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Journalism of Courage
Every civilisation has its great mythologies. These epics have a universal appeal because of the human responses that motivate great events in a story. Those who compiled them knew they were dealing with a spectrum of human emotions. Across civilisations, these stories linked divine or catastrophic events to an infinite range of human desires and human failings. This naturally meant that they had to pour the entire wisdom of the universe into simple and inviting stories, stories that wove magic around people and crept into their pores and their very essence, to be passed on to their children.
The stories were merely stories for those who were unable to look beyond them. And it has always been so. But there is a small percentage of mankind in whose collective mind the story is like a pebble that drops deeply into the still depths of their inner beings. It shakes them up with its message and makes them reflect and perhaps, change their lives.
Enlightened mortals threatened the position of the gods in the heavens because they did not naturally belong there. The gods had to work hard to live on those celestial planes. In this story, the focus of attention is King Viswamitra, who, through his austerities, evolved from king to saint and 8216;8216;excited the jealousy and alarm of the gods8217;8217; Kalidas. Then they called upon the nymphs, 8216;their weapons,8217; to prevent Viswamitra8217;s austerities from succeeding. The gods seemed to spend more time in plotting and planning than doing any positive work. But they were certainly in a panic when mortals who did severe penance evolved beyond them; because then, the serious danger would be that they would take over the heavens from the gods.
Jealousy, for many reasons, has a formidable grip on our emotions. We experience it often when we feel we deserve better, when actually we have not worked sincerely enough to merit and are in effect, found wanting. When jealousy hits us we cannot perceive the qualities and achievements of the other. It is enough that we have not gained what the other has and we are filled with rage. We spend all our time in trying to destroy the person we are jealous of and we find every conceivable justification to do so. If we were more secure and complete within ourselves, then perhaps our jealousy would not have the shrill, sharp edge it acquires as we turn destructive.
So the jealous Indra tried to damage Viswamitra. Menaka, the great apsara was called upon and she swayed the sage away from his path for 10 years. She bore him a daughter, Sakuntala, and eventually returned to Indra8217;s celestial home. But Indra did not realise how tenacious Viswamitra could be. He returned to his path of self-mortification and became a great sage, immortalised in the Ramayana.
Jealousy takes a lot of energy out of one. Energy that has a negative intent is not what nature ordains. Rather, when one finds the self wanting, energy is so much better spent in one8217;s inner growth.
