The Crystal Gazers

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSataopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

The Crystal Gazers

 

We sit in suspense before him, tense with anticipation and anxiety. We

stare at his bent head, waiting for the moment he would speak out and provide us

answers to the myriad questions we have. We linger with impatience while he

pores over our horoscope, our mind teeming with queries-would I go abroad and

find a lucrative position that would enable me to settle down financially for

the rest of my life, would the daughter, for long in search of an ideal groom,

find one early, would the chronic disease that has crippled life and limb give

me a respite, would I build the house of my dreams at last, would I secure

admission in a reputed college for a course of my choice-these and a hundred

other questions like these haunt us day and night, for which we desperately seek

answers.

 

Fortunately or unfortunately, the answers lie not in the realm of the present,

but belong to the Future. And the problem is that Future is a closed book, the

leaves of which cannot be opened and perused till the appointed time arrives. It

is a blind turning, with little clue as to what lies round the corner. This

makes us more anxious, for it is the suspense that is unbearable, not even the

actual future event, whatever it be and whenever it happens. It is this anxiety

and suspense about how things would turn out, that drive us almost insane. It is

then that we turn to the Astrologer, who, we believe, is capable of foretelling

our prospects and putting us wise to what the future holds for us, whether it be

bouques or brickbats, whether it is a harbinger of good tidings or bad, whether

the portents are auspicious or ominous. Since the very course of our lives

depends upon what the soothsayer is about to pronounce, we hold him in high

reverence and regard, clinging on to every word of his.

 

It would appear that the wisdom of the present day man has contracted

considerably, compared to that of his forebears. We are told that Rishis of yore

knew not only what had happened, but also what the future held in store for

anyone-what is popularly knows as "GnAna Drishti". When we consider this, our

own plight of poor memory of things past, our lack of comprehension of even

present day events and our total ignorance about the outlook and opportunities

the future holds for us-all these put us to shame. Thus, the eagerness to know

our prospects drives us to the astrologer, in the obvious belief that forewarned

is forearmed.

 

Without in any way casting aspersions on fortune-tellers, whether they are mere

gypsies in tents gazing at crystal balls, the one under the banyan tree who puts

our entire future in the beak of a parrot which picks up a card on which a

stereotyped message is printed, the way-side wonder wielding a magnifying glass

with which he is able to read a wealth of information from our open palm with

apparently little effort or the learned vidvAn of JyOtisha ShAstra, well-versed

in HOrA skandam, professing the capablity to predict the events of an entire

life , with data on just the hour and second of the subject's birth-without in

any way belittling these worthy gentlemen and ladies who specialise in this

rather dicey profession, we must agree that most of the time, what we are fed by

way of predictions is just tripe, pure and simple. If we ask ourselves the

important question as to whether these gentlemen would be where they are, if

they really knew their own future, the answer would tell us what degree of

credence we should attach to their soothsaying. In many cases, it turns to be a

case the blind leading the blind-"andhEnaiva neeyamAnA yathA andhA:"

 

 

Astrological consultations are not only strewn with the aforesaid pitfalls, but

also lead us at times to forbidden paths forsaken by our elders, especially in

the name of PrAyaschittam. Many a time we are told that the only way to avoid

some inauspicious future event or other is to perform a hOmam, to wear a

particular coloured stone, to worship a particular demigod. All these, apart

from being of dubious efficacy, lead us away from our chosen path of Prapatti

and may well result in a significant setback in the Pilgrim's Progress.

 

In tailoring our attitude towards anything, we should be guided by the conduct

of good people of impeccable standing and superiority-"yat yat Acharati

shrEshtta: tat tat Eva itarO jana:"says the Gita. Going by this maxim, if we

scour the scripture for instances of great people consulting astrologers for

learning this or that aspect of their future, we are unable to find any

significant indications in this regard, search as we might.

 

When His coronation failed to materialise, when He was forced into exile in the

inhospitable jungle for fourteen long years, clad in little more than tree bark

and deer skin, when His beloved wife and the apple of His eye was abducted by a

notorious rAkshasa, when both He and His beloved brother were felled by the

foe's nAga pAsa and the outcome of the bloody war became uncertain-even when

faced with all these trials and tribulations, Sri Rama did not rush to a

soothsayer even once, to find out whether the day that would dawn would hold

better hope than the day on which the Sun had set. True, we hear of Sage

VasishttA taking into account the movements of planets for fixing the ill-fated

Coronation of DAsarathi, but there does not appear to be any mention of recourse

to fortune-tellers, for divining what was in store.

 

Similarly, when the Divine Toddler was beset by one marauder after another, sent

down to GOkulam by the cruel Kamsa, we do not hear of Yasoda or Nandagopa trying

to peer into the foggy realm of the future, with the aid of an astrologer, for

what might happen to their "iLam singam". Nor did the PANdavAs, despite all

their unending travails, having lost their thrones, their vast kingdom, untold

riches and their very wife, seek the services of a soothsayer for finding out

when their troubles would end.

 

Nor even do we hear of our learned Acharyas consulting jyOtishIs for learning

this or that aspect of their future.

 

Hence, if we are indeed to follow the example set by Great Ones, we should be

content to wait for the future to unfold itself, without attempting to obtain a

sneak preview with the aid of those who profess to show us the same.

 

While it is natural for a person beset with apparently insurmountable problems

to try and find out whether the status quo would improve or not, an appreciation

of the causative factors for such a state would surely dissuade him from any

such attempt, for whatever we reap today is indeed the crop of what we sowed

yesterday, in yesteryears or in our previous births. "DEha yAtrai karmAdheenam"

our Acharyas tell us, clarifying that whatever happens to us now, good or bad,

is but a result of our accumulated KarmA, over which we have absolutely no

control and which has to be lived through, whether it is pleasureable or

painful. "adukku karaya vENdA"-Acharyas forbid us from worrying about the

current state of affairs or living in a constant state of suspense about what

the future would hold for us, for every happening, past, present and future, and

every intricate detail thereof, have been preordained by our mixed baggage of

good and bad deeds, and no amount of tears nor of peering into the future would

make an iota of difference to the course of life's events.

 

Hence, as surrendered souls or Prapannas, what we need to have is absolute

confidence in the Lord's dispensation. We should stand secure in the belief

that whatever happens in future, palatable to us or not, is for the best. If it

is something not to our liking and results in unhappiness and despair, we must

take it that the Lord, the impartial arbiter that He is, has chosen this way of

washing off our Karma. If the future turns out to be a rosegarden, with nary a

care but filled with fun and happiness, this too should be accepted as a mode of

exhausting the merit acquired earlier. It is only when puNyam and pApam are

either worked off by being experienced or the sins being pardoned by the Lord as

part of the Prapatti package, that a person becomes eligible for

emancipation-"puNya pApE vidhooya niranjana: paramam sAmyam upaiti".

 

Thus, from a layman's viewpoint, it appears as though we Prapannas have nothing

to fear about the future, having dumped on Emperuman's everready shoulders the

responsibility as well as the fruits of our future lives ("aham mad rakshaNa

bharO mad rtakkshaNa phalam tathA...na mama, SreepatErEva iti AtmAnam nikshipEt

budha:"). The Future holds a terror only to those who are afraid of the slings

and arrows of fortune, who lack the equanimity to accept the good with the bad

and those who are beset with familial and other obligations. To us, however, who

have not a care in the world, having accepted the Lord as our Saviour and the

one responsible for our welfare, whatever He deals out is accepted as Bhagavat

Prasadam-the question of its being liked or otherwise doesn't arise, for it is

indeed His will, and He can never put us in harm's way. When the world around us

might await the dawn with brows lined with care and thoughts muddled with fear

of the future, we Prapannas, when we lay our heads down to sleep, enjoy the

slumber of the newborn, our minds unclouded by what the morrow holds for us,

secure in our maxim, "nirbharO nirbhayOsmi".

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan