Vidura's Wisdom

Vidura's Wisdom


क्षिप्रं विजानाति चिरं शृणोति
विज्ञाय चार्थं भजते न कामात्।
नासंपृष्टो व्यपयुंक्ते परार्थे
तत् प्रज्ञानं प्रथमं पण्डितस्य॥

kShipraM vijAnAti chiraM shR^iNoti;
viGYAya chArthaM bhajate na kAmAt
nAsaMpR^iShTo vyupayu~Nkte parArthe;
tatpraGYAnaM prathamaM paNDitasya

So said the wise Vidura to the blind king, Dhitarashtra - in the Udyoga parva, enlisting the virtues of a good human being.

The shloka means:
A wise man is one who understands things quickly. His comprehension is fast and he has an unending patience to listen to others. This forms the basis of his wisdom. Most of us never bother to listen. Listening is a great virtue, but it is lacking in most of us. Listening and comprehension form a successful duo. Skills of comprehension are sharpened by patient listening and it leads us to the right decision. A wise man also embarks on a work; he understands it threadbare and then forms a strategy which guides him towards successful completion. He does not depend on his compulsions. Another great virtue enumerated here is remaining aloof from meddling into others’ affairs unless asked to help. We harm others’ interests most of the time intending to help. A meddlesome person is the most unwelcome among us. Combined, these features are said to be indicative of a wise man.

Background:
Dhritharashtra shared a strange relationship with his half-brother Vidura. Dhritharashtra always bore it in mind that Vidura was not of royal Kuru/Pandava blood. He just couldn't digest that Vidura and he shared a father and hated the fact.
But whenever the blind-king had a doubt or was in trouble, he looked up to Vidura for his help and lavished him with praise for his mature counsel. It was a kind of love-hate relationship. Here Vidura enumerates the salient features of a Wise man.

The Story of A Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly in his backyard. 

He kept observing the cocoon, until one day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.


So the man, sad that the butterfly could not emerge, decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.

The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body, Neither happened! The poor butterfly fell to the ground and remained motionless. It tried very hard to open its wings and fly away, instinctively, time and again, but to no avail. In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around the backyard.

It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand: The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives.

Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.

We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly.