SENSUALITY AND SENSE OF DUTY

Arjuna is known for his focus and sense of duty.He was seldom distracted from his duty. One who is focused, feels the satisfaction of putting his full attention in doing whatever he chooses to do or he is told to do by his superiors.

One disadvantage of such focus is that some focussed people are less human friendly and more in the mode of enhancing their competency.  Focus can lead to a narrow out look towards life.
The achievers syndrome from which  focussed people suffer,  can make them use people for their success.  For this they  do not mind compromising with their relationships.

Modernity is more object friendly and less people friendly. One prefers to sacrifice one’s affectionate relationship just to increase  resources through hightened efficiency.
To gain higher efficiency one has to work harder, working harder means being less available for meaningful friendly relationships with one’s own loving family members and friends.

Arjuna on one hand was increasing his efficiency but not at the cost of his relationship.
For him all achievements were only to increase his affectionate relationship with his divine family, the pandavas.

When he was in the heaven, Indra arranged a dance show for Arjuna. This was pefromed by the best of the Apsaras in heaven.
Vyasadeva writes, Arjuna was surrounded by apsaras in this heavenly celebration but he was unaffected.
He was focused on going back and being with his family members.
All these beautiful damsels were not able to entertain or distract Arjuna.
It was not because they lacked the ability or attitude to serve Arjuna, but it was Arjuna who was looking for a  meaningful relationship and hence this show did not matter to  him.

We need more Arjunas who are focused in achieving and part of that foucs is to never loose  focus on maintaining the relationship with those people who you love and care for.

Let us accept  the wholesome Arjuna, and grow in life, rather than  a part of Arjuna who is less than Arjuna for part Arjuna can make our difficulties grow ...

EMOTIONALLY INTELLECTUAL

It is often seen that intellectual people are less emotional and emotional people are less reasonable. When these two kinds of people are on the opposite sides of the table can any conclusion be reached?
The intellectual person deals beyond people, and emotional person deals beyond reason, so how do you reach any conclusion in these conditions?

When Bhima and Draupadi were discussing with Yudhisthira, about punishing Duryodhana, Bhima and Draupadi were  both charged with emotions and willing to punish Duryodhana instantly. Her approach was  making deicison based on emotions.Bhima supported her. On the other hand  Yudhisthira was  thoughtful, analytical and reflective .
He failed to take any substantial decision in the above circumstance.
This irritated both Bhima and Draupadi.

Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita explains, that it is a combination of buddhi and-bhava which we must use to deal   with situations in life to live a life if dharma. When Arjuna had to shoot Bhisma, he was overwhelmed with emotions but tough decisions had to be taken.
It was a painful decision.The heart ached and cried but  the hand was stretched so that the arrows could enter the body of Bhisma.

When Krishna had to leave Vrindavana it was painful for him but  establishing dharma out of the land of Vrindavana was the purpose of his coming to this world.

When the balancing act of bhava and intelligence is achieved then we do not lose our heart, and with the heart the action of taking decision becomes artful. The heart and head balance gives skillfull action through the senses.That is the call of  the Bhagvat Gita.

Therefore Krishna teaches us personally through his personality
that living a life  of dharma means life is love laden with lots of wisdom.  Therefore the  Gita is not only logical talk, it is love compassion  and  concern filled talk. Therefore it is  known as  the“Song of God.”--  The “Bhagavad Gita”

Song but meaningful, meaningful but song, what a combination!!
Therefore it is still fresh with melody and meaning.
Is there anything like this?

PRYING TO FRY

Monitoring, meddling, mediating, or mentoring have the same action  at its core but the results  of each action are completely different. 
Monitoring a small baby  is a sign of concern, affection and care.
Meddling as the interrogating officer in the dispute is healthy and expected.
Mediating, as the expert in conflict resolution leads to cooperative living amongst the people.
Mentoring  heals the distress of the disturbed.

But when the child grows up to be a  teenager.....
Monitoring of the father and mother causes irritation to him.
Meddling in somebody else’s affair becomes a rude and discourteous act.
Mediating becomes irrelevant when one of the party does not want it.

