What are you up to?”
“Kush is a symbol of purity, you should not end up being angry with it.”
“Anything that causes pain does not have the right to survive. Ending the root cause of pain is Dharma.”
“But Kush never dies, whenever it has the ability to grow, the roots of the plant spread out to help the plant grow back.”
“No! I will not let it happen. I will end every possibility that will help it grow back. I believe in eradicating the very roots of my enemy.”
The child was stung by the tip of Kush grass. The grass has a really sharp end which is capable of making one bleed profoundly if you accidently step over it. When the grass stung the child he ended the very root of the plant so that it could never grow back or hurt anyone else. He kept digging the earth till every small root of the plant was out and then he collected the roots and burned it all.
The Rishi had witnessed the possibilities that the child had within. The confidence and will power that the child had are the two major pillars of greatness. Along with this if the individual also has affection then he creates history. This is what happened. About 2,000 years ago a man stood up to fight against the threat looming over this country, to be called Chanakya. This incident dates back to the time when there was no trace of various countries present today on the map of the world but the culture and development of India was enjoying the full bloom of adolescence. India attracted the world towards itself because of the knowledge it imparted, mathematics, medical sciences, astronomy, philosophy, politics, Vedic literature are some of the fields that it excelled in.
Where there is wealth, there are invaders! We all know this, and at that time the greatest threat to India was Alexander III, the king of the ancient Greek kingdom Macedon. The prevailing threat of an invasion took Chanakya to Dhana Nand, the king of Magadha. Dhana Nand had murdered his half-brothers to become king. He was deeply engrossed in attaining the bliss of alcohol and young maidens and did not care about the well-being of his kingdom or people.
The “sura-sundari” loving Dhana Nand threw Chanakya out of his palace. Chanakya was thrown out by the king’s soldiers, who held his tuft of hair and pushed him out of the grand palace. Chanakya swore outside the gate saying, “I will tie this tuft now only when I demolish all your pride and exterminate your entire progeny.”
This was the same man who had said the root cause of pain must be destroyed. He made Chandragupta Maurya the king of Magadha. From building the economy to the formation of an army that was strong enough to conquer the greatest kingdom ever, Chanakya’s skills and brain worked wonders. His Arthashastra led to the formation of one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent.
Arthashastra contains the nature of government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics, market and trade, the methods of screening ministers, diplomacy, theories on war, nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of a king. The book includes philosophy, ancient economic and cultural details on agriculture, mineralogy, mining and metals, animal husbandry, medicine, forests and wildlife. It explores every field that concerns the nation’s welfare. Chanakya Neeti comprises the deepest secrets of human nature.
Chanakya’s only dream was to build up a nation, the ‘Aakhand Bharat’, a nation that was not divided by religion, community, cast, enmity, a nation that worked together to strive towards perfection and development.
Now coming back to the present we must question ourselves that are we not dreaming of an ‘Aakhand Bharat’? Two thousand years ago one man alone changed the course of history to build an ‘Aakhand Bharat’. He gave up everything he could, time, energy, intelligence and everything else.
Today the entire nation needs to give up its enmity and come together as one so that a nation can be built back: the same nation that India had always been: a centre of learning that it had been, the golden bird it was and the peaceful place it was. Our concern is to build today’s ‘Aakhand Bharat’ where there is peace and integrity. Finally, ending with a well-known Sanskrit shlokas from Chanakya Neeti —
Yatha chaturbhih kanakam pariksyate /Nigharsanacchedanatapatadanaih /Tatha caturbhih purusah pariksyatei /Tyagena silena gunene karmana. (As gold is tested in four ways by rubbing, cutting, heating and beating, so a man should be tested by these four things: his renunciation, his conduct, his qualities and his actions).
(Contributed by Sanskriti Singh)