Wisdom Munches 15: Lord Rama: Destiny-centered or duty-centred?

Transcript

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it’s not just one definition below the worst punishment which is execution and the nearest we can think of exile is probably deportation say somebody is deported from the country but for any of us if we are deported we still have our extended family or relatives to go back to even if we are from India but exile means literally going to the forest with nothing so when Lord Ram was exiled it was such an atrocity that Lakshman was enraged and Lakshman said the king has become blinded by lust for his youngest wife and that’s why due to that infatuation he has subjected you to such an atrocity we should fight against so Lord Ram said that I was with our venerable father and I could see there was no infatuation it was obligation he had given his word of honor he said if he had given such a vow why have we never heard of such a vow I think it is all created fictionally are you really saying that our father would lie about something like this now when we are angry what happens is we need some target for the anger isn’t it so when his anger couldn’t find any target in Dashrath he turned to Kaikeyi he said you always treated Kaikeyi like your own mother what wrong did you ever do to her how could she have treated you like this Ram said don’t speak harshly about Kaikeyi he says you know that her love for me was like the flow of the pure water of Ganga Lakshman was still enraged how did the Ganga dry up in one night and then Ram said that’s why when I heard those words from her I understood that this is the will of destiny this is the working of destiny Lakshman was not done yet it is only cowards who accept injustice as destiny heroes fight against injustice so Lord Ram said oh Bharat I am not concerned about accepting destiny or fighting against destiny I am concerned about doing my duty and my duty is to my father as a service to my father I was going to ascend the throne and as a service to my father I will go to the forest that same Lord Ram later on when Sita was abducted that time Lord Ram didn’t tell Lakshman I think it was destiny that Sita was abducted no that time there was no passive acceptance Lord Ram galvanized the army and fought against Ravan why because the whole point is not to be destiny centered it is to be duty centered as a husband it was his duty to protect his wife and for that purpose if it meant fighting a war he was ready to do that Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita that tolerate he says that in this world there will be dualities there will be happiness and distress there will be pleasure and pain learn to tolerate it but that same Krishna in the Gita does not tell Arjuna this tolerance means you tolerate all the atrocities that the Kauravas have done there is no need for you to fight so we see here destiny is not meant to simply accept anything and everything whatever anybody does it is just my destiny that is not the idea of how a person should be living so Lord Ram if you see he was duty centered not destiny centered so both these extremes giving inordinate importance to karma that means my actions alone determine all the results or giving inordinate importance to destiny all the results are fixed whatever I do it doesn’t make any difference both of these are imbalanced there is karma and daiva so karma and daiva together lead to fallow now karma and daiva when both come together our present actions and our past actions when both come together that is when the desired result comes up so for example if somebody is a farmer and they are farming they plough the land and sow the seeds that is karma and when the rains come at the right time in the right quantity that is daiva karma and daiva both together lead to fallow now according to daiva lots of rains may come but if the farmer has not done the karma if the farmer has not sown the seeds