IILM

YUDHISHTIR AND DURYODHAN

Indian Cultural Ethics Values And Business Management
10/30/2012

Submitted by:-Ankit Upadhyay Anhad Mehra Shrishti Awasthi Ishaan Maatoo Deepak kumar Sharma

As we all are living in the 21ST century which in which their are plethora of all the men made gadgets to provide immense pleasure which some where increasing the endless desire of a mankind and in search of completing or fulfilling those desire with a fast pace men are turning materialistic, egoistic, stubborn, felineness and also diverging from the way of ethics and value which are thought by our parents and teachers also by the religious epics. We can also say that these endless desires giving birth to Duryodhana in each of us The epics, the Ramayana and t he Mahabharata contains many morals, from which we can learn how to live and conduct ourselves in various situations. The epic are meant for the laymen, people who are serious about their religious duties and salvation, but not able to make it the most important thing in their lives and pursue it steadfastly. Since they are in narrative form, their messages, morals and lessons are easy to understand and remember for the last several centuries, both the epics served people well by inculcating in them a deep sense of reverence, devotion, commitment to the path of righteousness and belief and interest in the live beyond. Usually this the first stage that ultimately leads to a more instance spiritual aspiration, culminating in ones salvation by drawing a clear distinction between the good and evil , the right and the wrong, the appropriate and in appropriate, and by personifying these concepts in moral percepts clearly into appealing characters and personalities, these epics help men develop inside into our religion and cultivate budhi or discriminating intelligence , which would otherwise required years of dedicated study and religious practice. Truly speaking the epics are illustrative of the divine knowledge contend in the smriti text such as the Vedas and the Upanishads , in the language and idiom familiar to the masses . The eldest of the pandava brothers was dharma raja, who was known for his sense of justice and fair play , but with a weakness for gambling. He was clear in his conscience and soft in his heart and action, which was often misunderstood by his rivals and his weakness. The eldest of the kaurava brothers was duryodhana, known for his physical power, pride, arrogance, envy, greed, and lust for power. He personified unbridled ambition, aggression, egoism and complete disrespect for tradition in seniority in his own family. Both were cousins, but certain events in their lives made them become arch enemies. According to the laws of inheritance as prescribed in our dhramshashtra, dharamraj was supposed to be become the rural of the kuru Kingdome. But duryodhana was intent upon becoming the rural by whatever means. For him end justified the means. So he enticed his cousins to play a game of dice with him and used deceptive means to snatch the kingdom from him. By falling in the trap laid out for him,

dharamraj not only lost his kingdom, his self respect and his wife , but also head to force his brothers and himself into an ignominious exile for 12 long years as a part of his irresponsible wager. Finally after returning from the long exile, when they requested duryodhana to return their kingdom, they were flatly refused. In a desperate move, they requested him to at least grant them five villages. so arrogant and drunk with power duryodhana was that he close all doors of negotiation by telling them point blank that he would not grant them even that much land where they could pin a needle. With that it became clear to the pandavas that the only way they could settle the dispute was through a war. It was what exactly duryodhana wanted. His anger and jealousy towards his cousins was so intense that he wanted destroy all of them through a deadly war and settled the issue of succession once and for all. Lord Krishna who was related to both sides through many alliances, tried to reconcile both side. But when a person was drunk with power and blinded by egoism and ignorance, how could anyone put sense in to his mind? Duryodhana was not only stubborn, but dangerously destructive and egoistic. The sensible advice of his elders and lord Krishna fell upon his deaf ears. Once it clear to both side that their differences could be resolved only through a prolonged and destructive war they began making preparations for it. Emissaries and messengers were dispatched by both parties in all direction to muster support. It was a war in which almost every rural of the Indian subcontinent was destined to take part. It was also a war on whose outcome the effectiveness of dharma upon earth depended. Everything was at stake, our religion, tradition, family values and the very future of the land of the bharata. Hence the title, the great war of India or Mahabharata yuddham. Those who were sympathetic to the cause of the pandavas and came forward to lend their support and participate in their war on their side was actually less in number because it was a time during which evil was on the rise and dharma or righteousness was on the wane. Many rural agreed to support duroydhana either because they were impressed by him personally, for evil attracts evil or because they were afraid of incurring his wrath by refusing to support him. Some warriors supported him, though with great reluctance, because they were duty bound to their king who at that time was duryodhana. As a result of these developments, compared to dharamraja, duryodhana was succeeded in securing the support of great majority of the acclaimed warriors of his time. It seemed as if the fate of the war was already sealed and duryodhana was about to win. It was at this crucial juncture that duryodhana made one major blunder which cost him dearly in the end. What change the course of the war and its ultimate outcome was the participation of lord Krishna in it. At that time lord Krishna was the ruler of a powerful kingdom, with a formidable army of yadus who

