Mahabharata is one of the oldest epics of our country, nay the world. It shows how dharma and karma govern our lives. Dharma is what is the right thing to do at a given time or situation. Dharma is based on wisdom, insight and human values. Dharma has many meanings and many dimensions as well – duty, truth, non-violence (ahimsa paramo dharma) and others. It is well said that "dharmo rakshita rakshata" – dharma protects he who follows dharma. However, if you do not follow dharma, you have to reap the consequences. That is karma – you reap what you sow, sooner or later.
The book, "The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma "by Gurucharan Das, (Penguin Books, pgs.434, Rs.699) is a fascinating study of Mahabharata and the author looks at dharma from the point of view of a modern man with modern sensibilities. He analyses every aspect of dharma. He finds relevance of dharma in the present era and writes in the concluding chapter: "Modern democracies expand huge amount of energy in debates between the political Left and the Right when the greater divide is between conduct according to dharma and adharma."
The story of Mahabharat and its major characters.
The story of Mahabharata is well known to all Indians if not through the books taught in the school, but at least through parents, grand parents, TV serials and Amar Chitra Katha. It is a story of two brothers and their sons, Dhritarashtra and his hundred sons, and Pandu and his five sons. Younger brother, Pandu is crowned as the elder brother is blind. Later, Pandu renounces the throne in favour of the elder brother, Dhritarashtra. Duryodhana, elder son of Dhritarashtra, fears that Yudhisthira would succeed his father as he is the eldest of all the brothers, and even tries to kill all the five Pandava brothers.
The Pandavas escape all assassination attempts. The Pandavas join other kings in a swayamvara (a contest to win the bride) and Arjuna, the third brother wins the contest. When the Pandavas tell their mother that they have won a prize, she asks them divide it equally among themselves. Thus they all marry Draupadi.
The King Dhritharashtra divides the kingdom between the sons of two brothers, Pandavas and Kauravas. Pandavas prosper with hard work and wisdom. To usurp their kingdom, Duryodhana invites Yudhishthira for a game of dice. In the rigged game, Yudhishthira loses his kingdom, and later, his wife as well. Queen Darupadi is dragged to the assembly by Duhshasana who tries to disrobe her but fails in his attempt, thanks to the miracle by Lord Krishna.
The Pandavs were sent into exile for 13 years – 12 years in the forest and one year in disguise. When they return, Duryodhana refuses to give back their kingdom, not even five villages. War becomes inevitable. The Pandavas win the war but find it hallow as the cost of war was high – death of near and dear ones. Bhishma, the elder statesman of the clan, explains the duty of a king toYudhishsthira and he rules for thirty six years with justice and compassion. He, along with his brothers and Draupadi, goes to Himalaya after crowning Parikshit, Arjuna's grandson. However, only Yudhishthira reaches heaven while all others fall by the wayside.
Each major character in Mahabharata represents a human quality. Yudhishthira is called Dharmaraja as he is the most righteous of them all. He is verily the incarnation of dharma. Duryodhana is an embodiment of envy while Arjuna has a weak will like a Hamlet. Bhishma's silence at the crucial times diminishes his wisdom, sacrifice and selflessness. Draupadi's courage and steadfastness and Krishna's strategy to win the war for the righteous are the redeeming features of the tragic drama. .
Dharmaraja and Dharma.
In the third chapter, Yudhishthira 's duty, the author discuses the many dimensions of dharma from different perspectives.
After suffering both physically and mentally in exile, Draupadi tells Yudhisthira that dharma does not protect him, he replies, "I do not act for the sake of fruits of dharma, I act because I must….by its nature my mind is beholden to dharma" And the author adds,: "In a typically modest way, Yudhishthira expresses his instinctive sense of duty: 'I act because I must '.He does not follow dharma because of any hope of reward that might come. He acts from a sense of what he has to do. Dharma or 'what he has to do' is a standard of conduct, and a society needs standards."
Yudhishthira compares dharma to a ship that helps human beings to cross the ocean of life, and without it the world would sink into a bottomless pit. Men would live like animals where only law of the jungle prevails – bigger fish eating the smaller ones.
Bhishma tells Draupadi in the assembly where she was disrobed and dishonoured that dharma is subtle as there are dilemmas galore – between intentions and consequences, between ends and means. He tells Yudhishthira it is not easy to decide when there is a conflict between two values of dharma - satya ( truth) and ahimsa (non-violence). He cites the story of Kaushika, an ascetic, who reveals to some robbers which way the witness of the robbery has gone. His truth results in violence!
Vidura, the half-brother of Dhritarashtra, has another view of dharma. He believes that an act is good if it promotes good consequences. An act which promotes the good of many persons is better than one which promotes the good of a few. He was against the game of dice as it would create strife and even harm the people. He says," To save the family, ( one must) abandon an individual. To save the village, abandon a family; to save the country, abandon a village."
How then one decides what is right and what is wrong. The author quotes Manu, the great law-giver of ancient India, who says: "The root of dharma is the entire Veda, the tradition and customs of those who know the Vedas, the conduct of virtuous people, and what is satisfactory to oneself." Dharma is also revealed by one's true self when it is unsullied by selfishness, greed and envy.
