FORGIVENESS FORGOTTEN

Diversity in the characters of humans is caused by each individual’s background influences, which one can hardly overcome. When one acts otherwise, he or she often creates a disastrous example.

Dronacharya was a great teacher but excessive  attachment to his son made him cruelly ambitious, consciously avoid following his core nature of being a Brahmana, who is supposed to be large hearted, even though he has less resources to live with. He made a vicious circle around his own life, and got involved with adharma. And this chakra was stronger and deadlier than what he formed to destroy young Pandava Abhimanyu. Dronacharya couldn’t escape this chakra till he was released from his bondage by the sages enlightening him, Yudhishthira lying to him and Dhrishthadyumna killing him.

As a Brahmana, Drona possessed the great qualities of learning and teaching. He even taught Dhrishthadyumna, knowing well that he would be the one to kill Drona. He taught Arjuna everything without fearing that Arjuna will become better than his teacher. He was not bothered about his superior position. He was just a great teacher with no competitive spirit against his students. But then why was he killed by adharma by the very people he taught?

Dronacharya was not blind like Dhritarashtra, but he was blinded by the obsessive attachment to his son and performed many adharmik actions in the War field. He had to be terminated, but in power he was unconquerable. Someone so powerful and fighting for adharma can be really viscious and cruel. Pandavas were faced with a dilemma. Dronacharya living meant that his adharma would cause great cruelty to their army. If he lived, dharma would be stifled. Krishna asked Yudhishthira to speak the lie and eliminate Drona, who had given up his nature of ‘ksama’ or forgiveness. Yudhishthira had to use a weapon that would work. And a lie became the weapon that helped eradicated Drona; it had the power to make him throw his weapon so that Dhrishthadyumna could stop him from being adharmik.

When a forgiving Brahaman becomes viciously revengeful and obsessed with attachment, nobody can punish him by any means. But the personification of Dharma, Sri Krishna can use any weapon to put at end to their nasty deeds. Therefore, to stop adharma, it is more important to find solutions that work rather than just those that are right.

We are forced to make choices in life may be adharma of telling lie but it is meant for higher cause and personal agenda are not involved then it may be the thing to do even though apparently it is not right 

DOUBT v/s FAITH

Doubt and faith are always at loggerheads. Faith instills confidence in unseen reality and implies leading a life based on values that are not experienced in the past. Doubt, on the other hand, makes on continuously suspicious about the unseen future, urging one to move forward slowly or hampering his movement.

One may feel that the two can never reconcile. But when doubt transforms into inquiry, faith becomes reasonable, logical and scientific.

Faith, without reason and logic, is dangerously violent. It gives rise to fanaticism and bigotry. Dharmik scriptures teach us to have deep faith. It is called so because it is very logical. Apart from being logical, it gives us experiences of how it is beyond logic.

Arjuna was doubtful about his involvement in the war. He had difficulties reasoning the occurrence of the war and the bloodshed it would cause. He had many reasons against fighting. His doubts produced reservations about the outcome of the war. But instead of making his destiny bound to doubt, he chose to use them as tools of enlightenment. When presented faithfully to Lord Krishna, his doubts turned into profound inquiries, which were real, compassionate and practical. And it was these doubts of Arjuna that secured an immortal place in historical legacies because it paved the way for the Bhagavad Gita.

The Gita begins with doubt but concludes in faith. So this combination is not conflicting but cooperative, when doubters are like Arjuna and the answers are provided by Krishna.

Vedic scriptures are, therefore, full of inquires, which is why they are a dialogue and not a monologue.

When doubt haunted Yudhishthira with regards to the effects of the war, they choked his existence. Lord Krishna took him to grand old man Bhishma deva, who was lying on the bed of arrows, regretful and grateful at the same. His regret was for the mistakes he made and gratitude for the kindness of the Lord for allowing him to watch Dharma being established by letting the Pandavas win.

How Bhishma deva dispelled the doubtful Yudhishthira to take the reigns of Hastinapura is simply amazing. It forms some of the important parts of the Mahabharata. Doubts of Yudhishthira quickly took the shape of inquiries towards Bhishma and that dialogue became a great knowledge bank. It was faith giving not only to Yudhishthira but to all those who wish to do the same.

Are we ready to make turn out doubts into inquiries so that we become faithful? Or are we stuck in the darkness of doubt? The choice is ours.

