Ancient Mythology contains the baggage of the present… Only the terms to denote evil have changed..
Dussehra signifies the end of evil and victory of truth. On the auspicious eve of Dussehra, I found myself fortunate to have come across a beautiful section in the book I am reading – Scion of Ikshvaku – which took me on a brief and enlightening tour through our ancient mythology and deep lessons of the Rig Veda. These have not only influenced my conscience but are of such a great value that I feel every youngster, in fact every person should seep in the lessons of the prose which has volumes of knowledge contained within. So let’s dive into the pool of ancient mythology written by the author to discover the baggage of present in it.
Our tongues freeze whenever the name of the sage – Shukracharya comes up. For those who do not know him, he is the guru (teacher) of “Asuras”. Asuras aka Rakshas in Indian mythology were the symbols of evil, devil and peril in the society who massacred innocent people under their inauspicious and nefarious motives. They were thought of as bad people and spirits to be refrained from. However, this is just one side of the picture.
It is not surprising to still claim that Shukracharya is one of the great leaders, a charismatic soul to have transformed Indian Royals into the race of conquering forces. Asuras were no foreigners but indigenous people who actually were of the same lineage as the Devas (Devas were the divine beings thought to be benevolent and benign). But Asuras were the weaker cousins who were half forgotten members of the family of Manaskul. Shukracharya remoulded them with a powerful philosophy of hard work, discipline, unity and fierce loyalty for fellow Asuras.
Before continuing further, let us connect this historic incident to present significance. Juxtaposing the ancient medieval scene created by the author with the contemporary scenario, we see that only the terms to denote Asuras (evil) have changed, the situation is just the same. The world is growing at a fast pace, but there are various sections of the society who are left far behind in this race and these intelligent assets though capable but neglected and oppressed get distracted to wrong and unethical paths in order to make their ends meet. They are then remoulded so finely by the war mongers that they eventually turn out to be barbaric warriors – the terror for society.
The same was the case with Asuras. It was not that Devas were less efficient. However, they lacked the unity among themselves. Unless the good of the society unite together, the united devils continue to spread turpitude.
This does not mean that Asuras won. History endorses the fact that they declined because good however weak always prevail over bad. This serves a warning to all the present wrongdoers to give up their sinister acts as they are sure to decline. The story is incomplete without uncovering the reason behind their decline.
Asuras gradually turned into orthodox practitioners who strictly worshipped One God. The irony is that even the ultimate source of knowledge – the Rig Veda preaches Ekam, the Absolute One God concept which we today call as Parmatma – the sum of all souls and Devas also believed in Ekam. However, there was a slight difference in the beliefs which marked a revolution. The Rig Veda clearly states that while Ekam is the One God. He comes to us in many forms, as many Gods, to help us grow spiritually, in the hope that we will eventually understand him in his original form. On the other hand, Shukracharya was of a belief that Ekam was only one true God, all other manifestations of Ekam were false. He preached the same to his disciples and eventually this belief took a form of harsh principle of Asuras. Thus, anyone who followed their belief was considered to be equal to them and the rest were forcefully imposed with the concept or were brutally crushed.
In today’s world also, the orthodox religious beliefs seem to have the same impact on the society. The hatred against those who do not believe in One’s God leads to one’s own decadence. This is so because the very hymn on Ekam states that the only marker as to whether one truly understands the one God is that it becomes impossible to hate anyone. Ekam exists in everybody and everything.
All those who believe in just their “One God” and hatred for others, YOU HATE THE EKAM itself.
In these beautiful lines is hidden probably the deepest lesson of this century. An empire may be however strong, intolerance leads to its downfall.
Hats off to the integrity of the lesson that Amish has tried to convey. Truly our Indian mythology and history are so rich that they contain the solution to every contemporary agony and fix. We all should try to connect to our rich past which though may just seem to be epics, have volumes to teach to us.
It is the need of the hour to realize the “good” within us and unite it with the good of the society to perish the iniquity from our society. And all the diehard people should now beware of their sinister acts as they are beguiling themselves by tagging them as messengers of God. They are rather against God himself.
Let’s together burn off the spark of evil within us and celebrate this Dussehra and Diwali festival with the radiance of compassion, harmony, truth and benevolence.
