SHAMELESS OR GUILTY

Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, did not become completely guilt free till her departure from this world. However guilt did not stop her from being active and grateful to the Lord of her life, Sri Krishna.
What was her fault to be guilty for an entire life? Her curiosity! This curiosity brought Karna to this world. The consequence of her curiosity was that Karna was separated from her.  He was born before Kunti was married to Pandu. She had served the great Durvasa, who insisted that she take a benediction, after he was pleased by her service .
Kunti was reluctant to take any benediction, since she had not served  with an intention to bargain. Durvasa muni forced her and she feared that not taking the benediction would result in being cursed so she accepted a benediction unwillingly. Kunti who was still a child  became curious to test the power of  the benediction. Surya deva appeared to fulfill her curiosity.  But he was offering her something that was beyond her curiosity, “A child !"
The child Kunti pleaded to Surya deva to not force her, since she was unmarried and was still a child herself but Surya deva forced her. He  threatened her that her father and Durvasa muni would be cursed. Kunti succumbed to the threat .This was the beginning of Karna’s woe and Kunti’s silent and painful journey.
Curiosity killed her silently.
Bhima had been waiting for thirteen years to punish Dushasana, who had dared to drag Draupadi, while abusing her verbally and then attempting to disrobe her.
When Bhima grabbed Dushasana, in the bloody battle of Mahabharata , Dushasana never relented, never regretted, and all suggestions for reformation were rejected by him. Dushasana was shameless.
 Bhima  while sitting on Dushasana 's chest, ready to rip apart his heart asked “which hand touched Draupadi's hair?" Dushasana slowly and shamelessly raised his hand and indicate that I enjoyed trying to see her naked beauty, but she was resisting.  So I have done nothing wrong in dragging her . Seeing this Bhima was pained, angered, and eventually became like an avalanche of fury and pulled off his hand and killed him instantly.  Dushasana got what he deserved.
Shamelessness leads us to a brutal end.
Curiosity or shamelessness either one is a cause of pain. Kunti was a great soul, and was deeply connected to the process of Bhakti Yoga.  She taught us to be  beware of curiosity, and from Dushasana we learn that shamelessness has a brutal end.
Being alert and functioning in this world is the best solution. Then our mistakes would be like a line on the black board which can be erased, and we can move forward.

SVAYAM-VARA

We never hear of Svayam-vadhu,” but scriptures do discuss, “Svayama vara.”  Svayam vara means choosing one’s husband.  It is the choice of a marriageable girl.  Vadhu means bride.  Why are Indian traditional scriptures different from what the prevalent custom is of parent choosing a husband for their daughter?
Girls are extremely conscious of their stable future. A man who can provide for their daily needs, show concern and affection, and has the facility for doing this for  the rest of his life, becomes a natural choice. The ability to judge men is better in women than a man’s ability to judge women.
Rukmini, when she was being forced to marry Shisupala, the prince of Chedi Kingdom by her brother Rukmi, she vehemently disagreed. Her family was forcing  her and she took the decisioin of writing to Sri Krishna to save herself and feel protected under Sri Krishna. She was successful in convincing Sri Krishna in kidnapping her.
Draupadi, who was born to be married to Arjuna, developed a strong desire to marry him. Karna came to the marriage place and was about to shoot the target, so that he could get his hands on Draupadi but  Draupadi, said she would not marry one who was not from her status. Draupadi was clear about wanting to marry Arjuna .
Subhadra, who was  the sister of Sri Krishna was about to be married to Duryodhana, but she choose with the help of her brother Krishna to marry Arjuna.  Most of these men responded to the call of such bold and sensitive ladies. They remained chaste and loyal to their husband.
On other hand when Amba, Ambalika and Ambika were lifted by Bhisma, for his brother Vichitravirya, their life became  disturbed. Amba suffered a lot and became revengeful.
Therefore the Vedic scriptures discuss many different kinds of marriages. Unfortunately presently the concept of marriage is not studied, but it is simply performed gorgeously.  Some believe marriage is a contract and so there is no commitment.  In vedic litreture marriage is considered to be a sacred act, so both parties  take the responsibility to make it happen and work. Some scriptures believe that husband and wife will continue to remain partners for seven life times.
 A woman's role in making a marriage successful is a responsibility and she gets a large amount of credit for the same. It is hence natural that a woman chose her husband and consulted and discussed with her parents.
Where did such choices disappear? How did the members of society start deciding whimsically in the name of tradition, while giving up the foundation of tradition which is the scriptural understanding.
It is the combination of freedom of choice and dialogue with superiors, who are actually superiors because they have heard about tradition, such people come together and make a decision.

