Ethical are Bravehearts

Even during my five-year-long legal battle with the bank, I surprisingly used to sleep soundly for six hours and everyone around me was clueless as to how I could manage such a ridiculous feat at the backdrop of the possibility of losing my entire property. Maybe it was my carelessness, or the least concern for money matters carried forward since my earliest times, that many complained about. I too never reviewed my conduct at that point of time until I came to know about the troubles of sleeplessness King Dhritarashtra experienced and the cause narrated by Vidura.

Since the time the Pandava Princes were sent to exile, King Dhritarashtra spent sleepless nights; so one night, he summoned his brother and minister Vidura to suggest remedies to cure his sleeplessness. On hearing the concern of the king, Vidura said, “Sire, in your case it is not insomnia, it is purely related to the fears in your mind,” he continued to advise, “When there is turbulence in mind restraining certain thoughts, the body temperature increases and, in the process, it has some side effects such as sleeplessness.” The king then stated, “I have no such fears, Vidura. My son, Duryodhana, is managing all the affairs of the kingdom.” Then Vidura picked up, “Maharaja, as per a scientific study, insomnia is not a physical disorder in most cases, there are other reasons too. When a person steals the property of another; or when he has desires of adultery; or when he has lost his wealth; or when the person is in fear of a crime he had committed; and so forth. In your case, Maharaja, what is causing your sleeplessness is the fear that your brother’s sons would eventually avenge the insults inflicted upon them by your sons who had also unethically wrested away their kingdom.” Vidura continued to advise, "Maharaja, you are worried about the life of your sons. The simple solution to cure this illness is to return the Kingdom of Indraprastha to the Pandava Princes, including whatever your son had won in the game, through deception, from them. Or else, your worry will come true and the powerful Pandavas will dispatch Duryodhana, Dushasana and the rest of your sons to damnation.” The king got furious, “Enough Vidura, you are aware that Duryodhana invited his cousin Yudhishthira for a friendly game and won the wager lawfully, there were several witnesses; what’s wrong in it? You always side with the Pandavas and pick on my sons.” Vidura just smiled in resignation and said, “Of course it was lawful, I too don’t deny it, Maharaja, only if the objective was entertainment to both parties. Whereas your sons Duryodhana and Dushasana had the last laugh when they won the sport unethically by sorcery. If you feel that they have done no wrong, then there should be no worry, Maharaja, you may rest without worry.” But the king became more restless since then for his fears multiplied with Vidura’s counselling.

Desires without ethics lead to complications and one does not know when he or she crosses the line until Mother Nature reconciles his or her account and recalls the debt to be paid for the wrongful actions. Ambition is quite different from greed. Arjuna strived to acquire the prowess of being the invincible archer and, in the process, he possessed various skills and weapons. Whereas Duryodhana, possessed with jealousy and greed, wanted to be the ultimate Monarch of Kuru Kingdom, not by valour and wisdom but by grabbing the territorial kingdom of the Pandavas in some way or the other. Possession of undeserving wealth and not returning it to the rightful owner is known as a ‘Moral Hazard’ and that will result only in discomfort and unhappiness. Yudhishthira, even during the thirteen-year exile in the thick jungles, was revered as a king radiating his wisdom. There were several discussions and arguments between him and Draupadi, teamed with the support of Bheema on the other side who wanted to ploy an attack with the support of their allies on Duryodhana and regain their kingdom. But Yudhishthira refused to do so, stating that a wager lost in a game cannot be wished; for it is a violation of law and it was just to honour the conditions of the wager. Draupadi argued that the game itself was fraud and that it was invalid, to which Yudhishthira countered stating that it was played at the king’s court in the presence of elders such as Bhishma, Drona, Krupacharya, etc., and that the terms of the wager were agreed by him at that point of time. The eldest of the Pandava Princes counselled his brothers and Draupadi that the result has to be accepted without regrets, despite it being very painful, and he convinced them that he cannot act unethically.

In my experience until now, I have seen very few superior persons in my life who would surrender to fate and accept the end result. There was this friend named Venu, whose father Ramachandra Rao was the Sarpanch of Sagguru near Vijayawada. I was very close to their family, especially with Venu’s father who helped me in purchasing a mango orchard soon after my partition with the joint family. That particular geographical area is within the largest mango horticulture belt in the country, extending from Krishna to Khammam District where more than two lakh hectares of land is planted with different varieties of mango. The landlords of that area have the irresistible vice of hunting wild animals, especially the wild boar. One day, I heard that Venu and a hunting party left for the game but were unlucky after the first night of tracking. Then, early the next morning, the party spotted a bunch of wild boars in a thick mango plantation. The team with drums, called ‘parava’ in Telugu, consists of two or three persons who drive the game with loud dafli (called ‘dappu’ in Telugu) beats from the opposite side so that the singular would come to the shooting range of the huntsmen on the opposite side and poised for the kill. Venu heard the loud sounds of the party, but he was extremely tired, unable to stand steady and take aim as he was drained out of energy because of the tedious walk and lack of sleep the night before. Afraid that he might miss the aim in the standing position, Venu got down on his knees and slowly lifted his rifle waiting for a clear sight of the game but nothing was visible to his tired eyes. He focused on his senses even though he was exhausted, and then, he heard some erratic sounds within the range, and confident that the panic in the bushes was only by the animal, he squeezed the trigger, aiming at the source of the sound, so did the other marksman, both at the same time. A shattering loud cry of a person in pain came from the same area immediately after the shots were fired, causing a frightening shudder through Venu’s spine. He ran towards the spot and found two bodies, one of the wild boar, and the other was from the hunting party with his dafli lying beside him. Whatever happened thereafter was a mystery, but Venu and the other gunman were sent underground. How would the algorithm work in this crisis, was what both friends and enemies watched tensely.