Mentoring done without the desire of the mentee brings about no positive gain and  becomes a disqualification of the mentor .
In the Mahabharata Dhritharasthra wanted Maitreya Rishi to mentor and counsel Duryodhana with regards to a compromise.  Duryodhana not  wishing to be mentored did not hear anything.
Instead he insulted Maitreya Rishi.
Duryodhana got no advice  from Maitreya Rishi and on the contrary got  a curse that his thighs
would be destroyed which would be the cause of his death.
Dhristharasthra himself would not hear what he did not like to hear, if any one gave him advice which was contrary  to what he would like to hear he would snap and be upset.

Initally Arjuna was argumentative and overwhelmed with emotions, and when Arjua had the above attiude of" I think I know all" Krishna would not speak,  he would only ask questions to Arjuna.
Only when Arjuna  surrendered and was willing to hear and get good counsel from Krishna did the lord speak, and illuminate Arjuna.
Arjuna  on hearing the gita was enlightened but Dhristharasthra who heard the same bhagvad gita experienced no change.
Teaching is the responsibility of  a teacher, but learning?

IT'S DIRTY BUT IMPORTANT

The body is made in such a way that it has many functions.  Some functions we may despise, but we cannot disregard.They are very much a part of our daily life. Every day without fail we respond to them, if they stop working or over work then we get disturbed.  I am referring to the process  and function of evacuation.

Similarly in this world there are some important jobs that need to be done.
We may  not like these jobs  may want to avoid them but we cannot. I am referring to  politics, and politicans. We may hate them but we need them. These positions cannot remain vacant, if good people do not occupy the positions then some one else shall occupy the position.

Unfortunately the most impact creating occupation  in society is currently occupied by unwanted people. The good people chose to work for multinationals thinking there is no corruption there  and we  can do our work work honestly in multi nationals. This  is exactly how Drona and Bhisma worked honestly but for  the most crooked people.
Dharma is very subtle. Our personal honesty to collective dishonesty is as bad as personal dishonesty.

Therefore interestingly all the royal kings  are the ones who heard all scriptures.
In fact all major books were spoken to politicians. Bhagavad gita was spoken to Arjuna on the battlefield, and Bhagavata was spoken to Pariksita another king. Such kings are Rajarshi, they are saints among the kings.
However their saintliness is not at the cost of not punishing the culprit, its not about not taking tough decisions.Their toughness is  displayed in their indifference towards the culprit, who may even be known to them or related to them.

Arjuna had to be tough, in giving punishment to Bhisma, and Drona, not because they were his  personal enemies, rather on the  personal front they were two people whom Arjuna would do anything  to please . Instead he shot at them terminated them, because dharma was asking him to take a call to stop their autrocities.

Good for bad or bad for good, so that good prevails.

GAMBLING, WOMEN AND ROBBERY

Chanakya  Pandit very wittily says, "one who listens to gambling in the morning, women in the afternoon, and robbery in the night becomes a member of the refined people."

Even as recent as 1830 the village schools in India made these activities common amongst the young children and assured them of  great success in life.

What was Chanakya Pandit speaking about? He was speaking about the life line of Bharata bhumi:
1.The  Mahabharata
2.The Ramayana
3.The Bhagavat.
With all kinds of diversity, dress, language, food and diverse kinds of worship, one thing was common in schools --- the study of these three books.

Mahabharata teaches us life skills. Ramayana teaches us characters skills.  Bhagavata teaches us love skills.  Learning these essentil skills makes one a wholesome and skillful person, an integrated personality with  a perfect perception.

The foundational principles for any one to live, grow and leave from this world are:
1.Love
2.Good character
3.Art of living

Those who have live by these foundational principles are said to have  traversed the  journey of life successfully.

Gambling, women, and robbery is going on but it is  going on without these three wisdom books.
The effects of what  we are  creating are  clearly visible :
A society with less heart but many artists, muicians and actors
Less sportsman spirit  in life, but  many sportstars,
Lots of  wealth but less meangingful relationships.
Less understanding in spite of do many  communication techniques
Lack of health and stale eatables even though man has access to a great variety of food.

