the ones who can be purchased, rather they are the ones who want to see the change in a very distinct way.They live in a real world, and deal with life in a real way.  Impact creators are sometimes  harsh, but they are the one who deliver.
The impact creators do not allow their followers to change   them rather they want them to change the crowd. Ultimately impact creators are impressive and inspiring too.

We have to choose what we want to do in life  impress inspire or impact?  Based on what  we chose we  produce results.

ARE ALL PERSPECTIVES RIGHT?

With regards to different perspectives how one sees, why one sees and how he understands and applies what he or she sees makes things right or wrong.

Some one said  "it is better to have Ravana as one’s brother, because he was willing to stand by his sister at the cost of losing everything. On the other hand what is the use of Rama who did not protect his wife, rather he sent her off  to the forest, even though she had served him for 14 years in the forest."
Their rationale is--- It's not about one is good or bad rather how we see it.  According to them in one perspective Rama is good, and from another perspective Ravana is good.

Unfortunately  the above argument may sound logically correct, but it has a jaundiced view.
Ravana did not protect his sister, he was trying to protect her cruelty.
He was the very person who killed Surphanakha’s husband.To pacify her he gave her more sensuality so that he she would not disturb his nonsensical activities.
Ravana was the one who had raped hundreds of women and kidnapped a  few hundred more.
He was the one who caused much pain to his chaste wife Mandodari by completely neglecting her. She was the one who said sobbing near his dead body,“ you did not get killed by the arrows of Rama, rather you are killed by the tears of mother Sita and many other women who were made to cry by you .”
Ravana was the one who for the sake of his selfishness allowed all  his family members to get killed so that he could continue to remain unreasonable.
Ravana was the one who stole everything that belonged to his brother Kubera.
Ravana was the one who kicked his only well-wisher and brother Vibhishana, out of his kingdom.
Ravana was the one who asked Shiva to give his wife to him as a gift.  Ravana was the one who, when asked by his minster Prahastha, why he had not raped Sita? replied “I would have raped her long back, but I cannot touch her unless she agrees else I will be burnt to death.”

Rama on the other hand, was the protector of his wife, bringing  her out from the jaws of death.
He suffered in separation more than any one could imagine , the description of which is given by Valmiki and it is for everyone to read . Sending her to the forest was not done out of choice,  rather it was done out of duty towards the people of Ayodhya.
With great pain he had asked Laxmana to take her to Valmiki Muni’s hermitage.  Even when he sent Mother Sita to the forest he had the hope that the inhabitants of Ayodhya would repent for their outburst towards Rama and Sita.
Sure enough the inhabitants of Ayodhya repented but it was too late and Sita was done with this world.
She decided to go back to the spiritual realm.
One should read the melancholia of Lord Rama after her departure. His love which was like a  dormant volcano  suddenly broke forth solid rock and erupted into a volcano of love in separation for Mother Sita.
He pleaded and threatened to destroy the whole world.
Rama never remarried, and remained loyal to his citizens, taking care of them, and in return the citizens of Ayodhaya with great repentance and responsibility reciprocated with Rama.
He remained  loyal to Sita, in spirit and in form. Millions of sensitive people choose to love this very Rama, while having much deeper affection for mother Sita.
They both remain in the heart forever never being separated and these people keep chanting Jai Sita Rama.

Now it is for us to make  the choice, whether we want Rama as our brother or Ravana?

FORWARD THINKING, BACKWARD REFLECTING

There is a constant battle between  forward thinking visionaries and backward reflecting traditionalists.  Forward thinking gives rise to movement, progress, freedom from prejudice, and speedy action.  Backward reflection gives rise to, authenticity of legacy, which has endured generation after generation. It is safe and secure.
On the flip side the forward thinking gives rise to fear of speculation, experimenting something new and different. No history of experience in experiments till the future reveals it.
On the other hand backward reflection give rise to no innovation, people, ideas are stuck in the  past and are irrelevant in the future.

Dharmik scriptures are very innovative friendly and at the same time the give some signal if one is going astray.
So there is Samavada or discussion.  When Pandavas married Draupadi, it was revolutionary, new, never a part of the regular culture, and it could never set a trend in the future, but still  it was very authentic.

Krishna asked the pandavas to break many rules.
Rules which were  causing blockage to progress. And they  also established  new rules without compromising the principles of the past. 

One rule was the rule of respect, Shakuni and Duryodhana used this rule against the pandavas to invite them for the gambling match.  Yudhisthira accepted knowing very well that it would be detrimental, but he could not disobey. And the rest is the history, they had to go the forest for 13 years.

Kurus wanted to use this facility again to cheat and misuse. Krishna was alert and used the new rule to break the misuse of the old rule.  Drona, Bhisma were killed by using the new law of utility. Knowing well that the law of utility  will  be misused in the future.  Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the leader to see that he does not break the old rule for sake of it, and or get stuck to the old rule by blocking the progress of the future.

We have seen in recent history, when the great Shivaji, used the principle of looting the non cooperative business people in Surat to establish his Swarajya.
However over time the Marathas, became  habituated to looting , therefore one of the reasons that they lost the battle of Panitpata is because the local Rajaputs and Jats did not help them for their wrong strategies. Was Shivaji's act  wrong?,
No  it was right but it had the risk of future misuse.  Therefore forward thinking and backward reflection go hand in hand with the sole understanding that every one who has to move forward must maintain the past principle.
Principles allow us to reflect, and action allows us to apply that principle for the present time.

THOUGHT AND ACTION

Dharma perspectives are very deep and at the same time very practical to implement. Some ideas which are not rooted in dharma, are great ideas and they remain great till you implement them. As soon as we try to implement them on a practical level, they fail miserably.
One of the ideas that is great is that if no body is violent then every one will be happy, let us all give up violence.
But unfortunately all the countries still invest and will contue to invest big money for a defense budget. So the idea is good but can never be implemented.
Some actions are unreasonable but they will continue to dominate the world. Every one knows, and talks about it -'"the consumption madness". If some of the developing countries consume the way America consumes, we  would need five earthly planets and watch around the developed countries are continuing to consume and underdeveloped countries are not far behind.
Almost all Indians and Chinese  continue to imitate American model of consumption.
India will over take America in regards to the number of 4 wheelers in a few decades. But it will be unable to provide the infrastructure, for sustaining the vehicular movement on the road.  
Dharma always talks about harmonizing thought and action.  Thought should be action friendly, action should be fully thought out.  Dharma for effective action requires o profound philosophical thought.
The thought of Duality, or Dvandva, which says, anything in this world, has a second side too.  Good has some bad side  and bad has some good side.  Every person, every thing, every quality, has a utility side and a flip side.
This is the original SWOT from the  duality perspective. Men have a good side and a bad side, and women too, have both sides. Trying to make anything or any one bigger than what they are simply creates conflicts and chaos. Or making them too small causes troubles too.  Everything has its utility and everything has its disadvantage. Therefore Dharma calls for samavada. Equal discussion. Seeing things from material, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social perspective.
Dharma is  a multifaceted reality, and adharma means  a one faced and now approach, therefore it is artificial and nonsustainable.
Are your perspectives wholesome or having holes in different places? 

