Monday, July 4, 2011

Chanakya Neti and non-righteous earning

Eight year cycle of corruption: Chanakya Neti Sastra (Political Ethics ) described that the cycle of corruption and any earning by unfair means cannot last for more than eight years. Chanakya  said that people who acquire money by unrighteous means will have to pay back to the society within next eight years. Right or wrong, whether one believes in Chanakya Neti or not, this rule provides youngsters a message to follow the right path of truthfulness. Eight years mentioned by Chanakya is an arbitrary number and can vary plus-minus a few years.
In Bhagwad Gita also Lord Krishna wrote that everybody has to pay the price of one’s good or bad deeds (Karma) sooner or later. As per Krishna, it is a sum total of bad and good deeds which decides the ultimate fate of a person.
This law is also true for unfair practices. Public cannot be befooled for more than eight years in succession. The classical examples can be seen in different health waves India has seen over the last three decades. In early 80s, Sherry Lewis Weight Management Programme came like a storm, stayed in the market for few years and then vanished altogether. At that time, everyone was crazy for getting their weight management done the Sherry Lewis way. Obesity is a disease and weight management is a medical program and advertising it is not allowed and therefore is an unfair practice.
Then came the era of Personal Point with a chain of weight management centres opened all over the country. This chain also remained in limelight only for a few years. This wave was followed by the chain of Vandana Luthra. She is persisting in the market to some extent as she keeps on diversifying into other fields.
Weight management era was followed by an era of Reiki. During this period, newspapers were full of Reiki advertisements and every second person in the family wanted to become a Reiki master. This era also lasted only for a few years.
In the field of Yoga also, we saw similar waves. In Indira Gandhi’s time, Dhirender Brahmachari created a wave through the media. His wave also lasted only for a few years and now a similar wave seems to have been created by Yoga Teacher Baba Ram Dev. How long will it last only the time will tell but in the current scenario where he could not sustain fasting for more than six days has created doubt amongst the public about his way of teaching yoga. Ram Dev bought commercial time in television, advertised his products, charge fee from each fellow in the camp. These principles of advertisement marketing used by him can only add a few years to his campaign but cannot last longer. His campaign of drinking ghiya juice is already on the decline.
In the field of spirituality, we also saw a wave of transcendental meditation by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi but the movement did not last long. Probably, selling spirituality in India is not easy and the time for the same is still not ripe. But, who knows tomorrow?
In terms of public behavior also, we have seen eras of cycling, exercising, jogging, aerobics, western dancing and now back to walking.

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