GARIBI HATAO..!!

"Garibi hatao, “ was a famous slogan of a political leader. It was spoken with the intention of obliterating poverty.  Of course it failed, and since then it has changed the nature of poverty.

There is the so called upgraded standard of living, where we observe that earlier the poor had no phones, now they can afford  cell phones, television in houses of the poor was unheard of now we can see television discs even in slum areas.    The poor today have at least  two-wheelers .  Children residing in slums are  commonly seen wearing western clothes. People have things but do they have wealth?

In getting things, people have lost their lands, in getting education, people have lost their connections, in getting jobs, people have lost relationships.  In getting fast  food, people have lost food cooked by their mother or wife. In getting money people have lost wealth. In being privileged people have lost their inner self, in being smart  people have lost common sense.  In trying to remove poverty, we have ended up removing a satisfied life.  We have lost wealth and gained things. We have lost culture but have got fashion We have lost aeasthetic sense and got machines. We are losing out on the beautiful nature, and getting screen savers of the alps.  We have lost cooperation but increased competition.  We have gained independence at the cost of interdependence.  We get to have girl/boy friends and express our affection openel. Free life at the cost of a loving and meaningful relationship.  We have clubs but not community, we have big bazaars but have  lost our village market, we exist but have stopped living.  Valour has gone violence has increased, heroism is exitinct but screen heroes are abundant.  Beautiful women with a depressed heart are in abundance. Beauty earlier was always unexposed from those who were exploitative however now those who want to provoke are called hot and beautiful.  Do we have solutions or only woes?

Dharmik culture talks about inspired poverty rather than imposed poverty.  Inspired poverty is the poverty of things for oneself at the cost of being available to others. The teacher was poor so that less time would be needed for oneself and more time could be given to those who were comptent to lead the society.  The Rishis or sadhus would live with  less so that they could make others live a meaningful life.  Sanyasis and Vanaprasthas, were out of competition to help people cooperate.  Saintly devoteees taught the “art of keeping God in the centre.” so that the real wealth was always experienced in good times or bad times.  Such saintly people were poor by choice so that  others could be wealthy, prosperious  and satisfied .

Unless we have such a class of people, the mission to remove poverty will continue to haunt us and trouble us.

PURUSHARTHA OR DAIVA

Yudhisthira once asked Bhismadeva what makes one successful destiny(Daiva) or action (purushartha)?

Purusha is a person who has the doer’s mentality and daiva is being dependent on something beyond oneself.  In this regard Bhisma told Yudhisthira that there is a higher power which makes everything work but we too have to endevour.  Daiva does not make it happen unless there is the flavour of endevour, and endevour does not becomes successful unless it is soaked in daiva.

Bhisma in this case said how purusharatha is responsible for success.  He said daiva follows Purusharatha. Bhisma was speaking this to the afflicted Yudhisthira who was reluctant to lead even after victory and was wanting to lead a life of a recluse, like a sannyasi.  Bhisma tried explaining to Yudhisthira about doing his duty without attachement. Yudhisthira had done his duty as a warrior and was responsible for the future course of action and lead the people as their emperor.
The mandate was clear, but Yudhisthira was unwilling.

Bhisma had to push the concept of purushartha over daiva, even though daiva is the superior force.  When someone sits and holds daiva responsible while avoiding Purushartha, then the saints and scirptures do come forward to remind the unwilling to take the reins and perform  action.  And at the same time if some one is unwilling to detach and move on with the next stage of life, the saints and the scriptures advise, “Hey you move away from the concept of I am the doer, your time is up, do not consider yourself to be the doer of activities.”   The scriptures and the saints use the right medicine and the right time.

The sleeping soul needs to be awakened to peform its duty, and the egoistic soul is to be awakened to daiva for the performance of acitivities.  There is no contradiction here rather there is a harmony in instructing people.