GRATITUDE OR OBLIGATION

Gratitude is heart felt, obligation is heart burdened.
Gratitude is inspiring to do more for the person who we are grateful to. In obligation we want discount, and some times release without being paying the due.
In gratitude we look for the opportunity to  be grateful. In obligation we look for the opportunity to over come it by avoiding it, or making it less.

Obligation is legal, gratitude is moral.  Legality is an external force, morality is internal awakening.
Therefore when gratitude is forced upon a person rather than an internal awakening then it becomes an obligation. The same obligation when transformed and made into a personal decision it becomes gratitude. Eg:- loan paying off is an obligation, but a  good son, understanding the value of  money which  his father had received from the giver, the son takes the responsibility and pays it off, and thanks the person for lending the money at the right time.

In the Mahabharata we see how most people who were fighting on the side of Kauravas were obliged. But those who were fighting on behalf of the Pandavas like, Abhimanyu, Ghatodgaja, Virata, and other such warriors, were fighting  had taken the responsibility  of fighting on their own shoulders and they were willing to sacrifice. People who are obliged  want release and those who are grateful they are free, by their inner awakening.  Obligation is binding therefore it restricts our movement it stifles creativity,   Gratitude is an expression of freedom  it empowers,it opens up creativity, it builds every aspect of life.

Gratitude in Sanskrit is called “krtajna” means, to carry the memories of the favors received by us. 

In gratitude there is nothing to give back except one’s consciousness and gifts.  In obligation, we have to pay everything we have taken with interest, without our mind and consciousness being involved in it.  Obligation is heartless, gratitude is hard-less, or in other words, it softens heart.

In this world if we really want to grow, it is better to be grateful than to have the burden of obligation. Choice is ours, do we want an obligation or gratitude. Depending upon whether we chose obligation or gratitude it changes everything around us including our mental structure. In turn it gives us a healthy and integrated growth .

5 AND 1

When all the 5 Pandavas married Draupadi it was a difficult decision for all those who were involved in making the decision. Any one would  have experienced a foul smell in this marriage. But, the marriage was not the height of whimsicality, or an animalistic indiscriminative relationship. Neither was it arrogant or sensual rather it was their strong destiny which forced them to go through what normally or abnormally one would not even think of in a dream. Lord Krishna and the great sage and compiler of all sastras, Vyasadeva also  gave  their approval for this marriage.Yudhisthira maharaja, who was  a personification of Dharma agreed and said, he could do nothing that was not dharmik. From another perspective, how difficult  it  must have been to manage such a marriage. It could have led to so much of suspicion, mistrust, conspiracy and conflict amongst them. Each could have complained and  fought for Draupadi’s exclusive affection. On the other hand this marriage was one of the most efficiently managed  marriages in history. Who gets the credit for this? All of them, because even  if one was on the wrong path, it could have created disaster. The pandava's marriage teaches us unity in diversity. Even if one unit in diversity, makes the claim that he is the best then it creates an artificial oneness, because others are eliminated, which is anti-nature.  It creates war. And at the same time there has to be one uniform goal other wise it is only diversity, not unity in diversity . without unity in diversity  the marriage would have been chaotic, indisciplianary,  hazy and ultimately would have no destination. Panadavas so dynamically represent diversity while having a unified goal.  Kurus on the other hand were united but lacked diversity. There was no intellectual rigor and independent thinking. They became a herd going down the valley of death. Pandavas  were united, and diverse at the same time They were a herd but were guided by Lord Krishna about  when to come together and when to have a separate identity. So they were victorious, not only in war, but in the war of life, which was full of diversity and challenges and  yet they sailed through  it successfully  unitedly and at the end of the day  were ready to walk their journey alone confident of the final destination of life- from death to divinity. We have to make a choice--- Whether we want a journey of  death to divinity or death to destruction?

OPERATING SYSTEM

Vedic systems operates unconsciously whereas  modern systems are operated in a conscious way. In other words this culture is preciously called  the "happening culture" and "the doing culture".

In  the doing culture one takes full charge, and thinks he can manage any amount of numbers. It becomes system centered rather than human centered. On the other hand the vedic system operates from the principle of a happening culture. Meaning, whatever is happening, is happening because it is people centered. Relationship based system.   If the number increases then divide the group, or village. For eg:- The market is not organized but a market happens.
If we go and see different kinds of market setups, we 'll observe that they are a very happening .If they over grow then it is the duty of the king or the minster to divide the village and make it organically operate. This mean that a happening culture does involve system but it is less visible.
Systems are so arranged that they are conscious and aware of every member of the community.  When the market  is unable to identify with a  community member, then it means that the market has over grown, divide it.

Therefore Gandhi spoke of village swaraj, self governance, based on villagers taking the responsibility of their village. Other  villages would provide, if the first village  had trouble. They would never control even remotely  or make a law which had no practical or cultural connection to the previous village.
Whenever the Pandavas with the help of Krishna conquered other states, they never replaced the self rule. On the contrary they continued to assist the local kings to rule.
The locals knew the culture better than the outsiders. This diversity of system was based on the need of that local community.  It is said that,  language and water change quite frequently within the radius of a few kilometers. So super imposing something from some where else shows ignorance of the principle of diversity.

Unfortunately domination by the European imperial rulers coupled with religious exclusivity destroyed many civilizations from the map of the world. The civilisations have been reduced to becoming  museum pieces for  the people to go and watch.

In vedic culture, therefore we see diversity is still maintained but the ignorant people called it chaos
rather than appreciating it as a part of a complex nature, which is diverse.   The beauty of the Pandava rule,  was that they were kings based on inspiration and not on super imposition of  their ideology towards  subordinate kings.

Understanding others in their term and condition is the sign of human sensitivity.  Destroying others in the name of giving them a better culture is sign of arrogance. Helping each other and taking out the rotten one and replacing it with whatever is good for growth of human society is the height of culture.

Pandavas represent this diversity .

POLITICS THE DIRTIEST TOOL.

Why can't we avoid politics? The answer can easily be compared to this analogy.
No one wants to spend money and space on a wash room in the house  but can we avoid it? We need it.  Politics is by nature crooked and the path of politics is one long arduous journey. 

In Vrindavana Lord Krishna played many naughty games, stealing butter from the house of the gopis,  breaking the butter pot and stealing even the clothes of young girls of Vraja. This naughtiness of Krishna was very pleasing to his family and the community, because he was innocent and  he was naughty out of love .

In Hastinpaura and the other parts of India where Krishna was traveling,  the people were not innocent like the people of Vraja. The kingly order and politicians were using politics for increasing the dirt every where.  Krishna had to stop this .
He had to use Vrindavana’s naughtiness, as a  strategy to stop the dirty politics.  There were many people  like Shakuni  who had to be dealt with. Shakuni and his students were like crooked trees and crooked trees cannot be cut easily. Krishna had to use his innocent naughtiness as a strategy to deal with the people who were political crooks.

Unfortunately these crooked people created a situation where  they forced people like the Pandavas to walk away.
People like the Pandavas prefer to walk away  because dealing with people like the Kauravas destroys their character.
When crooked people are not dealt  with then people like Shakuni destroy an entire civilization and the people  who are left behind simply became crooks.This only creates a culture of unending conspiracy

Lies become natural. In that sceanario one has to decide whose lie is profitable, or less damaging?
Unfortunately lies become unavoidable. Political intrigue forces one to choose between the bad and the worst. The method of cleaning  bad politics is sometimes unclean.
It is a clear that this principle cannot be used elsewhere in life just as we follow the principle that what is used in the rest room is not used in the kitchen.

