Vedic Wisdom - Chanakya’s Ardha Shastra

Vedic Wisdom

Chanakya’s Ardha Shastra – The Enlightened Living

Chanakya’s Ardha Shastra is a master piece dealing with a variety of social sciences and it would have been possible only for the Indian soil to have ever produced a genius of the nature of Chanakya. Despite all the material wealth he created, Chanakya was a deeply spiritual, and enlightened person. He created riches outside, but what really mattered for him was the riches inside.

1) For Chanakya, knowledge was wealth. Knowledge was his greatest weapon, asset, strength and power. He said, ‘If I have knowledge, I can create many emperors.’ His conviction came from the depth of his spirituality, strong and deep-rooted.

2) Dharma is the core word that is discussed in his scriptures. Making the leader a dharmic raja or rajarishi was Chanakya’s highest vision. In his ‘Ardhashastra’, the word ‘dharma’ appears 150 times

3) Dharma denotes various concepts and ideas – it is morality, ethics, spirituality, duty and responsibility, among others.

4) Chanakya speaks at length on Raja dharma, the duties and responsibilities of a responsible king.

5) Chanakya also dealt at length about the dharma, duties and responsibilities of a house holder.

6) Chanakya said, ‘ everyone should enjoy sensual pleasures without contravening his spiritual good and material well being; he should not deprive himself of pleasures’.

7) Chanakya further said that the common perception about spirituality, that it is meant for old people, and that you become spiritual only when you have nothing left to do in life is completely wrong and ill founded.

8) Chanakya further added that another misconception is that spirituality is for the other world, to gain benefits after we die and go to some place called heaven .

9) Chanakya stressed that the really spiritual people are always active and dynamic; they are action-oriented and the spiritual energy in them gives them the strength to do better than the ordinary. With a foundation of spirituality, even the ordinary things they do will become extraordinary.

10) Chanakya clarified yet another misconception ‘ that spirituality is related to poverty’.

11) There are four aspects one should be aware of in life, the purusharthas, as stated in the Vedas: dharma, spiritual good; artha, material well being; kama, worldly desires and pleasures and moksha, the realization and enlightenment.

12) Chanakya says the first three have to be balanced in our lives, that is, dharma, artha and kama. One should enjoy material success and fulfill all worldly desires. But this has to be done on the foundations of spirituality. Then, moksha will follow on its own in due course since fulfilling cosmic duties while enjoying all permitted pleasures is the ideal route.

13) He further said that there are misconceptions that moksha is something that happens suddenly; that it is something that changes you externally and gives you some sort of halo around your head. That is completely false. In fact Spirituality is a state of awareness; a state of being with oneself.

14) In the Bhagawad Gita, Krishna says an enlightened person is a sthita prajnya. ‘Sthita’ means being established and ‘prajna’ means knowledge and wisdom. A sthita prajnya is one who is established in knowledge and wisdom.

15) Chanakya wants every person to be wise. But that is a very high state. For beginners and average people, it is advised to balance dharma, artha and kama.If you run a company or an organisation, you should create a lot of artha — wealth and money, and fulfill kama, all desires; all based on dharma, spirituality.

16) There is nothing wrong in being ambitious and creating wealth – just make sure that wealth is created in an ethical manner.

17) Spiritual thinking also means to be in tune with the laws of nature. The law of the universe is all around us. If we can understand the spiritual principles that govern everything around us, we will never fail in anything.

18) Chanakya also says that you need not be deprived of pleasures. Enjoy life. Otherwise, if you suppress desires, one day, they will erupt like a volcano and destroy everything around you.

19) Desires can be fulfilled in the right way. We should know our limits – maryada. A self-disciplined person can enjoy to the fullest without any harm.

20) According to Chanakya, the highest form is spiritual thinking, and spiritual living but it need not be to the exclusion of worldly thinking and worldly living . You need to strike a balance.

This article is a snippet from the Book Vedic Wisdom, Authored by Pandit Sri Rama Sharma. Vedic Wisdom is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.