Eventually Yudhisthira rose and took the reins of the kingdom and became excellent at performing his duty, while keeping the partnership of daiva and purusharatha at the forefront , knowing that daiva was the major stakeholder and purushartha the minor.

FIVE VILLAGES A CHECKMATE.

When the Pandavas completed their twelve years of exile and one year of staying  incognito, they were ready to get back to their kingdom to rule as desired by the dharma principles.  But Duryodhana was stubborn and unwilling to hand over the reins to the Pandavas.  Sri Krishna decided to become a peacemaker and convince Duryodhana and the other Kurus to be logical and just.

When Sri Krishna came to Hastinapura, he tried his best to convince the Kurus, but they would not relent because of the strong influence of Duryodhana. They requested Duryodhana to part with the kingdom, but to no avail. Ultimately Krishna asked for only five villages so that the Pandavas could be happy ruling the five villages. Duryodhana roared “ I will not even give  land as much as the head of a needle.”  With this he sealed the fate of all the kings and the warriors.  They were forced to come to the battlefield to fight.

Why did Duryodhana reject the proposal of five villages instead of war and lose his own life and the life of millions of soldiers?  Was he stupid, ignorant and full of arrogance? He was certainly  arrogant, and this arrogance put him to checkmate or in a position in which he would lose either ways .
Sri Krishna was a master strategist. By asking for merely five villages he cornered all the Kurus. If they would have agreed then the Pandavas would soon expand and become the unrivalled kings, and Duryodhana would have had to stay under them. If Duryodhana gave the entire kingdom then also he would have come under subjugation.

Duryodhana had no other option other than being their subordinate. This was his destiny and only option. This was unbearable for Duryodhana. He preferred dying on the battlefield rather than dying everyday under the Pandavas. It was all about his personal agenda for which he was willing to put the entire kingdom at risk.
Such persons livng or dead are useless.   People who have a Duryodhana like mentality cause pain whilst livng and whilst dying.
Krishna tried hard to stop the war and drill some sense in the Kurus.They had the option of excuting him.
This option was offered by Krishna to the Kurus ---to bind him and hand him over to Yudhisthira, but the Kurus were unwilling or had no mettle to do this.

Krishna took the decision; he chose between the two evils. A living Duryodhana and a dying Duryodhan --- both situations would cause havoc. But a livng Duryodhana would cause perpetual havoc, so Krishna decided to remove Duryodhan once and for all, knowing very well that would cause havoc too.

Many times, life at the micro level puts us in such situations. We face a Duryodhana like situation in keeping one of our family members within the business or organisation. It is troublesome to keep them and removing  them also becomes troublesome. Therefore life is like Kurukshetra and it is better to have Sri Krishna steering our life chariot, so that even if we to take a difficult decision Krishna will be there to give us the strength to handle the situation.

ACTION CREATES IMPACT

It ia not our position that is important rather it is our action which has the power to create an impact whether   negative or positive.
When Gandhari and Dhritharasthra rejected the proposal of discarding the inauspicious new born child, Duryodhana, as advised by Vidura, it was an ordinary incident, but the impact  it created was  huge. It was an action that eventually led to  bloodshed and war.

Bhagiratha, one of the  many kings,  pleaded  with mother Ganga to come to this world many years back, just so that his family would be delivered. The intention was simple, the deliverance of his family, the action was difficult and  the impact is still being experienced.

The ordinary terrorist, when he blasts bombs in a busy street he creates a  terrible impact in the life of many people who lose their family members, and in the life of people who lose different limbs of their body, and experience  seeing the gruesome violence.

In this world some of us are big, some are small, some are signigficant, some are ordinary ,some are famous, some are totally unknown, but everybody has the invisible power to create an impact which may create a lasting impression, positive or negative depending on what kind of action one performs. Therefore our Dharmik scriptures give importance to even the  most insignificant events, by asking us to perform the action at the right time. That moment  may be small compared to eternal time, but performance of the action according to that time,  has the power to create a powerful impact.