Think about it dharma politics and  adharma politics look  the same but the consequences are very different.

RAMA’S STRATEGY

Often a  question is asked as to why Rama killed Vali  in hiding?  If Rama was powerful he should have openly challenged Vali .
People also interpret that maybe Vali was more powerful since Vali also had  the benediction of getting  half the strength of the opponent.
The experts of Ramayana give us a very practical and profound answer in regards to Sri Rama’s strategy, here it goes:

Vali was arrogant, insensitive and punished his opponent and subjects  more than required.
For him no opinion was valuable unless it came from himself.  He was powerful, but  this did not matter to the  people of Kiskinda .
They preferred a change of King, in the form of Sugriva.  Attacking  the entire country for bringing about this change  would  cause massive blood-shed . Hence Rama thought it would be  better  to kill him alone, without giving much information and  scope for speculation of  Lord Rama’s attack on Kishikinda.

But why hide?

Rama knew very well that, Vali was bad, but  he was not  a demon like Ravana.
Vali had some religious sentiments. If Rama would declare his identity openly, Vali would politically surrender but not from his heart, and would say, ‘I can easily bring Sita back from Ravana.”  In fact this is what he said, as he lay down  hit by the powerful arrow of Lord Rama.  He said “ why did  you not ask me about your Sita, I could have  easily done this task.” Lord Rama did not want to take help from a person who had committed similar crimes as Ravana. Vali had abducted the wife of  Sugriva, by force. So taking help form him would mean  supporting one person for the  very crime  for which he wanted to punish another.
So Vali needed to be punished, and that had to be done in a way where Vali had no chance of using any strategy. Lord Rama had to checkmate.

Thirdly, Rama did not  want to enter Vali’s kindom,  thereby giving no iota of speculation to the people of Kishkinda about Rama trying to  remote control the kingdom. He allowed Sugriva  to take compete control over the kingdom, and Sugriva asserted his authority over Kishikinda not as a representative of  Rama, rather as the king chosen from amongst their own people. Although personally Rama had became Sugriva s worship able deity.

Rama as a last stroke of strategy, assured the protection of Tara, Vali’s wife, by by asking her to marry Sugriva  as per the custom of  Kishikinda.
The custom was different from Ayodhya but Rama did not superimpose his rules in another kingdom, and at the same time Vali’s son was made into prince .

Even if we consider that  it was injustice to Vali, but collectively if we see it was everybody’s gain.
Most importantly a  good and sensitive leader would lead Kishikinda who was guided by a selfless intelligent, powerful  innocent, heroic  and devotional,  adviser, like Hanumana.

WHAT TO ASK

If we have a choice of asking from someone who has the capacity and the heart to give, what would we ask?

Ravana, when asked by Brahma, said, "Give me death from no one, but don't bother to include human and subhuman like monkeys.  I will manage them."  His brother Kumbhakarna asked for sleep. What a desire! We
see in modern age that people are disrobed of their sleep. Insomnia is an epidemic. In Gita, certainly Lord Krishna values the importance of sleep. Therefore, in Ashtanga Yoga chapter which talks about minimizing the gratification of flesh, he emphasizes the effect of healthy amount of sleep. But asking benediction for sleep, is too much. Asking for benediction is an art.

Duryodhana was expert enough to gratify a raging sage Durvasa. Knowing the temper of sage Durvasa, it was not an easy achievement to please him. Durvasa was pleased enough to grant him a boon. Duryodhana asked the sage to go to Pandavas after Draupadi had eaten from "Akshaya patra," a vessel that would give unlimited food every day to feed the needy till Draupadi finished eating. The pot would become exhausted each day once Draupadi finished her meal. Duryodhana, secretly wanting Durvasa to curse the Pandavas in anger, asked the sage to visit his cousins in the forest after Draupadi had eaten her meal, knowing that the Pandavas would then have nothing to feed him. This is an example of benediction to put others in difficulty, which is totally meaningless and full of meanness. Worshipping God for destroying others is perversion of worship.

We should love God without any desire to get anything. Students, these days, are praying to God to get freedom from human body and become a dog so that they do not have to study any more.

On the other hand those who are Dharma sensitive, true devotees of God, prayed for something substantial. Vibhishana prayed for not giving up Dharma even in the most difficult times. He concluded by saying, “The greatest difficulty is giving up Dharma itself.” Yudhisthira prayed to his father Yamaraja to get freedom from lust, greed and anger.

Therefore it is said in dharma scriptures to pray for good character and right purpose rather than skills and unlimited money. Money without character will lead to abuse and assault. Money with character is meaningful and assuring.

What are we asking from our superiors and what are our superiors granting us? Choose wisely and give discreetly.

HANUMANA AND HIS CURSE

Hanumana at his birth received many benedictions form different gods.He became powerful by these benedictions.
Hanumana had the power to use  these benedictions and at the same time not knowing how to use them he simply used it to create terror. This was done consciously but out of naughtiness, which was bad but not mean. Hanuman got the benediction without asking for it. Some people want to be powerful to show their power in a very mean way. Many adharmik demons, in the scriptures performed tapasya to get benedictions, with the sole aim of consciously terrorizing and destroying  for the sake of showing their power and being the only ruler. Hiranyakashipu was such a demon, who had acquired the power and who used this power for causing fear and terror.

Hanumana had no such foul intentions. He used the power of the benedictions for the sake of fun. The rishi’s knowing the power of Hanumana, which was power unlimited but innocent, wanted to withhold that power until a future date so that he became mature to handle the benedictions .

Power with wisdom creates help, Power with innocence creates disturbance,
Power with arrogance creates destruction. Hanumana was fortunate  to be transforming himself from being powerful with innocence to powerful with wisdom. This transformation took place by the grace and teaching of the surrounding rishis, of Kishikinda, the place where Hanumana grew.

It was the greatness of the rishis to transform the power into a positive force.They could have destroyed his power thinking that power is all bad, but they knew the force of power and they channelized it rightly . He went across the ocean to look for Sita, and gave pleasure to everyone including Sita and Rama. He became the figure who is adored and worshipped by one and all without having controversy surrounding him.

Hanumana is one character, who  no body objects or criticizes.
Hanumana did use violence, but this violence was a combination of strategy, innocence,  showing the power of Rama to Ravana, and trying to stop Ravana from destroying Lanka. Therefore Hanumana is powerful  not only physically but spiritually, intellectually, and socially.

It our choice whether we use power for the  right cause or the wrong cause , but the consequences of both  are vastly different.

POWER AND POSITION

Influencing and controlling are two different things. Those who are transparent, selfless and enterprising have the power to influence and those with the wealth and muscle-power have the position to control.

Influence happens from the receiving party and control happens from the doer party. Influence creates inspiration. Control can inflict artificial fear and orderliness. An influencing personality is empowering and human-friendly while the controlling personality makes others choke and is position-friendly, meaning they experience happiness by controlling.

The Pandavas had great influence over their subjects but the Kurus were controlling their subjects. Those who had the influence were thrown out of Hastinapura and the reigns were, although temporarily, in the hands of those who knew how to manipulate.  On the other hand, Krishna, When he moved around with people,  had no ruling position. He was neither King, not the commander of the Yadavas. But He was the most influential person. He had affection for the people. 

