Saturday, March 09, 2013

the Golden Rule

सुखस्य मूलं धर्मः॥१॥
चाणक्यसूत्राद्

sukhasya mūlaṁ dharmaḥ ||1||
cāṇakyasūtrād

"The source of one's well-being and comfort is adherence to Dharma..."
This is the first and foremost aphorism of Chanakya..
We often tend to compare the philosophy of our  great Seer-politician  Chanakya with Machiavelli.. The latter was a votary to the idea of securing power and material benefit without any consideration of the fairness or truth and virtue involved..
 

In this matter Chanakya's ideas were different..
He could not brook the idea of securing benefits for his protige the king even at the cost of breaking the established path of Dharma..

Adhering to fair means with adequate respect for the established path of righteousness was of paramount importance to Chanakya.. Deviation from the righteous path was unthinkable in the Indian context.


Dharma has many dimensions..
 Respect to the path shown by elders is an important factor..
Fairplay is of equal significance..

The ultimate law of Dharma or the Golden Rule is that one should do to others only things which could be endured with reasonable forbearance by himself if such action is directed towards him..
All ethical considerations and benefit thereof will follow if double-standards are avoided in human transactions.
If Dharma is protected, it will protect the one who has striven to protect it..
धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः

Maybe , temporary advantages of huge dimensions may be derived temporarily if some deviations are allowed from the path of Dharma..
But in the long run such deviations do not pay.

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