I happened to interact with Venu’s mother on this subject matter and I was totally surprised as to how unperturbed she was. She was a very pious lady always in a different world unaffected with her surroundings, and she carried herself in an elegant manner. Taking liberty, I asked her how she could cope with such an incident without panic and sleep soundly. She said in a very cool manner, “If my son had done any such atrocity with an intention to harm any person, as stated by the rival political party, then he might not escape punishment. But I have faith in my son’s morals that he would not have committed any such crime. Time only will prove.” Stating so, she went inside to her kitchen to give instructions to her maid. I was just pondering; ‘is killing wild animals not an immoral sport?’ To my shock, Venu’s mother returned in a flash as if she had telepathy and continued, “Yes, I do agree that hunting is one of the seven forbidden vices, for that he surely must be suffering as of now in his conscience, but I am sure he could have not committed the crime with an intention that others are making a hue and cry about. My son is ethical and he will compensate the grieving family for their loss. I trust in the natural law which is higher than the law of the land.” Whatever that followed was exactly as Venu’s mother believed in. Venu was acquitted, thereafter he realised the dangers and gave up the bloody sport for life.

King Dhritarashtra was born blind, hence he never participated in any combat, nor he killed any person in his lifetime in a duel; but he suffered the most in the entire epic of Mahabharata. He paid a huge debt, more than any other character in the epic. The king, though blind, was highly intelligent and a scholar of all sciences, apart from being physically fit. He was supported and highly respected by his younger brother King Pandu, who protected him and expanded the Kuru Kingdom, always vigilant of threats. King Pandu waged many wars with his military skills and expanded the Kuru Dynasty. King Dhritarashtra was also supported by Vidura, his step-brother who was his advisor and counsellor at all times. Vidura was an exponent of all canons of law that could not be better interpreted by anyone than him. Most important of all is that even during his tenure as a king of the entire Kuru Dynasty, Yudhishthira treated his uncle Dhritarashtra with utmost respect like his own father. Queen Gandhari was a devoted wife who sacrificed her sight for the sake of her husband and remained blindfolded since the day of her marriage with the King and pledged that she would never remove it as long she lives. In fact, but for his blindness, King Dhritarashtra was born fortunate with able, loyal, wise and devoted people around him, but unfortunately, the king was not only physically disabled with blindness but also in mind, with his selfish and unethical thoughts. King Dhritarashtra had sinister thoughts since the day his brother Pandu Raj died prematurely; that only his son Duryodhana should be the King of the vast Kuru Dynasty and not Yudhishthira, the son of his brother King Pandu who though was the eldest in the lineage to be coronated. King Dhritarashtra posed himself as a pious and unbiased person having immense love towards his brother’s children, but he remained inert without any protest whenever his sons plotted to harm the Pandavas or deprive their right of kingdom, and insult them.

The inevitable had to happen in the end during the epic battle at Kurukshetra, which cannot be attributed only to fate, the one hundred sons of King Dhritarashtra were all killed gruesomely in the epic eighteen days battle between Pandavas and Kauravas. Among all, the ghastly killing of Duryodhana and Dushasana by the mighty Bheema led to inconsolable grief and sorrow in the hearts of King Dhritarashtra and more particularly to Queen Gandhari who cursed the mentor and guardian of the Pandavas, Lord Krishna that his entire Yadava Dynasty shall also perish without a trace, and that just like her son Duryodhana who died miserably alone, Krishna too would in his last moment. Krishna responded only with a pleasant smile when Gandhari was cursing him, for he knew what was coming. Krishna showed only his compassion to Gandhari without any vindictive thoughts. He understood the heartfelt pain and the agony that a mother experiences when her sons are killed, however great sinners they might have been. Krishna only felt sympathetic and compassionate towards the Queen and accepted the curse willingly. It was not the Pandavas who killed Duryodhana and his brothers, Krishna knew that it was their evil intentions and actions that negated the equations and finally met their fateful end when their account was reconciled by Nature for recovery of the negative balances. Such should be the courage I thought if we are into an inevitable battle with an unethical antagonist; we need to anticipate and surrender to the consequence however big or small without fear. We cannot vanquish the antagonist as well as change the Algorithm of the Universe. The price has to be paid willingly. One need not be afraid of the provisions in law, it is the morals that matter. Ethical are indeed bravehearts.