Kamsa had the power of position; therefore he was always worried about losing his position. With position comes the fear of losing it, and when lost, it gives rise to pain and madness.

It is better to have a positive influence over people than the fear of losing power in oneself, leading to creating madness for oneself and others. The Pandavas lost their position but never did they lose their influence. Kauravas never lost their power but had zero influence. Eventually, they lost power too so whatever influence they did have due to their power was also lost in war. Whatever power the Pandavas had, they used it wisely to increase their positive influence. When they lost everything in the gambling match, they still held the wealth of influence. 

 One must choose wisely, so that he can rise easily when position is taken away, instead of succumbing to madness. Pandavas lost power many-a-times but they came out victorious. Kauravas were anxiety striken even by the thought of losing power. So they were influenced by their own fear and had no time and interest to influence anyone else postiviely.

ACT CONSEQUENCES AND RULE CONSEQUENCES.

The theory of consequences is differently perceived by different traditions and different philosophers.  One may say consequences are rule based, and the other may may say consequences are act based.  Dharmik scriptures  give prominent principles.
They do not  necessarily propose rule or act consequences. The scriptures are devised for sustainable existence.  Hence they are more dynamic and flexible, neither rigid nor no rule based.
For Eg:-  violence has to be avoided, therefore non violence is a tool to achieve that.
Truth and transparency are important tools for sustainable relationship.  These are universal principles and  are rule based, but some times we see in emergency and in life threatening situations that our tool box may ask us to use the tools which are rarely used.  If certain tools are part of the tool box, that means they have utility, but may not be used as often as other tools. The  mere fact that the tools are there  indicates that one may need to use these tools sometimes sparingly  and with great discretion .

Lies, violence and other similar tools are dangerous but need to be used  some time for dharma's cause.
Dharma teaches us that it is important to understand and use these tools with great care.   Therefore dharma is rule based and at the same time it is act based, rule  based prominently, act based  in emergency but  either way for dharma.

Therefore dharma becomes the reference point, not a person nor some human qualities. When dharma is not the reference point, one creates one’s own values to ascertain what is right and what is wrong. But  with dharma being the reference point, there is no chance of making  blunders and mistakes.

Dharma and the teachers of dharma always make dharma  the  reference point. When dharma is made the reference point then the rule of dharma and act for dharma can be reconciled.  Hence Krishna on the battlefield followed the rule of dharma and when dharma was in danger he did those acts which were uplifiting the dharmik principle.

Without dharma as the reference point  rule or act becomes  the cause of confusion and conflict.
With dharma as the reference point conflict and  confusion can be turned into coherent and cooperative existence.

GOVERNANCE AND GOOD QUALITY

In his Arthasastra, Chanakya explains about inefficiency. He talks about how it is caused by a number of factors such as the ignorance of the nature of work, apathy or laziness to work, sheer negligence or procrastination due to engagements in sensuality, timidity caused by fear of working with subordinates, corruption, showing favoritism, short temperedness, violent nature, over confidence about one’s capacity, and greed.

As we can tell from the list, the Arthasastra speaks about more than just having good skills. It emphasizes on a certain character that makes for a successful administrator. Administration maybe an external skill but it is deeply connected to the internal administration of a person. On the other hand, one may argue that we can grow with brutality too. Maybe, but is short lived and creates far-reaching consequences; the aftermath of that is very destructive.

The growth that Arthasastra refers to is comprehensive and creates complete circles of life. One who grows his resources without this principle simply abuses his resources and creates a lasting disturbance.

Ravana, in his golden city of Lanka, had acquired wealth by dubious means. That wealth couldn’t make him a refined man, instead bad qualities plus wealth with dubious means translated into his eventual destruction. Bad qualities are bad already but with wealth, they get worse much faster. They’re like firewood and wealth plays fuel while arrogance becomes the fire. The consequences are burning our entire civilizations. Women of Lanka did not blame Ram for the war, but they blamed Ravana’s ignorance and Surpanaka’s instigating tendency for their woes.

Therefore, it is not money or wealth that is bad, but the wrong qualities we acquire that make us inefficient to handle that wealth. It can become a weapon of mass destruction when handled by a person of poor character. So beware of that black gold. It is a powerful fuel and carries the potency of changing one from being savaged or saving the human civilization.

SUBCONSCIOUS SELFISHNESS

Those driven by personal dharma sometimes end up damaging their surrounding environment without being conscious of it, and certainly they aren’t really conscious of these actions.

Personal growth – either material or spiritual has its flip side. Sometimes, it makes one very selfish, and sometimes one becomes more and more self-conscious. Some are so focused on their personal growth for which they are carefully and constantly reflecting upon their actions, and analyzing their growth based on their performances. They are so enterprising to grow better than before that in doing so they forget that there is a family, a society and humanity. Owing to this, their personal growth creates a disturbance to the society in a very conscious way, but the person in concern is blissfully unaware of it.

Therefore, the Gita talks about this from the very beginning – ‘you grow but also help uplift the society’. Both must go hand-in-hand. That is healthy growth.

Some so-called spiritualists deny the realities of the world. They use these sufferings to escape in to the woods and meditate to escape this world and go to the higher realm. On the other hand, we also have materialists who are so absorbed in this world that they neither care about nor believe that there is something beyond this world. They get selfishly soaked in personal gratification. There are also some others who are moved by the suffering of people and actively partake in problem solving; but these people mostly land up becoming atheists because, on their own, they cannot figure out how God allowed this to happen. So they conclude that there is no God.

But those who are conscious of all layers of life plan self-growth in harmony with the society’s benefit on all levels – physical, vital, emotional, intellectual and ultimately spiritual. Therefore the Pandavas represent these principles. As very responsible citizens and eventually Kings, they took care of material affairs flavored with devotion to Lord Krishna, and at the same time, pursued intensely their spirituality, which was not a concept of world-denial.

 This is why we see Lord Krishna glorifying the life of trees in Srimad Bhagavatam to His friend – for doing ultimate charity. Let us choose to cut the tree of life or sit under it reflecting, ‘can I be useful like this tree for some people at least?’

WAR IS INEVITABLE

A Leader is  one who sees every body in the society as having something to contribute.
He empowers people more and controls less. A manager on the other hand sees everybody as having some short coming and therefore sees people  as making mistakes. A manager is more control centric and less empowering.

A leader has a natural trust in people and he has to cultivate and struggle to find mistakes in his followers.
A manager on the hand has a critical mind set and therefore he has to struggle to trust people.

When a  leader and a manager work as a team they bring tremendous benefit to their organisation. On the other hand  when a leaders and a manager work and use their weak fortes to run an organization, they create disastrous results. When they combine their positive side --- A leader using his empowering and trusting  side and  the manager using his controlling and critical thinking side, it creates a steady growth at the organisational level.

Bhisma was empowering and trusting  and therefore he  did not see anything wrong in crowning  Duryodhana as king of Hastinapura.  He was willing to divide the kingdom and hoping that both the parties the Pandavas and the  Kauravas would work together. Vidura on the other hand was a critical thinker and could envisage the future damages.  Therefore from the very beginning he did not want Duryodhana to do anything with the royal lineage. He in fact very categorically told Dhritharasthra at the time of the birth of Duryodhana to abandon him.

