Literal meaning of the phrase is “one who protects Dharma in turn gets protected by Dharma”. But is this happening practically in the contemporary world? This is the question raised by quite a few. We see dharmic individuals exploited by crooked in many ways for the selfish benefit.
Before discussing the above question, lets first try to understand how to protect Dharma and what is Dharma? Dharma is the set of rules defined in Vedas and put forward in concrete/easily accessible manner by Smriti kartas. Dharma varies from person to person depending on the Varna and Ashrama, from place to place basis Desha(country), from time to time, and also on the role one performs. A person who is performing the role of son will have a certain rules/dharma defined where as same person performing the role of husband will have completely different set of rules. A person who is a king/leader will have different set of dharma in his position. It is a dharma for Brahmin to lead a pious life and perform duties like vedic chanting and sandhya vandanas where as a person of some other varna is allowed to lead a luxurious life. Brahmins were allowed to consume meat in satya yuga time where as such an act is disallowed in Kali yuga time.
The next question to answer is how do we protect Dharma? Vishnu sahasranama states “Aachara Prabhavo Dharma” meaning practice of Dharma in spirit is what makes it prosper and continue. Over the period of time our ancestors protected dharma by establishing customs/rituals, imbibing them in educational system and enforcing them in the family and society. Elderly people have taken responsibility of protecting the dharma by being stern when required for enforcement of dharma. It worked perfectly well until the young were exhibiting respectful behavior towards elders. Later things started fading away. In the current context, if one cannot follow dharma person can be excused, provided he/she does not corrupt another dharmic individual either in form of ridicule/putting trouble.
Coming back to original question of why we see people who follow dharma being exploited by crooked and corrupt people for the selfish benefit. But this is surely a scenario in the short term and if we progress a bit in long term in progression of time, we surely see the benefit for dharmic individual. A person who does injustice to a good individual is bound to face the consequence of the sinful deed but one will not know in what manner. In similar lines a dharmic individual might face some tests in life but would with stand test of time and get the reward eventually. There are example of dharmic individuals in history like Prahlada, Ambareesha in bhagavatam who have faced acid test and eventually to get protected by Dharma. Similarly there are examples of Adharmic people like Vali, Ravana, Duryadhana who hurted Dharmic individuals only to get punished for their sin. So it is enough to prove Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Ethics Series 4: Mano Vakkaya Karmalu
The thrikaranas mentioned in shastras are Manas (what one thinks), Vakku (what one speaks) and Karma (what one does). It is not unusual for humans to think some thing, say something else and do something completely different. That is what makes an individual ordinary. The real extraordinary people are those who have thrikarana sudhi, ie., all three karanas in agreement and in agreement with the righteousness. Of course the other extreme is the extreme wicked who also have all three karanas in agreement but in agreement with most wicked thing.
What it takes to have the thrikarana sudhi? Firstly one should have stark belief in the righteousness and virtue of righteousness. Then one should have strong hold on Manas which is pretty wavering material and always dragging individual towards mundane temptations and other wrong deeds. Then one should have courage to utter the right thing with out fear in front of any one in the world. Lastly one should have the will power to execute the right deed even if it has many thorns in the path.
Only those who have got the execution of the entirety of above process qualify for thrikarana sudhi. As one can easily see it does not come easily. First challenge is knowing what is right. We get easily carried away by emotions, circumstances, presumptions etc., and discard what is right and choose what is easy. Then comes challenge of convincing the manas/heart and directing it to think of good thoughts only. It is not an art that is easy to master. Many of us get carried away by mundane temptations. Also other aspect here is as there is no one who can witness what thinks, people don’t have fear factor on this aspect as one has on vakku and karma. They tend to ignore there is a sakshi called God. The challenges in attainment of vaksudhi is fear for what others feel or apprehension that others might get offended or scare that others might ridicule us for being non-contemporary. Also some people get carried away by emotion and utter all non-sense in that state. The execution of the act that is well thought and well spoken/promised gets most times hampered by the lack of will power. The action might require giving up time from enjoyment or going overboard facing hurdles. Many people usually shy away from coming out of comfort zone in doing the right karma.
Uttama purusha is the one who has conformity of thought, word and action. Madhyama purusha is the one who has good thought but fails in speaking it out or acting it out. Adhama purusha is the one who has bad thoughts and knows thatthey are bad butfails to control them. Adhamadhama purusha is the one who has bad thoughts but thinks and argues that they are right.
What it takes to have the thrikarana sudhi? Firstly one should have stark belief in the righteousness and virtue of righteousness. Then one should have strong hold on Manas which is pretty wavering material and always dragging individual towards mundane temptations and other wrong deeds. Then one should have courage to utter the right thing with out fear in front of any one in the world. Lastly one should have the will power to execute the right deed even if it has many thorns in the path.