THE ART OF REVOLUTION

An expert surgeon is efficient at the art of performing precise surgery and simultaneously he has a plan to create fast relief. Surgery and relief have to take place with the same expertise, so that the patient can continue with his life and even try to increase his productivity.
We may summarize in 4 steps, diagnosis, precise surgery, relief and increased productivity or at least bringing back to the healthy condition.Some leaders are good at creating a revolution against corruption or bad governance; they diagnose it and perform surgery to topple over the bad governance. But are they capable to give relief by replacing it and even further, make it better?  Governance is a great art. It is not simply about toppling over the bad leader, but also replacing him with a good one, otherwise it results in nothing but anarchy. There are so many historical incidents wherein the bad leaders were toppled over by the revolutionary people, but they failed to offer good governance, in fact what they gave was only the burden of anarchy. Krishna also stirred revolutions against many powerful kings and dictators. Not killing them could give rise to a legacy of violence. But killing them could result in either inefficient governance or no governance at all, causing anarchy. Nevertheless, Lord Krishna, expert at the art of revolution, also mastered the art of restoring and re-establishing. He appointed Yudhishthira as the next king.Being appointed as a king after the massive world war was a great responsibility, somewhat similar to being appointed as a housing cooperation's chairperson, after a massive disaster of an earthquake.   Yudhisthira, however, not only reversed the situation but also created a responsible life for all.  One who knows the art of governance should be able to take us through the complete process….
1-Diagnosis (creating revolution),
2-remove the rotten limb (toppling the bad governance),
3-give relief (start placing things in their proper place by replacing with good governance) and
4-finally make the productivity increase (prosperity starts increasing).

VIOLENTLY BEAUTIFUL

Before Hanuman decided to jump across the ocean to know mother Sita’s whereabouts, he was quiet in a reflective mood as if he was not a part of the ‘search mission’. The demeanor of Hanuman before deciding to jump was rather non-violent and modest, which normally would be appreciated. But on deciding to jump, the same Hanuman completely changed his disposition. He became boastful, even stated himself to be greater than Garuda and became violent. The weight of his body caused the mountain to vomit minerals in liquid form. The animals were disturbed. Snakes, provoked turbulently from their slumber, started throwing up poison from their mouths. When Hanuman took off, most trees were uprooted.    Plants, flowers and creepers flew in the air and were scattered hither thither.  It was as if an earthquake and hurricane had occurred together. The great Valmiki Maharshi describes these scenes very beautifully. There was so much violence but so much beauty. He says, “All the flowers were coming with Hanuman to see him off and went along with him over a long distance.  Just like relatives come to see off the departing guest. And the large trees that were uprooted were the relatives who came to see off Rama to a little distance.” Valmiki gives the flavour of opposites in one instance – cruelty in beauty and beauty in violence. He also points out the non-utility of peaceful inaction in this situation. Hanuman is beautifully tough and violently graceful. It is wonderful how Ramayana and Mahabharata are violently sweet and passionately compassionate. Can we assimilate and digest these pills, which are difficult to swallow but, at the same time, very digestible and sweet?

JUSTICE IS DIFFICULT, REVENGE IS EASY

We often see that the abused tend to follow the legacy of becoming the abuser. Students who get ragged in college go on to become the perpetrators as they become seniors. Quite often, a daughter-in-law bossed by the mother-in-law takes a similar role when she becomes one.

We may also observe that if one wants to take direct action against the party that hurts, troubles or abuses him, its easy for that person to harm or even kill them. This ruins the lives of both parties – the abused and the abuser. Revenge doesn’t build; it is destructive. In this vicious cycle of abuse and revenge, both are destroyed.

In fact, some adharmik forces use both of them for personal agenda. In Indian history, we see the great Jayachandra being revengeful of his own son-in-law Prithviraja. The latter helped the invader and both Jayachandra and Prithviraja were ruined.

Ambha wasn’t seeking justice. She was in quest of revenge, which she did get. But what was the over all gain? – Killed within 8 days. Brutally.

Seeking justice in the hand requires hard work, long waiting and being Dharmik to the core.

Pandavas were reluctant for justice. It meant overhauling the entire system. Abuse against them was an issue but they had to represent the whole of Hastinapura and beyond, who were oppressed by the misrule of Duryodhana and party. On a personal front, Bhima could’ve killed them, but that would’ve been injustice to the others who also suffered.

People fear the hard labour so they mostly prefer being abused and in turn abuse others, and feel good. They may even run away from reality by changing their attitude saying, “they’re seniors after all. They have given us so much, etc.”

Justice requires sacrifice and revenge demands hatred and anger. Justice builds, revenge breaks. Justice is conceptual while revenge is personal. In justice, we fight values; in revenge, we fight the person. In revenge, we minimize a family or a person. In justice, we reform and rebuild a society.

What are we looking for? – Easy revenge or difficult but dharmik justice?

The choice is ours and the consequences too. 

STUPIDLY STUBBORN

Stubbornness with reason and logic, born out of past analysis and inkling of the future, can be perceived as determination. Stubbornness with imaginary dreaming, unrealistic expectations and no access to the historical past, can be called as obstinacy. 