Bhismadeva was hopeful about Duryodhana and Vidura was fearful of giving power to Duryodhana.  This conflict went on for  a long time, till the war broke out. 

When the leader and manager understand each other’s forte and weakness and help each other in seeing from a complete perspective, then the person whom they are seeing gets encouragement from the leader and discipline from the manager. If one gets only encouragement then one has the potential to become over confident, and if one  gets only correction and discipline, one loses the ability to function.

We need both in our life, Bhisma’s side and Vidura's side, then our growth would be real rather than imaginary.
Lord Krishna is a great harmonizer and the greatest encourager, and confidence giver,  He told Arjuna in the Gita, "You are born of divine qualities."  And when Arjuna was losing his composure and making a wrong decision,  the same Krishna was giving him a strong dose of the medicine of chastisement and critically analyzing Arjuna’s mistakes.

Therefore a good leader also has the flavour of a manager, and a good manager has the flavour of a  leader.  Finding such leaders and managers is our good fortune and working under them is the beginning of our success.

Therefore Gita has  a wonderful harmonizing effect of giving us confidence and giving us discipline.

Why not apply the beautiful teaching of gita and make our life more meaningful?

SOME THING TO LIVE FOR

After the incident of the burning of the house of lac  and during the exile in the forest the Pandavas  encountered different situations... some trying testing and some that taught them  lessons.
One such incident was with, Citraratha Gandharava. He narrated many stories to the Pandavas....
Once he narrated  the story of Vashishta, who was unnecessarily being harassed by Vishwamitra.(before he became a Rishi).
Vashishta's sons were devoured by a human turned demon, who was instigated by Vishwamitra. In this situtation after the loss of his sons Vashistha did not find  any reason  to live. He wanted to give up his life, and he tried to end his life many times.Every time he tried, some how or other destiny would not allow him to die. Even death was not willing to show him any mercy.
As he was walking back to his ashram, despondent, finding no reason to live, and being unable to die,he saw his daughter in law, who was carrying the grand son of Vashishta Rishi, in her womb-- Parashara.
Vashishta changed his mind about ending his life ,instead he took a vow  to  live to raise his grand son into a great rishi  even greater than himself.

This Parashara was none other than the father of the great Vyasadeva, the compiler of all the vedic literature. Earlier Vashishta had found it futile  to live, as he was not contributing to some one in life. As soon as he found a purpose his zeal to live increased.

People need to find a purpose for their life, other wise life  becomes burdensome. Someone has said, "those who are suffering for a long time need to pick up their confidence by doing something  that they feel will benefit someone or something.
Something  as small as seeing a plant which they are watering  grow and has the potential to become a large tree is also a purpose"

Interestingly Vyasadeva compared the Kuru family and Pandava's family to a tree. One was a good tree and one was the tree of anger. Both had a purpose to grow, one wanted to grow to destroy the other,  the other tree wanted to grow to give shade to everyone else. When the purpose  of one tree was useless and destructive, it had to come down.  Lord Krishna orchestrated the tree of evil to come down.
Without a purpose one does not want to live, and with a wrong purpose we make other’s lives meaningless as Vishwamitra did for Vashishta. on the other hand people like  the Pandavas become a tree which makes other small plants find their purpose and grow and further gives a chance to many other plants to find a real and meaningful purpose in  life.

What  kind of tree are we?  Life producing....
Life generating..or making others lives lifeless?

PAIN OF TOLERATING

Bhima’s personality epitomises the pain of tolerating the intolerable.  When Dushyasana offended Draupadi, the law of justice called for immediate action against the culprit. But Bhima was bound by respect towards his elder brother and  he could do nothing. This pain of tolerating was more acute than the physical pain that Draupadi experienced.
He had to wait  for thirteen years before he could give  her justice.
He personified the quality of being affected by the pain of the weak, helpless, and abused, and at the same time being  unable to take action against them, even though  he had the power to punish.

If we are helpless and we lack power to punish  it is one thing but to be helpless when we have the power to help some one who deserves the help and  is desperate for it, and not able to help because of some sensitive reason, like order not coming from some one whom you respect is quite another thing.
In another situation the surrounding was unfriendly -- Once Kichaka, commander of King of Virata, was lusting after Draupadi he kicked Draupadi infront of Yudhishitra, Virata and Bhima. When Draupadi pleaded to King Virata to help her Virata, said “I do not now what must transpired between you and him". This insult infuriated  Bhima, he was ready to strike both Virata and Kichaka, by uprooting an entire tree, but Yudhisthira said to him, "what are you looking at the tree, there are many more trees in the forest which are dried, you can uproot them for your use.”  Yudhisthira was worried, that Bhima would kill them and their identity would be revealed before the incognito period was over and again they would be sent back to the forest for 12 years by Duryodhana.  Again Bhima was ready to help but helpless due to the unfavourable surrounding.

Usually real life is many times like Bhima’s situation, we have the power to give justice but the surrounding seems  to be unsuitable and one is forced by the power of time to wait for the right time to give justice. Sometimes power is right but the time is not right, some times, time is right but power is not there, power and time are right but surrounding is not favorable. Such situations create an extreme degree of pain, as Bhima  went through. Therefore when he saw everything was right in terms of time power situation and the culprit was in his presence, inviting his own brutal death Bhima,'s punishment was severe , whether it was Kichaka, Dushyashana or Duryodhana, he struck them like a volcano and a  hurricane.

Time is such a factor that it comes back to the shameless culprit, who go on with their nastiness, as if no one has the power to punish them, and time factor is also like Bhima who has the power but helplessly waits to punish.
Choice is ours whether to make time a factor like Bhima, which can be brutal or respect the time factor at all  times, and avoid being shameless like Dushyasana and Kichaka.

MONEY MEAN OR MEANINGFUL

Money is very closely connected to Laxmi, the "goddess of fortune"-- consort of Lord Narayana.

In many spiritual traditions money  is  considered as a  root cause of all evil. It is also considered to be an intoxication greater than an intoxicating drug, a cause of all conflicts....

Certainly Dharmik scriptures talk about wealth, however they despise making wealth as a goal of life, at the same time do acclaim that money is a tool for stability in life.

A challenge with anything in this world is to find out whether we are making something which is supposed to be a tool into a goal.

In the  Mahabharata there is a constant discussion to bring out this understanding  in the forefront of our intellect so that we can  act according to that wisdom.

Action many times conflicts with wisdom, consciously and more dangerously, unconsciously, most of the time. Unconscious activity which makes us slide towards making money as a goal is adharma.

Conscious adharma or unconscious adharma, the effects are the same. Like fire burning knowingly or unknowingly.

Therefore many people feel  that wealth abnegation is a safe road to  tread and others feel it is impractical and life denying. So they indulge  in wealth hoarding. Both are easy paths to escape or covet. Of course both are not user friendly rather imaginary friendly. 

Therefore when Arjuna was hesitant to fight, Krishna gave a wealth of wisdom to Arjuna in the form of the Gita, which would guide him to win and not lose to covetness.
Krishna also made Arjuna alert about the sin of abnegation.
About  losing to weak heartedness and making adharma win such that squandering would be  made into a legacy by adharmik people.

