अहिंसा सत्यवचनं कषमा चेति विनिश्चितम |
ahiṃsā satyavacanaṃ kṣamā ceti viniścitam...
non-injuring and benevolent to all, truthful, forgiving, and forbearing...
- dunduba, the old serpent.
book 1, pauloma parva, canto xi, mahabharata.
these are the 4 prime virtues for an ascetic, an intellectual, a seeker, of the present day - to live life in the highest form in this era.
the supreme quality of this beguilingly simple line, from an obscure page of the world's largest epic, is astounding !
uttered by an ascetic, cursed to be an old and powerless snake named Dunduba, in one of the countless many stories and sub-stories that mahabharata is so full of - the profundity of the four qualities, when taken “in conjunction” together, dazes you!
how elegantly complete they make for a complete code of conducting one’s life !?!
of these four qualities, ahimsa, Non-violence, is the most celebrated. it outweighs even truth, that comes next, as the foremost virtue to possess by humanity.
that is because, ‘ahimsa’ Non-violence assures safety and goodness to all, while ‘satyam’ truth is impersonal and, often, stern..!!
thus ahimsa protects and nurtures all life, all of the universe - the paramount need and purpose of creation.
and doing this is impossible without the second quality - Truth - and avowal to it. in order to do the *right* thing, one needs to know the *truth* of things - an imperative.
{ and it is no surprise that the following lines of srimad bagavad gita reflect and complement this:
अनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं प्रियहितं च यत् |
स्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव वाङ्मयं तप उच्यते ||
..Words that do not cause distress, are truthful, inoffensive, and beneficial...., these are declared as the austerity of speech.
- chapter 17. verse 15}
and then comes the immensely beautiful third virtue, that is called for by the outcomes of the combining of the first two, or rather the combining of the *absences* of the first two in others - and their actions !! - Forgiving, or, Mercy.
*forgiving* is the source for all sacrifices, and eventual renunciation..
and finally, rightfully, comes the culmination of all the earlier three virtues - Forbearance. it is no surprise that Patience, and its supreme form, forbearance, is celebrated as the *mother* of all virtues, to live in this world.
in samskrit it is expressed by the word *Titiksha* - a word upon which one could do a discourse for hours..!! In fact, shri. velukkudi krishnan swami has indeed done a great pravachanam on this!
{this is confirmed and celebrated by taitriya upanishad too.
..tasya shraddhaiva shirah.
ritam daxinah paxah. satyamuttarah paxah.
yoga atma. mahah puchcham pratishtha..
...steadfast is its head, what is righteous is its right wing, what is truth is its left wing, meditation is its trunk, Mahat is its tail, its support..
- chapter 2. brahmanandavalli. section 4.}
when you sit down and think through these four words found in an unknown place in the immeasurable vastness of the biggest of all epics of humanity anywhere any time - mahabharata (that comprises of nearly 124,000 verses - which is 5 times its next nearest, sri ramayana at about 25,000 verses) - you both realise and admire how abundant wisdom is in our civilisation and writings..
four words.
Non.violence * Truth * Mercy * Forbearance.
meditate upon them.
or, a combination of all those four words, into one;
Compassion.
dwell on it.
then, in due course,
in it.
do you need a role model?
mahatma gandhiji.
ps: do not read 'about' him, read him - his own vast writings.
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