Righteous earning

In order for society to function, each person must perform its dharma, that is, perform its appropriate role, tells Dr KK Aggarwal.

Hinduism rests on the foundation of dharma, artha, kama and moksha. In order for society to function, each person must perform its dharma, that is, perform its appropriate role or function. If people perform their dharma, they build good karma.

Other goals are wealth and power (artha), pleasure (kama), and release from samsara (moksha). There are appropriate times for seeking each goal. When people are students, they should think only of dharma. When people get married, raise a family and build a career, they should perform the appropriate dharma but may also seek kama and artha (survival, success and power). Moksha is for the later two phases of life, to help the society.

In order to introduce the four goals of life in Hinduism, make a list of ten wishes. Group the wishes into categories such as Things I Like (Pleasure, KAMA), Things I Want (money and power, ARTHA), things I Hope to Offer to Society (doing what's right, dharma) and things, which will Give Me Inner happiness (Moksha). If anyone has a transcendent goal, make a category for that as well.

To enable us follow the best principles of a righteous life we have at our disposal a variety of texts, which have stood the test of time and hold good even today. These are the Dharmashastra by Manu, Arthashastra by Kautilya, Kamasutra by Vatsayana and for Mokhsa, the ultimate goal; we are blessed with the Upanishads and the Yogasutras of Patanjali.

From these scriptures are drawn Hindu ethics that help in guiding the Hindu through his daily as well as spiritual journey. The Laws of Manu (Dharmashastra or Manuva Shastra) gave details of societal rules and Artha-shastra of Kautilya detail the politics and economics. So if practiced together, Dharma and Artha will show the way to righteous earning

Arthashastra, which means "the Science of Material Gain" or "Science of Polity", was written by Kautilya (more popularly known as Chanakya), a Brahmin minister under Chandragupta Maurya. Interestingly, even though it was written at the end of the fourth century BC, Kautilya ruefully admits that it is just as difficult to detect an official's dishonesty, as it is to discover how much water the swimming fish drinks.

Clearly, things have not changed much since the 4 th century BC! Kautilya, in his widely acclaimed book, strongly urges all to adopt the path of ethical learning and he declares that those who adopt unethical means of earnings will be able to enjoy their ill-gotten gains only for a period of 10 years as by then the law would have caught up with him by then.

The definition of ethical and unethical changes from period to period (or Yuga to Yuga) depending upon the prevailing societal norms. For instance, in the era of Kaliyuga, what is now considered ok or Chalta hai, may have been frowned upon in the Satyuga.

Broadly speaking, 1% of the society constitutes the prevailing Dharma of a society and they are the ones who define what is the current social consciousness. The major point of concern in this regard is that > 1 % of the society is corrupt and therein lies the decline in the moral standards of today's society.

Unethical ways and means are contagious and just like one bad apple can destroy all the apples in a crate, so too can corrupt practices spread in an epidemic manner unless stringent checks and measures are implemented to bring back sattva and dharma

Through this booklet, we hope to re-affirm our commitment towards ensuring correct financial practices in the field of medicine.

(The writer is a senior Physician, Head Department of Cardiology and Deputy Dean Board of Medical Education-Moolchand Hospital, President-Heart Care Foundation of India, President Elect-Delhi Medical Association and Member-Delhi Medical Council.)