Recently, Mr N. R. Narayanmurthy gave a statement about how Indians should work 70 hours a week. The statement got a lot of heads to tilt, a lot of brains to think and a lot of mouths to speak. Some were criticising him saying his expectations are not in the best spirit for the work life balance of us. Some hailed him for the progress driven thought he has put up. I decided to just put up a different perspective to his words.
The Hindu epics and Purans talk a lot about our lives in general. The Gods always had a huge responsibility towards the humanity. But there are also mentions about how they have loved their partners and family. And the family and their responsibilities are sometimes conflicting with each other.
Sita’s Second Exile
Ramayana, we say, is a story of how Ram fought a war with Ravana to rescue his abducted wife Sita. But it isn’t just a story of a husband fighting for wife. It is also a story about Ram as a son, a brother, a king, a father and a torch bearer for the how an ideal person should be. But we often see conflicts amongst the various roles he has performed in the story.
The Uttara Kanda of Ramyana tells a story about how Sita was sent to exile for the second time. Following their return to Ayodhya, Ram was crowned as the king with Sita by his side. While Ram’s trust and affection for Sita never wavered, it soon became evident that some people in Ayodhya could not accept Sita’s long captivity under Ravana. During Ram’s period of rule, an intemperate washerman, while arguing with his wife, declared that he was “no pusillanimous Ram who would take his wife back after she had lived in the house of another man”. The common folk started gossiping about Sita and questioned Ram’s decision to make her queen. Ram was extremely distraught on hearing the news, but finally told Lakshmana that as a king, he had to make his citizens pleased and the purity of the queen of Ayodhya has to be above any gossip and rumour. With a heavy heart, Ram instructed Lakshmana to take Sita to a forest outside Ayodhya and leave her there. Thus Sita was forced into exile a second time. Sita, who was pregnant, was given refuge in the hermitage of Valmiki, where she delivered twin sons named Kusha and Lava.
Ram definitely loved his wife Sita. He had fought such an aggressive was for her. He had left no stone unturned in pursuit of Sita when she was abducted. He even refused to remarry after Sita was sent to exile, even thought it was not an uncommon practice to have multiple marriages. But his duty as a king overpowered his love for his wife. When Dashratha asked Ram to go to 14 years of exile, he immediately agreed to it; even without consulting with his newly wed wife Sita. For him, duty of a son is more important than duty of a husband.
Shiva’s Grief and Sanhara of the universe
Brahmanda Purana tells a story of how the grief of Shiva caused Shakti Peethas to be formed. Brahma once conducted a huge yajna (ritual sacrifice), where all the prajapatis, deities, and kings of the world were invited. Shiva and Sati were also called on to participate in the yajna. All of them came for the yajna, and sat in the ceremonial place. Daksha came last. When he arrived, everyone in the yajna, with the exception of Brahma and Shiva, stood up, showing their reverence for him. Brahma, being Daksha’s father, did not rise. Shiva is said to be in a state of Samadhi at that moment, and did not realise what was happening around him. Hence, he remained seated when Daksha arrived. Daksha misunderstood Shiva’s gesture, and considered this act an insult. Daksha vowed to take revenge on the insult in the same manner.
Daksha performed a yajna with a desire to take revenge on Shiva. Daksha invited all the deities to the yajna, except Shiva and Sati. The fact that she was not invited did not deter Sati’s desire to attend the yajna. She expressed her desire to Shiva, who tried his best to dissuade her from going. He relented at her continued insistence, Sati went to her father’s yajna. However, Sati was not given her due respect at the yajna, and had to bear witness to Daksha’s insults aimed at Shiva. Anguished, Sati cursed her father and self-immolated.
Enraged at the insult and death of his spouse, Shiva in his Virabhadra avatar destroyed Daksha’s yajna and cut off his head. His anger not abated and immersed in grief, Shiva then picked up the remains of Sati’s body and performed the Sanhara Tandava, the celestial dance of destruction, across all creation. Frightened, the other deities requested Vishnu to intervene to stop this destruction. As a recourse, Vishnu used the Sudarshana Chakra on Sati’s corpse. This caused various parts of Sati’s body to fall at several spots across the world. Every place where Sati’s body part fell, became one revered site of Shaktism; termed as a Shakti Pitha.