Dharma scriptures ask us to give importance to all activities  because they have the power to change our destiny. A small shell of a cococnut, unnoticed in the food can cause huge damage to our life, to the extent  that it may take our life.  But the same amout of medicine taken at the right time not only might save a life, but may become instrumental in saving many lives in the future.

Yes we are ordinary our actions are as ordinary as we are, but contemplating on the impact in the future, we can change the intentions of  our actions.

INSPIRED OR IMPOSED

Life in the modern world seems to be  leaning towards individual and personal choices over responsibility towards the society. When one decides to live life based on one 's own intiatives without considering the consequences on society, then the  society at large is put in a chaotic condition.
For instance, if one or many decide to live a life of complete freedom with regards to whatever they do, it would cause great inconvenience to the society. People do have the freedom to chose however the consequences of their choice affect a large number of people.
Drinking was a taboo in the past , and was condemnable, now it is no more a taboo, any one can drink and it is considered a matter of personal choice. No morality is attached to it. When drinking becomes destructive to social life then it is restricted through law. Morality which was personal now becomes legal.
If you are caught drunk and driving then you are penalized.  Why? Because your driving in a drunk state  can cause social difficulty.

Getting married was a moral discipline and a cultural want, but now couples are preferring live-in relationships.  Morality in such situations is corrupted. When  there is great exploitation  in such live-in relationships, the court  has made a law  that live-in relationships become binding and the rights of the affected party are like the rights that exist in marriage.

In morality we are self inspired, we do not need any police or government systems to make us follow. We are bound by our own discipline which is mentally uplifiting and spiritually favourable. But when people give up morality as a burden and a religious superficiality, then society is put into chaos. The legal department  of the government then takes over and puts at par the status of live-in with the status of marriage . When morliaty is self inspired, then we do not cheat .In morality the only person who we can cheat is ourself, but in legality, we think we can buy the law and continue to create unrest in society. Therefore there are natural laws of nature, which are very coherent and perfect.  Narural laws give back at the right time with interest. We are forced by the sublte laws of nature and of the gross laws of the government.

In dharma scriptures the concept of parmatma is very powerful.  We are told that Ishvara is watching us from our heart and knows all our actions.  Similarly now in the mundane world, there is  the CCTV, lie detector machines, wine detector machines, and so many other things.  One who is connected to the Paramatma  does not fear  machines. One who is shameless and denies the Paramatama has these machines, and the parmatama both to fear.

Choice is ours, we want conscious morality or unconscious morality and conscious legality ?

EXCEL THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS

There is an anology about the  moon’s beauty. The moon looks beautiful  in connection to the many stars in the sky. One of the proverbs taught in school says “There is nothing as tasty as salt and no better god than mother.” Salt being tasty is a statement in connection with other ingredients.  It cannot be consumed alone, but without it the food becomes inedible. However if people are gifted salt without anything else they consider it a big insult.  Everything in this world becomes fruitful due to its connection with other items.

Relationships also follow the same path .  No one  can live without connection. One can exist, but to live a meaningful life, we need relationships.  Relationships become good depending  on how much people involve themselves. Some people are imposing in other’s life, and they are like more salt, tough to eat. On the other hand some people are hardly involved in relationships. They are like very little salt in food. can’t relish this food either . Right amount of salt in food  makes the food perfect.

Building relationships is like cooking -- mixing different ingredeints in a receipe  at the right time. For example whilst cooking rice we  do not put the rice first in water ,rather we boil water and then add rice, and at the same time we do not put little water and more rice. The proportion and timing both need to be perfect .

In Ramayana Kaikeyi imposed her relationship upon her husband which eventually  caused his death.
Manthara who was supposed to serve with humility in the house of Kaikeyi, imposed herself and provoked the simple Kaikeyi, causing her to lose her credibility in the Ramayana forever.

Vali the powerful elder brother of Sugriva over powered Sugriva and forced him to leave the kingdom and run away.
That artifical relationship was rectified by Sri Rama by Vali's removal.

