[Draft] Chanakya’s Routine
Knowledge is not sufficient to subjugate the body. The game between the body and the mind is a perennial one—the game shaping nations and civilizations!
Brahma Muhurta
Finally, after many weeks of effort, he got up at 4:04 am. It was a subtle but intense struggle, but then his body gave up resisting. This time, a defeat had consequences! Joshua might have been waiting for him downstairs.
Knowledge is not sufficient to subjugate the body. The game between the body and the mind is a perennial one—the game shaping nations and civilizations!
He wondered how the idea of waking up at the Brahma Muhurta—between 3:30 and 3:40 am—popped up. Brahma Muhurta was the best time to create and recreate oneself! Early in the morning was a better time to reflect and oxygenate. There was less distraction. Circadian rhythm. Many ideas swirled inside.
Radha was still asleep on his side, and Joshua was waiting for him to step out and walk with him to Vivekanand Foyer.
“How do you convince other students? What incentive could they be given? They are harming themselves, Sir,” Joshua echoed his concern as if he was sitting inside his brain listening to his thoughts.
“Oppressor and oppressed!” Kabir roared, leaving Joshua to wonder what he meant by that. Joshua inquired about it, and the story that poured out of his professor was entirely unexpected.
Chanakya’s Lessons
Kabir first shared with Joshua how Chanakya nurtured his most famous pupil, Chandragupta Maurya. Chanakya had developed a dincharya for Chandragupta. Kabir pulled out his phone and read the daily routine prepared by Chanakya.1
1:30 am: A Mauryan King Would Get Up
3:00 am — 4.30 am: The King Would Strategize Political Matters
Joshua could not believe such a gruesome routine, but saving a civilization was a generational challenge.
Despite his respect for Kabir, Joshua couldn’t resist putting on his sceptics’ lens. He knew that many serious people were blunt about the non-existence of a real Chanakya. Chanakya was not to be found in Magasthenese’s Indica and also not mentioned in many other contemporary Greek accounts of Alexander.
Kabir was unperturbed by such cynics who had a tough time believing in the exceptionalism of India’s past. What mattered to him was a story’s believability, and Chanankya’s life sounded credible. Joshua decided to give Kabir a difficult time. Kabir didn’t give in. He challenged Joshua to follow Chanankya’s routine and experience for himself.
In the next class, Kabir announced his plan to hold his classes at 1:30 am starting the following Monday. Students had one week to toughen and prepare mentally for the classes at 1:30 am.
The words went out on the campus about the crazy plan. Words started to reach Kabir’s ears about him being authoritarian and a nut-case, and some staff were provoking students to conduct a signature campaign to remove him from his position.
Kabir found it hard to digest. When Radha attacked, he knew he would have to rethink. Radha’s opposition was subtle—at first, she started sleeping in a different room, and then, after a week, she started coming to bed but kept herself inaccessible. When Kabir confronted her about her abrupt behaviour, she kept quiet. Knowing her, Kabir knew that she was talking to him in silence.
“How does it feel when your expectations are not met, Doc?”
“It does not feel good.”
“Yes, it does not. That’s what students are going through. They didn’t sign up for the craziness that you are proposing. Do you realize that you are in a position of power? Paul is planning to quit the program. Can you see how disruptive it would be for his career?”
For a moment, Kabir felt a little insecure. He wondered if Radha was into Paul. He restrained such thoughts and continued to pay attention to what Radha was passionately telling him. Radha was in touch with other faculty and staff; she had her fingers on the pulse of the campus. The words were also going around that Kabir was a Brahmin, and he was planning such a routine to keep students from other castes and regions at disadvantageous positions.
By Friday, dozens of students sat at the main gate protesting Brahminism on the university campus. Aware of his hot temperament, he learned about the protest in the late afternoon; no one was willing to be a harbinger of such information. By that time, the news was all over the media.
Feeling lost, he called Radha and requested her to come to his office.
“I am planning to talk to the news channel directly. I will change the routine,” Kabir said in a measured tone.
“First, call all the students who were willing to join voluntarily,” Radha advised him sanguinely. The challenge for both of them was to dodge the bullets.
