jabdakhata

At the same time Mahabharata tells us one simple thing - the course of virtue is not so straight forward as some people think. There are many twists and turns. It narrates a story about a certain Brahmana called Kaushik who was extremely foolish but wanted to stay on the course of truth. While he was resting by the roadside, a few persons came running in fear for their lives and hid behind a bush. Shortly a gang of robbers came with the intention of killing those innocent victims and demanded the information from Kaushik about their whereabouts. The foolish Brahmana, knowing the great perils that these innocent guys face, gave away the information to stick to his vow of truthfulness. Now truthfulness is considered as a great virtue, but what do you think happened to those guys? They were all butchered. And what do you think happened to Kaushik? Despite being truthful he was sunk into the deepest hell. So what would the moralists say? Obviously neither the ends, nor the mean...

How do we define a virtuous end? An end which is devoid of all selfishness, from which will result good for a large majority and which would not result in any harm to innocent victims, will be treated as a virtuous end. Struggle for Indian independence is a virtuous end, so is the restoration of kingdom to Pandavas. Both would serve as good for a large majority. Therefore any means can be adopted for that purpose. In the two examples cited in the first blog of this series, rescuing the damsel in distress is definitely a virtuous act even if the means employed are as cruel as causing grave injury to those bandits. Similarly helping the child to get well even by begging, borrowing or stealing from the rich is a meritorious act with a selfless end objective if done by a third person not related to the child. When we look into the examples cited in Mahabharata, killing of Abhimanyu is not a virtuous end and nor is the means employed. This is because Duryadhana’s victory would b...

In Ramayana we have couple of examples like Lord Rama killing Vali while the latter was engaged in a battle with Sugriva. Laksman killed Indrajeet while the latter was busy in performing a sacrifice. How do we justify the acts of such so called cruelty and immorality perpetrated by the incarnations of God? And why would the scriptures written by great sages, whose main purpose is education of the masses for a very long period of time, probably till the end of humanity, would glorify such events? These lead us to look more closely into the end vrs. means debates and the objections raised by moralists as well as apologetics. It is not that end should always justify means or means should always justify end. However, if the end is virtuous and devoid of any selfish agenda, any means can be adopted for achieving it as long as it does not cause any harm to the innocents. Even this can be a yardstick in judging the actions of Lord Krishna and others in the above scenes in Mahabharata. ...

Would means justify ends or would ends justify means? There have been endless debates on this by scholars of excellent reputation. However as far as I know that this debate has produced two schools of thoughts – a) moralists, who decry every so called foul act and try to view the world through the prism of righteousness, and therefore opine on behalf of righteous means for anything and everything and b) pragmatists – who assert that righteousness is good as long as it is practical and therefore would depend on situation. Means and ends can be righteous if ordained practical, else one should be “pragmatic”. Now imagine two hypothetical situations. In the first, a child is going to die because his parents cannot afford his medical treatment. There is a rich man living nearby who has plenty of money but would not donate. There is no other source of getting help for the child. In the second, a gang of rapists is dragging a hapless victim in an uninhabited place. The only way of res...

The entire Europe capitulated in Second World War, irrespective of the affiliations of individual nations. The European pride suffered a major jolt and to some extent the downward journey still continues. Notwithstanding the development in infrastructure and the social progress made by some of the erstwhile powers, there has been a general decline of the political and financial power. With the establishment of Euro zone, Europe perhaps thought that they would be able to salvage some of the earlier financial power in a global stage. But the same idea has now hit them back. In their ardent zeal to see a united, strong, Europe, they ignored the common knowledge that weak links added to a strong chain will not make the weak strong but the chain as a whole weak, so much so that it can snap. There were other problems as well. Some nations of Europe, not driven by any generosity but out of sheer compulsion (of industrial growth and labour shortage – the gap between demand and...

Europe had and still has many great characteristics. The European nations (or atleast the most prosperous of them) were diligent, knew how to make most of the material life and lay emphasis on a balanced life full of work and enjoyments. They had invested a lot in education, culture and scientific discoveries. Their great universities and institutions are a testimony to the progress made in different fields. A large majority of the great scientists of late nineteenth and early twentieth century were from Europe. In music, literature and art and architecture Europe continued its progress in the post Renaissance period till the early twentieth century. Europeans were fiercely nationalistic and did everything to build their country often sacrificing their personal lives for the society and the country. Most of the great schools of thoughts between fourteenth and twentieth centuries came from Europe. Proliferation of scientific thoughts made the learned and educated Europeans liberal and ...