Sita, Rama,  Laxamana and Hanumana had  the perfect relationship.  Rama never imposed, Sita never demanded, Laxmana never crossed his limit, but played his role as brother at the same time.  Hanumana was the  servant of all these three, never crossed his limit, nor ever acted timid.

Why is Rama Darbara  such a beautiful sight to see ? Because, everyone played their role rightly with the right amount of involvement at the right time.
Can we do it?

SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY

In Dharmik litreature we repeatedly find the concept of the appearance of God.  Whenever there is suffering  it is said that God appears to alleviate the suffering of living beings.

The beauty of His appearance is that when living entities request him to come he certainly reciprocates, and at the same time he requests those who are seeking help to take up responsibilities according to their capacity.

Pandavas were the expansions of different Devatas . They did not stay  in their beautiful mansion in the higher world partying with their friends and family.  They came down and took whatever resposnbilities they could. They knew very well that Sri Krishna was completely capable of handling everything Himself, but Dharma or laws of nature require us to take equal responsibility to make things happen rightly.

Pandavas suffered and struggled to such an extent that they had to see the death of their children. They also had to see their own wife Druapadi being disrobed in front of their eyes.
And who was Druapadi?  She was the godess of heaven but she was stripped off all of her wealth. In spite of all this humiliation  she remained loyal to all of her duties, including the duty of being a human being, even though she was ordinary.
Dharmik scripture talks about our rights,  and our responsblity.

Each one of us is given something over which we can claim propritership and each  one of us has to pay the taxes depending on our resources.
God is supremely powerful, but he uses this power to be compassionate.  He is supremely resourceful, but he shares his resources with us.  He is free from all duty, but still acts very dutiful.  This is confirmed in the Gita.

Do we want Sri Krishna to come and help us? Are we willing to take the responsibility to assist him? That is the more important question than why God is not appearing in this world.
Yes he is ready to appear let us prepare ourselves to be responsible.

LAMENTING FOR SUFFERING

When we suffer ,we lament, as if that is the solution for overcoming suffering.  Suffering could be of different types.
Someone who has  never experienced physical discomfort may become irritated by little things, such people can be in extreme difficulty and pain because of a slightly  provocative situation.
There are some who suffer for a long time, and believe that suffering is eternal, as if they know what is eternity .
Some suffer because they do not have what others have, while forgetting completely  that what they have could be  used to grow in life.
But one thing is sure, whether we suffer little or we suffer more, the solution is certainly not to lament, but almost every one does this. It is strange but  true.

The Gita deals with this in a very realistic way. Sri Krishna says, happiness and distress are two sides of the same coin.  They will appear and disappear like the summer and winter season and one should learn to tolerate the happiness and distress.

Sri Krishna does not stop here, by asking us to tolerate, it is just the beginning. Next he talks about the Yagna or the duty principle. By pefroming one's duty one can minimize suffering  and eventually he talks about performing the Yoga of devotion through which we can transcend  suffering.

The Pandavas  and the  Kaurvas both suffered. Kauravas suffered because they made it their habit to suffer. The Pandavas suffered because  suffering is a part of life.
They accepted their suffering and eventually transcended it.
Suffering cannot be avoided by suffering or causing others to suffer.
Suffering can only by transcended by dealing with it in a positive way, by taking shelter of Sri Krishna’s words in the Bhagavad gita.
Suffering is universal, but lamenting is personal.

COMPLETE WISDOM

To know, to act, to feel and to experience is the complete cycle of wisdom. Wisdom is multi faceted . Every facet unveils at the right time and that right time could be gradual or all at once.
Small babies cannot explain what they are  experiencing --the affection of a mother.  A motherless grown up boy, who has not experienced a mother's love, may be able to explain mother"s love by reading and hearing from others.  But most people get to go through all the phases of life in regards to mother's love. They will know ,feel, act and explain.

