Sharing Sanjivani (Sanjivani - Life Saving Herb)

Chapter 6 - What type of character we are?

What type of character we are? Know Thy Self

Arjun told Shri Krishna to bring his chariot in the middle of the war field. On the other side Duryodhan was not able to raise the anger of Dronacharya against Pandavas. He was depressed and turned to his second resort great father Bhishma and told his captains of the army to protect his great father Bhishma from all the sides and be at their own place undefeated.

When Bhishma saw Duryodhan under the depression and fearful tension, he thought to console him. So he blew the bugle loudly as a lion to encourage Duryodhan on the war field.

Here a question arise in my mind as a great father Bhishma  and as a Guru Dronacharya ,both were against Duryodhan’s wrong and unjust rule and they did not want to see the destruction of their people in the name of war for land and  to be on the wrong favor of Duryodhan because one of the main cause of war  was Duryodhan who had suffered mentally for the whole life that his father was the eldest son and Pandu, his uncle  was the younger brother of his grand father but because of his father’s blindness his father could not be the king and Pandu was made the King of Hastinapur. This incident troubles and tortured his anger and jealousy day by day as he grew up. Now the Dilemma is created between Pandavas (sons of Pandu) and Kauravas (sons of Dhrutarashtra) for the inherited right over the Kingship of Hastinapur. When Pandavas came back from thirteen years of exile after being defeated in the bat over chess, Duryodhan was not ready to give them the smallest piece of land and Pandavas ask for their Rights .Dronachanya, Bhishma, Krishna and elders…all tried to avoid this war but Duryodhan was not ready to compromise.

As a Guru Dronacharya did not answer or encourage Duryodhan when he was trying to raise the anger and jealousy of Dronacharya against Pandavas because he had seen Duryodhan‘s greed and vicious smartness and cunningness in his praise, As a teacher he is strict, He did not want to encourage or support Duryodhan because he was wrong.

Bhishma was the eldest Kaurava and great father of Duryodhan When he had seen Duryodhan upset, he could not bear that pitiable sight of his grandson and he wanted to please him so he roared and blew bugle loudly as lion so that Duryodhan might feel secured. Bhishma here supported Duryodhan because he could not see his grandson depressed out of the love as family member.

Here, we can see that the relation of Duryodhan and Dronacharya is of Guru and pupil while the relation of Duryodhan and Bhishma was of grandfather and grandson .when we have to be strict with our own family members it becomes difficult for us, the blood relation is a delicate thread and our own family members are doing wrong or following wrong path do get justification from us in one or another way. Even if we are aware of the fact that someone is not doing good deeds or in a bad company of people or following destructive path, we cannot stop them because in the initial stage we ignore that and even if somebody drew our attention to that we either shut our eyes to it or defend them for their wrong deeds thinking that they would not repeat it or we could control them.

And what happens then, when we find him as a criminal or wrong doer and cannot see him suffered or punished by outer authority? We feel bad about our family member as well as for our self. We try to protect them even if he or she becomes a criminal or destructor or a terrorist for the mankind. Why do we have blind eyes to our own sons, daughters, brothers or any family members’ wrong deeds? Why do we protect and support them?

If we really do love him, we should try to make him a good person, a faithful son, an honest citizen, an obedient student, a patriotic human being of undivided world family. Don’t we? Can we say that because we ’love’ them, we do this type of behavior? When you don’t say ‘No’ to a very first step of a child in his life, you too have to felt guilty about the  result, the reward and the consequences in the future that you might have to see, isn’t it?

We know that in the name of blood relation we can’t be strict with our kids, in the name of love, we pamper and encourage them, in the name of prestige and pride of family, we make them obstinate, in the name of show of our prosperity,  we make them rude and unkind to everybody breathing around in our society .We spoil our children and then inwardly we know that we did wrong  and now we could not handle the situation or we cannot control them, we sent them to the school and coaching classes for the whole day trying to escape from our duties and responsibilities. Have we tied bandage on our eyes like Ganghari  in Mahabharata? We don’t take enough care in their development and blame the school, the teachers, the tutors, friends or somebody else except our own self. And surprisingly we do all these in the name of our busy schedules and crisis of time. Don’t we really have any time for our kids? Really speaking, are we too busy with our chorus? Don’t we love our kids?

Shouldn’t we think it over as a ‘Parent’? What should be done? It is said;” to be a parent is an accident, to learn the Art of Parenting is a challenge.”

Let’s learn the ART OF PARENTING to see the bright future and avoid destruction of our dreams for the next generation. Come with me in my quest and share your views…