Historical Slaps
We go back to Mahabharat times, when, Draupadi wife of his younger brother Yudhishtheer was dragged ignominiously into the darbar of Duryodhan, she was humiliated ,
disgraced and an obscene gesture was made by Duryodhan to her to sit on his lap. , she was about to be undressed in the full
view of the courtesans and Bhisma his grand father was present in the darbar,
but he did not do any thing to save the
grace of his daughter-in-law, he simply went on seeing the tragedy like a coward. It was Sri Krishna who saved
the grace of Draupadi , and that is why Krishna
is known as grace-saver.
Ultimately war took place, Bhisma was badly injured and was put on a pyre of nails and was awaiting call
of the death.
Bhisma delivered
some lessons on morality,dharma, justice. These lessons are famous as “ Shanti Parva “ in Mahabharat. After listening
to such a discourse , Draupadi lapsed in to the events when she was humiliated
in the darbar of Duryodhan in the presence of the ailing strong man ,saw to
Bhasma and some satirical expressions rushed
on her face and she laughed with
contempt .Bhisma saw this, and asked her
the reason for laughing and acting with ridicule before the elders.
Draupadi replied,
“ I can not disobey your orders to show
cause , more over if I do not state the
true reasons for this conduct, I
will be accused of discourtesy . To-day
you are teaching us dharma, justice
and morality, but when I was humiliated
in the darbar of Duryodhan and Dushasan
was undressing me in full view of yours , where all this knowledge on dharma, morality and culture had gone ? I
feel you might have acquired this knowledge after that incident , alas, it was
this thought which has prompted me to laugh “
This was such a
historical slap on the face of Bhisma, that even after lapse of thousands
of years, the markings of the slap are
still visible on the face of Bhisma whenever one reads that chapter of Mahabharat.
History some
times gives one and many some opportunity to act like brave and reserve a place of dignity and
honour, but if one misses that opportunity and fails to call up enough courage
, repents for the life time his failure to grab the opportunity. What Bhisma
should have done ? He was after all grand-father of Duryodhan and were some options
before him 1. He could have rushed
to Draupadi and escorted her to safety, 2. He could have raised his voice against the inhuman and
unjust behavior of Duryodhan drawn him into arguments and could have persuaded him not to call Draupadi in the
darbar,3. He could have thrashed Dushasan who started undressing Draupadi 4. He could have straight gone to Duryodhan
and could have slapped him in full view of the courtesans. 5.He did not even
boycott the darbar in protest against
the wrong treatment to Draupadi. Bhisma did not chose any such options but
remained seated in his chair and went on seeing the unseeable,
This would have been a sign of cowardice again but a slight action would have earned him some relief in the eyes of the world.
When events
occur, man should try to mould those events in accordance with his personality, culture and image. He should
never remain a silent spectator to any tragic event occurring before his eyes
or at a distant place. Those who are leaders should take stand on the issues
whenever they crop up. That is the test
of sound and honest leadership.
( 14 )
Slap on the face of President of United States of
America
This is truly a historical incident.
USA’s President Mr. Grant was a very religious man and attended
the Church every Sunday. Once he went to the church along with his family and
the Ministers.The one year old son of the President was playing with some one during the speech of the priest
and the priest was disturbed. This caused annoyance to the President and he slapped his son angrily for this . As
a result the child started weeping
loudly.
The aged mother
of the President was sitting next to the President , got up from her seat and
slapped the President in full view of all the present in the church.
President Grant
simply remained seated and could not do any thing !
When the prayer was over , some
Ministers told the mother, “ Madam , you
did not do a correct thing in slapping the President in our presence. “
She replied, “ He slapped his so little son on a superfluous fault in the
presence of God, and it was a big crime
committed in the church in the presence of God. So , why should not slap my son
for such a big crime ?”
The mother
of President Grant deserves a position much more higher than Bhisma who remained seated with folded hands when
Draupadi ( his daughter-in-law ) was disgraced in open darbar.
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