Only those who have got the execution of the entirety of above process qualify for thrikarana sudhi. As one can easily see it does not come easily. First challenge is knowing what is right. We get easily carried away by emotions, circumstances, presumptions etc., and discard what is right and choose what is easy. Then comes challenge of convincing the manas/heart and directing it to think of good thoughts only. It is not an art that is easy to master. Many of us get carried away by mundane temptations. Also other aspect here is as there is no one who can witness what thinks, people don’t have fear factor on this aspect as one has on vakku and karma. They tend to ignore there is a sakshi called God. The challenges in attainment of vaksudhi is fear for what others feel or apprehension that others might get offended or scare that others might ridicule us for being non-contemporary. Also some people get carried away by emotion and utter all non-sense in that state. The execution of the act that is well thought and well spoken/promised gets most times hampered by the lack of will power. The action might require giving up time from enjoyment or going overboard facing hurdles. Many people usually shy away from coming out of comfort zone in doing the right karma.
Uttama purusha is the one who has conformity of thought, word and action. Madhyama purusha is the one who has good thought but fails in speaking it out or acting it out. Adhama purusha is the one who has bad thoughts and knows thatthey are bad butfails to control them. Adhamadhama purusha is the one who has bad thoughts but thinks and argues that they are right.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
How to raise our Kids
Don’t get me wrong by thinking I have mastered the art by practicing it myself or I am a veteran. I have got no experience in parenting till date and like all learning we do in life for future benefit, I am also trying to observe the skill and now trying to put forward a blog summary of what I think.
1. A case for reforming oneself before putting a roadmap for the kid
The fundamental mistake most parents do is preaching what they don’t practice. This will never work in raising better kids for future. We need to preach/teach only what we believe and what we practice. Most parents create rules that will help in bright future of the kid, but I will say it is a job half done. As a parent first one needs to reform oneself and show the kid the way to live, else you cannot expect the kid to follow it. For example a smoking father tells the son to not to smoke, will the kid learn?
2. Lack of ambiguity among parents
Before teaching a kid good things, both the parents must sit together and agree up on “what good means”. This is necessary to ensure no conflicting message is passed to the kid. Otherwise one would end up with confused kids who do not understand what needs to be followed.
3. Spare the stick and spoil the kid
Out of superfluous love most parents spoil the kids and lead a miserable life. A case to prove it can be found in Mahabharata in the character of Dhrutarastra who lost all his sons because he could not control the unethical behavior of his one son Duryadhana. We find so many Dhrutarastras in real life if we observe closely.
4. No Comparisons please!!!
Understand that each kid is unique and there would be differences in skills, personalities and priorities. Healthy competition among kids might benefit them in some cases but undue comparisons will do them more harm than good.
5. Identify, Nurture and Encourage
As mentioned earlier each kid is unique. Identify the unique talent in the kid, provide avenues for nurturing those skills and encourage them to progress in those areas. It is ridiculous thinking to assume that there are only few professions that will help the kid’s future.
6. Support them during tough times
When they are down and out, support them. Sounds pretty obvious, isn’t it? In practice there can be challenges. When they fail, it can hurt parents also. In that state of hurt one needs to ensure we don’t translate the impact to the kid fully.
1. A case for reforming oneself before putting a roadmap for the kid
The fundamental mistake most parents do is preaching what they don’t practice. This will never work in raising better kids for future. We need to preach/teach only what we believe and what we practice. Most parents create rules that will help in bright future of the kid, but I will say it is a job half done. As a parent first one needs to reform oneself and show the kid the way to live, else you cannot expect the kid to follow it. For example a smoking father tells the son to not to smoke, will the kid learn?
2. Lack of ambiguity among parents
Before teaching a kid good things, both the parents must sit together and agree up on “what good means”. This is necessary to ensure no conflicting message is passed to the kid. Otherwise one would end up with confused kids who do not understand what needs to be followed.
3. Spare the stick and spoil the kid
Out of superfluous love most parents spoil the kids and lead a miserable life. A case to prove it can be found in Mahabharata in the character of Dhrutarastra who lost all his sons because he could not control the unethical behavior of his one son Duryadhana. We find so many Dhrutarastras in real life if we observe closely.
4. No Comparisons please!!!
Understand that each kid is unique and there would be differences in skills, personalities and priorities. Healthy competition among kids might benefit them in some cases but undue comparisons will do them more harm than good.
5. Identify, Nurture and Encourage
As mentioned earlier each kid is unique. Identify the unique talent in the kid, provide avenues for nurturing those skills and encourage them to progress in those areas. It is ridiculous thinking to assume that there are only few professions that will help the kid’s future.
6. Support them during tough times
When they are down and out, support them. Sounds pretty obvious, isn’t it? In practice there can be challenges. When they fail, it can hurt parents also. In that state of hurt one needs to ensure we don’t translate the impact to the kid fully.
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