Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lessons from Ramayana – Part 21

Fate and Karma

Life is weird. At one point, the author describes the unfortunate end of the mighty and righteous king Dashratha:

As described by Valmeeki in the early page of the epic, Dasaratha was one who had mastered all the Vedas and Shaastras, was a farsighted person, the hero of many battles, the performer of many sacrifices, follower of dharma, a far-famed king with many friends and no foes, one who had conquered his senses. His power was like Indra’s. His wealth was like Manu. Fate had ordered that such a one should exile his beloved son and die of a broken heart, with none by him in his last moments but two faithful women stricken by himself with a common sorrow.

(C. Rajagopalachari; Ramayana; Chap XXIII, Last moments; P132-133)

Before his death, King Dashratha recalled an old happening when he had killed a young man (Shravan Kumar) by mistake and his old dependent parents had died learning this, but only after cursing the king of a similar fate. Therefore, we can understand why such an unfortunate fate descended over the righteous king…

- Rahul

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