pachai maamalai pol mene

Saturday, March 12, 2011

strike hard when the metal is hot

वहेदमित्रम् स्कन्धेन यावत्कालस्य पर्ययः।
तमेव काले संप्राप्ते भिन्ध्यात् घटमिवाश्मनि॥
॥शत्रुं च्छिद्रे परिहरेत्॥   चाणक्य सूत्रं १९४


vahedamitram skandhena yāvatkālasya paryayaḥ|
tameva kāle saṁprāpte bhindhyāt ghaṭamivāśmani||
||śatruṁ cchidre pariharet||   cāṇakya sūtraṁ 194


വഹേദ് അമിത്രം സ്കന്ധേന യാവത്കാലസ്യ പര്യയ:
തമേവ കാലേ സംപ്രാപ്തെ ഭിന്ദ്‌യാത് ഘടമിവാശ്മനി
ശത്രുംഛിദ്രേ  പരിഹരേത് ചാണക്യ സൂത്രം)
The Chanakya here is not exactly in his  philosophical mood .
  He is a realist. 
 In fact this master of  stark realities of life alone could establish the first stable kingdom in India. 
Exalted self interest is the watchword in administration.   

He says,  one must even tolerate carrying a known enemy on his own shoulders so long as the time is not favourable and one is not strong enough to attack and defeat that enemy.  
But this should nly a temporary phase in our activities.   
One should not hesitate to annihilate the enemy and blow him to pieces like an earthen pot smashed on a rock at the earliest occasion provided by time and opportunity.

In the local lore of Chanakya it is said that he was a ferocious but indigent  student.  Once when he was crossing a road, a bunch of  wild grass obstructed his feet and he stumbled.  
His immediate reaction was to uproot the growth without leaving any pieces. 
He did not stop with it.  
He burnt it with fire, mixed the whole ashes with water and drank the mixture to the last drop.  
Then alone he rested.  
Maurya the Chandragupta was watching this action of an initiate brahmin and decided then and there to make the latter as his guru.  
The rest is history.

Magnanimity is the privilege of people who are affluent and are comfortably placed.  But in the real struggle for life, we get insufferable slighting and insults from many quarters.
 From bosses, from colleagues, subordinates, from family members  (especially from spouses and children and I am at a loss to know whether this policy would apply there.) and the list can be quit long. 
 To just survive and retain sanity, we may tolerate many insufferable  idiots. 
But if we make it just a habit and flow milk of human kindness everywhere chances are that we  may not  succeed even if we are   Budhdhas or Mahaatma.  
However for us the ordinary human who deal with similar tricky human beings    attack to  finish is the best policy.

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