What is Dharma in today’s world? How to fight Adharma? || Acharya Prashant (2024)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   Read 3 handpicked wisdom articles, just for you: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articl...  ➖➖➖➖➖➖  Video Information: 31.08.2024, Vedanta: Basics to Classics, Greater Noida   Context:  What is the real definition of Dharma?  What is Adharma?  How to fight Adharma in today's time?  What is Dharma in today’s world?  How to be the warrior of truth?  Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:009 months you have given me second life.

00:15I will never ever be able to leave you.

00:19So always stay with me.

00:25My question is, as Shree Krishan is teaching Arjuna to fight against Kauravas, as Kauravas

00:36are against dharma, what should one consider a dharma in real world of today and fight

00:45against with the truth?

00:46Kaurava also denied the rights of Pandavas and one step further they conspired to assault

00:54Kunti, tried to harm Pandavas in every possible way.

00:59There is lot of adharma in everyday life.

01:02Should we keep quiet, sit back, if somebody does adharma with you, even if not at the

01:10level that that was between Pandava and Kaurava?

01:14Dhanyawaad.

01:15There is always only one adharma, to keep a person tied to his or her animal center,

01:42the center of the jungle, the center of prakriti and evolution, that is adharma.

01:52Dharma is an ascension, a rise, a rise towards what you actually are but must always still

02:11aspire to be, given that you do not start from what you actually are.

02:23If you look at a human being, his journey according to him starts from the day of his

02:30or her birth.

02:34We say I began on such and such day.

02:40That's the common understanding, is it not?

02:44Yes.

02:451st of January 1970, I began my journey.

02:49So when you begin your journey, you do not begin your journey from the right center.

02:57So the entire journey is about reaching where you anyway are always located.

03:09It's about becoming what you anyway are.

03:16It's about unbecoming what you have erroneously become.

03:26So that's dharma, that's dharma.

03:32Why was the war fought?

03:36Because power in the hands of Duryodhan would have meant policies that would have stimulated

03:48the animal center in at least millions of people.

03:57Hastinapur was one of the larger kingdoms and one of the most influential and powerful

04:02ones.

04:06What was happening in Hastinapur would have sent ripples throughout the subcontinent.

04:17It was a very central kingdom.

04:19Yes.

04:20Haryana, Delhi, Western UP, that was the area.

04:26So you see how centrally located it was and very powerful kingdom.

04:35So whosoever controlled Hastinapur would have had a very important and strong effect on

04:47the population of the entire subcontinent.

04:55In his interactions with Duryodhan, in his experience with Duryodhan, Krishna would have

05:03clearly seen how dangerous was it to let power come to this fellow's hands.

05:16Power in the hands of Duryodhan would have meant rampant adharma, all-pervasive adharma.

05:29Because we are people who get influenced, you know, yatha raja tha praja, if the state

05:42policies themselves promote adharma, then the effect on the population would definitely

05:57be derogatory.

06:02Therefore the war.

06:05Therefore it was seen that in spite of the number of lives that are likely to be lost

06:13in the war, it was still important that the war be fought.

06:22The war was not at all for the sake of Arjun or the Pandav party, no.

06:32It was not at all for the sake of giving one back to Duryodhan.

06:38Oh you have been unjust and treacherous all the while.

06:46So let retribution come.

06:48That was not what the war was about.

06:54There was nothing personal about the war.

07:00It's not that Krishna had a soft corner for Arjun or favoured the Pandavs more.

07:10Therefore he aligned with the Pandavs.

07:14It's just that power could not come to Duryodhan.

07:19It was certain and therefore the war had to be fought.

07:27It's not about who really was the rightful claimant to the throne.

07:36Even that was not a very important question.

07:41People often quarrel over those details, Dhritarashtra or Pandu and therefore Yudhishthir or Duryodhan.

07:53A lot of people argue over these things.

07:55It was not about Dhritarashtra or his blindness or Pandu or his illness or Yudhishthir or Duryodhan.

08:10It was not about these fellows.

08:11It was about having the one right fellow on the throne who would help the entire population

08:24navigate the path of dharma.

08:30So I dare say that Krishna would have tried to put a dharmic person on the throne even

08:48if that dharmic person were not the rightful hire by traditional logic or ritual.

09:07Why are we talking of Yudhishthir or Duryodhan here?

09:10Because they were the senior most in their lines.

09:16But had it so transpired that the two senior most brothers on either lines, the Kaurav

09:27line and the Pandav line, were both rank scoundrels, then Krishna would have supported and picked

09:41may be the youngest brother as his choice for the crown if the youngest one were dharmic.

09:57So it's not as if Krishna is trying to settle things in a just way in a matter between brothers.

10:18It is not a thing between two parties of brothers.

10:25It is a thing that concerns an entire population.

10:30Are you getting it?

10:35Krishna is not saying, oh you know, you send these people off to the jungle and that was

10:42illegitimate.

10:43Therefore, now you should pay up.

10:47No, no.

10:51It's not that.

10:52Oh, you know, these fellows, they have fulfilled the condition of being away for so many years

10:58in the jungle and then for remaining incognito for one more year.

11:06So they have fulfilled all the conditions.

11:08So you should give them their territory.

11:11It's not about all that.

11:18Even if traditional justice were to be on Duryodhana's side, Krishna would have still

11:24supported the Pandavas because it's not about traditional justice.

11:29It's about a higher justice.

11:34Traditional justice says give the throne and the crown to the elder most brother, the eldest

11:43son.

11:44That's traditional justice.

11:45Krishna's justice is dharmic, not traditional.

11:52He says the eldest is the one who is the wisest.

12:03Wisdom is the criteria for determining elderliness.

12:14The eldest one by age is not necessarily the wisest.

12:22Wisdom is the touchstone.

12:25I'll see who is the wisest one.

12:29I'll see who is the most dharmic.

12:32And that one I take to be the eldest and he shall rise to the throne.

12:39That's Krishna's justice because to him it's not about these two quarreling parties.

12:46To him it is not about I want people here and hundred out people there.

12:51To him it is about the millions that are there in the whole country.

13:03We often fail to put the war in perspective.

13:13We miss the bigger picture.

13:18We feel it was about avenging the atrocities that Duryodhana had been committing.

13:24You know he misbehaved with Draupadi.

13:28You know he tried to kill the Pandavas in Lakshagraha.

13:35You know he tried to poison Bheem.

13:43You know he was always being unfair.

13:45He was always conspiring.

13:49Therefore the Pandavas should fight for their own rights.

13:52The war was not about the Pandavas rights.

13:56The war was not to avenge Duryodhana's atrocities against Pandavas in the past.

14:04The war was to stop Duryodhana from wreaking havoc on the entire country in the future.

14:17It was not about squaring the past.

14:22It was about aborting what was coming in the future.

14:35Revenge and retribution these are small things for a wise man like Krishna.

14:43The wise ones do not get hurt easily.

14:46Why will they clamor for revenge?

14:55What is dharma then?

14:56Please always remember.

14:57The rise of consciousness is the path of dharma.

15:07We begin as animals.

15:13We must end, dissolve as pure consciousness.

15:24That is dharma.

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