Sunday, 14 September 2014

WISHING OR BLESSING

According to the Dharmik tradition, blessings ward off   inauspiciousness. Therefore, even the adharmik people of the times of the Mahabharata war had great faith in the power of heartfelt blessings.

Jarasandha, who was ambitious to be the king of the world, would everyday invite hundreds of Brahamans to bless him to remove the hurdles in the accomplishment of his ambition of emperorship.  Blessings were there, but before they could fructify Jarasandha lost his life, when he was punished by the mighty Bhima who had received the blessings of his Lord Krishna. 

Duryodhana went seeking blessings from his mother before the battle. Gandhari so wished he would win, but she just could not bless him with victory.

‘Blessings’ are reduced to simply ‘Wishing’ when the person who is blessed is undeserving, or the person who blesses is unqualified to bless or he is attached to adharmik people, like Dhritharasthra was towards Duryodhana.

Also, simply ‘Wishing’ gets transformed into a ‘Blessing’ when the person who is at the receiving end deserves the same. When Bhisma, Dronacharya, and Krpacharya blessed Yudhisthira before the beginning of the battle, they helplessly did so, because Yudhisthira greatly deserved. They had no choice but to bless him.

Therefore, Mahabharata was the war between the wishing people and the blessed people. The undeserving and the deserving. The cursed and the heartfelt blessed.

The Vedic wisdom therefore says: if someone abuses the less privileged, the helpless, the downtrodden, then the abusive people, however strong they may be, will drown in the very tears of the abused people. In the Ramayana therefore, Mandodari, while crying in front of the dead body of her husband Ravana, said, “You haven’t been killed by the arrows of Rama, but you have been drowned by the tears of Mother Sita.”

So let’s not wish but bless, because wishing is a dream state which might turn into a nightmare but blessing is a vision which transforms into substantial reality.


What do we want?  Blessings?  Or only wishes?According to the Dharmik tradition, blessings ward off   inauspiciousness. Therefore, even the adharmik people of the times of the Mahabharata war had great faith in the power of heartfelt blessings.

Jarasandha, who was ambitious to be the king of the world, would everyday invite hundreds of Brahamans to bless him to remove the hurdles in the accomplishment of his ambition of emperorship.  Blessings were there, but before they could fructify Jarasandha lost his life, when he was punished by the mighty Bhima who had received the blessings of his Lord Krishna. 

Duryodhana went seeking blessings from his mother before the battle. Gandhari so wished he would win, but she just could not bless him with victory.

‘Blessings’ are reduced to simply ‘Wishing’ when the person who is blessed is undeserving, or the person who blesses is unqualified to bless or he is attached to adharmik people, like Dhritharasthra was towards Duryodhana.

Also, simply ‘Wishing’ gets transformed into a ‘Blessing’ when the person who is at the receiving end deserves the same. When Bhisma, Dronacharya, and Krpacharya blessed Yudhisthira before the beginning of the battle, they helplessly did so, because Yudhisthira greatly deserved. They had no choice but to bless him.

Therefore, Mahabharata was the war between the wishing people and the blessed people. The undeserving and the deserving. The cursed and the heartfelt blessed.

The Vedic wisdom therefore says: if someone abuses the less privileged, the helpless, the downtrodden, then the abusive people, however strong they may be, will drown in the very tears of the abused people. In the Ramayana therefore, Mandodari, while crying in front of the dead body of her husband Ravana, said, “You haven’t been killed by the arrows of Rama, but you have been drowned by the tears of Mother Sita.”

So let’s not wish but bless, because wishing is a dream state which might turn into a nightmare but blessing is a vision which transforms into substantial reality.

What do we want?  Blessings?  Or only wishes?

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