* readers discretion advised ***
There are four ways of making someone do a task, stated as “Saam, Daam, Dand, and Bhed.” This sutra by Acharya Chanakya is used worldwide. Why? It works and is highly practical. It means:
- Saam: to advice and ask
- Daam: to offer and buy
- Dand: to punish
- Bhed: exploiting the secrets
Saam: Just tell the person about your intentions and expectations. In doing so, you can be direct, indirect, formal, or informal as per the situation, time, and place. Also, set the tone accordingly. It must be understood that the evaluation of the case is exceptionally critical. There are times when you are in a position to order someone, sometimes you have the option to negotiate, and there are times when you will require begging.
Remember that when your objective is critical, your pride should not prove a hindrance to its achievement. If things don’t go as planned in the first try, you can retry and retry with a different approach. Persistence is the key to all successful negotiations.
Hopefully, that should do the job. If for some reason, things go south, you can involve the next part of the strategy.
Example: telling a kid about the significance of good habits.
Daam: If the person understands, then that’s well, and good else try Daam over him/her. Money is not everything, but it can do miracles. This idea is quite similar to that of bribing. Sometimes the other party’s sole intention is to receive some just/unjust benefit from you. Unless his/her need/greed is handled carefully, the person won’t cooperate and continue being a problem.
Interestingly sometimes the mode of payment is non-monetary. Different people have different priorities, different expectations, and different demands. I repeat the analysis of the situation is critical.
The primary objective is to identify and exploit the greed within a guy. Sometimes, you might require to germinate the seed-of-greed in the person’s mind.
Example: telling the kid that he will get a bar of chocolate for doing good deeds.
Dand refers to punishment and can be applied to appropriate levels. The world-famous Niccolo Machiavelli said, ” It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” and long before him Tulsidas had said ” भय बिन होय न प्रीत. ” Not much explanation is needed as those two inspirational quotes are self-sufficient in explaining the whole concept.
When punishing, it shall be taken into consideration that:
- You don’t break any rules
- the punishment should be appropriate both in its nature and in quantity
- should be implemented only when the other options have exhausted
Example: Restricting that kid from watching TV and playing video games.
Anyhow, Dand can also fail in many scenarios. It fails not because the person being punished had high endurance, but due to your inability to punish. Seldom Dand is not even an option to consider especially against a mighty and stronger opponent. In such scenarios comes handy the Niti of ‘Bhed.’ This is the stuff that works every time without a single miss. To make it work is a totally different mess in itself (Almost all the time).
The whole idea is about exploiting the secrets of the targeted person, organization, and even country. Spy work, blackmail, treachery, and all other kinds of evil tools are employed to make things happen. The various kinds of implementations will vary as per the situation. There exists a unique weakness in everything and the neeti of bhed is all about exploiting that.
* Daam is more about delivering a pleasurable experience, while bhed is something where you restrict a person with only one option.
It is a bit disappointing to find people misusing the very concept of “Saam, Daam, Dand, & Bhed”. Better utilize it for a good cause. It is not the weapon, but the intention of its handler that counts.
* The concept of Chanakya Neeti explained above must be understood in a broader sense.
* Always abide by the law & order and be helpful to others. Here is Complete Chanakya Niti for you.
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