under his leadership, got the acclaimed as fearless and unstoppable warriors. He had no particular enmity with the kaurvas, although he was well aware of their evil nature and their unbiridled political ambition. Just as they approached other rulers, both sides decided to secure the support of Lord Krishna. So both Dharmaraja and duryodhana rushed to the city of dwarka to meet lord Krishna and present him with their respective proposals. Lord Krishna, knowing the nature of both, offered them a rather difficult choice. He told them they could either choose his moral and personal support or his material support in the form of his well trained army. They could choose only one of the two, but not oth. It was a clever ploy in which he put to test the buddhi (discriminating intelligence) of both his relations. True to his nature, duryodhana chose the army. Being ignorant and egoistic, who believed in his own prowess rather than that of god, he believed that lord Krishnas power and stature stemmed from the yadu warriors and that they were more powerful than him. Wicked as he was in his thoughts and intentions, he thought that having them on his side would be a clever strategy in his plans for further aggression. By fighting against each other, the yadus and the pandavas would self destruct each other, resulting in the weakening of the political sway of lord Krishna and his yadu clan. Thus once the issue with the pandavas was settled, he could deal with lord Krishna appropriately from a point of strength rather than weakness. Dharmaraja on the other hand chose lord Krishna himself. He believed that lord Krishna was greater than all the armies put together and having him on their side would tilt the balance of power significantly. He had greater faith in the intelligence and wisdom of lord Krishna than the might of his army. Being spiritual in nature, he believed in the unlimited potentialities of spiritual power rather than in the limited capabilities of physical power. Besides, he knew lord Krishna was not an ordinary person. He saw him personally helping draupadi, after he lost his gamble, when the kauravas dragged her into the court in a show of strength and try to disrobe her in front of all people. Being a wise person himself, he was able to discern clearly the divinity in the person of lord Krishna. In doing so, dhrmarja changed the very character of war from a family war to a war between the good and the evil forces, with god actively participating on the side of the good. Most of us know what happened afterwards. The pandavas were greatly benefited by the presence of lord Krishna amidst them. The entire army of the kauravas consisting of millions of soldiers and legendary warriors was wiped out in the battle field and duryodhana himelf met with an ignonimous death. Lord Krishna stayed with the pandavas throughout the war and proved indispensable. He gave them valuable advice and guidance on every challenging occasion and helped them deal with many

formidable opponents like bhishma, karna, dronacharya,asvatthamaand so on. He personally served as the charioteer of arjuna and boosted his marole in the battlefield with his divine discourse (bhagavadgita), when the later lost his heart and refused to fight with his own kinsmen on the grounds of moral dilemma. Without him, arjuna would have probably lost either the battle or his nerve or both. The moral of the story is in whatever we do we should always seek the help and guidance of god and make him a partner in all our endeavours. It does not matter whether we are rich or poor or weak or powerful. What is important is whether we have god on our side or not. Of what use all power and riches in the world, if god is not with us and god is not part of our effort? Duryodhana had everything he wanted. But he lacked faith. He ignored the support of the god. He thought he had the necessary power and resources to deal with his enemies. He thought unwisely that he could do everything by himself. He did not care to stand against god in the battle field and fight with him. He believed in himself and that he was the master of his own fate. He would win, if necessary by fighting against god. He would take the help of god in securing the assets and the resources, but would not personally want him on his side. Such attitude and thinking proved his undoing. There is an important lesson in all this, which is very relevant today and which we can learn to save ourselves from the consequences of our selfish actions. If you look carefully you will see that in the present day world there are more duryodhanas amidst us than dharma rajas. We have people among us who would go to any length and resort to any means to achieve success and popularity in their lives. It does not matter to them whether god is with them or against them. They dont care whether they are righteous or otherwise. They have scant respect for relationships, family, tradition and moral values. What matters to them is material success in the form of money, power and wealth. They feed upon their own pride and revel in their own glory. They may use the name and power of god, but only with a selfish intent and for a selfish purpose, without ever acknowledging it. If necessary they dont mind to defy him or his law to achieve their goals. Seeing but themselves and living or acting for themselves, they live under the illusion that their personal efforts are responsible for their achievements and they are masters of their own fate. Their obsession with power, name and fame is so strong that they make take credit for the work done by others, but rarely come forward to appreciate others. In a similar vein, they show no gratitude for the silent support rendered by god. This is unfortunate because in doing so they are exposing themselves to the consequences of thir own actions (kama) and also alienating themselves from their own inner divinity.