I recently read
Chanakya Neeti and was amused by some of his statements and thoughts. Chanakya, born with broken teeth and crooked feet was destined to advise rulers and not become a ruler himself. He helped
Chandragupta in building and expanding his empire. He wrote many inspirational books and one such book is Chanakya Neeti where he has shared his personal opinions about life, spirituality, women, marriage and much more. But
some of his views were in contradiction with his earlier opinions and conveyed a negative message too. Some may find his teachings inspirational while other may not agree with his views.
He started the book with talking about
spirituality and dharma. In his message, he conveys that one should follow his Dharma without thinking about the consequences or the fruit we get from it. Also, Dharma should be above everything else in life. He says that a person should remain loyal towards his Dharma till he dies. The meaning was clear that Chanakya wanted us to realize what we truly want in life, we should be loyal to everything and everyone who are in our life. As the saying goes that “
The man who knows others is intelligent but the man who knows himself is wise”. Chanakya then talks about
Self-Actualization. One should be aware of one’s actions and the impact or the consequences it will have on others.
He further goes on by talking about a state and the king. He says that a matter should always remain between two people, one the king and the other with the concerned minister. If a third person gets to know about the matter the whole assembly will know about it. Here Chanakya is trying to say that
one should never reveal a secret to the person who has nothing to do with the matter, just for the fun purpose. Also, Chanakya says that when you let other
know about your weakness they take advantage of that to use it against you. So always keep control of your emotions and feelings.
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These were really inspiring and the truths of life which we usually don’t realize but we face it every day. So take control of your life before it takes control over you. But now we come to the negative part, where
I feel that Chanakya was a chauvinist. He talks about women in one of his chapters and he says by giving the example of
Sita, that she was abducted by
Ravana because of her beauty. What he tries to convey is that s girl is molested because she is beautiful, which is totally not acceptable. He further goes on and says that a woman looks at one person, loves another and marries some other person. This totally made him a chauvinist.
Some of his views were contradicting each other as well. At first, he says that a man should marry a woman who always stays loyal to him regardless of her class and in another he goes on by saying that a man should always marry a woman of the same class. Which one should we believe? Well, in my opinion,
NONE.
Chanakya Neeti may be inspiring but some of the views are just not acceptable.
Written by Chayanika Singh
Unique name right? Well, I am a big time foodie and a travel junkie but I also love to write about serious issues and problems all over the world. Sometimes my write-ups will be of great joy and sometimes they’ll make you think about issues.
