What is Dharma in Today’s World? How to Fight Adharma?
Questioner: Namaskar, Acharya Ji.
Acharya Prashant: Namaskar.
Questioner: Nine months, you have given me a second life. I will never, ever be able to leave you. Sir, always stay with me.
Sir, my question is, as Shri Krishna is teaching Arjuna to fight against Kauravas, as Kauravas are against Dharma; what should one consider adharma in the real world of today and fight against, with the Truth? Kauravas also denied the rights of Pandavas, and one step further they conspired to assault Kunti, tried to harm Pandavas in every possible way.
There is a lot of Adharma in everyday life. Should we keep quiet, sit back, if somebody does adharma with you, even if not at the level that was between Pandavas and Kauravas? Dhanyavad.
Acharya Prashant: There is always only one adharma, to keep a person tied to his or her animal centre, the centre of the jungle, the centre of Prakriti and evolution, that is adharma. Dharma is an ascension, a rise, a rise towards what you actually are, but must always, still aspire to be, given that you do not start from what you actually are.
Look, if you look at a human being, his journey, according to him, starts from the day of his or her birth. We say, “I began on such and such day.” That’s the common understanding, is it not? “First of January, 1970, I began my journey.” So, when you begin your journey, you do not begin your journey from the right centre. So, the entire journey is about reaching where you anyway are always located. It’s about becoming what you anyway are. It’s about un-becoming what you have erroneously become. So that’s Dharma. That’s Dharma.
Why was the war fought? Because power in the hands of Duryodhana would have meant policies that would have stimulated the animal centre in at least millions of people. Hastinapur was one of the larger kingdoms, and one of the most influential and powerful ones. What was happening in Hastinapur would have sent ripples throughout the subcontinent. It was a very central kingdom, Haryana, Delhi, western UP, that was the area. So, you see how centrally located it was, and a very powerful kingdom. So, whosoever controlled Hastinapur, would have had a very important and strong effect on the population of the entire subcontinent.
In his interactions with Duryodhana, in his experience with Duryodhana, Krishna would have clearly seen how dangerous was it to let power come to this fellow’s hands. Power in the hands of Duryodhana would have meant rampant adharma, all-pervasive adharma. Because we are people who get influenced, no? “Yatha Raja Tatha Praja.”
If the state policies themselves promote adharma, then the effect on the population would definitely be derogatory, therefore the war. Therefore, it was seen that in spite of the number of lives that are likely to be lost in the war, it was still important that the war be fought.
The war was not at all for the sake of Arjuna or the Pandava party, no. It was not at all for the sake of giving one back to Duryodhana, “Oh, you have been unjust and treacherous all the while, so let retribution come.” No, that was not what the war was about. There was nothing personal about the war. It’s not that Krishna had a soft corner for Arjuna, or favoured the Pandavas more, therefore he aligned with the Pandavas. It’s just that power could not come to Duryodhana; it was certain, and therefore the war had to be fought.
It’s not about who really was the rightful claimant to the throne, even that was not a very important question. People often quarrel over those details; Dhritarashtra or Pandu, and therefore, Yudhishthira or Duryodhana. A lot of people argue over these things. It was not about Dhritarashtra or his blindness, or Pandu or his illness, or Yudhishthira or Duryodhana. It was not about these fellows.
It was about having the one right fellow on the throne who would help the entire population navigate the path of Dharma. So, I dare say, that Shri Krishna would have tried to put a dharmic person on the throne, even if that dharmic person were not the rightful heir by traditional logic or ritual.
Why are we talking of Yudhishthira or Duryodhana here? Because they were the senior-most in their lines. But had it so transpired that the two senior-most brothers on either lines, the Kaurava line and the Pandava line, were both rank scoundrels, then Shri Krishna would have supported and picked, maybe, the youngest brother as his choice for the crown if the youngest one were dharmic.
So, it’s not as if Shri Krishna is trying to settle things in a just way, in a matter between brothers. It is not a thing between two parties of brothers; it is a thing that concerns an entire population.
Are you getting it?
Shri Krishna is not saying, “Oh, you know, you sent these people off to the jungle, and that was illegitimate, therefore now you should pay up.” No, no, it’s not that. “Oh, you know these fellows, they have fulfilled the condition of being away for so many years in the jungle, and then for remaining incognito, Agyaatvaas, for one more year. So, they have fulfilled all the conditions. So, you should give them their territory.” It’s not about all that.
Even if traditional justice were to be on Duryodhana’s side, Shri Krishna would have still supported the Pandavas, because it’s not about traditional justice. It’s about a higher Justice. Traditional justice says, “Give the throne and the crown to the elder-most brother, the eldest son.” That’s traditional justice.
Krishna’s justice is dharmic, not traditional. He says, “The eldest is the one who is the wisest. Wisdom is the criteria for determining elderliness. The eldest one by age is not necessarily the wisest. Wisdom is the touchstone—’I’ll see who is the wisest one, I’ll see who is the most dharmic, and that one I’ll take to be the eldest, and he shall rise to the throne.”
That’s Shri Krishna’s justice, because to him, it’s not about these two quarrelling parties. To him, it is not about five odd people here and a hundred odd people there. To him, it is about the millions that are there in the whole country.
We often fail to put the war in perspective. We miss the bigger picture. We feel it was about avenging the atrocities that Duryodhana had been committing, you know, he misbehaved with Draupadi, you know he tried to kill the Pandavas in Lakshagriha, you know he tried to poison Bhima, you know he was always being unfair, he was always conspiring, therefore, the Pandavas should fight for their own rights.
The war was not about the Pandavas’ rights. The war was not to avenge Duryodhana’s atrocities against Pandavas in the past. The war was to stop Duryodhana from wreaking havoc on the entire country in the future. It was not about squaring the past. It was about aborting what was coming in the future.
Revenge and retribution, these are small things for a wise man like Shri Krishna. The wise ones do not get hurt easily; why will they clamour for revenge? What is Dharma then? Please always remember, “The rise of consciousness is the path of Dharma. We begin as animals, we must end, dissolve, as pure consciousness. That is Dharma.”
