THE ROLE OF THE ELDEST BROTHER

Hi friends,

Let us not consider what is happening today in practical life. The eldest brother is next to a father when the father is alive and he is equal to a father when father is not alive. Our Epics Ramayana and Maha Baarat have clearly shown us the way how to treat the eldest brother. 

When Duryodhana wanted to commence the Kurushetra war, he asked Bhishma, the senior-most, to advise him an auspicious day. Bhishma told him that Sahadeva, the last brother of the Pandavas, was the only qualified astrologer to predict the date. 

Duryodhana went to Sahadev to find out the date. On hearing about his arrival, Sahadev being the younger brother went to receive him in spite of his being the enemy. Sahadev received him with all respects and humbly inquired what he could do for him. 

Duryodhana told him to fix up an auspicious date to commence the war so that he should win. Sahadev referred to the books, verified the position of the stars and told him that if he started the war on the new moon day, no one could win over him and he would be the conqueror. [It was a different story how Sri Krishna played the trick on Dhuryodhana]

Here, what we must understand, is that they adhere to the Dharma or professional ethics, and not personal enmity. The Dharma of an astrologer is only to predict the date and not to show his dislikes for the person even if he is the enemy.

I remember an incident that happened in my life. My neighbor was a bank manager. His daughter and my daughter were classmates in plus two. She was a studious girl and she got more marks than my daughter. Then we got separated and went to different places. 

After a few years, we accidentally met the girl's mother and inquired about her daughter's education. As my daughter was doing Engg, I was curious to know in which college she was doing Engg. To my surprise, her mother said that she was doing only B.Sc. and not Engg.

When I asked her why she was not admitted in Engg as she got high marks, she said her husband was the last of 6 brothers and he always obeyed whatever his eldest brother told him. His eldest brother had advised him not to admit her in Engg but to admit in B.Sc. which he simply obeyed.