I am watching the epic TV serial Mahabharat by B R Chopra from last few days. Generally I watch it with my family members. Yesterday I had a small quarrel with one of my family member after watching one of the episodes. My family member started the quarrel by picking up a topic shown in the episode. The quarrel escalated once I responded to her question and the atmosphere became tense.
To calm the situation I pulled out myself from the quarrel and went to a different room. There I recalled one of the thoughts that watching Mahabharat could lead to quarrel in family, instead we should watch Ramayana. I contemplated over the thought, can watching Mahabharat really lead to quarrel? And I got the answer, the answer is No. Watching Mahabharat does not lead to quarrel. Mahabharat is a great epic tale with lots of values in it and also demonstrates the downfall of great Vedic civilization.
Somebody can question then why I had a quarrel in family after watching it and similar is the experience of many more. The reason is simple, problem lies not it Mahabharat but in us. Mahabharat highlights many emotional topics that can easily move any common person, so if a person has similar emotional condition or thought in him, he could get moved because of it and may lose his emotional balance and can get into a quarrel.
If you observer closely you will find that we have emotional experiences not only with Mahabharat but with other TV serials and movies e.g. when we were watching movie Barfi!, it was very touchy and had helped fill the atmoshpere of my house with love. Watching these serials and movies only stirs the already latent thoughts and emotions in us. If we have sufficient control over mind then we can save oursleves from such a stir and can come out of it but if we don’t have good contorl over mind then we may be swayed by thoughts and emotions and can easily get into a quarrel or can become overjoyed. That is why such people can be called true slaves of mind, they can’t control their emotions and thoughts. The key lies in control over mind and balance of mind. This control of mind can be achieved only via meditation.
The conclusion is that we should not stop watching a TV serial or movie by the fear of quarrel but instead develop self control and control over mind by meditation. For those who are interested in watching Mahabharat, all the episodes are available for free watching at www.hulu.com/mahabharat.