‘What is the one thing you can give away to become even more better off?’, a question once asked to Yuthistir, the eldest of the Pandava brothers in the Indian epic Mahabharata.
In Hindu thought , the atman is different from the physical body, and is part of that divine force that keeps us all going and is permanent. We generally aspire to tend to our bodies, but do we nourish out internal self? The word thaka in Gujrati means tiredness. Reverse it and it becomes katha! Or nourishment of the aatman.
So how what about debt? We tend to think in terms of a money transaction, and this is exchanged for something to fulfil a desire. These ‘cash’ transactions have evolved over possibly since the first millennium. What happened prior to that? I suppose it was bartering, a form of exchange where, for example, chicken may be exchanged for something else, which was specific to the exchange. This way a relationship may develop, and that could lead to say a boy getting married to a girl from a family where the exchange transactions occurred. In effect an IOU relationship would be between the families on continual basis.
Today this happens between friends, and with every body else it’s is purely monetary, and the debt that has to be honoured. This in effect is a narrow vision of a relationship based on money, and less on give and take relationships as in bygone days.
In Hindu thought debt has a much larger context. It is seen in terms of the
1) Devas so that whatever we eat we offer it to the Devas in reverence and thankfulness for our being.
2) Ancesters, or parents without whom we would not be here. The finiteness of life would mean that we would procreate to extend this indebtedness
3) The aspects of life we take for granted, eg earth, air, fire…let’s call these ‘the givens’.
4) The wildlife world around us, from insects to birds, that create a balanced ecosystem
5) And humanity, what it has achieved for us, and what our close relationships.
So the extent of all this is wide and debt does not have a narrow monetary focus. Debt in this context may mean that we recognise all that has been given to us for this span within our life. And it is not seen as bad, but a gratitude.
One other way of looking all this on a personal level would be to ask oneself ‘if you were about to die what would you do different’ ? How would you write your epitaph if you are indeed dead? You might see that it was not the accumulation of what you had that mattered, but what you gave away wilfully that benefits society.
Going back to Yuthistir, his answer to what would make him better off by giving one thing away was desire. Mahatma Gandhi realised this when he said that there is enough in this world to feed everybody’s need, but not enough to feed one mans greed.
Our happiness has to be constantly fed with fulfilling the next desire, and in material terms leads one to permanent transactional approach that we can never be satisfied. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita says, that when this is not satisfied, one despairs, can get frustrated,angry, and cannot rationalise. This is a vicious cycle for everybody to meet their desires.
When Hindus get married, they do the feras or the symbolic ritual of walking around the fire. each to these are ascribed a meaning of life conduct towards the next life. They are dharma, kama, aartha, and Moksha.
Dharma has many meanings and interpretations,and one great one that I like is the well-being of all. Think about this in terms of debt. In India, hundreds of farmers have committed suicide because they cannot pay their monetary debt. Would this happen if dharma was followed by all?
Kama, means desire, and this has to in the spirit of sustainability.
Aartha, or the accumulation of wealth. This is therefore encouraged ( remember Laxmi?) but only in the context of dharma.
Moksh, is the ultimate ambition of a true Hindu and it takes different meanings according to the the sect or sampradhaya that is followed. For example, in devotional Hinduism ( for example Mirabai, and the Hare Krishna movement, and there are from the Ramanuja traditions) moksha means to be in permanent reverence of God above all else. Others may see it as the merger of the aatman or soul to the supersoul ( god) mech like a drop of water into the sea. This is more common in traditions that follow shankaracharya.
So be be mindful everyday for where you come from, how you are supported by family, environment, and humanity.