Sookti Manjari

Jarasandha was a great scholar. He got a desire to become an emperor. Being a scholar, he knew how to justify his desire. ‘I should become an emperor if Dharma is to prevail in this kingdom’ he thought. ‘As establishing Dharma is the aim, I may do anything to reach the aim’ was the premise in his mind. He worked out a plan to acquire special powers by imprisoning the princes and later offer them as sacrifices to the gods.

On the other hand, Lord Krishna, who incarnated only to protect and preserve Dharma, strongly opposed Jarasandha’s attempts. Why?

Even Sri Krishna’s intention was to establish an empire in which righteousness prevailed. But he never thought that he should become a king to achieve this. On the other hand, he wanted to make Dharmaraja an emperor. When Jarasandha too wanted to establish Dharma, why did Krishna oppose him? Where was the necessity to make Dharmaraja a king?

The real intention of Jarasandha was to become an emperor and not to preserve Dharma. But the funny thing was that even Jarasandha was not fully aware of his own motive. When he himself did not know about this, how did Krishna come to know about it?

No big deal. No supernatural power is required to understand this. If Jarasandha really wanted to establish righteousness, he would first become 100% righteous. When he himself was an non-righteous person, how could he have established Dharma in the empire? Because preserving Dharma was not his aim, he went to the extent of killing the princes for his personal gain.

How come a scholar like Jarasandha was not able to understand such a simple thing about himself? The real reason for not being able to understand was his excessive desire!

When excessive desire is coupled with intelligence, it can deceive others as well as the person himself. Even if self-deceit begins in a small way, intelligence can increase it to threatening proportions.

Same is the case with any desire - whether it is desire for an empire, desire for riches or desire for name and fame. Therefore, in such circumstances, scholarship will increase foolishness instead of intelligence.

When a powerful battery light is flashed directly in to the eyes, the person can not see anything. Here, light itself is causing darkness. The above circumstance is similar to this. The following Sookti reflects this.

Dhanepsavo manvati tat pravriddhi

revottamo dharma iti pramugdhaah

Tatpraaptyupaanapi dharma roopaan

vidanti yaavanna yamobhi drishtah

Those who desire for wealth think that to increase their wealth itself is Dharma. They are in fact absolute fools because they do not give up their efforts to amass wealth till Yama (the lord of hell) appears before them. (madness about money will not leave the person until he dies. After death, hell is a certainty - says this Sookti.)

The above Sookti points towards the scholarly fools like Jarasandha.

We frequently hear about people who place their black money as offering in temples, about those who amass money by cheating others and then undertake works of charity with that money and about those who save money by not paying their servants properly and then run orphanages. Indeed their charitable works are worthy of praise. At the same time, they should be shunned for their desire for power, desire for name and fame and their desire for heaven. The way they justify their acts is still more absurd.

Let us consider the example of a person who tries to evade taxes and with that money does some charitable works. His logic would be something like this - ‘If I pay my taxes promptly, it might not serve the purpose really because there are chances of it misappropriation. On the other hand, if I spend it in charity, there is no scope for misuse’. Thus, the person starts believing that all his wicked acts that he does to amass money - like cheating, telling lies etc., - are in fact righteous acts. He does not realise how much of that money he is spending for his own comfort and for the comfort of his family. He refuses to understand even if others point it out.

When there is wicked nature in others, we will spot it quickly. But when it is within our own self, we do not recognise it! Why is it so? How to come out of it?

The answer to this question lies in the last line of the above Sookti, which reads "Yaavanna yamobhi drishtah". The apparent meaning of this is ‘the situation will be the same till they see Yama (the lord of death)’. If the situation were to remain the same till death, it means that there is no solution for this problem. How can men be held responsible for something which has no solution? What is the use of preaching something which is of no use?

Therefore, "Yaavanna yamobhi drishtah" should be understood from a different perspective.

Yama and Niyama are popular words in Yoga. Daya (compassion), Satya (truthfulness), Shoucha (cleanliness), Ahimsa (non violence) constitute Yama. Daya is unselfish compassion. Satya means similarity in thought and words. Ahimsa means refraining from hurting others. Shoucha means cleanliness inside and outside. This is the meaning of Yama in this context.

Yamaan seveta satatam niyamaanstu kadachana - is a dictum found in the Manu Smriti. It means that everyone should observe Yama always. Tapas and other aspects of Niyama may be observed only when the body and mind permit it.

When there is no Yama, and when people ignore Yama and engage themselves in acts of charity and social service or in other acts of ‘Niyama’, they can not escape from becoming foolish. They invariable deceive themselves. Self-deceit and foolishness will be riding on the back as long as the person is devoid of Yama.

Therefore, there is only one remedy for this. Just as sun is required to dispel darkness, so is Yama necessary to banish such foolishness. Even if one performs various acts of Niyama, they will become counter productive as long as one does not practise Yama.

‘Give topmost priority to Yama and undertake charitable acts to the extent possible’ is the message of the above Sookti. By the grace of Lord Dattatreya, may you realise the importance of the components of Yama. Jaya Guru Datta.

Sri Swamiji.