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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

God gives refuge to all those who surrender

 

CHENNAI, DEC. 6. Every physical, verbal or mental sin committed

by a person either in this or on an earlier birth will surely

result in his experiencing the suffering in some form.

Scripturally prohibited behaviour indulged in this birth often

yields its consequences only at a future day and so some people

mistakenly imagine that God lets off wrong-doers. The current

prosperity of a debased individual stems from the merits acquired

in his previous birth and is often compared to the inherited

property of a wastrel. God, being always just, awards due

punishment to a sinner but being merciful, mitigates the

suffering awarded to a man who expresses his regret, to the

maximum extent possible without however making a travesty of

justice. God's functioning hence should not be considered as

arbitrary or foolish. Just as repentant first time wrong-doers

are looked upon leniently by judges but unrepentant habitual

offenders are severely punished by them, God, the compassionate,

is lenient towards those who unknowingly or unintentionally

commit misdeeds on multiple occasions or wantonly do it once, but

comes down hard on those who repeatedly do the crime. While a

person may be able to escape the arm of the law of the land, he

cannot for ever think of getting rid of the Moral Law of Action

and Reaction. Justice and compassion find perfect consummation in

the Almighty's dispensation.

 

A scene in the Ramayana points out how a crow which harmed Sita

was driven away by the Lord by a dart that chased it wherever it

flew seeking succour from the deadly effect of the arrow. No one

could rescue it though ultimately when it fell at the feet of the

Lord, He spared its life by awarding a simple sentence. Rama thus

meted out justice and yet exhibited extreme compassion. The

heinous act of the bird is an example of the saying ``He who is

in the grip of lust neither feels ashamed of himself nor fears

the consequences of his misbehaviour.''

 

Scholars who recounted the parables used to be narrated during

his discourses by Sri Abinava Vidyatheerta Mahaswami of Sringeri,

during his Jayanthi celebration, referred to his message to prove

that God is the refuge of all and about His act of justice

tempered with mercy. Unlike this ocean of grace there was a judge

whose misguided sympathy caused him to pardon even hardened

criminals. Once in spite of ample proof of robbery by a person,

the judge set him free with a warning. But after some time the

unrepentant criminal broke into the judge's house itself, looted

valuables, strangled his wife who attempted to raise an alarm and

escaped. If the judge had punished him earlier there would have

been no tragedy.

 

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