Shadaj Geeta!
#Last blog we saw that the purpose of life revolves around - Dharma,Artha,Kama and Moksha. Below is a short story in Mahabharata's Shanti Parva which expands our thoughts on the same! The reason it's called Shadaj (meaning 6) is that it's a discussion between the five Pandavas and the intelligent Vidhur ( uncle of Pandavas) which focuses on comparison between the above given four purposes of life and ultimately says which is the most important of them all.
Sage Vaishmapayan (pupil of Maharushi Vedvyas) thus said " King Janamejaya! Thus after speaking to Bhishma , Yudishtir summoned his 4 brothers and uncle Vidhur and asked the following question!". Yudishtir said " People's lives revolves around Dharma,Artha and Kama. Out of these 3 which one is good , which one is better and which one is the best? Also please explain which qualities should one develop to overcome all these three factors ? Speak of words which you truly believe! Thus having knowledge of Dharmashastra (science of Dharma) Vidvaan(intelligent) Vidhur said बाहुश्रुत्यं तपस्या त्यागः श्रद्धा यज्ञक्रिया क्षमा । भावशुद्धिः दया सत्यं संयमश्चात्मसंदः ।। Studying of various scriptures (science ,politics and other subjects), penance, sacrifice, faith,yajna(ritual-sacrifice), forgiveness, purification of thoughts, donations, truth and patience respectively are the wealth of Atma(soul)". Further he says "Yudishtir you try to achieve the above said qualities! Your mind should not stray away from this. Roots of Dharma and Artha are these. In my opinion these are the thoughts of highest value. Only through Dharma one can cross this world which is vast and deep with materialism like a sea , Dharma is the root on which civilizations of people stand, Dharma is the base of all religions even god has achieved through Dharma and Dharma is the root of Artha. Yudishtir in my opinion Kama is good , Artha is better but Dharma is the best and its above all others! The ultimate aim should be to control our mind and follow Dharma and to treat others as we treat ourselves!
तस्माद् धर्म प्रधानेन भवितव्यं यतात्मना। तथा च सर्व भूतेषु वर्तितव्यं यथात्मनि।।. Sage Vaishmapayan said " King Janamejaya , after listening to Vidhur , Arjun who had knowledge of Dharma and Arthashastra (science of wealth and meaning) took permission of his elder brother Yudishtir and gave his true thoughts in following manner". Arjun said " My king (Yudishtir) , this is a land of Action (karma bhumi), here tongue's are used to praise the actions (karma), farming- trade- animal care- and other professions are the tools of gaining Artha(wealth). Through wealth one can achieve all karma's (actions) , without wealth one cannot follow Dharma and Kama as Artha helps as a tool for achieving both. A wealthy person can help others and easily follow Dharma as wealth makes it easy for that person to achieve all kind of actions required for Dharma. Dharma and Kama both are parts of Artha and with it both are achieved thus is said by various intellectuals!" Further Arjun says " As people always praise God so do they praise a wealthy man. Every human is trying to earn wealth and for that purpose he goes from places to places and profession to profession. Even the learned have deep desire for wealth. आस्तिका नास्तिकाश्चैव नियताः संयमे परे। अप्रज्ञानं तमोभूतं प्रज्ञानं तु प्रकाशिता।। Even those who believe in God or those who are Atheist have desire for wealth. Rejecting the importance of wealth is ignorance , accepting it's importance is illumination. Thus I give my true thoughts and request my brother's to contribute further". #Next we will see what Nakul and Sahadev have to say about Dharma, Artha and Kaam and Bheem's contribution to this discussion and ultimately the essence of discussion given by King Yudishtir.
No comments:
Post a Comment