Wealth has to be with some people . Good  people avoiding it, only helps the bad to misuse it. Therefore mahabharata says making money is one thing. But how does  one make it?  One does not create new wealth. Rather wealth changes from person to person, community to community and country to country.  In Sanskrita, Laxmi has another name "Chanchala," meaning flickering one. She does not stay constantly in one place. So increasing is another challenge with money. Thirdly it is more difficult  to protect it.  Most  important is utilizing. So at all the four stages there is war. In making, in growing , in protecting and finally using it.

Therefore money creates two kind of struggles the Dharmik struggle and adharmik struggle and there is no third stage that money has , if someone claims  that stage exists then it is a  myth.

Money,  therefore forces us to achieve but  we have the choice---
to make  money useful or abuseful
to use it for right reason or might  reason
and lastly to make it a tool or a goal.

In conclusion in mahabharata Rukmini asked Laxmi, "where do you  reside? ". Laxmi said "the only place I stay permanently is with Lord Narayana".
Choose wisely  when you make money  or spend money.

ADVICE OR DEMISE

When Yudhisthira performed the Rajasuya Sacrifice, an incident  occured which in one sense was a turning point for the Kuru family.

Lord Krishna chopped off the head of the notorious babbler Sisupala. This incident sent chills in Yudhisthira's spine as Sisupala was his maternal cousin, his mother’s sister’s son.
He asked Vyasadeva the out come of this incident, what the future held for him?.  Vyasadeva said “ this is the indication of the future destruction of all your adharmik relatives  and you will be used as an instrument by the son of Devaki, Krishna,  to remove the burden on earth. " Yudhisthira was flabbergasted, he wanted no role in the destruction of any one, what to speak of a host of families.
So he took a vow of obeying his elders and this very vow which he uttered changed the direction of his destiny.  Using this vow Dhrithrasthra called Yudhisthira to gamble knowing that Yudhisthira would not disobey his elders and come for the gambling match ..
eventually this match was the cause for the seed of future  destruction of the kuru kula and other adharmik forces.

When Vidura was sent to invite Yudhisthra, he advised Dhrithrasthra  to not  invite his death, since gambling is the ruination of everything and gambling also has the potential for future dangerous consequences.The advice was however unheeded by the blind and attached Dhrithrasthra.
He was seeing the bright future of his son in this gambling match, without considering the reaction and punishment  that he would have to incur. So he asked Vidura to bring the Pandavas for the duel of death, in the form of a gambling match.

Vidura invited Yudhishthira. Yudhisthira came to Hastinapura to gamble, knowing very well the ill effects of gambling.
He was forced by a power beyond him -- he was called by his remote aspect the personification of  death, as he was the yamaraja incarnate.  He was going  there as an instrument on behalf of God .

Destiny was beseeching  the Kauravas to refrain from adharma, in the form of the other aspect of destiny or time factor or Yamaraja in the form of Vidura, who was giving them solid advice,.
However they did not heed  this advice. So Vidura invited the death or demise  or Yama aspect of his personality, Yudhisthira  for the gambling match.

In between the advice and the demise, is our independence, we have to make a choice,  to make the advice fruitful or eat our own bitter fruit in the form of ugly death and punishment.

Duryodhana and party discarded the advice aspect of  Yama  in the form of Vidura, and with that they discarded their glory and power to the abode of death.  Pandavas simply remained an active instrument in the hands of God and Kala. Either as the  advising kala or the destructive  kala, depending upon whatever one wanted-- Advice or Demise

MILK POISON OR NECTAR?

Giving satisfaction by falsity is part of a deceptive life. Deceptiveness could be caused by helplessness or habit.
Shakuni wanted to give happiness to Duryodhana by deception caused by habit. He was hell bent to make Duryodhana the king, so he conditioned himself to be a cheat. And Duryodhana did not resist.
Dronacharya was giving satisfaction to his only son Ashwathama by deceiving him, this was out of helplessness.  Poverty led him to give water mixed with rice flour, as milk to his son. Ashwathama  drank it, thinking  it was real milk, till he drank the  real milk. After tasting real  milk he gave up all desire for the watery  rice flour.
In this scenario Drona  went to seek help from his school friend Drupada.
Drupada, now a king, rejected Drona’s friendship because Drona  did not have an equal social status of being a king -- however he  was willing to provide the  milk for Ashwatthama by donating a few cows. But Drona’s need had changed, now he no longer wanted  milk for his son, rather he wanted a bloody revenge since Drupada had insulted him.
He started looking for some one who could help him avenge his insult.  He found the great kuru kumaras, especially the Pandavas, one of them,  Arjuna, who fulfilled his desire.   Arjuna, bound Drupada and put him at the feet of the fiery Drona who in turn was pleased to see Drupada in this bound condition.  Now Drupada was humiliated and he wanted to take revenge by siring a son who  could kill Drona, and sure enough he got what  he wanted.  He sired Drishtadhyumna as his son, who eventually killed Drona but Drishtadhyumna himself lost his life  fighting against Ashwathama.
The Pandavas were fighting as they were bound by duty of dharma for  assisting Lord Krishna to establish Dharma , unlike Drona and Shakuni who were fighting out of habit or helplessness to satisfy their senses .
Dharma,  it directs  us to uplift our consciousness by connecting with divinity by devotion, dedication and devoted to the teachings of evolved persons.

Unfortunately, the habitual Shakuni and the  helpless and revengeful Drona were brought together by their desires and destiny to fight against the dharmik Pandavas .
The habitual and the helpless Shakuni and Drona were both vanquished  by the Pandavas who were helping Lord Krishna.
Dharma directs us not to be adharmik either for habitual reason or out of helplessness.

AFFECTION DIVIDED?

When Arjuna married Subhadra, the sister of Lord Krishna, he was hesitant on introducing her to Draupadi as he feared that Draupadi would feel cheated to see that Arjuna’s love would be divided. Krishna, thus advised Subhadra to approach Draupadi as a cowherd girl and offer suitable respect. Being as innocent and pure as she was, Subhadra did exactly what was told to her and Draupadi completely melted. 

Kunti went through similar situations too. She grew up as a step daughter, married Pandu who brought another wife and raised 3 of her own children and 2 of Madri’s. She was a great mother because her mind space was vast and large. She never discriminated between them.

Conflicts do not arise when new people come into our lives, but from, how it is communicated. Some families raise their children with less physical resources but more mental abilities. Now the modern world has unlimited resources and people to deal with, but the art of dealing with less is also becoming more and more difficult.

Dharmik scriptures talk about growing with diversity rather than growing in university. University does teach us but doesn’t touch upon the diversity of life. Community is like a diverse universe, where one organically learns the art of cooperation.

Duryodhan knew how to invoke love and we know that from the fact that he had affection for his 99 brothers. But just 5 more members became the source of his ultimate nightmares. What was wrong in the Pandavas? Nothing other than the mindset of Duryodhan. He believed that they’re his enemies. Sure enough they did become his worst enemies and took his and everyone else’s lives. It was not the Pandavas but the Kauravas who themselves created their own destiny and the Pandavas simply served as an instrument.

What modern society needs is not lesser people but more space in the mind; only then is universal brotherhood possible. But unfortunately, there are more Kauravas and less Draupadis and Subhadras. As history has witnessed, today’s Duryodhan will force the Pandavas to take action. War-like situation will be a constant reality because Duryodhanism is an eternal reality.