“Kabir, don’t go to the media. You never know how they will twist your response.”
Radha’s Fear
Radha was afraid that Kabir would leave India altogether.
Kabir had done it before. When Radha was in Uganda for fieldwork, Kabir had promised to be with her. However, one day, he intervened in her work and got caught in the crosshairs with the dean of her school; they both punched each other. Given the dean’s political connections, Kabir started to feel a little insecure and left the country one morning.
One day, she heard one of her colleagues talk about how Kabir would roll his sacred threat around his right ear before using the urinal. She had never seen him do that at home. Radha knew her colleagues well and knew not to question him.
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Yet another surprise lurked in the students’ protest. While on her evening walk, she saw the protagonist of the protest talking to Raghu, who had walked out of the university in protest after Kabir’s appointment. With her spy’s hat on, she soon discovered that the students were protesting after being instigated by Raghu.
The Compromise […]
Kabir being a young and enthusiastic social impact teacher that he was, believed in the power of discipline and dedication. His passion for teaching and physical well-being had led him to devise a unique plan to integrate the two into his classroom.
One brisk Monday morning after the weekend protest, Kabir addressed his class, a group of diverse individuals eager to learn about making a difference in society. “Class,” he began, his voice filled with energy, “I’ve decided to make our routine voluntary but with a twist.” Joshua sitting in the back wondered what the twist was going to be.
Curiosity sparked among the students as they exchanged glances, wondering what Kabir had in store for them.
“I’m moving our class timing to 4:30 in the morning,” Kabir announced, eliciting a few gasps and murmurs from the group. “And here’s the challenge: I want each of you to perform 108 Surya Namaskars in two weeks.”
The room fell silent for a moment as Kabir’s words sunk in. Surya Namaskar, a sequence of yoga postures performed in a flowing manner, was not unfamiliar to them, but the sheer number Kabir suggested seemed daunting.
However, Kabir’s enthusiasm was contagious, and soon, the students volunteering for the early morning session found themselves nodding in agreement, accepting the challenge.
Over the next two weeks, the session in the morning buzzed with energy before dawn as students gathered to practice Surya Namaskars under Kabir’s guidance. Initially, there were groans and protests as muscles stretched and bodies protested the early hour. But as days passed, a sense of camaraderie grew among the students, spurred on by their shared goal.
Each morning, the sun rose as the students saluted it with their synchronized movements, their determination shining as bright as the dawn itself. They pushed through fatigue and discomfort, drawing strength from each other and from the belief that they were improving their physical health and strengthening their resolve to create positive change in the world.
As the final day approached, anticipation filled the air. On the morning of the fourteenth day, Kabir’s classroom transformed into a sanctuary of focused energy as the students began their 108 Surya Namaskars. With each repetition, they felt a sense of accomplishment wash over them, knowing that they had met Kabir’s challenge head-on and emerged victorious.
As the last Surya Namaskar was completed, the students collapsed onto their mats, exhausted but elated. Kabir beamed with pride as he looked around at his class, realizing that they had not only embraced the physical challenge but had also cultivated a more profound sense of discipline, resilience, and unity. Kabir knew that under his tutelage, all the kids willing to pur themselves through the rigor inspite of surrounded by others dissuading and demotivating them, would experience the ultimate merger that India ancestors had been relentlessly exhorting about.
From that day forward, the students carried the lessons they had learned from their early morning practices, applying the same dedication and determination to make a meaningful impact in society. As they continued their journey, they knew that the bonds forged in the quiet hours before dawn would always connect them, reminding them of the strength they possessed individually and as a collective force for change, drawing energy for the source beyond the human cognition!
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It took Radha a few years to understand the real reasons for Kabir to change his mind and tweak Chankaya’s routine!
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[….TO BE CONTINUED]
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Disclaimer: Nothing I have written here is set in stone. I am putting these ideas to start a conversation and bring people to discuss and debate the issues captured here. Give me feedback, and it will help me learn. I will keep updating this article.
https://aaklii.medium.com/itachanakyas-time-management-e0fe9432f5fc