BEARER OF THE BAD NEWS

Some time life puts people in a difficult predicament for a long time, and at other times it makes people experience longer duration of an easy life.  One of the most difficult task to be the bearer of the news and certainly the sad one.  
  Sanjay was one such character in the Mahabharata who became the bearer of bad news for at least eighteen days.
He had to narrate to King Dhrithrasthra the death of his sons, caused by Bhima, who was punishing them for their sins.  Sanjaya was narrating graphically the death of Bhisma, Drona, Karna, while narrating the death of King’s sons He had to narrate the death of Dushasana, who was brutally killed by Bhima.
Sanjaya, had to narrate the death of Abhimanyu, massacred by the King’s son and other relatives. Dhrithrasthra heard from Sanjay about the death of his grand son, Laxmana killed by another grand son Abhimanyu. Dhritharasthra heard the death of his son in law Jayadratha.
Sanjay said he was most unfortunate to have had to describe the death of Dhrithrasthra 's loved ones however he also said that he was most fortunate to narrate the beautiful message of the Gita to Dhritharasthra.
 But he was fortunate  that in the midst of so many disastrous news he was able to soothe his own heart by hearing the divine conversation of Sri Krishna and Arjuna,the Bhagavad Gita a song of God. The news of the death of his own family was  painful for Dhritharasthra to hear.  More so because the narration failed to fulfill the dream of Dhritharasthra, who was hoping that Arjuna would keep away his weapons for good and move into the forest for meditative life.
Sanjaya, was able to narrate everything, since he had heard the message of Gita, where Sri Krishna had said, “ one should tolerate happiness and distress, just like one handles heat cold of the changing seasons "

VIDURA THE HELPLESS

Vidura means, "one who knows." What did he know,? Vidura knew what should be done in difficulty and in adharma.
Why did he know? Because he had no personal agenda and he was free from prejudice.  Wherever there was selfishness, small mindedness, Vidura could smell it and spoke it out.
It all began from the birth of Duryodhana, when Vidura predicted that Duryodhana was evil and would cause great disater to the entire Kuru race. His wisdom was rejected. He pleaded to his brother to not divide the kingdom since it was an incorrect solution.
When Dhritharasthra invited the Pandavas for a gambling match Vidura was pleading, begging and  warning the Kuru elders to stop, but again his advice was rejected.  Though he continued holding the post of the prime minister in the kingdom his most important instructions were rejected.
Vidura could have rejected the post of prime minister  but he was responsible about performing  his duty.  His duty was to be a transparent advisor and never the executor.
He experienced pain when his elders rejected his advice but he continued doing his duty. He would verbally give correct advice and plead the elders to take correct steps. What else could he do because that is what was his role was.
In life we see we are put in situations where we tend to be helpless. If we have the power, some time we do not know have the wisdom to know what to do with that power. Some times we have the wisdom but, we are seldomly heard by those who have the power.  Is it possible for us to continue to perform our duties even though the other partners are not responding ?  Vidura displays this character. Rejection of his advice never made him give up his duties. Eventually  at the end of his life, he was able to make Dhrithrasthra perform his duties. He was also successful in leading the Pandavas on the right path from the very beginning till he left for the forest.
The  dual nature of this world always gives an advantage in life’s failure. There is some advantage in failure and there is some inheriant disadvantage in success.
Knowing this very well Vidura continued to act for the sake of acting because it was his duty to act.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