We have a choice to be living with a spacious mind with less or more physical space or having more  physical spence and having little or no space in the mind.  And we must choose wisely.

‘Adhyatma vidya’ is the  space producing mechanism: space in the heart, mind and the very soul. Then we can say, ‘Vasudhiva Kutumbakam’ – the entire world is my family.

What a thought! What a concept

KRISHNA DHARMA

In this world clash of civilization, ideas, culture and also personal clash in choices are natural and unavoidable.
Clash is natural but not dealing with them is unnatural and adharmik.
One common belief that people in this world  have is that" time will heal everything."
Certainly time does heal. But time heals mental, physical, sensual wounds. Time has no power to heal ignorance. However long one waits  to move on, time does not have the power to heal the might of ignorance.
Ignorance has to be fought vigorously to dispel it. This battle against ignorance is a difficult one but not an impossible one.

In tines of clash or conflict  people  make choices which are easy in the  present and hope  that the clash or conflict will automatically disappear. 

Conflict was central in the life of many characters in the Mahabharata. Be it Bhisma, Drona, Dhirthrasthra, Karna, Gandhari, Duryodhana, Drupada, Virata, Dhristhyadyumna, Shikhandi, Ghatodgaja  or even for that matter in the life of the Pandavas.
So conflict existed and was experienced by all however the difference was in the way that each one  dealt with conflict.
The Pandavas resolved the conflict by fighting based on Krishna dharma whist the others chose personal dharma.

Some took shelter of adharma and some took shelter of superficial and ritualistic so called dharma  to avoid the action of fighting for the substance of dharma.

1.Bhisma fought for pitri and kula dharma (father and his family)
2.Drona and Dhrithrasthra fought for putra dharma(for the sake of son) 3.Karna fought for mitra dharma(sake of friend)
4.Shalya fought for rna dharma (obligation for receiving reception from kurus)
5.Drupada fought for his ksatriya dharma which was trampled by Drona.
6. Shikhandi fought for her nyaya dharma (justice)
Even Duryodhana had an agenda for fighting. He believed that his kula had done injustice to his father who  was the oldest in the family. Dhristharasthra had been  deprived of the throne because of his blindness. And hence Duryodhana thought that it was his rightful claim to be the king and  that the Pandavas  were intruders.
Some  people think that if  the Pandavas were really so nice and detached they should have averted the war by making Duryodhana the king and retired to the forest.
In fact Dhristhrasthra  had even suggested this idea to  the Pandavas through Sanjay.

The Pandavas were about to follow the above advise attempting to follow the personal  dharma of indifference, no violence and no throne to avoid the massacre.
But they chose to renounce all these above  personal dharmas which were followed by other personalities and chose to follow Krishna dharma .

Krishna dharma is universal good over personal dharma.
In following  and establishing krishna dharma the Pandavas had to eliminate  great heroes of the Kurus side  and sacrifice some  heroes from their side too.

So Krishna dharma entails  establishing religious principles whenever and wherever they are in imbalance, irrespective of the fact that the imbalance is caused by good people or bad people.
This is tough but can it be avoided?

ASSERTIVE OFFENSIVE OR DEFENSIVE

Life is like a boat rocking in turbulent waters, tilting in different directions according to the movement of water.  An expert boatman is one who knows how to row and maneouver it  diligently and protect the boat from drowning. We are forced to face life situations and whilst facing these situations we  use different strategies. People who use idealistic strategies face drowning like situations because of their fixed ideas. Practical people on the other hand use brutally realistic strategies .

It is very interesting to know  that Gandhiji referred to the Gita and Hitler too, but both had an opposite perspective.
Gandhiji took only the symbolic meaning of it. And Hitler imitated the story by brutally murdering innocent people. Gandhi wanted peace and Hitler wanted war. Gandhi's approach gave him fame whilst  Hitler's approach gave him infamy.

Gita  teaches peace and prepares us for war. Krishna whilst going as peace messenger on behalf of the Pandavas with their message of "give us five villages " said ,"we want peace but we are prepared for war". Duryodhana was given many practical options one of them was that he become the regent prince .

He was told that the combined force of the Kauravas and Pandavas would be invincible even for a demigod like Indra. Lord Krishna also spoke to him about the power of the Pandavas  especially Arjuna who had defeated the entire clan of  Kuru commanders. Parashurama also told the Kurus  of the power of the Pandavas, especially Arjuna who was none other than Nara and Krsna was Narayana.
Kanva Rishi told Duryodhana of the evil of pride.
Narada Muni instructed Duryodhan.  . Bhisma and Drona pleaded.
Krishna threatened ...
So many people tried ...
But it was like hitting the head against a rock wall.  In such a condition how could good advice work or which peace talk would make sense? What was needed at that juncture was violence of peace. In other words some strong punishment to establish a sensible king. Duryodhana was one who was proving his disqualification with his  "no cooperation attitude". It was his arrogant independence which lead to the Great War. The option of war was bad,  but without punishing Duryodhana there could have been a legacy of prolonged exploitation of the people  which Krishna had to stop. So war was certainly  the last resort .

To deal with Duryodhana's offensiveness, lord Krishna chose assertiveness, because defensiveness was abused and assaulted. Defensive party of the Pandavas had given many years to the offensive party to change but it had not benefitted any one. When the disease is not controllable by medicine the doctor gives a strong dose but if that does not work surgery is a must if that does not work too, then removal of the rotten organ  becomes imperative for the rest of the body to survive.
Duryodhana's party had become cancerous and was  spreading the disease all over so  it had to be removed so that the rest of the body of society survived..

So  the Gita is idealistic but reluctantly takes  the decision of practical violence. Once the decision is taken  it executes ruthlessly till the violent adharma is terminated.
Gita wants peace of Gandhi but is  ready for controlled violence of dharma unlike Hitler's brutality.

CONSUMERISM IS DEVOURING

Modern man is fascinated by consumerism.
He consumes  through his active senses:
Smells through his nostrils-
Hears  through his ears-
Touches through his sense of skin-
Sees through his eyes-
and of course the king of all consumption.... is food that he consumes through his mouth.
It is the age of variety, from food to foot wear--- man has choices by the millions.
After the Rajasuya Sacrifice, Duryodhana on seeing the prosperity of the Pandavas was dumbfounded stunned and stupefied. He described the prosperity and the opulence of the Pandavas to Dhritrashtra. Dhritharasthra who was himself tormented on being blind, tried to vainly tell him not to be disturbed.  Duryodhana said to his father “no one can grow if he is content.The only way to grow in life is to always be unfulfilled. Satisfaction is the enemy of growth.”
He was completely consumed by consumerism .
He wanted everything that others had. He was being devoured by his  desires which remained unfulfilled. These insatiable wants disturbed devoured and ultimately devastated him.

Some statistics say --if China and India follow the American way of consumerism, the earth planet would need  to grow 4 to 5 times more resources to accommodate the new life style of  consumerism.
Wants are unlimited but resoureces  to fulfill these wants are not only limited but are also depleting with rapid force.
What is the solution to this?
Our wants will not be fulfilled.
This is not the curse of a raging sage- but  the reality of a ravaged mother earth. Mother earth is reacting, she cannot handle the burden of  our wants, although  she can easily handle our needs for a responsible existence.

