What comes first. As the saying goes, deserve and then desire. In that order. To desire something, without deserving it is false entitlement, that is often known to the individual. As the prizes that the world has to offer subtly evolve, this question comes up once again. It isn’t new, it is re-cycled to a new context. Books on working a 4-hour week, propose the lure of a shortcut to success. The advent of social media and multiple new mediums of reaching people have opened an avenue to “get rich, quick.” Privilege without qualification is an interesting topic. What is the ask of the day? If you can meet it innovatively, you’ll have success. This is indeed one of the foundational principles of capitalism which keeps freshness in the innovative markets. Success spurs power. Power then requires nurturing and preservation. It requires work, to ensure it is in the hands of the worthy. Who wants power? A lot of people do. What are the qualifications of those who want power? It is that they should be more interested in the interests of others over themselves. But such people generally aren’t attracted to power. This explains precisely why in most cases, power ends up in the wrong hands. Power is mostly sought after by people unqualified to posses it. This is precisely why, those who have power and have a genuinely benevolent intention, should guard it and never succumb to the dictate of others who want power for themselves, under the guise of so many things.
Snatch
This principle is
perfectly illustrated in the Mahabharata, a body of Vedic teachings that forms
the backbone of its most essential teachings.
The timelessness of principles is a standout. The ever-moral and righteous Pandava brothers
are direct heirs to the throne when their Father passes away. The throne is ascended by their Fathers
brother, Dhritrashtra. His children,
seeing their Father is King immediately assume the throne is next theirs. Meanwhile the Pandava brothers are kept at bay. The Pandava brothers, born of the gods, with
godly qualities, and a fierce desire to protect virtue and morality for the
benefit of all, are always slightly side-lined by the royal order given the absence
of their Father since childhood. Those
in positions of power are perfectly cognizant of the situation and
entitlements. Yet, turning a collective
blind eye, the right of the Pandavas is subconsciously side-lined. As the two sets of brothers grow, it becomes
very evident through display of qualities and personalities, which set of
brothers would make more righteous rulers; the Pandavas. Through a display of a multitude of
qualities, they are the obvious choice.
Not for some. Not for those who
want power; the Kauravas, who despite having external power, are bereft of
moral values, and are given to vices and the ills of being tormented with a
deep desire for total dominance. Knowing
perfectly well that they lack these credentials, they try to find their path to
success. The 4-hour work week approach,
to compensate for a lack of virtues and leadership qualification, through deceit. In a rules-based system where qualification
as good, strong leaders, they know they are weak, even in duel with the
Pandavas, they have proven time and again to be weaker; they know this approach
will not bring success. So resorting to
vile means, through inviting the Pandavas to a gambling match, the medieval ‘4-hour
work week’ approach, they manage to banish the Pandavas and delay their ascent
to the throne. Just as a leopard by its
hard work, and careful weaving chasing its prey, begins to climb the tree, and
is ravaged by hyenas and its hard worked for prey taken away by the hyenas. The hyenas often don’t have the speed or
talent to chase the gazelle themselves, but they can bully the leopard holding
the prey. By hook or crook, the
unqualified in this way seek power; they seek dominance, and the privilege of
the deserving. Whose consent did the Kauravas
need to get this power? This is another
interesting part of the equation. The
group they needed the consent of, included elder and very powerful
stakeholders, whose hands were bound by vows, and economic allegiance to the
throne; this is easy to manipulate and work with. If you can somehow coerce the innocent to comply,
or at least not revolt against your 4-hour ascent, you could be onto
something. And indeed they were onto
something. By creating huge dilemmas of
the hearts of those elders; tearing them between what they knew was the right
thing to do verses what would be loyal to the throne which had served them for
so many years; the Kauravas cunningly built a scheme to evade a game a rule-based
system to their favour.
Responsibility
On many levels, the
Pandavas were absolutely not compelled to tolerate this scheming. On many a juncture were there legitimate voices
in the Pandava camp to expose the evil plans of the Kauravas immediately, and claim
what was rightfully theirs, and proceed to establish a righteous rulership,
which they knew they were capable of. They
had been reassured of their righteousness and ability by the likes of Narada
Muni and Lord Shiva amongst others. However,
many reasons were given to procrastinate a path of immediate action to correct
wrongs. On one notable occasion, Bhima as
well as Balarama pledged to march to Hastinapur where the Kauravas resided, and
immediately seize the kingdom in light of the happenings; this would’ve been in
line with the rule-based order; a trail of arms, where the more powerful would
rule the kingdom. This option was pushed
back by the leadership of the Pandavas, in the name of tolerance and good will
towards elders. Instead, there was a
long, drawn out process of failed negotiations, compromise of rules, further
insults, and the alignment against some aspects of their wills of the elders
who were part of the royal order. This
culminated in a war with multiple divine interventions by Krishna. The key point here being that when the
righteous, who are qualified to lead, accept the “4-hour working week” hyenas, or
those who are not qualified, to dominate, then there is an organically created
imbalance. This imbalance continues to get
bigger, and eventually gets to the point where only through external influence,
can it be set back in motion. This
external influence in this case, was the ultimate Lord of morality, Krishna. Krishna made sure the scores were re-balanced,
indeed this was one of the core purposes of his descent. Krishna didn't want the hyena kings, he wanted a worthy king, and would act for it, in emphatic decisive ways. In conclusion, it falls on us to question our
role in the equation; what are our motives, what are our abilities and
qualifications, as well as disqualifications, and accordingly what role are we
playing in the world. To what extent
should we think vs act? There may be case for both; introspection of this will
result in a fine-tuning and awareness of ourselves and whatever ambitions we
might have. Before we desire, we must
deserve.
yatra yogesvarah krsno
yatra partho
dhanur-dharah
tatra srir vijayo bhutir
dhruva nitir matir mama
“Wherever there is Krsna,
the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer,
there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and
morality. That is my opinion.”
18.78, Bhagavad Gita