If the Nation cannot  make our holy books a part of our compulsory education at least we can morally as individuals can study it. .
We have the right, responsibility and urgency to talk about gambling, women and robbery .

Choice is ours which kind of gambling, women and robbery we want to speak about and based upon that we will be respond in life.

NIGHT TIME MURDER

Ashwatthama  was a  Brahaman by birth and was supposed to posses the qualities of  forgiveness, compassion, large heartedness, free from cruelty, simplicity and austerity due to his being a Brahman. 
Brahmanas are supposed to be thoughtful and analytical during the day and reflective at night.
They analyse their good  and bad behaviour, and beg forgiveness from superiors within their heart, and this way they are peaceful.

But Ashwattama  in spite of his being a Brahmana was razing with intense passion, and contemplating the murder of the last heir of the pandavas.
He brutally murdered them at night, strangulated  Dristhadymna, and butchered Shikhandi.
It was the deadliest crime in the entire battle of Kuruksetra -even Duryodhana kind of condemned this act of killing the kuru kula.
Ashwatthama even after this condemnation continued scheming to kill.
He wanted to kill the last member of pandava family -Pariksita who was in the womb of Uttara the wife of Abhimanyu.

When he was caught  by  the pandavas, Krishna gave him  severe punishment, in the form of not killing him .
Krishna did not punish Ashwatthama by killing him the way Bhima killed Dushyshana or Duryodhana  for that was instataneous punishment . Nor did he give Ashwatthama a suffering like that of Dhritharasthra for a few years. Instead he  gave  him a long life of 3000 years  with a body that smelt rotten in which he had to wander without shelter .

In the entire Mahabharata, Krishna killed many demons, punished  mighty kings, and rectified few gods who had become temporarily arrogant, and all of  them were either killed or punished and were then liberated and blessed.
Ashwatthama  who had the privileges of being a brahmana  had committed  henious crimes .
So Ashwatthama alone in the entire mahabharat in spite of his having the  position of  being the  son of the  Great Drona  was not  killed  blessed or liberated .
Instead Krishna punished him by not killing him but by  allowing him to live with  the stench of guilt and restlessness for 3000 years .
What  is pertinent is not what we are born with  but rather  how we use what we are born with...

IN BETWEEN

In a relationship both the parties are responsible for making a relationship work.
Whether in a father- son
father - daughter
husband- wife relationship
in fact in any  relationship, one cannot say that only one side is responsible to make the relationship work.

In relationships those who have  greater resources  have greater responsbilites too.
Strangely when the persons with greater responsibilities make a mistake, the reaction from their suboridinate is intense, but their superiors are more willing to give them another chance.
In fact when Indra made a mistake, he was forgiven for he had also taken a bigger responsibility.
In the story of Govardhana, Indra had the audacity to offend Krishna who is the Supreme Brahaman. However
Krishna  whilst  protecting  the vrindavan vasis,  forgave  Indra in spite of his audacity to offend Krishna.
It may sound  like injustice but since the persons with greater responsibilities have the capacity to handle big jobs they are given a chance  to rectify, reform and re-act positively.

In  the Mahabharata we see Duryodhana was forgiven many times for various  crimes right from
Trying to poision Bhima...
Burn the pandavas ...
Make them lose everything during the gambling match...
To Even  attempting to strip off Draupadi..
The Pandavas were willing to forgive all  the crimes if Duryodhan would change. 
Why? If Duryodhan changed he had more faciilties to offer greater good to the society.
But  since he persisted in doing what he was doing  the punishment meted out to him was very severe.  Mahabharata shows us that a brutal punishment is meted out  to persons with great responsibilities for not changing.
Leaders aren’t  free to behave whimsically just because they are leaders .Their responsibilities are higher and the  punishment meted out to them is much more severe, but between the position and punishment there are  places and a few chances to rectify.

Subordinates are punished immediately as they make mistakes. But they are given lesser punishment due to  lesser responsibility. For subordiantes between their position and punishment there is a lesser chance of forgiveness.
This is because  their position or their punishment is very personal and does not effect the society at large.

Karma cycle is precise and just.  Understandiing it is complex and difficult. But still it is right and natural