Similarly every situation, relations and interactions in life has these components.   Without this complete circle our so called wisdom is either dry logic or simply a touchy feeling.

Wisdom also cannot be experienced by being person centric. Different people have different experiences of the same person, community and society, hence every one's knowledge may differ and their parents explanation may contradict and create conflict. Therefore the sources of wisdom are the great Rishis who disseminate wisdom from a very neutral point of view. These Rishis and Gurus perceive wisdom through deep sadhna , seva , scriptural understanding and learning from teachers who were themselves great students of their teachers.

Vyasa and Valmiki are the men of greatest wisdom, from who  has come a great wisdom bank touching upon every sphere of creation.

We need to study and understand them and whilst studying be careful of not making ourselves a reference point.  We need not see them through our experiences rather we allow them to see us.

Sri Krishna saw everyone through dharma on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. It was an integrated vision.
Others were seeing the war from their small and little I me and you perspective.    Shikhandi,was gazing from an injustice done by Bhishma in the past point of view.
Duryodhana was seeing from the present so that he could enjoy life presently and Karna was seeing from the future perspective thinking, "what will the world think, if I join the pandavas, I cannot betray Duryodhana". Hence all of them from dharma's point of view had to disappear.

Sri Krishna through the Gita, gave the Pandavas a higher perspective and they became relevant for ever. Their vision was complete past, present and future was integrated.

Their wisdom was wholesome and complete. 

YUYUTSU-SIDE CHANGED

Arjuna’s delusion was dispelled by Sri Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, when he narrated the Bhagavad-Gita.

Yudhishthira walked towards the other side of the army to get blessings from his superiors, headed by Bhisma, Drona, Krapa, and Salya.  All of them blessed him saying  that his victory was guranteed.  This was first weapon released by Yudhsthira. It entered straight into each of the  enemy’s hearts and came out from their mouth as powerful blessings.

Yudhishtira then spoke loudly. He announced and asked if anyone wanted to switch sides . One of the step brothers of Duryodhana, walked out of Duryodhana’s army and switched over to the Pandava army.  This was another weapon released by Yudhisthira which  worked against Duryodhana .

We see that life has many dimensions including war like situations. In war  many things are included, including sensitivity towards life. Duryodhana was raised to see one aspect of life only while  being disconnected with the other aspects of life. Yudhisthira was able to see the connection in every aspect of life .Yudhisthira saw blessings as a  powerful tool, even though that was not the purpose of his seeking blessings. He wanted blessing for the sake of blessings, and at the same time was aware of the power of blessings.

Duryodhana did not see the connection between curses and physical resources. He thought that human resources, wealth and collecting all kinds of weapons was sufficicent to be successful in life.

Yudhishthira on other hand, was collecting resources in the form of army, weapons, and wealth, but he did not stop there , he collected good wishes and blessings too. A part of taking blessings was to make the other party soft in their retaliation.  He was also successful in breaking the confidence of Duryodhana and his party when he got Yuyutsu to walk out of Duryodhana’s army.

Duryodhana could not ever understand the subtlety.  He lived life at the gross reality level. Yudhisthira  on the other hand lived live a life full of diverse shades. His core principle was to lead from subtle to gross. Duryodhana believed in leading  from gross to disappearing in oblivion.

Duryodhana’s policy was, “I live and others die, if others live I prefer dying.”  And that is what he got.  He died and allowed the pandavas to live.   Yudhisthira was always willing to live on a basic minimum, so he begged for five villages to rule. He was willing to live with less resources. In reality he got not only five villages but he became the king of the kings.  After becoming king he continued to entertain, all those who survived .Dhritharasthra stayed with Yudhisthira, Krapacharya continued as Guru to their family.  This was the consciousness and strategy of Yudhsthira.  Live and let others live.  Living at the cost of others is selfish, allowing oneself to be used by others is not selfless and leads to exploitation. Firm  living is such that it helps others to learn and live by the principle of co-operative living.