कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुम्
During the Kurukshetra war Dronacharya’s son Ashwatthama, committed several
unforgivable acts. He attacked the Pandava camp in the dead of night & killed
the five innocent sons of Draupadi while
they were fast asleep. He then used a powerful forbidden “astra”
in an attempt to kill the unborn baby of Uttara (Mrs. Abhimanyu)
Lord
Krishna cursed Ashwatthama to live for 3,000 years as an lonely wanderer,
suffering unbearable pain from festering
wounds on his forehead. He condemned him to roam the earth without peace or
companionship.
He was the only person to be punished with such a dreadful curse by Lord Krishna for his gruesome acts, while many other characters guilty of
treachery & deceit escaped with Admonishments
& minor punishments (curse) by the Lord.
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People around me believe that I possess an intense sense of
Likes & dislikes and that I practice the latter trait in a brutal manner
on selected parts of my body while exercising. The thumb on my right hand
is supposedly the regular victim because I have been found using it for
stabbing the channel button on the TV
remote incessantly. I must confess that
I find it both stimulating and entertaining. During one such carnage I chanced
upon a spiritual discourse on compassion and its effect on our character.
The discourse was so absorbing that I
could feel myself displaying certain
traits that were being discussed in the telecast. My first horrifying thought
was the fear of forgetting my nemeses and accepting them
as my friends.
Before long I noticed that many of my
friends too exhibited varied reactions to this alarming issue like sadness at not being able to enjoy
superficial luxuries.(But,
I suspect budgeting was actually the notable fear for many)
While I am terrified of my strange fear of forgetting adversaries,
it appeared meaningless to some others. The
fear just doesn’t seem to go away and
I’m unwilling to remain passive to their attitude.
Presently, soul-searching ( read Day dreaming) is my only
occupation. I
even consider that I have become a better person now ,after watching the TV
guru.So I have decided to revisit the list of my detractors (Quite a long one)
in an attempt to trim it.
After a few MSGs certainly
not out of any great sympathy, I have managed to shorten the list to some
extent. But,having failed in detecting
even a shred of credibility in a couple of cases even after great effort, I
have exercised my option and conferred on them the right to remain un-deleted on my
list.
Now you may wonder what all this has
got to do with the story of Ashwatthama
& the Kurukshetra war. Well, let
me elaborate,
I’ve now labelled the last two
recalcitrant names in my list as ‘Ashwatthama’
1.0 & 2.0. They are the ones whose attitudes I am unable to disregard. When
even Almighty Lord Shri Krishna could
not restrain himself from punishing Ashwatthama with his harshest curse, is it not too much to expect a mere mortal like me to defy God and be more
large hearted & benign ?. It is unthinkable that a human can even
try to tamper with God's wisdom. I Presume that I now have the clearance
& there lies my attempt to becoming
a nobler person and still having the pleasure of maintaining
a couple of antagonists. While I
struggle with my eccentric fear of forgetting
foes, it appears inconsequential to some others either due to lack of foes (really
?) or more desperate concerns. In fact, many feel relieved that they could
forget (without forgiving ie) and continue pretending to be honest.
It is fair to assume that there are
several Ashwatthhama variants running around in everyone’s life. ,There is
really no need to ashamed for not absolving such persons. After all we
have Devakinandana, Dwarakadeesha Lord
Sri Krishna as source of vindication, guiding us in our attempt to
become embodiment of dignity.
