The Kautilya’s Perspective on Wealth: Artha, Vyartha and Anartha
Kautilya advises, “Wealth has only three ends – it’s either spent on deserving people or things, misspent on undeserving people and things or just rots away and falls into the hands of others (deserving or undeserving).” Stagnant wealth is of no utility.
Read MoreJealousy – the greatest slayer of wisdom and wealth
Jealousy is detrimental. It’s a travesty that our education systems preaches it to be almost otherwise. Since our education system is based on the logic of comparing achievement of one with another it in significant way harnesses it at every step of the way. When we see that someone is doing better than us – we first begin by being jealous of them and we do things to prove them otherwise. We cheat, use deceit and retort to almost anything without letting wisdom prevail. Jealousy may make us to do ultimate damage to our adversaries - once; but every moment we carry this jealousy in our mind – we are a living hell.
Read MoreMoles and Mentors: Utility of the saffron-clad in ancient Vedic India
Chanakya devised an advanced system of human intelligence-gathering in which operatives wore saffron to deceive the masses. There were instances when, before sending in the army to raid a village, for example, these pseudo-renunciates were sent first to make a prophecy of doom to create chaos in the minds of the people and the enemy army. Often, such strategies were wonderfully effective since they resulted in surrender without a fight – saving countless innocent lives. Great care was taken to ensure that these saffron-clad people never went rogue, and were closely watched. These saffron-clad spies proved to be an effective weapon in the game of psychological warfare.
Read MoreThe Vedic Approach to Knowledge and Education
Life is a progression of circumstances and situations, some of which we are prepared for and others we aren’t. The objective of education is to provide enough knowledge so that we are prepared for most, if not all, situations. At the very least, the process of education would like to …
Read MoreTrue Detachment
Long ago in a village somewhere in north India, a love story brewed between a young couple whose families were at loggerheads. Their love resulted in lust and eventually in a pregnancy. When the girl’s father found out he demanded to know who was responsible for it. The girl, out …
Read MoreGuru’s test of Morality
Yogeshwara (grandmaster of yoga) Shiva was teaching his students about spirituality, meditation and morality. At the end of the course, Shiva decided to test his disciples. He asked them to do something that was completely unethical, unjust as well as immoral. The students were in a complete dilemma, for they believed …
Read MoreIs that Managing or Manipulating?
The following article by U. Mahesh Prabhu was first published by BW Businessworld. Management is defined as “the process of dealing with or controlling things or people”, it’s also defined as “trickery; deceit” by Google dictionary. While the first definition is somewhat agreeable the second is downright negative. Won’t you …
Read MoreSecret of Happiness
There once was a great rishi (sage)who was always happy. One day, a very vain and selfish young man came to visit him. After talking for a few minutes, the young man rudely asked, “Are you truly happy, or are you just pretending to be happy?” The rishi chose not to answer …
Read MoreWisdom Tales: The mind goblin
Long ago, there was a man who wanted to use supernatural powers as a means of getting quick success because getting success the ordinary way required lots of hard work. He went to a rishi and asked to be given a mantra that would make him rich and successful. The …
Read MoreWho’s responsible for our pains and gains?
By U. Mahesh Prabhu For everything good or bad in life, we often try to place blame on someone else. We try to wash our hands by blaming our opponents, destiny, stars and even in gods, and deities. So, what’s (or who’s) responsible for all that’s happening in our life? …
Read More