Day 249

 Lessons from Mahabharata-6

People think Dharma is important only while leaving from this world… and they can conduct wantonly during their working years…. For them the following is relevant… who knows when the final call comes?

Moksha dharma parva, Chapter 299:

• There is no fixed time for the acquisition of righteousness. Death waits for no man. When man is constantly running towards the jaws of Death, the accomplishment of righteous acts is proper at all times.
•  Like a blind man who, with attention, is capable of moving about his own house, the man of wisdom, with mind set on Yoga, succeeds in finding the track he should follow. (...)
• One who walketh along the track recommended by the understanding, earns happiness both here and hereafter.— Parāśara, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata Book xii.299

• So postponing acquisition of Dharma.. virtues.. could be foolish… at the same time following the time tested wisdom will be good for self and others..
•  Hinduism is rich with stories and examples on all aspects covering human life… there are plenty… reading all that will take many Janmas… yet the essentials can be gleaned and studied…. 
• Provided the education give value for that…. One Harischandra story or that of Ekalavya or Rama or Shravan Kumar is sufficient…. If studied well or explained well or understood well…( First we need right teachers, then students will follow....)

I saw a video recently wherein in a very elderly Digambar Jain Muni was  seen giving a Prabhashana  to a live audience.

• Among other things, he stated that he is not keen now to guide anyone- especially youngsters as they are all wise in their own wisdom.. he added that  he now prefers  to be silent than  guiding people…

That is why probably  learned/wise people retire from limelight  after an age and live in solitude…

वन्दे मातरम्

 ॐ शान्ति  

10 AM

Day 248

 Lessons from Mahabharata-5

This has been a perennial question.. why one should be Dharmic…. What it is and how to implement it… the whole of Mahabharata is an explanation of that subject…. Gita starts with Dharma Kshetre Kurukshetre…

 Moksha dharma parva, Chapter 259:

•   All men who live on this earth, are filled with doubts regarding the nature of Righteousness. What is this that is called Righteousness? Whence does Righteousness come?— Yudhishthira, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata 

 Moksha dharma parva, Chapter 259:

•   Righteousness begets happiness as its fruit;
  There is nothing superior to truth; Everything is supported by truth, and everything depends on truth.
• One should not take other's properties, that is an eternal duty;
• A thief fears everybody, he considers other people as sinful as himself;
  A pure hearted person is always filled with cheerfulness, and has no fear from anywhere; Such a person never sees his own misconduct in other persons..
• A person should never do that to others, which he does not like to be done to him by others;
•  Whatever wishes one cherishes about his own self, one should certainly cherish regarding another.
• The Creator ordained Virtue, gifting it with the power of holding the world together.— Bhishma, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata 

Unfortunately even now the above questions rage in many forums…  national and international… with out any definite answers.

 वन्दे मातरम्

  ॐ शान्ति: 

9.10 AM

 

Day 247

Lessons from Mahabharata-4 

Knowledge and wisdom are not the same… They are called Jnana and Vijnana… knowledge is mere textual knowledge whilst Wisdom is based on experience and practice/observation…. Today we call it theory and practice… we need more practical wisdom in this world…. The following emphasises on that..

Apaddharma anusasana parva, Chapter 142:

•       I do not instruct you regarding duty from what I have learned from the Vedas alone; What I have told you is the result of wisdom and experience, it is the honey that the learned have gleaned.
•   Kings should collect wisdom from various sources,
• One cannot go successfully in the world with the help of a one sided morality;
  Duty must originate from understanding, the practices of the good should always be determined.
• A king by the help of his understanding and guided by knowledge gathered from various sources, should so arrange that moral laws may be observed.— Bhishma to Yudhishthira, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata 

Hence it is correctly stated that wisdom coming from  age and experience cannot be dismissed. 

• But the modern generation has scant respect for anything old… whether it is age or knowledge… hence we find… re-inventing the wheel again and again and people groping for solutions…. 
• As they have not cared to learn from the past… there is a saying… Those who forget history/past are condemned  to repeat it..

Hence the old adage … don’t reinvent the wheel..

वन्दे मातरम्

 ॐ शान्ति: 

10 30 AM

 

Day- 246

 Lessons from Mahabharata-3

The following quote will be a great eye opener… though it is the truth, people will find  difficult to digest it easily… only time and experience will open up their eyes…but then in many cases , it will be lost…

• A famous case has been reported in papers… where a leading industrialist of recent past transferred his vital properties in the name of his Son, and thereafter the son ditched him…
•  so, the father went on to guide other with a message that till life lasts, never part with all your property even to your children.. 
• THIS IS NEITHER THE FIRST SUCH CASE NOR WILL BE THE LAST…. As each fondly think that their child will be different…..

