Life often places us at crossroads where the right choice is not obvious. Do we follow duty or affection, speak the truth or protect someone’s feelings, stand firm or let go? Through stories, philosophy and our everyday experiences, let us explore these dilemmas—not necessarily to find perfect answers, but to learn to think more clearly and live more wisely.
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Having recently completed our discussions on Why Don’t We Walk the Talk?, I thought I would share something that has been on my mind.
I have just watched the film Kartavya on Netflix for the second time, and it has left me thinking about what we call a Dharma Sankat.
Sometimes, life puts us in situations where we genuinely don’t know what the right thing to do is. We may find ourselves torn between duty and love, loyalty and conscience, or our own principles and the well-being of someone we care about.
The Mahabharata explores such dilemmas in depth. But not everyone may have read it, and we don’t need to have done so to recognise these conflicts in our own lives.
I feel Kartavya brings home how complicated some decisions can be. What appears right from one person’s perspective may look entirely different from another’s. And sometimes, even after making a decision, we may continue to wonder whether we did the right thing.
Perhaps this is also a reminder that we should be careful about judging others too quickly. We may see their actions without knowing the dilemma they were facing.
Understanding someone does not necessarily mean agreeing with them. But it may help us become less judgemental and more compassionate.
I would encourage you to watch Kartavya, if you haven’t already.
Even if we don’t have a discussion about the film, perhaps it will leave each of us with something to reflect upon.
And now, I would love to hear from you.
Is there a subject, a film, a book or an experience that you would like us to explore together?
Our discussions need not always lead to answers. Sometimes, the questions themselves help us learn.
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Anonymous writes:
Good morning, dear Aunty! ❤️
I will surely watch the film. It sounds like such a realistic one because, in life, we often face situations where we have to make difficult choices. Sometimes, there are so many options that we can only hope we have made the right decision.
We all reach crossroads where we are unsure of the right path ahead because, at that moment, every option seems right. Only after making a decision do we begin to understand its consequences, and sometimes we wonder whether we chose wisely.
Life can put us in a Catch-22 situation quite often. That is why we need wisdom and gut feeling (intuition) to make the right choices. Perhaps this becomes easier when, after doing our best, we learn to trust in God and surrender the outcome to Him. 😊🙏❤️
I ,Shakun say:
Life often puts us in situations where deciding what is right is not easy. The Mahabharata gives us a beautiful example of such a dharma sankat—a moral dilemma.
Dronacharya was the respected teacher of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, who were fighting on opposite sides of a war. During the war, his young student Abhimanyu was killed unfairly by several warriors attacking him together. Dronacharya was the commander of the Kaurava army at that time.
Later, the Pandavas needed to stop Dronacharya from fighting. They made him believe that his son, Ashwatthama, had died. Overcome by grief, Dronacharya laid down his weapons, and Dhrishtadyumna killed him.
Here was a difficult dilemma: Dronacharya was their beloved teacher, but he was fighting against them in a war they believed was necessary to uphold dharma. And the means used to defeat him raised questions about truth and righteousness.
The story leaves us thinking: If we are fighting for what is right, does that automatically make everything we do right?
We may never face such dramatic situations, but in our own lives, too, we sometimes struggle to choose between loyalty, truth, justice and compassion.
Perhaps wisdom lies in examining our intentions, considering the consequences, and doing the best we can.
Sometimes, the hardest part of dharma is not knowing what is right, but deciding what to do when every choice comes at a cost. 🙏❤️
