Balancing acceptance with responsibility!

After Bhisma encouraged Yudhisthira to ask questions, he approached the Grandsire with great humility and caught hold of his feet. Bhisma became highly gratified & with great affection, smelled Yudhisthira’s head and made him sit close by. He then requested: My dear king, don’t be afraid & begin asking questions as much as your heart desires

Yudhisthira first bowed down to offer his respects to Sri Krsna. Then after taking permission from all the senior personalities assembled there, he said: O Grandfather! Pls explain to me the duties of a righteous king. It is understood that everyone’s success in Dharma, Artha & Kama depends upon king’s proper execution of duties. In fact, the performance of kingly duties is what restrains the entire world, just as reins keeps horses under control. If King’s were to neglect their duties, the whole world would be thrown into confusion. Just as the Sun dispels darkness, virtuous kings rid the world of evil influences

Before replying, Bhisma first offered prayers & obeisances unto the lotus feet of Sri Krsna, who predominates over all others, whether they are in the conditioned or liberated state. After properly glorifying Sri Krsna, Bhisma said: The first & foremost qualification of a king is that he must be a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna & a worshipper of the Brahmanas

Destiny & exertion are the two great factors that influences the lives of men. Of the two, exertion is more important, because destiny is nothing more than the results of one’s past endeavours. Therefore, even while obtaining an unfavourable result, a king should continue performing his duty conscientiously without becoming overwhelmed by grief

This is huge learning for all of us. Sometimes people feel that because everything we experience at present is the result of previous activities, therefore destiny is all powerful & exertion is useless. On the contrary some feel that whatever one attains in life is the result of exertion & only weaklings believe that our lives are modelled by destiny

Here Bhismadev explains that whatever we experience at present is the result of our past actions & thus our conclusion should be that endeavour is more important than destiny. Even while experiencing difficulties, one should never give way to despondency, for his present acts will fructify in his future existence

It is endeavour that creates destiny & so one should not allow the results of his previous acts to make him depressed so that his endeavours are slackened. That will only pave the way for future suffering, whereas continued performance of one’s duties will lead one to future auspiciousness

While we cannot control how destiny unfolds, we are its makers through our past actions and can influence its impact through present actions. Balancing acceptance with responsibility allows us to navigate life’s uncertainties more judiciously

karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṁ boddhavyaṁ ca vikarmaṇaḥ
akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṁ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ

The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore, one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is and what inaction is

Thoughts? #gameoflife