Yesterday, while watching the new series "Samkalp", I recalled the following lines from the famous bhajan "Damru wale baba"
मन ही है बेकार में जो संकल्प-विकल्प बनाता है
जिधर चाहता है मन उधर ये प्राणी दौड़ के जाता है
मन सब को भटकाये जग में क्या नर और क्या नारी....
डमरू वाले... डमरू वाले बाबा तेरी लीला है न्यारी.....
The hero of the net series is Maat Sahab, who gets humiliated in a university election and makes a samkalp to take revenge on the people in power in Delhi. To achieve this target, he establishes a gurukul and selects the best students there. He gives them a good education so that they clear the civil services examination, and then uses his entire network of civil servants against his opponent. In the process, he abets many crimes, including murders and also anti-national activities.
All of us take many samkalps. The story "Damru wale baba" is a mythological tale in which Parvati visits Lakshmi at her home. Lakshmi humiliates her for not having a grand palace like hers. Parvati gets utterly humiliated and demands that Lord Shiva make a similar palace for her. Shiva tries to explain her with these words:
शंकर बोले पार्वती से मन पर बोझ न लाओ तुम
भूल जाओ सब कड़वी बातें और मन शांत बनाओ तुम
मान और अपमान है क्या बस यूँ ही समझा जाता है
दुखी वही होता है जो ऊँचे से नीचे आता है
उसे सदा ही डर रहता है जो ऊँचा चढ़ जायेगा
जो बैठा है धरती पर उसे नीचे कौन बिठायेगा
इसीलिये हमने धरती पर आसन सदा बिछाया है
मान और अपमान से हट कर आनंद खूब उठाया है
मेरी मानो गुस्सा छोड़ो इस में है सुख भारी..
डमरू वाले... डमरू वाले बाबा तेरी लीला है न्यारी....
However, Parvati doesn't understand, and finally Shiva gives in. He asks Visvakarma to build a gold palace for Parvati. Finally, Parvati calls Lakshmi for the Yajna. However, the father of Ravana, Visharbha rishi, who was called to carry out the rituals, asks the same palace as his "dakhina" and Parvati becomes sad again and curses Visharbha that one day this palace will be burnt to ashes. The moral of the story is: "desire is the root cause of all suffering"
All of us live our lives with a "samkalp". Some of us have a "samkalp" to be rich because we have experienced poverty in our childhood. Some have a "samkalp" to gather powers. Some have a "samkalp" to keep the family united, and for them, the family's welfare is primary. Some are determined to get comfort at any cost. For some, peace is the centre of their lives, and they would not mind giving away anything to buy peace of mind and would therefore always be looking for "workable" options.
Aren't all the "samkalpas" just a result of ignorance? We make "revenge" the centre of our lives because we were so attached to our self-image that when somebody publicly humiliated us, we simply could not tolerate the shock and developed a "samkalp" for revenge in that state of ignorance. Now this samkalp will drive us for the rest of our lives. Similarly, isn't "samkalp" to earn money, centred around our ignorance about the true causes of suffering? Do we suffer due to a lack of money, or due to the value we attach to it? Is that suffering going to reduce when we earn millions? Then we will compare ourselves with the billionaires and keep suffering the same way. Similarly, isn't our samkapt to work for the family woven around a deep sense of insecurity of the individuals? That's why we want to have a family where people stand with each other in bad times. Isn't it just like a disaster management strategy having a deep fear of disaster at its centre? Even if not a disaster, fear of old age and the need for support are at the centre of most families' samkalp.
Fear for survival will definitely be a guiding force behind our choices. If there is an earthquake, we have no choice but to run. However, we do not make fear of earthquakes the centre of our lives. At some stage, we accept that life is vulnerable and we may die in an accident on the road. But we do not stop travelling. We know that any flight may turn into ashes, as the Ahmedabad flight did, and yet we do not stop travelling by flight. If the centre of our lives is around greed, fear, or revenge, life may be adventurous, but it will be very limited. On the other hand, if the centre of life is around love and freedom, life will be full of exploration. However, a fearful or greedy mind, or a mind full of revenge, becomes very close, as if the entire energy is stuck in one neural circuit. That's why people in these situations need a break from thoughts to get back to the default network. That's not easy because people in these situations close themselves off and stop listening to their well-wishers. In fact, their well-wishers become their biggest enemy. Even Lord Shiva could not make Mata Parvati understand. That's how this "samsara" goes on. One has to make a very fundamental choice in one's life. To live like Shiva or to live like Ravan. This fundamental choice decides what his "samsara" will be.
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