Why Miracles Happen

Miracles are those phenomena that defy logical reasoning, the events or incidents not explicable by natural or scientific laws. But that they do happen is a fact of life. One definition of a miracle is that those events which seems impossible but happen anyway. Usually they are those incidents that work out to the benefit of human beings or even animals and the probability of their happening is low, rather nil. In other words the miracles cannot be explained by the known laws of nature. In scriptures and religious texts one may find many such incidents that may qualify being called a miracle. For the believers these incidents are divine interventions which prove that God is active, caring and responsive. Philosophers have also acknowledged miracles as those events that are inexplicable. However, they suggest that miracles are also a part of the natural law which human mind cannot understand. But these discussions are matters of academic interest. The fact is that miracles happen and defy the logical reasoning. Whether transgression of law of nature or following a law that is beyond the comprehension of human mind, these miracles have one interesting feature. They usually happen when the protagonist intensely desires for them to happen. In puranas or religious text these have been found to happen when someone in desperation invokes the divine power to intervene. A glaring incident was that of Draupadi being put to embarrassment by Dusashana in Mahabharata. Duryodhana asks his brother Dushashna to dishonor Draupadi by disrobing her. Draupadi requests, appeal to reason and begs to pandavas and all the so called reasonable men of the kauravas like Bhisma and Dronacharya. But they all express their helplessness. It is then that she invokes Lord Krishna who intervenes by creating an unending roll of sarees which finally tires Dushashna to give up. Another incident from the Vishnupurana is of the intervention of Lord Vishnu’s intervention to save the elephant king Gajendra from the jaws of the crocodile Makar and is popularly called Gajendra moksha.
All these incidents are examples of divine intervention to solve problems of living beings, human or animals. Since these are given in religious texts many may be skeptical of veracity of these claims.
However, in our lives such incidents happen which apparently seen improbable yet take place. If one looks

CSR and Indian Wisdom

CSR (Corporate Social responsibility) is a popular term in the contemporary management literature, understood largely as a typically western concept based on western values. But it is neither a western concept nor a product of western values. Yes, the acronym CSR is a coinage of the western management thinkers. However, the practice is essentially rooted in the Indian value system and references to it can be found in Vedic literature. The only difference being that in vedas it is linked to dharma and encompasses the social responsibility of both individuals as well as the businesses under its fold. And rightly so, because separating individual social responsibility from the social responsibility of business cannot make CSR work. Thus CSR is nothing but an attempt by business to uphold the path of Dharma. Ancient Hindu philosophy has given the concept of the four Purusharthas, the basic objectives of human life – Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. CSR is a manifestation of Dharma, the duty of human beings towards the society.

In the beginning of Satyuga, the first era according to ancient Indian philosophy, there was neither king nor kingdom nor state. It was self sustained and self governed society where the people lived according to the tenets of Dharma. With time, decline set in and anarchy started growing with greed and possessiveness becoming prevalent social ways. It was then that the gods went to Brahma, the creator, to bring the society out of the morass of valuelessness. Brahma, then, wrote the Nitishastra (the book of knowledge) which laid down the laws of living, mentioning Dharma, Artha and Kama as the cardinal values. Owing to these three subjects this book was also called ‘trivarga’.

The Vedanta Philosophy also recognizes the concept of trivarga, the triple set which always have to go together to ensure the happiness of all. The objectives of Dharma, Artha and Kama are to lead the society to material progress, cultural development and general welfare of its diverse population. The roots of CSR can be traced to the concept of this trivarga. CSR can also be seen as an extension of the ancient tradition of ‘Daan’ (charity) which has been the corner stone of social concern for Indian society down the ages. Famous names like Raja Bali in Satyuga and Danveer Karna in Dwapar yuga show us the importance of philanthropy in ancient Indian thought. They also tell us that philanthropic leanings of people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet from the West had been a part of the Indian ethos long ago.

In the Rig-Veda, the ancient Hindu scripture, there was a mention of the need for the wealthy to plant trees and build tanks for the community as it would bring them glory in life and beyond. Veda emphasizes that the continuous flow of money to the people who need it is more important than its accumulation, and creating wealth for the welfare of the society is one of the important responsibilities of the business enterprise. Atharva Veda says that one should procure wealth with one hundred hands and distribute it with one thousand hands. The Yajurveda says that enjoy riches with detachment, do not cling them because the riches belong to the public, it is not yours alone. The wealth thus should be used for social good. CSR then is nothing new.

The Significance of Vanaspratha

According to ancient Hindu shastras a person’s life was broadly categorized in to four stages called ashrams. The first stage was the Brahmacharya, followed by Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa. These ashram dhramas regulated the life of the people living in the ancient societies and guided them with certain standards of behavior to be observed during each stage of life. Those were the rules of living of those times which people observed.
While the Brahmacharya Ashrama provided the guidelines for childhood and adolescent stage and certain basic values were to be adhered to. These values had some basic objectives – to train the children, to exercise control over the sense organs, the indriyas that were the cause of all Vasanas, that were the root cause of all undesirable behavior. Thus, it offered a prescription for a healthy mind body coordination and disciplined development to prepare for an ideal citizen.
The Grihastha Ashrama offered the dharmic prescription for a healthy family life. It provided for the pleasures of worldly life in a righteous manner. From marriage to procreation, from industry and entrepreneurship to wealth and prosperity that was necessary to ensure the progress of society and the world. The third ashrama that was the Vanaprastha, which people entered after fulfilling all duties of the family life that is from bringing up a family to rearing children and then preparing them for facing the world and shoulder the responsibilities of a family life. Thus, it was like passing the mantle in a relay providing both continuity and change. This was the gateway to the final stage the sanyasa which could lead to moksha or liberation after living a full life. It was the ashrama dharama that gave a systematic prescription to ideal living and had a very rational basis for ensuring order in the society. Though for many today the ashrama dharama would appear to be a puritan and traditional approach far displaced from the norms of modern living, it did have the ingredients of the idealistic modern approach. The purpose of describing the life into four stages was to ensure that people played their part in this world and made way for the future generation. It is against this backdrop that the significance of the Vanaprastha stage has to be understood. It was something like succession planning, a popular management jargon of the corporate world.
Passing the mantle to somebody after preparing him or her to shoulder those responsibilities was the right approach for a healthy society where opportunities were not denied. The biggest problem of the modern living is that people never realize the importance of vanaspratha. Hanging the boots is a popular phrase that explains the significance of vanaspratha. It is difficult to time the stage of hanging the boots. When to pave way for next generation is a difficult question to answer in the modern times when people just don’t want to give up their power and pelf. Vanaspratha provides very useful guidelines for peaceful departure from this world where the person comes for a limited period with a certain purpose. It is one’s duty to pass on the mantle to the future generation without any attachment to one’s own position. This is the spirit of the famous Brunt Land Doctrine also that says that you have not inherited but borrowed this world from the future generations.