Therefore Dharma reminds us to be dharma sensitive,  use what you need, and deny  the wants of a turbulent mind.
When we lead a responsible life respecting mother earth  we can deal with the challenges of existence.

The Pandavas followed this principle and were prosperous.They fought for their rights and needs. Duryodhana on the other hand  died because he went way beyond  his needs and fought the war to fulfill his wants rather than his needs which in turn  caused great destruction on the battle field of Kurusketra .
Duryodhana’s wants devoured him--- and Yudhisthira’s needs directed him to follow the Dharma of a kshatriya and fight the war under the guidance of Krishna the lord of Dharma.

Our path is wide open either we can be devoured by our wants or be devoted to our needs and responsibilities. One path can  burden the earth whilst the  other can uplift all ---including mother earth.

WEALTH OR ATTITUDE

Vanavasa is synonymous to Ramayana and Mahabharata. In fact, both the epics illustrate how Vanavasa, meaning forest dwelling, was the turning point in the lives of the protagonists and the entire classic. With the ill advice of Manthara, Kaikeyi wanted to break Ayodhya, not physically but emotionally. To an extent she was successful but she was failed by her very son for whose sake she acted against the will of the entire kingdom. She learned her lessons quickly but Lord Rama was undeterred. He had a bigger mission to achieve. So He did not return to Ayodhya for the next 14 years. It was in the forest that He actually achieved many things. 

 

Unlike Ramayana, the Mahabharata has many twists and turns with regards to Pandavas going to forest. It was not only painful like Rama's vanavasa, but also very brutal.  They were disrobed of their honour more than their power. But pandavas demonstrated that if one really wants to grow then he could, with the experience of adversity, where he is forced to deal with challenges. Growth with inheritance from ancestors and growth with the experience of complete poverty are two very different phenomena. The comparison is not to determine which is better because that cannot be stated. But those who grow with nothing have great experiences to share. Pandavas had the prosperity of attitude (ATTITUDE OF PROSPERITY?), that was never taken away from them. 

 

Dharma calls for consistency in practice. Only those people are willing to take challenge to grow beyond the normal capacity. Normal people are flexible with regards to dharma; if it is profitable to follow dharma they’ll do it. But if adharma gives a larger profit, they are willing to sell even dharma for profit. For adharma, dharma is a tool. For Dharmik people, dharma is the destiny and journey. And only such Dharmik people are qualified to break the so-called disintegrated dharma to establish integrated dharma. 

 

For Pandavas, the Vanavasa experience became their abroad university learning. But this ‘abroad’ was not the organized, sophisticated and stable place; It was a forest with lots of uncertainty. But their skills of attitude were their constatnt companions to move from one place to another, learning more and more.

 

The Clash between the Pandavas and Kurus was that of wealth without prosperity of right attitude, versus wealth of right attitude. With the right attitude, wealth becomes a mere detail. And without the right attitude, wealth becomes the essence.  So what are we looking: wealth or attitude?

NIRBHAYA

The very name Nirbhaya caused great bhaya (fear) in the hearts of all Indians and even beyond. Everyone witnessed so much anger which was exhibited in the form of demonstrations and organized discussions to deal with this. Especially the women were most affected by this. When we deal with and discuss situations like this only from the present point of view, we may fail to find solutions which are wholesome.  Discussing any kind of problem without referring to the past and trying to implement the solution in the present will only result in repetition of history.  The solution of “Forgive and forget” could be the greatest tyranny for someone who has experienced the trauma. It may also result in repetition of the crime in future. This land or any other, where there’s human existence, has unfortunately seen oppression and exploitation of women and children. When we see our own Indian traditional books, we learn how such incidents are dealt with. There is action which is apt for punishing the culprit; and only on that platform is there any discussion on rectifying the life of the victim.      In the Ramayana, the incident of Sita’s kidnapping, has been narrated by Valmiki and Tulsidas in great detail.  It is very unfortunate to see how Surphanaka, in spite of being a woman herself, was instrumental in helping or provoking Ravana to kidnap Sita. She was so selfish that she could not understand the pain that Sita would have to go through on being forced by Ravana. Another woman, who was less powerful, but still stood by Sita’s side in time of Her need, in the very land where Ravana was very powerful, was the wife of Vibhisana. She was able to give emotional support to Sita, but of course, that was not sufficient.  The culprits had to be booked and punished. For the sin of forcing his so called love on Sita, who was not at all interested in him, Ravana had to lose everything, including his very life, in the hands of Rama who was the personification of justice.    In the Mahabharata, the incident of the attempt to disrobe Draupadi took place in the very land of the capital city of India, where laws are supposed to be made and implemented. It is very disturbing to know that many Indian authors who have written quite a few commentaries on the Mahabharata, consciously or unconsciously, blame Draupadi herself for the attempted disrobing. According to them, since she had insulted Karna, he took revenge against her, or they quote the incident when Duryodhana was laughed at when he fell in the water in the palace of illusion, since he was hurt so bad, he gave a fitting reply to her. Now, love and the choice of marriage are not based on whether some one feels insulted or not. Moreover, Draupadi was already married to someone else. To drag her to take revenge does not befit refined human intellect and specially those who are holding the reins of the government. The gory incident is described….how after the Pandavas lost everything, including Draupadi, Karna was the one who told Kauravas to bring Draupadi naked in front of everyone, because after all she is the woman for five 5 men, hence she was a prostitute. Of course, it was a fully baseless and illogical argument; Draupadi was a most chaste woman and not a prostitute. But, even legally or morally, it’s not human etiquette to drag even a prostitute (of course Draupadi is not one) in a public place to be exposed naked. It’s inhuman even of those who may not have refined civilization. Calling for such an act by Karna and being ordered to be executed by Duryodhana is a horrific and gruesome crime to the entire womanhood.  Now what’s most important is how it was dealt with……by the very personification of justice, in the form Krishna. What followed was the destruction of the Kuru dynasty, including Bhishma and Drona.  Even though both of them were not party to it, but they were neutral, . On the other hand, someone like Jatayu, who is subhuman, had the decent intelligence to fight for Sita rather than seeing this atrocity. It’s so strange that those who are categorized as subhuman show much refined sentiments and the so called refined human beings lose all emotion and became like dry wood or block of ice. They were sitting like ostrich birds, as if nothing was happening. Basically, the war was not between two groups of brothers, that was just a superficial reason, actually it was a fight for justice for Draupadi’s public humiliation.Only when we punish the culprit and those who have assisted in the crime, then can we talk about counseling the victim to go on in life with positive attitude. It is impossible to forgive unless the crime is taken care of. Forgive and Forget will only make the offenders perform more crime on the oppressed and helpless.Health cannot be gained while sheltering the deadly bacteria. Deadly bacteria are there to kill and disintegrate our body, in such a condition no good wishes and prayers will work, though we  need them too. Most importantly, to get health back, one has to uproot, by all means, all the foreign elements in the body, and that really causes great exhaustion, like in malaria medicine, the medicines are quite exhausting, but only on that platform, the re-gaining of sound body and mind begins.  So it is this lesson, Mahabharata and Ramayana teach us.  Nirbhaya, means fearlessness.  It can only come by dealing it, in a practical way.