The Mahabharata teaches us a lot about life, and that's probably why it's the best book in the world. I've had to do a lot of soul-searching and thinking recently, and reading the Mahabharata has somewhat helped me find myself in a maze of confusion and ups and downs. So I thought I'd take this chance to sit and think about what all the epic has taught me, and maybe also wonder how I can implement its teachings in my life.
I've listed out the top ten things I need to do as part of the learnings of the Mahabharata. Ironically enough most of them are lessons that you pick up from Yudhishthira, who is neither the strongest like Bheema, nor the most skilled and favoured by Gods, like Arjuna. However, he has some amazing qualities that make him the king over these two and the other brothers.
1. Cultivate patience
2. Think before reacting
3. Find peace of mind in what you do
4. You will always be tested by circumstance - deal with it
5. Don't expect to be happy even you have everything, and don't expect to be sad even when you have nothing
6. Actions don't necessarily always speak louder than words.
7. Our thoughts though can sometimes be even louder than actions or words.
8. We ourselves are important in the scheme of things, but we should not forget that there is someone who watches over us and makes the decisions. Everything flows from him / her and goes back into him / her. It is this attitude that makes Arjuna succeed.
9. Nobody - but nobody including God himself in the form of Krishna - is perfect. To expect perfection is searching for the impossible.
10. And finally of course the well known one and the most difficult to follow: Karmanye vaadhika raste, ma phaleshu kadachana - carry out your actions without thinking about the results. In a highly results oriented atmosphere, it is probably this that is going to carry me back to sanity at the times I feel like I'm going insane.
Hope that I get the strength to keep these in mind and deal with difficult circumstances and difficult people through not just this time, but my life ahead as well.
Philosophically yours,
Archana