Apaddharma anushasana parva, Chapter 138:

·        Nobody is nobody's friend, nobody is nobody's well wisher,
persons become friends or enemies only from motives of interest.— Bhishma, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata 

Dime a dozen cases of misuse of relationships are available over the years… to testify the observation above will be sufficient.

वन्दे मातरम्

  ॐ शान्ति: 

9 30 AM

 

Day 245

 Lessons fromMahabharata-2

Dharma ,truth etc. have been discussed elaborately in the Mahabharata…  it is strange that in India now such maxims have become a rarity in public and private life.... let us consider the following-

Rajadharma anushasana parva, Chapter 56:

·        There is nothing which leads so much to the success of kings as Truth,
the king who is devoted to Truth enjoys happiness both here and hereafter.
Even to the Rishis, O king, Truth is the greatest wealth,
Likewise for the kings, there is nothing that so much creates confidence in them as Truth.

— Bhishma, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata ( Wiki )

Why with availability of such profound wisdom leaders/people still resort to unholy deeds… worth pondering…

Dharma and Truthful actions are not seen at many places… examples are aplenty.. when people are divided on many man- made aspects, a uniform Dharma cannot emerge…. Everyone is a creator of a self- made/proclaimed Dharma as  shown in many local and even international  movies…. 

In fact none wants to adhere to Dharmic principles for short term gains… we have seen terrorists killing people in cold blood and doing many maniacal things…. Their religion and education may not have taught that, one is sure… yet…. They behave… this is just one instance…. 

None is keen to uphold even the rule of Law…. Otherwise you will not see so many breaking even the traffic rules… case of drug trafficking, women trafficking, smuggling, tax evasions etc. are there with  us  for decades now… though laws are also present… yet…. Such nefarious activities go on…

 वन्दे मातरम्

 ॐ शान्ति: 

10 30 AM

 

Day 244

Lessons from Mahabharata-1 

The subject of happiness and sorrow has been discussed extensively since Vedic times… Mahabharata is the best example where this subject is covered in depth… the following quotes will testify that.

Rajadharma anushasana parva, Chapter 25:

·        Sorrow comes after happiness, and happiness after sorrow;
One does not always suffer sorrow, nor always enjoy happiness.

·        Only those who are stolid fools, and those who are masters of their souls, enjoy happiness here;
They, however, who occupy an intermediate position suffer misery.

·        Happiness and misery, prosperity and adversity, gain and loss, death and life, in their turn, visit all creatures;
The wise man, endued with equanimous soul would neither be puffed up with joy, nor be depressed with sorrow.— Vyasa, Shanti Parva, Mahabharata ( Wiki)

The above quotes depict the situation very vividly ,  further explanation will be redundant…

People knowing , understanding and acting based on those maxims are indeed rare. That is the problem.

वन्दे मातरम्

   ॐ शान्ति: 

9 10 AM

 

Day 243

 *MY SOUL 

HAS A HAT*

The following is based on a what Sapp forward… the poem has deep  relevance to all persons…

 Quote…Beautiful poem by *Mario de Andrade* (San Paolo 1893-1945) Poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist.

One of the founders of Brazilian modernism.

 *MY SOUL HAS A HAT*

 I counted my years & realized that I have

Less time to live by, Than I have lived so far. 

 I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first he ate them with pleasure 

But when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely. 

 I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures &

 internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be done. 

 I no longer have the patience To stand absurd people

Who ,despite their chronological age, have not grown up. 

 My time is too short: I want the essence, my spirit is in a hurry. 

I do not have much candy In the package anymore. 

 I want  to live next to humans, very realistic people

who know How to laugh at their mistakes,

Who are not inflated by their own triumphs & who take responsibility for their actions.

In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty. 

 It is the essentials that make life useful.

I want to surround myself with people

who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life

have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul. 

 Yes, I'm in a hurry.

I'm in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts. 

 I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied 

and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience. 

We have two lives & the second begins when you realize you only have one. Unquote

My search on the net showed that the authorship of  the poem is disputed. That is for researchers… let us enjoy the contents…. That is perennially relevant….

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति

8.30 AM

Day 242.1

 Fate cannot be transgressed

A Video was seen from Pakistan, where an oil tanker fell on a field and turned upside down.. the oil start spilling into the field …. Villagers  came rushing with vessels and started gathering the oil…. for cooking fuel purpose…

In the meantime the tanker exploded  engulfing the whole area in fire…. Most of th people, numbering 100 plus, collecting oil were caught unaware and  killed due to burns….

