Question

10
(a) There was a thunderclap: da da da. Immediately the teacher
explained that these were the essence of good life-dama, dana,
daya. They constitute the essentials of good life. You must
have dama or self-control, restraint, which is the mark of a
human being.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Hindu Scriptures stress on values that are universal and can be cultivated by all. The virtues of Dama- Self Restraint, Dana- Charity or giving and Daya- Compassion can be practiced by all easily. Read on to understand the essence of the 3D’s as they are collectively called in this article.

Sanathan Dharma has always stressed on the cardinal virtues of compassion, charity and self restraint. The values espoused by this religion are universal and is not limited to people of any one age or time. One need not be a Bharathiya or for that matter a Hindu to appreciate the message of the Scriptures. This is perhaps why the great poet T.S. Eliot dedicated an entire section ‘What the Thunder said’ in his magnum opus The Waste Land to an instruction that appeals to humanity.

Then spoke the thunder

DA

Datta: what have we given?

My friend, blood shaking my heart

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender

Which an age of prudence can never retract

By this, and this only, we have existed

Here the poet alludes to the wonderful episode in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Three kinds of beings – devas, manushyas and asuras- that is the divine beings, men and the demons lived under the tutelage of their father and Creator Prajapati. At the end of their period of study, each class wanted a specific instruction from their preceptor to which Prajapati uttered the