Skip to main content

Teamwork


Dakhsha Prajapati is a famous character in Hindu Mythology. Most of us remember him as a loving father who adored his daughter and doted her so muc that he did not approve of her marrying a hermit. His only flaw being the love of his daughter that eventually drove him to limits of sanity and eventually claimed the life of his daughter – Uma and thus forced Shiva to perform the tandav.

 What we overlook is that Brahma created Daksha as his son to be a "Prajapati" – a provider for his creation and help Brahma's creation grow. Of all the Brahma's son, Daksha was chosen to be a ruler who would create a mankind and would establish ways for it to grow. He was known to be the skilled one in every field and hence got the name – Daksha. He is known to have more than a thousand sons.

Once Daksha wanted to teach his sons important lesson for future. He invited them all to his palace for a grand feast. He asked his cooks to prepare the best of the food and make sure that they cater to the needs and favorites of each of his sons. On the day of the feast, when all the sons arrived his palace, he asked them to sit in columns facing each other. When all of the sons were seated, he spoke to them about a few rules for the feast –
  1. No one should waste any food served to them – This is considered an insult of the food and indirectly to the host
  2. No one should bend their arms to be able to eat the food – The arms are where the strength lies, bending the arms are like showing weakness
Some of his sons left the feast listening to the rules calling it an insult to their dignity. Some were seen to be lying on the floor with their faces smeared with with the food as they tried to eat it directly from their mouth. Daksha was disgusted at the sight and was about to resturn back to his antechamber filled with sadness, when he heard sounds of laughter and burps. He turned around to see a group of his sons laughing and enjoying the feast. He looked at them affectionately and saw an innovative solution to his rules – they did not bend their hands but chose to feed the person in front of them from their plates! Daksha was thrilled – he had taught his sons the lesson of teamwork.

I had read this story in a book by Devdutta Pattnaik a few months ago. When I saw this rendition from Caritas International (See blow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhU5JEd-XRo), the story just reverberated itself. As important as it can be, there is no alternative to teamwork and the food must be respected. It is our lifeline and some of us are really fortunate to have enough of it. Just the thought of not having enough food for future invokes the animal instincts in us that drive us away from humanity. Remember – we worship 'Pashupati nath' for having overcome the animal instincts and not relishing them.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flags and their meanings in Mahabharata

Last night I was telling the bedside story to the younger love of my life, when she asked – “How do you identify the leader of the troop in a war – particularly in a warzone where a lot of people are fighting against each other”? While I explained to her how the modern warfare works and how the generals lead the army today, I also imagined the warcraft of yesterday and started to describe the vivid imagination fueled by the magnanimity of the movies like Bahubali, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. The job was simple as we both had watched the movies together. And she understood all that I told her. Yet a question from her made me fumble – Do all the warriors have a flag on their chariot, and what do they mean? In my research for the answer, I stumbled upon the information that I would like to share with you too. In the Viraat Parva of Mahabharata, Arjuna under the disguise of Brihannala plays the role of the charioteer for Prince Uttara of Virata kingdom. Under the condition
9 comments
Read more

Ganesha - Reviving the series - 10

The series cannot be completed without mentioning the reach of Lord Ganesha to cultures outside of India. In this last post for this year’s series, I shall try to present some more lesser known facts about the spread of the Lord Ganesha’s influence in Indian and non Indian cultures. During the early medieval period, both Jains and Buddhists incorporated Ganesh into their pantheon. The Ganesha cult thus travelled with the Mahayana Buddhism to distant lands, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan. Ganesha’s worship spread in all the regions rapidly. Manjangan ( Ganesha ) temple in  Bali ,  Indonesia Ganesha in Ta Prohm, Angkor For the Jains, Ganesha appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. The earliest reference to Ganesha in Jainism is in the Abhidhanacintamani of Hemachandra. It refers to several appelations of Lord Ganesha such as Herama, Ganavgnesa and Vinayaka and visualizes him as elephant headed, pot bellied
Post a Comment
Read more

Karwa Chauth - Why does moon rise so late?

I have often wondered as to why the moon rises late on the Karwa Chauth night. It’s probably because our hungry stomachs rebel and start cursing the moon instead of praying, that slows it down! Actually on a full moon day, the moon rises exactly at the time of sunset. The moon takes 27.3 days to travel once around the earth. This is also the next full moon day. To travel 360 degrees in 27.3 days, the moon moves approx. 13 degrees towards the east every day. Thus the moon rise increases by approx. 48 min per day in relation to the sunset. On the Karva Chauth day – 4 days after the full moon day, the moon rises 48*4 = 192 min (3 hrs and 12 min) after the sunset. Now please do notice the moon rise timings everyday and see the pattern!
1 comment
Read more