Bhagavatam-daily 130 – 11.09.02 – Courage is seen not just in fighting but in choosing one’s fights

Shrimad bhagavatam 11th line 2 saamisham saamisham amisha is meat saamisham one who had meat kuraram kuraram is a kurara is a type of bird jagnoor jagnoor is the jagnoor is to attack so once a kurara bird who had um flesh who had some flesh with it was attacked balino anne niramisha another word which was balino anne anne can be singular it can be plural both so it can one word or many words which did not have meat they had attacked him so when i was attacked i realized that now i cannot defend myself because it was hampered by the flesh it was holding on to its in beaks and it was being attacked so at that time just gave up the amisha but giving up the amisha then what happened it immediately found that there is so much relief because from all the attack that was there the bird as soon as it left the piece of flesh the meat it was carrying all the birds just went after the other bird or birds whatever they were they went to talk to the flesh and he was left and he could he could he was peaceful and he felt relief and as compared to the attack that he was getting because being pecked by the beaks and the we heard by the talons of the other birds he’s got immense relief and that relief was like joy sukham so here the of the brahmana is telling hara jadu what he learned from the kurara bird and what he learned is non-possessiveness now this example may seem almost very cowardly you know if somebody if i have something and somebody comes and attacks and wants to take it away then do i just give it up and go away and say that oh i have learned non-possessiveness for that no we always have to see things in their context firstly the point here is that it’s not just abandoning a war abandoning a battle because of not wanting to get hurt but it is about choosing our battles sometimes certain things are not important for us and when we get attached to them and put too much energy in those things then other more important things get neglected just like say if we are driving to office and the important meeting on office on that day and while we’re going some other driver just cuts across he irritates us and then we honk at him that person glares back at us and there’s a whole quarrel and then somehow if i get angry i get carried away by my ego and i think i will prove this person i am right i’ll haul him to office i’ll take him i’ll call police officer i’ll take him to court now whether a person will just cut me once whether it’s really worth my time and energy to get worked up by that and to try to ensure that that person is penalized whether just cutting across is a matter of penalization also or not that is the issue so the point is that if we have an important meeting at office then just put that aside yes okay somebody cut that is that person is a fool but because that person behaved like a fool and i’m not going to let this person make me behave like a fool yes don’t sweat the small stuff as we say now keep small things small let it pass so sometimes there are some battles which are really not worth fighting and when we put too much energy in fighting those battles then we lose the chance to choose to lose chance to fight bigger battles because ultimately we have limited energies whatever we do and if we get caught in fighting smaller battles then we don’t we won’t have any energy left for fighting the bigger battles so sometimes trying to so in this case for the kurara bird you know yes a flesh you may say it’s not a small battle it’s a matter of subsistence but was it really a matter of life or death for the kurara bird that whether it did not get that piece of flesh particularly would it die no it would live yes it needs to get food somewhere and it will get food somewhere else it is there’s no contextual description that that particular bird had a matter of whether also starving and getting that particular matter of the flesh was a particular piece of flesh was a matter of life or death rather what was the matter of death was if it held on to that piece of flesh so what was meant to give life energy it would have ended up taking away its life because for that sake of flesh it would have had to fight it would and it would have there is risk to injury and even death if the attacking birds had not stopped attacking so now to label choosing our battles as cowardice is to completely misunderstand the nature of bravery sometimes people think that bravery means to enter into a war and be fearless and march into the enemy and pound on the enemy and slash the enemy so without any fear that is bravery but there is only one side of bravery bravery also involves knowing having the bravery also involves having the courage to stand against our impulses sometimes our impulses may want us to seem heroic and in the name of seeing heroic in our own eyes we may act in a maniac way we may act in a very foolish way so to prevent that possibility we need to ensure that we act in a responsible way that we act in a that we act in a way in which our best energy is situated for our best purpose is is reserved is available is concentrated on the best purpose so choosing our battles is also courage because it requires courage not only to fight against the outer enemies that are there but it requires courage to fight against our own inner enemies also against our impulses against our desire to seem heroic and in the process of desire to seem heroic to do something maniac that to fight against that is also a matter of courage and that’s why in the military when fights happen one of the cardinal principles that soldiers have to learn is obedience because if they are just driven by their impulses to fight then they will not be able to be a part of an orderly formation that attacks in a coordinated way or sometimes withdraws in a coordinated way so yes courage and heroism are important in a war but equally important is strategy and strategy sometimes requires that we withdraw so that so to withdraw from a losing battle to launch later a winning attack is not cowardice it is courage why courage because you know when when one withdraws from a battle losing battle at that time one may be labeled as a coward and to be ready to withstand that label of a coward so that one can eventually emerge victorious that requires courage it requires courage to actually allow our ego to be humbled and to still maintain our purpose and to eventually succeed in our purpose so here the whole point of this verse is that if you look at the context the context is that possessiveness leads to misery and renouncing possessiveness brings relief brings happiness so when we see from that perspective that means that this particular piece of flesh was not a was not a life-subsisting piece of flesh for for the bird but it was more like a trophy yes i have such a big piece of flesh but some other bird wanted that trophy and this bird decided that actually um oh if i have if for the sake of a trophy i lose my life then what is left to it uh yeah now if i live i can always get another trophy so therefore it is more a matter of choosing one’s battle intelligently and the point of the verse is of course that possessiveness attracts possessiveness results in one’s wanting to parade one’s possessions and parading one’s attracts enemies and then one comes under danger and so therefore giving up the possessive mentality releases one from misery thank you