Stress on need to avoid offensive remarks (An Article from The Hindu)

[Guest guest]

Stress on need to avoid offensive remarks

 

CHENNAI, JULY 17. One among the several instructions contained in our

scriptural literature, to lead a life of purity and nobility gives a

severe warning to guard oneself against careless speech. A person may

be intelligent but he should be extremely restrained in passing

remarks about another's conduct or of his birth or his status which is

sure to offend him. A thoughtless harsh statement cannot be erased and

a familiar comparison points out how even grains of paddy scattered on

the floor can be gathered but not offensive words which had flown out

of an angry person. One of our epics mentions how the wounding words

by a prince against another who was ready to challenge his valour,

because he hailed from a lower stratum and hence was of no match to

him resulted in the constant tussle between them at a later stage.

This demoralised man, who was made a ruler by the rival group and

became an invincible hero, presents a strange picture of both good and

bad features. He did not play a direct role in the wicked designs of

his associates. He was Karna, the hero who remained grateful to the

king who made him a prince and treated him as a very valuable ally to

his end. He knew that it would be very difficult to conquer Arjuna,

his enemy, because Lord Krishna was his charioteer. An adverse factor

was the curse inflicted on him by his teacher that he would forget the

divine incantations when he needed them.

In his Mahabharatam lecture, Sri K.P. Arivanandam said, when Karna

took charge of the Kaurava forces on the 17th day of the Kurukshetra

battle, he desired to have a charioteer who would be equal to Krishna,

who was handling the reins of the horses of Arjuna's vehicle. However,

this expert, who after good deal of coaxing by Duryodhana, agreed to

assume the responsibility, was not so favourably disposed towards

Karna and was always in the habit of taunting him and discouraging him

from concentrating on his task. Yet with all the strength at his

command, Karna fought in a fierce manner and wiped out many and when

in the end, he came face to face with Arjuna, by divine intervention,

the arrow which he aimed missed the target and only removed the crown

of his opponent. This was possible because Krishna at the nick of time

pressed the vehicle down when it went a foot deep in the mire. Later

accepting the Lord's command, Arjuna sent a dart that severed Karna's

head. The Mahabharatam presents a grand panorama of good and evil and

how those who cling to former will certainly be rewarded with success.

 

Copyrights © 2001 The Hindu

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are

expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu