CHAPTER X.
VIRTUES AND VICES IN RELATION TO INFERIORS.
AS we go more and more into the world, we come across many people who are much younger than ourselves, people of the next or of later generations, people also who are less educated, or who are poorer, or below us in social rank, with such people, inferior to ourselves in some special point or generally, we enter into relations, and we need to know what virtues we should cultivate, what vices we should avoid, if our relations with them are to be harmonious.
The first and most obvious of these relations is that with our youngers, and the best examples of the necessary virtues are seen in the relations of parents to their children. Tenderness, Compassion, Gentleness, Kindness, how strongly these virtues shine out in loving parents, and how happy they make the home. Father and mothers love their children, suffer in their sufferings, are glad in their pleasures, feel sympathy with them in everything.
This fact is beautifully brought out in an - ancient story, the story of the sorrow of Surabhl when her children suffer. In days of yore, Surabhl, the celestial mother of the race of cows and bulls, once stood before the King of the Devas, shedding tears. Indra asked her eagerly: " Why dost thou weep, auspicious mother of the cows ? Hath any ill befallen thee ?"
Surabhl replied : No evil hath befallen this body of mine ; but I am grieving for my offspring. See, King of the worlds, that cruel husbandman beating my feeble son that labours at the plough, and falls again and again in his weakness. The stronger of the pair beareth his burthen easily ; but the weaker beareth it with difficulty. It is for him I grieve with heavy heart and tearful eyes."
Indra asked in Wonder : " But thousands of thy offspring are thus treated every day ! " And Surabhi replied : " And for each of those thousands that suffers thus, I weep, King, and I weep more for the one that is weaker than for the others." Then Indra understood the love there is in the mother's heart for her child in suffering, and poured down showers on the fields of earth, and sent comfort to man and beast alike.* (Ramayana, Ayodhyakapdam. lxiv.)
Very tenderly is shown the love of Dasharatha for Ramachandra, his perfect son, both in his joy over his splendid qualities and his sorrow in his exile. Listen to his words as he addresses his princes and his nobles, when he proposes to instal his son as his successor, to seat him on the throne.Every sentence breathes his love and pride. And when Kaikeyi has claimed her boons, and demands Rama's exile to the forest, see Dasharatha falling at her feet, declaring that though the world might live without the sun, without Rama he could not live : "I lay my head at thy feet. Be merciful to me. Have pity on me, aged and on the verge of death."* (Ramayna . XX xxr.) And so true was this, that when Shri Rama at last tore himself away from his father, that father went home broken-hearted, and died from grief for his exiled son.* And remember the pitiful scene between Ramachandra and his mother Kaushalya when he carries her the news of his exile. He shall not go, she cries in her anguish ; without him she will pine away and die. Or, if he be fixed in will to go, in loving obedience to his father's orders, then will she also tread the forest paths. " Like unto a cow following its young one, shall 1 follow thee, my darling, wheresoever thou shalt go."*
And see the woe of Kunti, when her five noble sons, the Pandavas, are driven away into exile after the shameful gambling match in which all was lost. Kuntl bravest of women and of mothers, who, when the hour of battle came, bade Shri Krishna tell her sons that the time had come for them for which a Kshattriya woman bore a son, and that even life should be laid down for honour's sake this Kunti wailed, broken-hearted, and could scarce force herself away from her sons, could scarce forbear to follow them as they went forth.*
Or again, note the agony of Arjuna over the death of his heroic son, Abhimanyu ; as he returns to the camp from the field of battle, he feels unac- customed cloud enwrap him and turns to Shri Krishna for help, for explanation. Eagerly he questions his brothers, who fear to answer him, and with sad heart feels the piercing anguish of his son's death ; and surely the youth must have thought, as his foes closed in around him, " My father will rescue me from this fierce storm," but his father came not to his helping, and he fell, pierced by a hundred wounds. Not to have been present to protect his child that was the thought that stung Arjuna to madness, for ever the heroic soul longs to protect the weaker ; much more then when the hero is a father, and tlie weaker is a well-loved son. *(Mahdbhdratam, Sabba Parva lxxix. t Ibid, Drona Parra, lxxii.)
This duty of Protecting the Weak is incarnated in the righteous King, and it is the fulfilment of this duty which awakens the loyalty of his subjects.
" To protect his subjects is the cream of kingly duties,"* says Bhishma. " The King should always bear himself towards his subject as a mother towards the child of her womb as the mother, disregarding those objects that are most cherished by her, seeks the good of her child alone, even so, without doubt, should Kings conduct themselves."! So stringent is this duty of protection, that King Sagara exiled his own eldest son, Asamanjas, because that prince, in reckless cruelty, drowned the children of his subjects in the river.
Many are the stories of the ways in which good Kings defended the weak who trusted in their protection, and this sense of duty embraced the lower animals as well as man. A dog had followed King Yudhisthira the just from Hastinapura, through all his weary wanderings on the last great journey, and had crossed with him the vast desert, the only survivor of that long travel save the King himself, lndra has come down from heaven to fetch the kings to Svarga, and bids him mount the car and speed upwards with him. The King stoops, and gently touches the head of his faithful canine follower: "This dog, Lord of the Past and of the Present, is very devoted to me. He too should go. My heart is full of compassion for this poor child of earth."
"No dog may tread the heavenly fields,'* said lndra in reply. "Immortality and a state like unto my own, King, far-stretching fortune, high success and all the joys of heaven these thou hast won to-day. Cast off then the dog, who hinders thine ascent. Naught cruel is there in the act; earthbound, he dwells on earth."
"0 thou of a thousand eyes, thou of righteous living, an Aryan may not A commit an act unworthy of an Aryan. I care not for a bliss bought by the casting off of * one who is to me devoted." "Heaven has no place for persons followed by dogs," said lndra sternly'. "Abandon the dog, and come. Time passes swiftly." "To abandon the devoted is a sin, sin immeasurable, say the wise. As black as the slaying of a Brahmana is this sin of abandoning the week. lndra, mighty one, not for the sake of winning happiness will I cast away this dog." In vain does lndra com- mand or plead ; the King remains unmoved. Nor can sophistry confuse his clear vision : he had abandoned his brothers and his wife, why not his dog ? says Indra. "This is well known in all the worlds that with the dead is neither friendship nor yet quarrel. When my brothers and Krishna fell and died, no power was mine to bring them back to life ; hence I abandoned them. I did not abandon them so long as they were living. This one lives. To terrorise the seeker for protection, to slay a woman, to steal what belongeth to a Brahmana, to injure a friend, to each of these crimes, methinks, is equal the sin of abandoning one so devoted."And then the dog vanished and Dharma, Deva of righteousness, stood in celestial glory where had crouched the dog, and with him and Indra, hymned by Devas, praised by Sages, the righteous King was carried* to the heavenly world.*
Hear yet another tale of ancient days. King Shibi, son of Ushinara, sat in his spacious hall, in the midst of his assembled court. All at once, a dove flew in, and, rushing through the air, flung itself into the broad lap of the King, panting breathless, fainting with fatigue and fear. As the King stroked and smoothed its ruffled feathers in a wondering tenderness, soothing back its breath and life with his caresses, an angry hawk dashed into the hall also, and came to a sudden pause before the King. In reviving terror, the dove cried out in a human voice : "Thou art the sovereign of this land wherein I dwell. I have a right to thy protection too. I come to thee for refuge from my enemy."
But the hawk said also with the human voice : "I too reside within thy sovereignty, King, and this is my appointed food by Providence itself. If thou deniest it to me, then surely thou refusest me my right." The King pondered a while and said: "Ye both are right ! Thou hast a right, dove, that I protect thy innocent life from harm ; and thou, hawk, that I deprive thee not of thy just food ! But thus shall I resolve this knot of dharma. Take thou other food from me, hawk, till thou art full ! "
But the hawk said : "I must have the dove itself, none other; or if other, then flesh from thine own body, King, of the weight of this very dove." The angry ministers would have slain at once the hawk that menaced thus the priceless life of their beloved master, and cried out against the petty thing. But King Shibi said : " I sit here as the sovereign, not for small or great, not for dove or hawk, but as living embodiment of Dharma, as example to my people. If I fail in the small, I shall fail in the great also ; and my people shall fail grievously, imitating me. Bring up a pair of scales !"
Stricken with a great sorrow, powerless to disobey, setting their teeth against the outwelling groans, the ministers brought up scales. With one gentle hand, the King placed the dove into one, and with the other strong hand he hewed a piece of flesh from his own limbs. But the dove was too heavy. And the King hewed off another piece and the dove was much too heavy still. And the wondering King hewed off still another piece of flesh from his body. But the dove grew ever heavier. At the last, the King threw his whole body into the scale. And behold, the hawk and the dove disappeared, and in heir place stood Indra and Agni, and they cried aloud : "Truly art thou a King, and knowest well the sovereign's first duty of protection ! We have found thee more than we had heard. Thy body is no longer mangled. Live thou long within the hearts of thy people."*
It is true that these stories are told of kings because they are regarded as the type of the Protector of the weak ; but boys (would be Leaders)can also show protection, in a smaller measure, to all who are weaker than themselves. For these stories are told in order that we may take example by them and copy in our own lives the virtues they describe.
The great type of Compassion so that his compassion has passed into a proverb, "compassionate as Rantideva" was again a King. Once he and his dependents went fasting for eight and forty days, and on the morning of the forty-ninth day he received some ghi, milk, barley, and water. To this frugal meal they sat down, when a Brahmana came as guest, and he fed him ere touching the food. Then when the Brahmana had departed, he divided what remained into equal shares, and gave to each, reserving one portion for himself. But as he prepared to eat, a Shudra came, and he gave him gladly a share of that small meal. And when the Shudra had gone, ere yet he could break his fast, a man came with a troop of dogs, and the rest of the food, save one drink of water, Rantideva gave to these. These also went, and Rantideva raised to his parched lips the welcome drink. "Give water, a little water," moaned a voice near by ; and Rantideva, turning, saw a miserable form, an out caste, lying on the ground, turning longing piteous eyes at the water in his hand. Bending over him, with sweet compassion beaming from his tender eyes, Rantideva gently raised the outcaste's head, and put the cool pure water to his panting dust-soiled lips.
"Drink, brother !" he said kindly doubling the value of the gift with his mild graciousness. And as the outcaste drank, the loving heart of Rantideva burst into prayer to Hari : "I do not ask for the eight Siddhis," thus he spake ; "I do not ask Nirvana. Only I ask that I may pervade all beings, suffering for them their miseries, that they may live without sorrow. By giving this water to save the life of this suffering man, my hunger, thirst, languor, distress and giddiness have all passed away." And this prayer has ever remained the most perfect expression of compassion.*
The danger which is connected with the shewing out of tenderness and protection to the weaker than ourselves is the vice of Pride. It arises from ahamkara, that gives the sense of separateness of "I" and "you," and thinks more of the fact that "I am helping this weaker one," than of sharing what is really a common store with one temporarily shut out from it by his separate form. By letting the mind dwell on one's own usefulness and power to do good, pride is awakened, and quickly ruins the good work that has been performed. None that wears a separate body may escape the power of this subtlest and most dangerous of foes, that is known as ahainkara. Even the very highest fall beneath its sway in unguarded moments and unavoidably suffer the consequences, for the Law of Karma is inflexible, and equal for high and low alike. Many a warning is therefore given in the Smriti against ahamkara and pride, the great and subtle foe of the wise and strong. Listen to some of these.
The ancient sage Narayana spent ages in the severest penance, on the peak known by the name of Badari of the Himalaya mountains. To test his freedom from the attractions of sense objects, Indra sent thousands of heavenly nymphs to play about in his Tapovana, his grove of austerity, and divert his attention away from his austerities. They did as directed. The Rishi Narayana saw with his illumined eye the purpose of their coming and smiled with confidence. By his Yoga power he produced as many thousands of similarly shaped forms, and sent them forth to offer hospitality to Indra' s hosts. The latter were ashamed, and prayed to the Rishi to forgive their evil purpose. He was pleased and did so, and further offered them a boon. And the boon they asked was that he should be their husband and protector. Great was his perplexity, but having said that he would give, he could not say no. He repented sadly ; " This great trouble has arisen out of my ahankara, without a doubt. The first cause of the frustration of all dharma is ahamkara." Then he said to the maidens : " It is against my vow to enter into the household life in this birth. In another birth, as Krishna, which I shall have to take for other work also, I shall redeem my promise, and bear the fearful weight of this huge household, marrying ye all out of the high families into which you also shall be born."*
Vishvamitra, King of Gadhi, belonging to a line of Kshattriya Kings founded by Kusha, who came direct from Brahma^ returning to his kingdom with his armies after a great tour of conquest, passed through the Tapovana of the Sage Vashishtha. Leaving his armies at a distance, Vishvamitra went in reverence to the hermitage of the Sage to make obeisance. Vashishtha received him with all honour and kindness. As Vishvamitra rose to depart, fearing lest his armies cause disturbance in that place of peace, Vashishtha offered hospitality to the King with all his forces. Vishvamitra declined again and again, very unwilling to burden the ascetic's scant resources ; but Vashishtha insisted again and again, intimating that by the powers of his tapas and with the help of his wonderful cow Nandini, he could with ease provide all that his regal guest could need for all his retinue. Thus in him arose ahamkara.
Vishvamitra, thus over pressed, consented, and beheld the wonders of the cow. Then greed arose in his mind, and he said : "What need has a Brahmana of such a cow : it is fit possession only for Kings," and he asked Vashishtha for the cow. Vashishtha then grew sad, but said : Take the cow, if she consents to leave me." But the faithful cow would not ; and when the men of Vishvamitra endeavoured to drag her away by force, then she appealed in piteous terms to her master not to abandon her. Then Vashishtha gave way to wrath, the natural next step after subtle ahamkara and pride, and a great war arose between the Brahmana and the Kshattriya, which changed the whole history of the land.
The cow called forth to her aid many non-aryan tribes, Shakas and Pahlavas, Yavanas and Barbaras, and they were destroyed by Vishvamitra ; but finally the Brahmana power of Vashishtha overwhelmed the Kshattriya prowess of Vishvamitra : and, in vairagya, he gave up his kingdom and practised the severest tapas for ages, resolved to obtain the Brahmana power ; and this he succeeded in doing, after long, long ages of self-denial, and peace was made between him and Vashishtha, and Vashishtha recognised him as a Brahmarshi.
To be King of the Devas [C-IN-C] is to hold a position that may easily fill the heart with pride, and from this cause Indra several times fell from his high state. Once, surrounded by his Devas, he sat on the throne of the three worlds, and when Brihaspati, teacher of all the Devas, came before him, Indra kept his seat, not rising up to receive the great preceptor. Then Brihaspati turned and went his ways, abandoning the Devas, whom the Asuras then assaulted with success, driving them and their King from Svarga. This led to many another trouble, and to the slaying of a Brahmana on two several occasions by Indra, so that he had to perform much penance, ere he became purified.*
Now, while Indra was performing this long penance, the Devas, in order that Svarga might not suffer the evils of anarchy, elected King Nahusha of the Lunar Dynasty of the earth's kings, to hold the high office of the Ruler of Heaven. None other was found fit for it. But, as Nahusha ruled, and ruled with greater might than Indra himself, pride grew in his heart from day to day, and thoughts of sin came into his mind behind the thoughts of pride. And he said to the Devas : "I bear the burdens of Indra, I must have his rights also. Let Shachl, the wife of Indra, appear before me."
Then the Devas spoke with each other in their distress, and thought that Nahusha was no longer fit to rule in heaven, and felt also sure that the time for Indra's return was nigh. But who was strong enough to stand before Nahusha ? The might that he had earned by past good deeds could be defeated only if he roused the wrath of some great Rishi by some dire offence. And so they spoke with Shachl, anI told Nahusha that Shachl would see him if he came to her home on the shoulders of the Rishis.
Nahusha ordered a conveyance borne by Rishis. And the sage Agastya and others were asked, by order of the King, to lift the sedan chair. And they consented gently. But, as the procession marched, Nahusha, in his eagerness and overflowing pride, touched Agastya's head with his foot and angrily ordered him to go faster. Then Agastya saw that Nahusha's time was come, and he pronounced a curse on him, and Nahusha fell from heaven into a huge serpent's body on this earth, and suffered the pains of a high soul confined to a low body for many, many ages, till released therefrom by the wise words of his descendant, Yudhishthira, the King that had no enemy.*
Now Bali, son of Virochana, had dwelt long in high prosperity, for the Devi Shri, or Lakshml, abode with him as recompense for his good deeds.But pride in his own righteousness, and in the happiness it brought him, entered into his heart, and he began to think highly of himself and ill of others, and wrought evil to them instead of seeking their welfare as before. Then was the Devi displeased with Bali and determined to leave him,and to go and dwell with his enemy Indra, the the Deva King in Svarga.
And vainly Bali lamented his folly, when he saw the Devi, who had long blessed him, living with his rival. " And this," said Utatthya to King Mandhata," is the result of malice and pride. Be thou awakened, Mandhata, so that the Devi of prosperity may not in wrath desert thee. The Shrutis declare that Unrighteousness begot a son named Pride on the Devi of Prosperity. This Pride, King, led many among the Suras and the Asuras to ruin. Many royal sages have also suffered destruction on his account. Do thou therefore awaken, O King. He who succeeds in conquering him, becomes a King. He who, on the other hand, suffers himself to be conquered by him becomes a slave."*
Sometimes the inferior may save his superior, by his wise action, from falling into sin due to wrath and pride. Thus did a son save his father, in very ancient days. Chirakarin was the son of Gautama, of the race of Angirasa, and as his name implies for Chirakara means acting slowly he thought long ere he acted, and was very cautious and discreet. Now Gautama saw his wife commit a sin, and being very angry, he said to his son : "Slay this woman !" and went away.
Then Chirakarin thought long how he should act, being compelled on the one side by the duty of obeying his father, and on the other side by the duty of reverencing the sacred person of the mother who bore him. " Obedience to a father's commands is the highest merit. Protection of the mother is a clear duty. How shall I, then, avoid sin ? Son am I both of my father and mother. All that the son has the father gives. In his satisfaction, all the Devas are satisfied. His words of pleasure bring blessings to the son. But the mother ? She is the giver of the body, the protector of the child. When the son loses his mother, the world for him is empty. Like her is no shelter, no refuge, no deffence ; none is so dear as she."
Thus mused Chirakarin, bewildered by conflicting claims. Again he thought : " The husband has his names (Bhartri, Pati) as the supporter and protector of the wife. If he cease to support and protect, how shall he remain the husband ? And my mother is to me the object of my highest reverence."
Now Gautama, his mind calmed by meditation, was overwhelmed with the thought of the sin he had committed in commanding his son to slay his wife, and he hastened home, weeping, blaming his own carelessness for his wife's offence, and hoping that his son had not obeyed him. " Rescue me," he cried, thinking of his son, "rescue me and thy mother, and the penances I have achieved, as also thine own self, from grave sins." So it befell that Chirakarin, by his patience and careful consideration, did his father's real will though not his hasty order, and thus saved his father from a grievous sin, inspired by pride and wrath.*
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अहिंसयैव भूतानां कार्यं श्रेयोऽनुशासनम् ।
वाक्चैव मधुरा श्लक्ष्णा प्रयोज्या धर्ममिच्छता ॥ मनु २.१५९॥
" Created being must be instructed for their welfare without giving them pain, and sweet and gentle speech must be used by a (superior) who desires (to fulfil) the sacred law.
"अहिंसया एव भूतानाम् विद्वान् और विद्यार्थियों को योग्य है कि वैर बुद्धि छोड़के सब मनुष्यों के श्रेयः अनुशासनं कार्यम् कल्याण के मार्ग का उपदेश करें च और मधुरा श्लक्ष्णा वाक् प्रयोज्या उपदेष्टा मधुर, सुशीलतायुक्त वाणी बोलें धर्मम् इच्छता जो धर्म की उन्नति चाहे वह सदा सत्य में चले और सत्य ही का उपदेश करे । ‘‘इसलिये विद्या पढ़ विद्वान् धर्मात्मा होकर निर्वैरता से सब प्राणियों के कल्याण का उपदेश करे और उपदेश में वाणी मधुर और कोमल बोले । जो सत्योपदेश से धर्म की वृद्धि और अधर्म का नाश करते हैं वे पुरूष धन्य हैं ।’’
रक्षनादार्यवृत्तानां कण्टकानां च शोधनात् ।
नरेन्द्रास्त्रिदिवं यान्ति प्रजापालनतत्पराः ॥ ९.२५३॥
" By protecting those who live as Aryans, and by removing thorns, Kings, solely intent on guarding their subjects, reach heaven."
स्वे स्वे धर्मे निविष्टानां सर्वेषामनुपूर्वशः ।
वर्णानामाश्रमाणां च राजा सृष्टोऽभिरक्षिता ॥ ७.३५॥
" The King has been created to be the protector of the castes and Ashramas, who, all according to their rank, discharge their several duties."
यथोद्धरति निर्दाता कक्षं धान्यं च रक्षति ।
तथा रक्षेन्नृपो राष्ट्रं हन्याच्च परिपन्थिनः ॥ ७.११०॥
" As the weeder plucks up the weeds and preserves the corn, so let the King protect his kingdom and destroy his foes."
सुवासिनीः कुमारीश्च रोगिणो गर्भिणीः स्त्रियः ।
अतिथिभ्योऽग्र एवैतान् भोजयेदविचारयन् ॥ मनु ३.११४॥
" Let him, without making distinctions, feed newly-married women, young maidens, the sick, and pregnant women, even before his guests."
चक्रिणो दशमीस्थस्य रोगिणो भारिणः स्त्रियाः ।
स्नातकस्य च राज्ञश्च पन्था देयो वरस्य च ॥ २.१३८॥
" Way should be made for a man in a carriage, for one who is above ninety years old, for a sick person, for one who carries a burden, for a woman, a Snataka, a King, and a bridegroom."
अनुक्रोशो हि साधूनां महद्धर्मस्य लक्षणम्।
अनुक्रोशश्च साधूनां सदा प्रीतिं प्रयच्छति।।
(महाभारतम्-13-अनुशासनपर्व-011)
" Compassion is the mark of the great merit of Saints ; compassion ever secures the blessings (or love) of the good."
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कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:
एक टिप्पणी भेजें