It was agreed that when the Pandavas completed their twelth year of exile and one year of incognito living they would get their kingdom back from Duryodhana. However  Duryodhana flatly refused to give back their Kingdom as was agreed after the Pandavas completed their exile and in cognition living term.
The Pandavas sent a messenger -- a minister of Druapada for their rights. The  Kauravas refused to keep their part of the agreement.
 Dhritrashtra sent Sanjay to convince Pandavas not to come back to Hastinapura.
The Pandavas  did not accept Sanjay "s proposal. Being Kshatriyas they could not have lived on begging forever. Secondly the Pandavas, were responsible for good governance based on Dharma. The Kauravas, were unjust, cruel and evil. Allowing them to rule as kings of Hastinapura, would mean allowing them to exploit the people of the entire kingdom.
The  Pandavas instead of accepting Sanjaya"s proposal sent Sri Krishna as their peace messenger  and asked for merely five villages to rule as Ksatriyas.
However  Duryodhana refused, saying that he would not give any land to the Pandavas to rules as Kshatriyas. Not even as much as the tip of a needle.
Sri Krishna tried to explain to Dhritrastra , by asking him to capture Duryodhana and give the Pandavas their due. That way the other Kurus could survive. He showed them his universal form , to convince them about his identity, but Duryodhana and his party did not budge .
Sri Krishna tried to pursue Karna, and asked him to stop the war. He told Karna to accept the kingship of Hastinapur. Yudhisthira would accept working under him and accept Karna as the elder brother .He also explained that Duryodhana would be pleased to see his friend being crowned king but Karna did not agree. Karna also said if  that he got the crown he would give it to Duryodhana.
Sri Krishna’s efforts  were all rejected by the Kauravas, and the Pandavas  were left with no other choice but to fight. They fought as they were bound by duty to Hastinapura and the entire human civilization. They did not fight out of revenge .
In this condition, who was  responsible for the war , was it Sri Krishna, the Pandavas or the Kurus?  Gandhari has put the entire responsibility of the kurukshetra war on God, Sri Krishna.
It takes great honesty and wisdom to understand the cause of resposbility.  Is it not true that we are responsible for our mistakes, caused by stuborness, stupidity, arrogance, selfishness, and the misuse of the greatest gift of God, the free will and choice?
Let us think about it, and be honest.

INSPIRATION OR ORGANIZATION

When Rama was in the forest, he had nothing to organize.  His army, wealth, ministers were in Ayodhaya.
But when war broke out with Ravana, Lord Rama inspired Sugriva to organize a large army of the “Vanaras,”. On other hand Ravana already had an organized and well structured army.  Ravana's army was fighting like a machine working coherently, not because they were inspired but they were fighting by force.
 Sugriva’s army was inspired the good leadership of Sugriva and the inspiration of fighting for Lord Rama. There was an element of fear too, but the fear was out of respect for the system of Sugriva.
Ravana went to Marichi to  seek help from  him to kidnap mother Sita.  Instead of seeking help he ordered Marichi to help else he would face death. So Ravana would force  and threaten his own uncle  so what to speak of others.
  Dasaratha’s dear minister and chariot driver, Sumanthra, wanted to go with Rama to the forest and suffer as much as Lord Rama would suffer in vanvaas.  He was not supposed to be in vanvaas yet he wanted to accompany Rama because he was inspired by lord Rama .
Being inspired by Rama’s leadership, Sugriva was willing to lay down his life for Lord Rama,
When organization is built on the basis of inspiration, even defeat creates greater force, when organization which is built on the fear principle it simply disappears.
Where is the Golden Lanka today? Does it inspire any one? Lanka has a curiosity value, But Ayodhaya ? It has inspiration value and millions of followers of Sri Rama have lived their life and are living their life for many generations inspired by Ayodhaya The present day Ayodhaya may not resemble physically the way it is depicted in Valmiki’s Ramayana, but it has the power to bring thousands of people to worship the dirt of Ayodhaya, and feel the vibration of spiritual power.
The organized Lanka is over long back, the inspirational Ayodhaya still stands tall and deep in the heart of every admirer of Sri Rama and it will continue to be admired and relished.

FEARLESS

Fearelessness is glorified and marveled at by one and all. But fear is natural in human beings . It is as prevalent in people as it would be prevalent in some one who is walking in the forest or field and fears snakes.  
A person who is an expert at catching snakes and has knowledge about the different types of snakes feels excitement whilst walking in a forest or field. The  same snake creates fear in one and excitement in the other.
There are people who are completely free from fear, fear of death, disease, or losing everything does not trouble them. One may question who are these people?  They are self- realized rishis in the forest or in the Himalayas. These people achieve this fearlessness after great penance and austerity.
These days we observe  that the topic of death is hardly discussed and  people live by the philosophy of “ who cares what happens tomorrow, when today is full of fun and frolic” This consciousness has made one less thoughtful and more destructively playful.
When Duryodhana and Dushasana were shamelessly hurting all the pandavas while hurling insults at Draupadi, including being physically abusive to her they were fearless.  What was the gain ?
This kind of fearlessness destroyed them and destroyed every one around them.
Ravana was fearless in all conditions, whether stealing the flowerly airship of Kubera his cousin, or kidnapping mother Sita.  When he was kidnapping mother Sita, the bird Jatayu, warned him.  He had the vision and intelligence to communicate with Ravana, to show him the consequences, but Ravana did not heed, neither feared any reaction, result?  He was destroyed along with his followers.
 Kaikeyi on seeing the pain of Dasaratha, pleading begging and threatening her, had no iota of pain or fear. She was fearless in asking that Rama be sent to the forest.  She also wanted hat her son be crowned king in Rama 's absence. What was  the result of this fearlessness ?
She lost her son’s respect and affection .All the Ayodhya vasis became indifferent to her.  The fearlessness  that she displayed was  unhealthy and hence she failed to grow.
Therefore the wise tell us that we need to be fearful of being shamed, or being too adventurous. We need to be fearful of being inconsistent in our daily sadhna.  This healthy fear will give us a healthy fearlessness.
 Vedantic life is a combination of healthy fear and healthy fearlessness. This in turn give us a proper journey and destination. Fearful or fearless, it does not matter as long as it is for the right reason.

IF YOU ARE GOOD WHY BE KING

Good people are free from politics or anything related to control, this is the common belief that people have.  Shunning all power is a sign of progress and shunning all political power is better for life then is nonviolent. We are mesmerized by Buddha and Mahavira  or any one who follows their path.
Where does Yudhisthira stand in comparison  to them?  He was good but took part in the war, and became  as bad as the opposite party?  How could a good person fight, rather than renouncing?
Gita takes us through the path of life, showing us the meaning of real life rather than an idealistic life.  Many ideas are idealistic. They can never become part of the larger society.  Idealism is isolated, practicality is brutal.  Hence Gita’s wisdom becomes idealistically practical and teaches us through the example of Yudhishira.
Yudhishthira had a liking for renunciation not escpasim. He was naturally less interested.  He fought  the war not for his own salvation, but to create better governace, so that people were able to practice a harmonious life.  If a large number of people become Buddha,  Duryodhana's and Dushasana’s of the world will occupy the position of the government. The  Duryodhana 's and  Dushasana’s of the world want good people to follow of path of Buddha, so that they can perpetually rule.  But Lord Krishna stood against such decisions.  He wanted inward non attachment and outward engagement .  This combination is difficult not impossible.   This concept has the power to create more and more legacy of giving greater number of people the opportunities of detachment within and action without.
The path of actual giving up is inaction outside and working hard to give up action inside.
The path of practicality, is to be obsessed with action within and without. In this path when the body stops functioning people are forced to give up action outside, even though their mind and heart is fully devourered by wanting to do something.
Gita’s path is wholesome action is permanent but changing the action according to time is important. For eg:-  A Student has to move on from his dear  school to a new action in college. Eventually one gives up college and then profession. He may end up telling stories to his grand children, and eventually give away the very vehicle which took him on the journey from school to death.  In this journey, what he is forced to give up is not  responsibility, but untimely actions and attachments to those which are no more relevant. In other words they were important in the past, not in the present.
Yudhisthira guided by Krishna acted like Buddha within and action without .In this way he established dharma which kept Duryodhana and Dushasana away from acting.

BE AWAKE AWARE AND ACT

Sleep is needed for physical rest, but the flip side of sleep is that it represents ignorance and laziness.  When Arjuna was studying he had controlled sleep, hence he was also known as “Gudakesha,” --one who is the controller of sleep.  His awakened state made him aware of his surrounding, and then he acted according to this awareness.
One day due to heavy wind the torches were blown away and it was completely dark. At this time Arjuna was honoring his meal . He continued eating without getting disturbed by the darkness and strong wind. Then a thought crossed Arjuna's mind " if I can eat in darkness I can practice archery in darkness too.” This knowledge was dormant when he was in light, but the darkness awakened him to the reality of learning in the dark.
How did this happen?
 Arjuna was awakened and sensitive to his surrounding .Along with being awakened and sensitive he was also sensible. This sensibility was also flavoured with action so Arjuna started practicing in the dark what he had learned from his teacher, Dronacharya.
Sensitivity sensibility and being action oriented became Arjuna’s conditioning.  When Arjuna came to the battlefield, he became awakened to the reality of life.  In spite of his sensibility and sensitivity his decision making capacity was clouded as he stood on the battlefield. He took the action of having a dialogue with Lord Krishna. He asked Lord Krishna what he should do with his sensitivity and sensibility as he thought that war would cause human loss  and loss of tradition.
Lord Krishna while appreciating Arjuna’s sensibility and sensitivity reprimanded him for coming to the wrong conclusions. A beautiful dialogue ensued between them.  After the dialogue Arjuna came to the right conclusion in regards to right actions. Now his cycle of being awake, aware and action oriented  became complete. This cycle moved on and gave benefits to the larger society for a long time.
To be sensitive we have to awake. To be sensible we have to be aware and to translate sensitivity and awareness into actions we have to be action oriented.

