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Dussehra: A Day for Introspection


Dussehra is a great day to repose your faith in all that is just and ethical. It also makes you rethink your prevarication for aggressive retribution to those who may have truly deserved it. It makes you realise as to how a man of incredible knowledge and immense physical strength can sink into horrendously immoral acts.

Ravan had read all Shastra(s) around and developed immense concentration to invoke celestial forces to come to his help. None on Earth was wiser than him.     

But then, what to do with a man like that if he displays that he doesn’t know right from wrong? I mean what does Ram Bhagwan do if the ruffian—or, super-pundit, if you so like to describe him—chooses to kidnap his wife? Should he go into a conference with his brother, Laxman, bring the kidnapper’s well-known knowledge, wisdom and certifications from Adiyogi Shiva—no less—into consideration, and thereupon feel sympathetic towards him? Is a wife lost in the deal to be treated as just some collateral damage, and get on with life?

No, not a second of hesitancy. None at all. Bhagwan Ram chooses aggressive retribution. And he does that for common good, knowing well in advance that wife recovered after such a monumental effort shall again be not with him because he will have to succumb to the public opinion of his subjects. Ram knew untold misery was in store for him from the day he was born to his mother. Yet, he righteously does what is morally right, personal tribulations be ignored. 

Should we then not learn from this myth-history deeply etched on our psyche since time began? 

The big—and often intelligent—men flashing degrees from Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard or Yale do not by default qualify for our adulation. If their greed for personal short-term gains overrides all in-built moral restraints, and they plunge into the morass of sinful acts, they deserve ridicule and should be ostracized forthwith.      

That is Dussehra. Granted that, for me, it is somewhat beyond the ritual fanfare. 


Comments

  1. DR SANCHIKA GUPTAOctober 29, 2020 at 1:29 AM

    What is the use of wealth (intellectual or financial) acquired after so much of hard work, when you can't enjoy it? The reason may be numerous: greed, health issues, sleepless nights, strained family relationships, etc. It is a very simple saying 'eat what you can digest'. A balance is very important for life to enjoy otherwise it's just dragging it.

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