I just finished reading Gurcharan Das’s book “The Difficulty Of Being Good”. This book is an analysis of the epic Mahabharata especially to understand the nature of Dharma i.e., “what is right”. The epic starts with a rather boastful claim that “What is here is found elsewhere. What is not here is nowhere”. I was intrigued by this claim. However, as I delved into the text I realized that this claim is not without substance. Mahabharata explores the most profound questions of life in an extraordinary story telling format. It does not give deterministic answers but forces a process of personal challenge and self-reflection.
Mahabharata is brilliant because it recognizes the real dilemmas and contradictions in human nature and in our lives. It is the story of a war between good and evil. However, the good had to use trickery to win and the evil also had some good within them. Even Krishna, God in human form had to use guile to help his chosen side win. The epic thus paints a tentative world of moral haziness that is close to our experience as ordinary human beings. Instead of straight jacketing people and situations into good and bad, it recognizes that reality is subtler. There is both good and bad within us. The world we create reflects the same duality. This raises a key question – how can we live with moral balance in an arbitrary and uncertain world? The epic explores this fundamental question through myriad of characters and situations and offers many insightful lessons.
I have tried to distill lessons from the epic on five key questions that many of us often ask in our life. I am sharing these lessons as they seem very relevant in the chaotic and complex world we live in today.
1. What are the Goals of life?
There are three worldly goals – Artha (‘material well-being’), Kama (‘pleasure’), Dharma (‘righteousness’) and then the eventual goal of Moksha (‘spiritual liberation’). We need the three worldly goals to lead a balanced life. Obsession with Moksha might not help beyond a point. It is natural and desirable for human beings to want happiness and pleasure. A person needs a minimal level of material security even to practice Dharma properly. However, when the three aims of life come into conflict, Dharma should trump the other two. It sets limits on the pursuit of pleasure and wealth. People do not become happy by satisfying desires. Happiness comes from upholding a certain balance, by living according to a system of beliefs that restrains them and gives coherence to their desires
2. What is Dharma i.e., what is right?
This is a difficult question to answer in a world where right and wrong is intricately linked and often difficult to tell from one another. There are many dilemmas and contradictions – between intentions and consequences, and between ends and means. There is a view that what is good is that which promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number. However, there is equally a view that consequences or ends do not justify the means. It is dilemmas such as this that make Dharma subtle or ‘sukshma’ as the epic keeps on reminding. However, the epic does offer an easy to follow definition of Dharma, “Never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself”. It further adds, “ Who has in his heart always the well-being of others, and is wholly given, in acts, thoughts, and in speech, to the good of others, he alone knows what Dharma is”. When one puts oneself in the shoes of another person, even in a hypothetical situation, it forces one to acknowledge the reality of others and therefore act in the right way.
3. Fight or flight?
Mahabharata is above all an affirmative call for action. The most profound part of the epic is the great poem Gita where Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna on Karma i.e., duty. He expounds the Law of Karma that human deeds will inevitably have consequences. Actions always bear fruit. These fruits might emerge in this life, but they might also emerge in another life. It is because of this lack of deterministic correlation between timing of actions and consequences that the epic perhaps urges “Be intent on the action, not on the fruits of action”. In addition, it states that when an individual acts for the sake of his work rather than for the personal reward from it, the individual is likely to do the right thing. Any action performed in a selfless spirit is superior. However, acting in this selfless spirit of detachment should not result in non-action. Epic says “Perform necessary action; it is more powerful than inaction”. Do not renounce the world and become a hermit. Instead, learn to change your attitude while living and working in the world. Renounce not action but its fruits.
4. What is the root cause of many human ills?
Vanity, ego or self-centeredness is an irresistible aspect of the human condition and the root cause of many human problems. There are many ugly sides to it that invariably spoil our engagement with the world and cause much evil and grief. The epic explores a few – envy, status anxiety, and a desire for revenge. Duryodhana’s envy of Pandavas sparked a disastrous war; Karna’s status anxiety made him close his eyes to much evil; Ashwatthama’s desire for revenge led him to heinous massacre.
- Envy – There is a fine line between selfish greed and healthy ambition. When a person is envious and is unable to tolerate the good fortune of others, and they cannot have what others have, they can spoil it for everyone. Healthy ambition could be positive if the envier wants something without wishing the envied to lose it at the same time. However, finding the right balance is often difficult.
- Status anxiety – We all seek to be loved by the world. One’s ego is a ‘leaky balloon’ that needs to be constantly refilled through the praise and attention of others. Given this, people might act irrationally. A man might not sell his life to you, but will give it you for a piece of ribbon. To be happy, one must not be too concerned with the opinion of others. One should pursue one’s goals single-mindedly, with a quiet confidence, without thinking of others.
- Desire for revenge – Lust of vengeance can be so powerful that it can rival all other human needs. Vindictiveness can damage the core of the whole being. Forgiveness and reconciliation is difficult but always the wiser course.
5. Why should we be Good?
There is a fundamental question that what is the point of being good when it often brings grief? Moreover, why do bad things happen to good people? The epic favors Dharma as an end in itself and not subservient to the spiritual Moksha. Dharma is not because of any hope of reward that might come. Following Dharma is its own reward. Yudhishthira sums it nicely in the epic by saying, “ I act because I must”. However, the epic also seems to be saying that one ought to be wary of all absolutes. A man who wishes to profess goodness at all times will come to ruin among so many who are not so good. Adopt a friendly face to the world but do not allow yourself to be exploited. Turning the other cheek sends a wrong signal to cheats. Krishna as the negotiator for the Pandavas provides a good example of this. He starts with trying to make peace with Kauravas as that was the right course. However, when the evil Duryodhana did not yield, he was also not shy of engineering war.
Epic poses many deep questions but gives few deterministic answers. It continuously illustrates the imperfect human nature, how good and bad are intertwined, and the subtle nature of Dharma. In the midst of such complexity, I very much like the simple conclusion Gurcharan Das has made in his book – An act of goodness might be one of the very few things of genuine worth in this world and might give meaning to life. If each one of us can do that or do more of, world will be a better place!! I will end with the invocation from Gita that human initiative does matter even though there is much beyond one’s control. This beautiful principle makes life simple and easy to navigate!!
