Desire v/s Destiny

THE MYTH AND THE MYTHOLOGY – Desire v/s Destiny.

 

Destiny Ignites Desires or the vice versa.Another never ending discussion, what is more powerful, Desires or Destiny , who wins,often takes me to the stories of two women in mythology- Gauthami and Savitri. Not many know about Gauthami but I am sure each one of you must have heard the story of Savitri and Satyavan.So before we begin the discussion about destiny and desire let me take you to the era of Mahabharata.

 

Gauthami, a sage, a true believer in destiny, lived at the time of the epic war. Once her son went to the jungle and there he was bitten by a snake. When she heard the news she ran for him but it was too late. She was mourning over the body of her son, when a hunter, Arjunaka, brought the snake tied in a rope. “Oh, great lady, here is the demon who killed your son. You must kill him and take the revenge of you son’s death.”

“Oh great hunter, I am very obliged at your concern over my son’s death, but it was his destiny. I must not take any revenge. Let him go free. Killing him, taking his life, will not bring back my child.”That’s what she had to say.And suddenly the snake joined the conversation “I only perform the task I am assigned to by Mrityu. I am merely an instrument in his hands.”As the hunter and the snake argued about who is to blame for the child’s death, Mrityu joined the discussion,“neither the snake nor I am to be blamed for the boy’s death but fate, or what we call kala- ‘the time’. Whatever exists ; exists through kala. So, it is to be blamed.”As the argument continued kala joined in, “Oh hunter, neither of us are to be blamed. Action drives us to it. As the potter shapes out of a lump of clay everything he desires, so a man attains his destiny by the karma he does. A man’s work is his destiny.”And the discussion was settled. Even Arjunaka agreed that a destiny is shaped by a man’s deed.

And now let me tell you a story of desire, the legend of savitri. A lady who married a peasant, satyavan, knowing he has just one more year to live. She loved him nurtured him, and worshipped him. She followed him everywhere. So, when yama came to take satyavan’s life, she argued to yama. When he did not budge she followed him persistently. Irritated, Yama asked her what she wants, and she said she desires her husband, so she came to request him to bring her husband back to life. “Impossible”, said yama. But she persisted; they talked about wisdom and dharma. Finally when yama was impressed he promised to grant her three wishes, except for the life of Satyavan.

“I want eyesight and the restoration of kingdom for my father-in-law”

“Tathaastu”, said Yamaraj

“I want a hundred sons for my parents”

“Tathaastu”

“I want to be the mother of a hundred sons of Satyavan”

“Tathaastu”

And yamaraj started for her destination, but Savitri still followed him.

“What is it now Savitri?” asked yama, irritated.

“Oh lord, my third wish will remain unfulfilled if you don’t grant life to my husband. How can I mother a hundred child of Satyavan if he is dead”.To this Yama smiled at the intelligence of the woman and granted her Satyavan’s life.She did prove that desire could be stronger than destiny with a will power of that kind. Isn’t it?

Author’s Note; In the war between desires and destiny, one would win and the other would lose, but none could take away what I’d learnt in the process. Desires and Destiny are just the results of your Karma, your deeds, your actions or whatever you like to call it. As the English proverb goes As you sow , so shall you reap.

PS : This is a guest post on DVD ,as I have recently made the new page about DVD accepting the Guest Posts.This post is written by Tanaya Nath who blogs here.About her I can only say that she is an artist ,I have recently started reading her work and It has been just awesome.This post was about the theme of the blog but she has taken the theme of desire v/s destiny to an entirely new level.I am so impressed by this that now I have become of a fan of tanaya.Thanks a lot tanaya for the wonderful take on the theme.