परा विद्या प्रवचन (Para Vidya Pravachan) Two Good Men

परा विद्या प्रवचन (Para Vidya Pravachan) 

Two Good Men 

Debi Prasad Choudhary 

Los Angeles, 12/31/2024 

 

Death of two adorable individuals in a short span of the concluding week of the year prompted me to ponder what made them great after the peak of their career. I turned to scriptures to analyze their character. 

In the sixteenth Chapter of Srimad Bhagabat Gita, Sri Krishna describes two types of human beings in this world namely divine (देव) and demonic (असुर).  

अहिंसा सत्यमक्रोधस्त्यागः शान्तिरपैशुनम्।दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्त्वं मार्दवं ह्रीरचापलम्।।16.2।। 

तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचमद्रोहो नातिमानिता। भवन्ति सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत।।16.3।। 

दम्भो दर्पोऽभिमानश्च क्रोधः पारुष्यमेव च।अज्ञानं चाभिजातस्य पार्थ सम्पदमासुरीम्।।16.4।। 

Oh, descendent of Bharat, the divine qualities are nonviolence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, restraining from fault finding with others, kindness towards all beings, absence of desire to possess stuff belonging to others, gentleness, modesty and lack fickleness. Vigor, forgiveness, courage in adversity, cleanliness, bearing enmity towards none, absence of narcissism. On the other hand, those who possess hypocrisy, arrogance, excessive self-pride, anger, harshness, ignorance are categorized as demonic beings. Mahatma Gandhi defined nonviolence as absence of fear in which an individual does not fear anything, neither anybody fear from him. When that is attained, the rest of the divine properties follow, and the demonic properties become unnecessary.  

My observations of the public conducts of these two individuals over years, perhaps with the yardstick of Srimad Bhagabat Gita, inspired me their character that are so similar. Dr. Manmohan Singh, with a robust scholarly background and highly specialized skills, served his people in various dignified capacities and did not have to depend on falsehood. His ability was enough to earn a decent living. The apparent weakness attributed to his personality are just the projections of individual critics' own deficiencies. I remember many years ago on one of my conversations about Dr. Singh an elderly women said, “Why did the Sardar went to airport at the dead of night to receive Mr. Bush!” I did not have a decent answer at that time. But I think her anger was due to her own arrogance, excessive self-pride and she wanted Mr. Singh to behave the way she wanted. Mr. Singh’s gentleness could be observed in one of the exchanges with Mrs. Susma Swaraj in Indian Parliament in a poetry recitation.  

Similar observations of President Carter were inspiring. I was keenly watching the press interaction of President Carter after getting fully cured from melanoma. His narrations of the illness and the treatment reflected the absence of fear that he once discussed with Mr. Lary King on CNN. He said, his faith prepared him to meet the death, that is inevitable, in a dignified manner. His straight talk on public forum demonstrated the key divine property of fearlessness that equipped him with rest of goodness that we observe during both his presidency and long post presidency era. 

Yet, I wonder why these two individuals remained under appreciated or even unappreciated in their lifetime? The answer may lie with one simple observation of Goswami Tulasidas on mass of contemporary society. 

जहँ कहुँ निंदा सुनहिं पराई। हरषहिं मनहुँ परी निधि पाई।। 

Our appetite for listening to the ill of others that is aided with modern technology gives little opportunity for self-contemplation for individuals. The mass media shapes mass opinion living little freedom for individualism. The stories are scripted and spread to dwell in the mass brains. So, fortunate are those who can live with their own thinking. 

Finally, what is the guide for self-thinking? I take words of Sri Krishna: 

तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ।ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि।।16.24।। 

The great scriptures that contain the thought of great minds are the guide.