With so many dimensions, verily, 'dharma is subtle' (sukshma) as Bhishma puts it. Only the wise can comprehend and interpret it.
Duryodhana and Bhishma.
Another major actor in Mahabharata of course is Duryodhana. Envy in his character and character is destiny. Envy consumes him and his clan. He envies Pandu, younger brother of his father, Dhritarashtra, when he becomes the king. Later, he envies Yudhishthira for getting half the kingdom and building a grand capital, Indraprastha. He envies Pandavas for winning the hand of Draupadi. He plans to usurp the kingdom of Pandavas with the game of dice. Duryodhana's story is a lesson on futility of envy in life. Envy diminishes man's life.
Bhishma epitomizes selflessness. He renounces his legitimate right to the throne of Hastinapura for the sake of his father's ( Shantnu's) wish to marry Satyavati, the daughter of the chief of fishermen, and fulfill the condition of his father's marriage – kingship to be inherited by Satyavati's children. When Satyavati's children die without producing any heirs, he refuses to sire children from her widowed daughters-in-law. He serves the state as an elder statesman. However, his wisdom loses its shine when he does not stop the humiliation of Draupadi in the assembly of the Kauravas. He was also not able to prevent the disastrous war by persuading the Kauravas to concede the legitimate demands of the Pandavas.
Draupadi, Arjuna and Krishna.
Draupadi may have been humiliated by the Kauravas but her courage in confronting all in assembly makes her a role model for all women. Her message is, fight all injustices, and justice will prevail ultimately.
When she was dragged to the assembly, she asks Yudhishthira, 'whom did you lose first, yourself or me'. Nobody dares to answer her moral and legal question. After sometime, Bhishma , the elder statesman, tries to address it. He says a person who has lost his freedom has no right over others. However, a wife belongs to the husband and expected to obey him. He regrets that the matter is too complex and cannot be resolved and adds, "As dharma is subtle, my dear, I fail to resolve your question in the proper way."
Arjuna, the best warrior of the time, when confronted with his kith and kin who have assembled in the war-field of Kurushketra to fight the Pandavas, suddenly doubts whether he and his brothers are right in fighting their near and dear ones as the war would kill thousands of people. He feels that the price of war is too high. At that time he forgets the suffering he and his brothers along with their wife Darupadi had to undergo for 13 long years for the mistake of losing a game of dice where hey were cheated. He also forgets that Duryodhana did not keep his words to give back their kingdom.
At this crucial time Krishna, his charioteer, tells him that Kurukshetra is also dharmaskhetra – a place of dharma, which upholds good social and political order. He tells Arjuna that he is fighting against injustice and for maintaining dharma. The conversation between Krishna and Arjuna on.the meaning of life and what every man has to do in life is summarized in the Bhagwadgita. It is a guide for a purposeful life – dharma (duly), karma ( reap what you sow), nishkama karma ( right deeds without expecting results), stithaprajna ( maintaining equanimity in the midst of success and failure), immortality of soul and the mortality of body and many other concepts.
Many aspects of Dharma
Dharma is the key-note of Mahabharata. The author discusses the many aspects of dharma in the chapter 10 (Mahabharata's Dharma) and chapter 11 (Conclusion). He discusses the ideas in Mahabharata including the concept of dharma with reference to the Western philosophers. He also dissects various developments in the fields of politics and business in India and the world where greed and envy rule at the cost of human welfare, peace and contentment..
"Compassion is the highest dharma in the world", Yudhishthira tells Yaksha, the tree spirit, when it questions him at the lake before drinking the water.
"One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself. This, in brief, is the law of dharma" – Mahabharata XVIII.113.8.
"Who has in his heart always the well-being of others, and is wholly given, in acts, thoughts, and in speech, to the good of others, he knows what dharma is."
The author says that Mahabharata is not a 'how to' book as it offers more questions than answers." It is not dharma or right conduct that Mahabharata seems to teach, but the "subtle" nature of dharma – its infinite subtlety, its incalculable calculus of consequences, its endless delicacy," as author's friend A.K.Ramanujan, well-known poet, playwright and scholar, puts it.
Dharma for the present era.
"The average person, ' states Gurucharan Das, " continues to link morality with religion, and this make the Mahabharata's rational deliberations on dharma seem modern and even revolutionary." He draws attention to the fact that Mahabharata discusses every event and act – "searching attitude of Mahabharata" He writes that even Krishna, after explaining the mysteries of life and the knowledge of the holy, asks Arjuna to consider his message carefully and 'to act as he will'. Man has to do according to his free will.
The author tells us about an episode which throws much light on the present apathy, if not hostility, to our heritage in the ruling establishment. When he was asked to speak to the students of one of the best schools in Delhi, he proposed to talk on dharma. The school principal felt that would create a controversy as it would be about religion. He told her that Mahabhatarata is a literary epic and dharma is about right and wrong There was no religion in it. And the author says if Italian children can proudly read Dante's Divine Comedy in school or English children can read Milton, why 'secularist' Indian should be ambivalent about Mahabharata! Why, indeed!
If the state does not teach its children what is right and what is wrong, what sort of society we can expect in India? It will be a society full of greed, envy and scams which we see all around us.
Gurucharan Das has done a great service to India by writing this book at this juncture. It is rewarding to read the book.
March 3, 2011.
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