Sayings of the Buddha-1

A kind man who makes good use of wealth is rightly said to possess a great treasure; but the miser who hoards up his riches will have no profit. Charity is rich in returns; charity is the greatest wealth, for though it scatters, it brings no repentance.

The Brave One

I have been inspired to write on this by the various situations that life put me into and those that happened around me. The inspiration had actually come many times before but the idea took shape when I witnessed an altercation between young boys in my neighborhood.
Such things happen almost every five minutes in different parts of the world. The winner of such altercations is declared brave by the people. Hooliganism by the youth is dangerous for any society. The sad part is that many people think that if a man yields muscle power over others and wins the fights he enters into, he is a brave individual. (I used the word ‘many’ because there are some people who have an intellect.) The people who avoid such confrontations or squabbles are eventually branded as cowards. I have always avoided unnecessary fights or arguments. This has resulted in some people taking me to be a coward. Interestingly, these people will not come forward to stand beside me if I get involved in any such stupid fight. I believe that a brave man should always fight for his right, for the right of the meek, the elderly, the women, the children and the country. In fighting between sections of the society should always be avoided and especially between the youth.
Bravery or courage doesn’t have a perfect definition. This is the reason why people have misconstrued the whole meaning. Swami Vivekananda had said, “If you really want to judge the character of a man, look not at his great performances”. When surrounded by enemies even a cat wouldn’t give up without a fight. This doesn’t mean that the cat is as brave or courageous as the Lion. Fate plays a very important role in the great performances a man puts up. The real character of the man comes to light only by proper observation of his most common actions. The common actions include everything from walking, talking and treating other people of different classes. Chanakya, in his ARTHSHASTRA, mentioned four elements of polity. They are: saam, daam, dund and bheda meaning speech, money, punishment and planting respectively. The idea is to use any or all of the techniques in such a way that the desired work is done when dealing with another person or group. The elements can be interchanged according to the circumstances but it has been historically recommended that saam should be used first and the last should be dund. On a personal note, I wouldn’t like to boast of my acts of courage but in short I can say that yes, I have helped the elderly and my friends from both sexes in times of danger. However, I never entered a fight. I might not be an astute politician but I prefer to use my brain before my muscles. It is known as a fact that the brain is the most powerful weapon and God gave it to us all. Fortunately, he didn’t tell us how to use it and ultimately left it for us to figure out. I might be able to hit four guys at a time and there is a higher chance that I might get bashed up. Whatever the result be, if the fight is for unnecessary reasons then none of us is brave. Courage comes from the inside. In the animal world, there are many animals physically larger and stronger than the Lion but it the Lion who is considered King of the Beasts. Do you know why? The reason is that all the big and strong creatures will flee if they see their prey charging towards them in large numbers but the lion will not. If he is hungry, he will try to hunt down his prey from amongst the many charging towards him even if it means risking his life. Wildebeests always move in herds and there have been incidents when the lion had to face the herd head on, still he managed to kill one of them for food while the others gave up the fight. The Lion draws his courage from his mind and heart. We should learn from him.
How a person deals with pressure situations, how he/she faces all hurdles and emerges victorious; these and such other questions will decide how bold the person actually is. Life is hard and most of the times problems are worst in their non physical forms. The courageous fights such unforeseen situations or the invisible enemy and conquers it. There has been enough news recently on students taking an extreme step when they failed in their examinations. According to me they didn’t fail in their examinations, they failed in the test of life.
“One should save oneself by oneself;
One should not lower oneself;
For oneself is verily one’s own friend;
One is verily one’s own enemy”.
BHAGWAD GITA (6:5)
Before claiming to be a brave individual, just answer these questions:
Have you ever helped a needy or an elderly or a woman?
Have you saved anyone’s life (even if it is an animal) with or without risking your life?
Have you opposed injustice?
Finally, do you have the guts to give up your life for your country?
If the answer to anyone of the above is no, then you are not brave.

WHAT'S YOUR STATUS?

“People all around me; saints and sinners,

People spread all over; losers and winners,

I don’t know who these people are & what is their identity,

I know the word status; it has separated people over an eternity.”

The above is my attempt to describe status in poetic form. I hope you liked it.

Over the years, Man has achieved innumerable things. Tasks or problems that were once considered impossible to achieve or solve, bowed down to the will of man. This gave man the confidence to reach further. Civilizations were formed, kingdoms established, dynasties were born and thus progressed man. This development urged man to divide the society into some calculable standards for proper administration. Hence the word status came into being amongst a host of others that defined the difference between man and man.

The word has been defined in Oxford as, “rank, social position, relative importance”. People usually are of the opinion that status is more economic than social. I have observed that people tend to define themselves and differentiate between themselves on the basis of their respective economic positions. Little learning is as dangerous as illiteracy. I may not be able to tell exactly what percentage of the population fall in this category but I am aware that the number is considerably high. Whenever people wish to call themselves economically superior in comparison to others, they say, “oh! Our status is higher” or “pooh! They have a low status”.

In fact, status has little or no connection with economy. This is what I believe no matter what the books may say. A person may have a high status even though he/she is not economically strong and a person may have a low status even if he/she is handsomely rich. Status is, in my opinion, a combination of some elements. To understand the status of a person, these elements or factors have to be analyzed against him/her. The status of the person will then be concluded based upon his/her performance against the factors. The elements are:

1. Education,

2. Occupation,

3. Character, and

4. Family background.

Every passing day, the number of economically strong individuals is increasing. The reason behind, is the economic boom in the country. There is another factor to it. In the last five years in particular, there has been a considerable increase in the talent hunt shows and the pay cheques of cricketers. All of a sudden someone comes out of nowhere and wins one of the many talent hunt shows and in the process, rakes in all the moolah. The new age cricketers are earning faster than they score a century or bowl a delivery. Does all this mean that these fellows and others like them are better than doctors, engineers, professors, lawyers and other such highly educated persons? This is just a part of the comparison. It may happen that the educated lot fails in the third and the fourth category. In that case, even they would not be able to qualify for high social status. The process to judge a person based upon my elements is:

1. Select the person you intend to judge,

2. Check his educational background, (does it matches yours?)

3. If qualifies the above, check his occupation, (is it equivalent to in position to yours?)

4. If qualifies the above, check character, (as compared to yours)

5. Finally, check family background, (again on your own family’s basis)

Don’t judge people on the basis of economy. Status is a very high word and not everyone can achieve it.