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

 

Validity of Divine Law of Righteousness

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 23. There may be several instances to point out how

the Divine Law of Righteousness seems to be ineffective, causing

distress among those who uphold it zealously, to wonder about its

validity. These pious guardians of the moral law will be found

immersed in grief which will make every one feel that if it is

not able to save a person from disasters and calamities why then

should one stick to it? On the other hand, many who flout it go

about parading their prosperity. It may also be seen that through

wealth gathered from every source and accumulated, all purposeful

actions flow.

 

These sentiments were voiced even thousands of years ago when a

virtual condemnation of the law was made by one who believed in

dealing with miserable situations by force and not take shelter

under the maxim that ``Dharma'' will protect a person. In the

Ramayana when a war was being waged to retrieve Sita kept in

custody, Ravana's son adopted trickery by using black magic,

``displaying'' Sita as having been slain. Not knowing that it was

phantom Sita, Rama was told about the tragedy and then Lakshmana

who turned furious talked to his brother that all claims that the

Law of Virtue is meritorious and confers happiness and peace is

ridiculous. He said by adopting Dharma, Rama was exiled, then His

wife was abducted and now She is ``killed''. During such times it

will be better not to enter into arguments as the law is

invoilable and it shall succeed. Lakshmana himself aimed an arrow

at his formidable foe taking a vow that ``if Rama has no peer in

valour and adherence to Truth and Virtue, it should be proved now

by this dart taking away the enemy's life''. God's law triumphed

and Indrajit was hit and destroyed.

 

In his concluding Ramayana Harikatha, Sri R. Aravamudan said, in

a similar situation when Rama and Lakshmana were found

unconscious, Sita recalled how palmists, fortune-tellers and

others had all convinced Her father earlier that She was destined

for a long life of married bliss. Some had told Her that She

would be the queen participating in Rama's austerities. Sages had

extolled Rama's strength to put down all forms of evil ruthlessly

but ``Rama's death now is a mystery''. The puzzle was however

solved when it was proved that He was not dead. The divine saga

unfolds how a man with extraordinary power, caught in the

trammels of blind passion, had closed his mind to reason and

judgment, becoming impervious to any advice to abandon Sita. With

his sanity impaired by conceit and infatuation, he imagined Sita

would accept him. The Divine Law proved otherwise.

 

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