Here, Vishnu and Shiva had a responsibility of protecting the world around them. While Shiva was grieving over the loss of his wife, his grief was getting entangled with the fabric of the universe. Vishnu was very well aware of the state of mind Shiva was in. But he had to use the Sudarshan Chakra, in order to not let the world get destroyed in the fire of Shiva’s grief.
Dharma , Artha or Kama : What do you want ?
Hindu literatures talk of four key elements of Purushartha. While we commonly refer Purusha as a synonym for male entity, the philosophy has different meaning of Purusha. Prakriti consists of all different factors of reality. And Purusha is a consciousness that is aware of Prakriti and gets involved with Prakriti to create the realm around us. Every Purusha (read as human being for our context) needs to achieve four things in life in order to live a fulfilled life. These include Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
Dharma refers to our duties towards the society and all things around us. These consist of the duties towards the society, duties towards the family, duties towards work and duties towards ourselves. Artha refers to the resources we need to acquire in order to fulfil the duties in Dharma. We commonly refers money as Artha but these include all tangible and intangible assets we acquire in life. Kama refers to the desires. Commonly referred to the sexual desires (owing to narrow minded and ill-intentioned teachings by Brits); Kama actually refers to all kind of desires our mind generates. So the desire to be socially appreciated and the desire to be with family are also part of it. Moksha refers to the spiritual awakening or spiritual understanding one needs to have in life.
The world has always seen a conflict between Dharma, Artha and Kama. Ram’s desire (Kama) to be with his wife was not as powerful as his quest for duty to be the righteous son and following orders by father without question (Putra Dharma). Or the duty of being the king that the people wanted him to be (Raja Dharma) won over the desire to spend life with the wife and future off springs (Kama). Shiva is the one who had once won over all his desires (metaphorically destroyed Kama). But when he meets Sati and starts a life with her, he becomes attached to her. The desire to belong and the desire to have a family.
Kautilya in his books say that Artha is the most important aspect of Purushartha. Kama and Dharma can only be seen in prominence, when there is enough Artha. Without prosperity and security in society or at individual level, both moral life and sensuality become difficult. Poverty breeds vice and hate, while prosperity breeds virtues and love, suggested Kautiliya. Kautilya adds that all three are mutually connected, and one should not cease enjoying life, nor virtuous behavior, nor pursuit of wealth creation. Excessive pursuit of any one aspect of life with complete rejection of other two, harms all three including the one excessively pursued.
Shiva is a God and Rama is a king. So Artha doesn’t seem to be a very prominent concern for them. but for the common folks like us, Artha or gaining money and worldly resources is equally important as that of doing our moral duties and having desires. Some of us may be more fortunate than others. But some need to work harder to earn the resources. So how long we need to work and how much time one can give to family is a matter of difference. There can not be a “same formula applies to all” situation.
We have seen Sachin Tendulkar getting back on ground on third day of his father’s demise. And he had hit a magnificent century in that match. We have seen Narendra Modi return to his work hours after his mother’s last rites. Just the way Shiva had to keep his grief away, in order to save the earth. For these individuals, the Dharma was more important than the grief. Dharma over powers the Kama (desire to indulge in sadness). We have also seen the sportsmen practice for more than 12 hours a day. We have seen politicians work 20 hours a day. We have seen entrepreneurs work for days and nights. But then, some of us find more happiness in spending extra hours with family. For some, Kama takes more prominent place than the Artha. Resources don’t mean equal to different individual.
How much time one should work in a week? The answer lies hugely into what philosophy the individual believes in. It depends on the fact if the individual has higher place for Dharma, Artha or Kama. But whatever it is, one has to always remember. Life is running on these three wheels. And when one wheel gets more torque, it is bound to turn the life in a direction. It is of course an individual choice which wheel to be provided higher torque.