My Virtues

Last sloka of the sacred book @BhagavadGita established the importance of Learning. Learning ensures Wealth, Victory, Power and Righteousness. Let us see what we can learn from the first sloka of Bhagavad Gita.

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच | धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः | मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||Bhagavad Gita 1.1||

Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?

This sloka is a simple opening remark but there are indirect meanings in this sloka.

Virtues from the beginning to the end

Last sloka of Bhagavad Gita covered in the previous episode ended with the word mama meaning MY. First sloka of Bhagavad Gita here starts with the word Dharma (leaving aside Dhritarashtra uvacha) meaning morality / virtues.  Joining the last word of Gita with the first word, we can get crux of Bhagavad Gita ie MY DHARMA, #swadharma ie my virtues. Vyasa indirectly indicates that the character must remain firm from the beginning to the end. Our character is our trademark, we cannot afford to compromise on our character at any cost whatever may be the circumstance, and we need to be clear and firm on our defining characters.

World’s first live commentator

Quick story for the context. King Dhritarashtra is blind and cannot watch the war and hence becomes anxious and worried. Vyas gives the power to one of his ministers Sanjaya to watch the war from the palace sitting next to Dhritarashtra by a boon and brief the blind king on war stories, thus becoming the first remote live commentator in the world!!

Dhritarashtra is anxious to know the preparedness of his sons to face the crucial war. He was deeply worried about the chances of the Kauravas winning the war. Hence, he coaxes Sanjay to brief him on the preparedness of Kauravas. Thus, he ends up starting Bhagavad Gita on a wrong note. He involuntarily uttered the words My (sons) and that of Pandu in the very first sloka revealing his inner thoughts. He could have told the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Instead, he mentioned mamakah meaning MY and pandavah. After the death of his brother Pandu, it becomes his dharma to protect Pandu’s sons as that of his sons. Though he is not evil by his character, his Faultline is his excessive attachment to his sons. He could not live peacefully and happily because of his attachment to his sons. Moha, ie attachment which ruined Dritarashtra is one of the six enemies of human. What are the other five?

#SixEnemiesWithin

We possess different levels of six enemies, and they are called #shadripu in various Hindu literary works. Shadripu is referred to in #BhagavadGita as well. If and only if we conquer these six enemies, we will be happy in our life. They are:

Kama Krodascha Lobhascha Dehe Thishtanthi Taskarah। Jnana Ratno-paharaya Tasmat Jagrata Jagrata.।। Vairagya Dindima, Adi Shankaracharya

Desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride, jealousy are the six enemies — these dacoits are residing within your own body. They are not outside. Why are they there? To loot you of the Jnana-Ratna, to rob you of the precious gem of spiritual wisdom or atma-jnana, to loot you and deprive you of the precious gem of #SelfAwareness and make you forget your Self and weep and wail and be in ignorance. Therefore, oh man, oh Sadhak, Jagrata, Jagrata. Beware, beware..

These six enemies are not completely independent of each other and are united on one aspect. They’re all united against us and they want to destroy us completely! For example, a person cannot be jealous and at the same time completely free from anger, because jealousy inevitably breeds a sense of anger towards our external “enemy”. Another example is that excessive greed for money is in itself motivated by excessive desire and can lead to pride or self – control when the person is truly rich. So here we have three of the six enemies who are united against us.

Sri Krishna explains one possible relationship between some of these six enemies in the following verses.

“Dwelling or thinking on the objects of the senses a man develops attachment for them. From attachment, desire is born. Desire gives rise to anger. From anger arises delusion. From delusion arises a failure of memory. From the failure of memory results destruction of the intellect; and through the destruction of intellect, total destruction ensues.”

Lord Krisha gave a very strategic self-development mantra to develop our mind towards growth and free ourselves from these six enemies. What is that mantra? That mantra is one of the ratnas of #BhagavadGita. We will see in our next episode of #MondayMusings.

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#PositiveNewsPage

(Adapted from https://www.newindianexpress.com)

Helping educate children who cannot afford it is a service to humanity, believes Dr Satya Prakash, a 2011 batch IPS officer currently posted as the deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Shahabad range. A firm believer in the power of education in transforming lives, Prakash takes a keen interest in educating underprivileged children.

Prakash hails from Hilsa in Nalanda district. He received education in his initial years in Jharkhand’s Ranchi. Second among three siblings, he went to Delhi University for higher studies and later did a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University before joining IPS in 2011.

Ask him what role education has played in his life, and pat comes his response: “It has been very helpful in my career as an IPS officer. My research work helped me understand others’ mindset and work in a democratic manner. After all, we are meant for the welfare of people.”

When off duty, Prakash would visit villages and hamlets mostly inhabited by tribals in the Maoist-infested districts where he served as the police chief. “Whether in Aurangabad or Banka, I got enormous support from people for my initiatives in improving policing as well as education,” the IPS officer says.

“Education is the only way to turn one’s life around. It is a basic need,” Prakash asserts, adding, “No matter where I get posted, I always urge the parents there to send their children to schools so that they could have a bright future.”

Before being promoted to DIG recently, Prakash served as Patna City SP and the SP of Madhubani, Banka, Aurangabad and Saran districts. Not a long time back, he paid a visit to Badia village – which falls under the Dehri subdivision in Rohtas district – to distribute books, pencils, pens and school bags among children.

This was in line with the government’s idea of community policing for the residents of Maoist-infested districts. Children are encouraged to pursue education. And women are given stitching machines so that they can earn a livelihood.

Prakash’s wife, a professor at a university in Bihar, firmly backs her husband’s efforts to change lives.

While posted as the Madhubani SP, Prakash would help children of migrant workers. A large number of people from the Mithilanchal region go and work outside the state. So, during his stint as SP, police personnel would visit the hamlets and teach the children after wrapping up their work. The police initiative earned him high praise from the locals.

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Conceived, compiled and posted as a weekly positive newsletter #MondayMusings in LinkedIn by Jaganathan T (www.authorjaganathan.com)

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