Therefore, determination and obstinacy may resemble each other, but their outcome is outright different. One helps to grow towards integrated development, and the other disintegrates the wheel of life, if at all there is any growth it is only isolated growth, like a tumor which suffocates.

Ravana and Duryodhana experienced defeat after defeat.  After analyzing to understand why they were defeated, the most expert people gave their advice, “the best course of action for Duryodhana is not to give up action bur rather be active in making alliance with the Pandavs”, and to Ravana, “return back Sita, with lots of gifts, to Lord Rama.” But both were determined to ignore the wholesome advice.

Thus, the mere presence of qualities is neither good nor bad. One who has those qualities to the deeper extent, where does he use them? And how does he use them? They can be good, bad or ugly based upon the purpose.

Duryodhana’s determination was destructive.  Bhagiratha’s determination to bring mother Ganga to the earthly planet was constructive.

Non violence towards all is the general policy, but non violence towards abusers of the innocent is as worse as the abuse and violence itself, it is inhuman and insensitive.

Good qualities may be good, but how are we going to use them? That choice makes all the difference in the world.

 

WISHING OR BLESSING

According to the Dharmik tradition, blessings ward off   inauspiciousness. Therefore, even the adharmik people of the times of the Mahabharata war had great faith in the power of heartfelt blessings.

Jarasandha, who was ambitious to be the king of the world, would everyday invite hundreds of Brahamans to bless him to remove the hurdles in the accomplishment of his ambition of emperorship.  Blessings were there, but before they could fructify Jarasandha lost his life, when he was punished by the mighty Bhima who had received the blessings of his Lord Krishna. 

Duryodhana went seeking blessings from his mother before the battle. Gandhari so wished he would win, but she just could not bless him with victory.

‘Blessings’ are reduced to simply ‘Wishing’ when the person who is blessed is undeserving, or the person who blesses is unqualified to bless or he is attached to adharmik people, like Dhritharasthra was towards Duryodhana.

Also, simply ‘Wishing’ gets transformed into a ‘Blessing’ when the person who is at the receiving end deserves the same. When Bhisma, Dronacharya, and Krpacharya blessed Yudhisthira before the beginning of the battle, they helplessly did so, because Yudhisthira greatly deserved. They had no choice but to bless him.

Therefore, Mahabharata was the war between the wishing people and the blessed people. The undeserving and the deserving. The cursed and the heartfelt blessed.

The Vedic wisdom therefore says: if someone abuses the less privileged, the helpless, the downtrodden, then the abusive people, however strong they may be, will drown in the very tears of the abused people. In the Ramayana therefore, Mandodari, while crying in front of the dead body of her husband Ravana, said, “You haven’t been killed by the arrows of Rama, but you have been drowned by the tears of Mother Sita.”

So let’s not wish but bless, because wishing is a dream state which might turn into a nightmare but blessing is a vision which transforms into substantial reality.

What do we want?  Blessings?  Or only wishes?According to the Dharmik tradition, blessings ward off   inauspiciousness. Therefore, even the adharmik people of the times of the Mahabharata war had great faith in the power of heartfelt blessings.

Jarasandha, who was ambitious to be the king of the world, would everyday invite hundreds of Brahamans to bless him to remove the hurdles in the accomplishment of his ambition of emperorship.  Blessings were there, but before they could fructify Jarasandha lost his life, when he was punished by the mighty Bhima who had received the blessings of his Lord Krishna. 

Duryodhana went seeking blessings from his mother before the battle. Gandhari so wished he would win, but she just could not bless him with victory.

‘Blessings’ are reduced to simply ‘Wishing’ when the person who is blessed is undeserving, or the person who blesses is unqualified to bless or he is attached to adharmik people, like Dhritharasthra was towards Duryodhana.

Also, simply ‘Wishing’ gets transformed into a ‘Blessing’ when the person who is at the receiving end deserves the same. When Bhisma, Dronacharya, and Krpacharya blessed Yudhisthira before the beginning of the battle, they helplessly did so, because Yudhisthira greatly deserved. They had no choice but to bless him.

Therefore, Mahabharata was the war between the wishing people and the blessed people. The undeserving and the deserving. The cursed and the heartfelt blessed.

The Vedic wisdom therefore says: if someone abuses the less privileged, the helpless, the downtrodden, then the abusive people, however strong they may be, will drown in the very tears of the abused people. In the Ramayana therefore, Mandodari, while crying in front of the dead body of her husband Ravana, said, “You haven’t been killed by the arrows of Rama, but you have been drowned by the tears of Mother Sita.”

So let’s not wish but bless, because wishing is a dream state which might turn into a nightmare but blessing is a vision which transforms into substantial reality.

What do we want?  Blessings?  Or only wishes?