Reasons for weakness, selfishness and inaction in constituent elements

In the last post ( http://sastra-artha.blogspot.in/2015/06/thoughts-around-attacking-vulnerable.html ) there is a discussion on selecting the candidate for attack. Vulnerability due to anger of prakRtis and the nature of opposition are key decision parameters.

Immediately after that topic, kauTilya states the reasons for kshINa - decay / weakness, lobha - greed / selfishness and vairagya - indifference / inaction in the followers of a king / leader.

1. keeping good people away 2. accepting bad ones nearby
3. allowing injury 4. unrighteous attitude of the king
5. removing righteous officers from the duties
6. talking unrighteously (not even action, talking in unrighteous manner itself causes bad attitudes in followers!!)
7. doing things that should not be done and 8. not doing things aught to be done
9. giving to those who are not eligible and 10. not giving to those who are eligible
11. punishing those who should not be punished and 12. not punishing those who should be punished
13. imprisoning those who should not be and 14. not imprisoning those who should be
15. doing useless stuff and 16. not doing useful stuff
17. not protecting from thieves 18. stealing people's money (read as corruption!!)
19. not respecting sincere efforts 20. not encouraging good qualities
21. interfering in the activities of officers 22. disrespecting those who should be respected
23. showing favouritism towards a group of people 24. being untruthful
and kings mistakes, laziness and non-protection of subjects
leads to weakness, greed and inaction of subordinates.

kshINAH prakRtayO lObham lubdhA yAnti virAgatAm 
viraktA yAntyamitram vA bhartAram ghnanti vA svayam. 

Once the followers become weak, they become selfish. Selfishness / greed leads to non-attachment or indifference. They reach the enemy or on their own attack the leader.

So, a leader should never cause kshaya, lObha, vairAgya in the followers. If there are any signs of such tendencies, they should be appropriately tackled and corrected immediately.

It is easier to organize the prakRtis under the leadership of appropriate leaders and it becomes easier to manage the hierarchy by keeping the control federated. -- reminds chANakya!