Truth & Courage or lack of it..

A very regular routine day – started the week in office and went through some pending work as well as took some phone calls. Went out for lunch with the HR team, exchanged information on how was the weekend for everyone and then some more work and back home. I have some conference calls to go through starting around 10 pm, so thought to spend some time with you before that.

Last few days, apart from all the action on the “chath puja” front at home – I was also busy watching Mahabharat, the epic TV series, DVDs I bought recently. There are total of 8 DVDs, containing around 98 episodes of this mega epic. In last week or so, I have managed to watch some 15 episodes and it is really addictive. I get so engrossed in watching the series, that don’t even feel like getting up for dinners.

The Indian society during the Mahabharat days was at its peak and the rituals, customs were in the deepest and holy form. The smallest details of respect, blessings, karm and dharm are a pleasure to relive. One really gets to feel the fabric of Indian mega history and peep into the glorious past – how the society evolved, what were the basic principles and how they were respected by one and all. Then slowly the society matures and some of the rules / customs are twisted – the humane impurity starts finding its way. The challenges and issues of today – personal greed, disrespect, dishonesty and politics (back stabbing) all of them were present in that time as well. Slowly when they started to find the seat in the mainstream, then the society started to decline. Some of the rules were bent to benefit an individual or situation – which led to conflicts within the larger value system of the society. This conflict also meant that the very fundamental questions were repeatedly asked, but the leaders refused to answer them thus creating a war of epic proportions. The war was supposed to “solve” the moral issue and restore the peace and rule of law in the society – it was suppose to end the evil. But when the evil is within our hearts and our souls are dirty, what can be saved. A sick soul is not like an organ, which can be implanted to save the life of the patient – it marks the end of the patient itself.

And Mahabhart, the epic war, did exactly that – it was fought with intent to purify, but the extent of disease was so deep, nothing could be salvaged. A great rising society fell to its own knees and by the time the war ended, it marked the end of the era for a golden chapter in Indian history / culture.

So to me, it is very important lesson from the epic – keep one’s soul clean, be honest and take the most painful decisions on the side of truth, if that is achieved, all other short term sickness and illness can be cured. Life always present two choices, the easier one which leads to short term compromises, lies, perhaps short term success also AND the difficult one which is lead by truth and honesty, leads to lot of pains in short term but eventually meets the victory, prosperity, success and happiness. We have to make choices all the time and we need to be careful for not getting distracted; else a Mahabharat is always around the corner.

It is the same quality which has been advocated time and again by the greats of the world - Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Christ, Prophet Mohammad, Lord Ram.. - Truth and Courage will always lead to nirvana (eternal state of happiness) and it all starts with one's inner self. If we can get it right within us, the world will change, it will have to...