Datta maata 5: What is true courage?

The society appreciates brave and valorous persons. This is quite natural. Because the world is praising, it is the tendency of humans to enhance such courageous nature. But, we see that any good quality will be proved wrong as time passes by. These days, we see that those who have courage and bravery are displaying cruelty. Nevertheless, people are encouraging such behaviour. As a result, people are living with narrow mindedness and small goals. Also, today we see that people with cruel and wicked nature are promoted as leaders. This is making the youngsters incline towards violence. Isn’t this dangerous?

At this juncture, we must know the true definition of courage and valour. We have many good examples in our Puranas. Abhimanyu was not at all worried to fight with thousands of his enemies at a time. Harischandra faced hundreds of troubles very bravely. Sree Rama and Ravana were great warriors. Ravana became an emperor by harming many.
Contrary to him; when Sri Rama found that his enemy was tired, he gracefully gave him time to rest and invited him to fight the next day. Observe the difference between Sree Rama and Ravana! Why do we extol Sree Rama as the bravest? The ultimate goal of any virtue is the upliftment of the society. If there is no such benefit, there is no use of your prowess and bravery. Hence, we understand that the bravery that Harischandra had is the true bravery. The virtue of Sree Rama is the true valour.

If one kills thousands of people, it cannot be called as valour or bravery. Adhering to dharma even when one is flooded with problems is the real bravery. May you all be bestowed with such courage! This is the goal. The courage that we display must be according to dharma and discipline. Just because one has bravery, one must not create violence by harming innocent people. We must take the example of Sri Rama and Harischandra for our lives.

Na tēna shūrō naca dhēra eka
sahashrasho hanti janātstuyena;
āpatsamuhēpi na dharma haniṁ
sa hētatēnaiva sa dhēra shūraḥ.