The great message of deliverance that Gita puts forward for the so called sinners is actually an eye opener to its universal kindness and sympathy for all – Api chet suduracharo bhajate mam ananyabhak sadhureva sa mantavya samyag vyavasita he sa Even if the greatest of sinners worship me devoutly, with steadfast and never ending devotion, that person will soon get rid of his sins and become as pure as any holy man or saint. Because My name dispels the impurities of mind. Therefore such a so called sinner will be treated equally as any saint. He will become a holy man and will attain eternal bliss. This message of redemption for sinner turned devotees resonates throughout Gita. In the 4th Chapter we find – Api chedasi papebhyah sarvebhyah papakrittamah sarva gyanaplavenaiva brijinam santarisyasi Even if you have committed great offence, you still have hope if you gain eternal knowledge and wisdom, which will act as a raft to take you across the turbulence of life. Anothe...

Gita also talks about compassion, kindness, non violence as essential traits for an individual on the path of realizing God. But it does not advocate weakness masquerading as non violence. In explaining His Vibhuti or the Supreme Powers to Arjuna,the Lord mentions – Ahimsa samata tusti tapah danam yashah ayasha bhavanti bhava bhutanam matta eve prithagvidha Non violence, equanimity, contentment, austerities, charity, prosperity, adversity, all these different aspects of human nature originate from Me only. These are not standalone traits, they are in Me, even though they appear to be different. Non violence is therefore an essential trait which the Lord advocates, but it is not a path for Arjuna, a Kshatriya who is facing a just and righteous war against a bloodthirsty brutal enemy. A true non violent person like Buddha will be able to disarm thousands of forces of violence. But until one reaches that very advanced spiritual stage, one is advised not to indiscriminately use th...

If the Lord is indifferent or if He is compassionate, why would he bother about adharma or vices? Didn’t we say that He is above all pairs of opposites? So why would He be perturbed by good or bad? Reason may be many. Only God knows His designs. However He appears on stage for His devotees, who fall in dire straits when there is preponderance of evil tendencies. He also appears to make sure that His life and His followers’ lives become worth emulating for millions in the coming ages. If we take a very high view point then He is still indifferent because in terms of cosmic scale these wars and the associated destructions do not mean anything. Destruction paves the way for new creation. Nature destroys only to create afresh, just as people leave behind their worn out garments to wear a new one. Thus destruction is also a form of compassion, to give people another chance to lead a better life, probably in another age or in another world. Another explanation is that all these are part ...

In our last blog we asked that why would a kind and merciful God want war and destruction of mankind. The Supreme Lord’s message is not restricted to a particular age or context or person, it is universal. The purpose of a great destruction is to leave behind a message for the posterity, that do not cross your limits, or destruction is imminent. This is not a question of being kind or ruthless, this is simply a natural law. The  impersonal God is above any dualism of kindness or ruthlessness. He is detached from everything although He Is everything. We’ll see shortly in Gita that it is His will that is driving everything and everybody, though because of ignorance people talk about free will. The war is also His will, His writ upon an aggressive society which is drunk with pride, lust and avarice. He, who is the supreme creator, is also the supreme destructor. He as Atman or Brahman , the Supreme Being, is indifferent, beyond all dualistic attributes like kindness and c...

In the nineteenth century industrial revolution accelerated the growth engine. European nations were now rolling in money and surplus money meant – a) new scientific discoveries through promoting of new ideas which might be commercially viable b) wars and more wars to establish supremacy and gain a lion’s share of the plunders. Industry developed by leaps and bounds. Some new nations like Italy came up. Others like Germany emerged more powerful. France was reeling under the aftereffects of revolution and it could not withstand the shock of having a powerful neighbor. Russia under the Tsar was trying hard to keep pace. In sort, the European stage was prepared for a major confrontation and as Swami Vivekananda in his prophetic way assessed in 1897, Europe was sitting on a volcano waiting to be exploded. The race to establish control of the mineral rich areas of the world, like Africa and middle East Asia, aggravated the crisis and a “world war”, which was more of an intra European war ...