MY CHOICE

One of the greatest gift of God is awarding us independence so that we can make our choices with regards to how we think, how we speak and ultimately how we act. This is one part of the story of life. It's the beginning of ours and everyone's story, but what we do not get to hear and debate is the story of the consequences of our choices.

Who ever tells half  the story is not a real story teller, he or she is not even a real actor or actress because a real dramatist tells the complete story.

The greatest story writer Sri Vyasadeva, in Mahabharata depicts a complete picture of life. It is painful but real and therefore has the power to make us reflective while making our choices.
Every choice made by Duryodhana in the story of Mahabharata was his right and freedom, trying to feed poison to Bhima was his choice, attempted arson to burn the Pandavas was his choice, brutal endeavour to disrobe Draupadi was certainly his choice.  But Vyasadeva also writes about the consequences of the choices made by Duryodhana.
Duryodhana experienced a horrible and painful death along with death of all those who were near and dear one.

Therefore choices are our resources, our wealth our birth rights and at the same time consequences are our responsibilities, our taxes and our fruits bitter or sweet.

The great Jatayu in Ramayana was educating Ravana, after he abducted Mother Sita, Jatayu said, " it is better to carry
as much weight as our back can handle,  or else it will break. It is better to eat as much as we can digest, or else we will be suffering from indigestion. If you do not listen O Ravana then be ready to face the consequences."  Ravana disregarded the common sense of Jatayu, but Jatsyu's words were prophetic and within a year Ravana faced the consequences.

Ravana was famous but stupid Jatayu was vulture but had common sense.  Unfortunately those who make choices like Ravana even though famous are almost less than the vulture.
Who is influencing our choices of life even though it's our choices is the real question, answer is predictable depending upon which one we choose.
Lets make our choice. It's my choice to be reflective, it's my choice to sensitive, it's my choice to be cultured l, it's my choice to see that it does not hurt others. It's my choice so that it does not confuse and create chaos.

KRSNA MISUNDERSTOOD

Being misunderstood is a natural phenomenon of this world.The bigger we are bigger is the misunderstanding.  The small and simple peasant is misunderstood by his master, and vice versa. The rope is some time misunderstood to be a snake, or the opposite is also true.  Imitation is taken to be real and real to be imitation. No one in this world can avoid being misunderstood.  If we are worried about being misunderstood, and obsessed with being understood rightly, we will have to become inactive in this world.  Lord Buddha said, “ action is the cause of bondage, better to cease all activity, and experience nirvana.”  Therefore his path was called as path of “Sunyavada”  meaning zero-ism.  

Lord Krishna on the other hand taught the concept of “karma yoga”. It says whilst  performing action experience union and harmony with the world and beyond.  Giving up action is unnatural, according to Krishna, and giving up is also an action, and hence freedom from action is as unavoidable as stopping to breathe while wanting to live.

Krishna’s life was a life of many misunderstandings,  “why he ate butter? why he killed his uncle? how could he dance with other men's wife? how could he allow this war to happen? why did he make the most truthful person, Yudhisthira speak a lie?  There is no limit to misunderstanding, but with all these misunderstandings the lord did not stop functioning. In fact he acted for the sake of Dharma. He came to establish Dharma. To establish Dharma action is important, and part of establishing dharma is being misunderstood.  Being misunderstood, should not change our understanding of our responsibility and ability to function.  

Misunderstood or not one has to continue to function and do something tangible which is recommended by highly evolved souls.

Lord Krishna is the best example. He continued doing what he was doing from the very beginning.  Therefore in the Gita He said, “I do not need to act, but to set an example to the world, I still function.”

We have the choice to stop functioning so that no one misunderstands us yet we may get misunderstood for this decision of inaction or we can continue to function in a Dharmik manner and be misunderstood. Misunderstanding prevails its our choice which misunderstanding  we want.