Sad indeed, what is the cause and what was the impact…. All those deaths could have been avoided in hindsight.. but it did not happen.. now theorising has no meaning to those who lost their lives…

As the people reading such news will be miniscule, there will be no learning from that event… in future also such events may get repeated…

One cause  is the utter ignorance of the people…  second, even if educated, foolhardy actions perpetrated by greed or many  such factors..

Mishaps happen across the globe… due to one or other man made disasters….

Readers and others can take such reports on their stride and get on with their work… what else is possible anyway….

This is why  Hinduism states that Fate cannot be transgressed…

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति

10.30 AM

Day 242

 Accidents galore

A video was seen from Italy wherein a LPG tanker went and hit a truck ahead on a raised highway leading to fire first and explosion later on leading to massive fire across half a kilometre around…  lives were lost, many vehicles were damaged, highway was partially destroyed from initial reports…

Why and how it happened will come out later.. it is either human failure or mechanical failure like break failure or flat tyre etc… that does not matter now… precious loss has happened… that  is the story of almost all human inventions..

All inventions have given great comforts to human beings, whether it is aeroplanes, helicopters, ships or other types of mechanical inventions… at the same time they have also caused countless losses of lives and destruction of property… inventions were thus not unmixed blessings and in the hands of immature leaders , people handling them , the distress has been monumental from wars to accidents…

What is the learning for us…

Nothing can be done… whatever  be the safety precautions, SOP in place.. the accidents will take place…. If they are destined… since large number has no belief in destiny…. I don’t know what cause they will attribute to …

But those who believe in Karma theory… it will be easy to console self and others… anyway there is no other go…except to watch and sigh if not Cry….

The show will go on, but the suffering will also persist for those who lost in the bargain….

If in the past innumerable wars took away lives, today accidents lead to the same sad results, both human made indeed… fate ...we can add for  our solace…

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति

9.15 AM

Day241

 Corruption vs. Ethics

Where there  is ethics, corruption will have no place, just like- where there is Rama , Kama cannot co-exist.

·       In this regard a beautiful Malayalam movie Pareeksha( Examination) comes to mind. This was released in 1967 when I was in SSC class… this movie’s ending I remember very well over the years and  has also guided me in my thought process..

The story in a nutshell…a Head Master of a school is in the midst of examining one of the SSC  papers.. this comes to the knowledge of his would  be son-in-law.. and the marriage of his daughter is around the corner….

The prospective son in law  finds out the mark obtained by his cousin in the examination. He notices that the boy has failed by 9 marks….

·       First he requests the prospective bride to speak to her father to put additional marks to make the boy pass, which the lady flatly refused .. knowing the upright nature of her father…

·       Then he directly approached the future F-I-L and asks for the favour… that the old man declines to consider… then the Hero… gets totally annoyed and blackmails the old man that if he is not willing to oblige he will cancel the impending  marriage with his daughter…. Then walks out angrily..

Subsequently he repents  his outbursts and goes back to the teacher/lady love to apologise and shocked to find that the old  man died in the meantime without changing the marks … the lady also refused to marry him knowing/realising his volatile nature…

·       This is ethical standards of the highest order…what was aimed or pressed or wanted by the future son-in-law  was another form of corruption.. corruption has many dimensions… ethics has only one face… either one is ethical or not…

·       The movie was ahead of its time… the word CORRUPTION HAD NOT ACQUIRED THE GRAVITY THEN…. AS IT CAME TO OCCUPY AFTER SEVENTIES IN OUR COUNTRY..

But as a boy of 14 years, the message, the final actions struck with me and I am happy that I saw this movie at that  tender age…. All Hareecha…

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति

9.30 AM

Day 240

 Corruption in society

Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi while giving an interview to Mr. Sudhir Choudhary of Zee TV spoke as under on the aspect of corruption…

The question to him was… is there corruption in Supreme Court also?

Justice Ranjan Gogoi answered thus…

• “CURRUPTION IS AS OLD AS SOCIETY…CURRUPTION HAS BECOME A WAY OF LFIE…ACCEPTABLE WAY OF LIFE.JUDGES DON’T DROP FROM HEAVEN. DOES THIS ANSWER YOUR QUESTION?”

This subject of corruption is with us since Independence in one way or other….it gathered strength and momentum in the seventies… and now no one seems to bother.. as the former CJI indicated that it has become a way of life..

Governments came and went, laws are there against corrupt practices etc… yet the ground reality continues to  startle…

One past PM famously stated that corruption is an international phenomenon..

We  have lived and will have to live with such a reality…. and get along…However the remark from a person who held the   highest judicial position in the country gives cause to ponder… deeply… again on the subject…

वन्दे मातरम्

ॐ शान्ति

9.00 AM