Providence

Providence

Dear friends,
I read with misty eyes the wonderful post by Sree KVG reminding us the relevance of Ramayanam to common man. I, from my childhood days have been fortunate to hear this mega epic being narrated time and again by my grandfather, a great scholar who was a well-known exponent of "Kathaakaalakshepam".
To say that those early days had a tremendous impact on my psyche would be an understatement. So I endorse every bit of what Sree KVG has put forth. To this day, when I require comfort from tedium I delve into the Cantos of Ramayanam and derive great solace and find new meanings into my life. Today when my life boat is being tossed in the choppy seas, I attribute it all to ‘Providence’ because I find it most intriguing and inscrutable.

Kindly recall Valmiki's Ramayanam - Ayodhya kaandam-Canto XXII-verses 15 to 30 which gives an insight into how Rama Himself felt about Providence. Rama is about to depart to the forest and He is at His best trying to convince the shell-shocked Lakshman that His own predicament had been brought about by 'Daivasya karmam' or 'Krutaantham' etc viz. Providence. So He commands to His brother, "Krutaantha eva drashtavyah......" and the punch line is
"Sukha duhkhe bhaya krodhah laabhaalaabho bhavabhavo. Yasya kinchit tathaa bhootham nanu daivasya karma tathu."(verse22).
(meaning, joy and sorrow, fear and anger, gain and loss, birth and death, and whatever similar experience comes to an individual, that is unquestionably the work of Providence)

He further goes on to say, "rishayoh api ugratapasah daivena abhi prachodithaah" (meaning ......strongly impelled by destiny, even sages are led astray…...by anger abandoning their strict regimen..)

Reading these helped me to accept things stoically. So like some one said, I 'take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. He that feeds the ravens, and clothes the lilies, will never suffer me to famish nor to be naked'

My dad used to compare the providence to 'Kaala chakram'. His story goes that a certain king being taken prisoner, was bound in chains, and dragged along at the chariot wheels of his conqueror. As he went along, he kept looking at the wheel, and shedding tears—looking at the wheel again, and lifting up his eyes and smiling. The conqueror turned and said, "Why are you looking at that wheel?"
He said, "I was thinking, such is the lot of man; just now I was here; now I am there; but soon I may be here again at the top of the wheel, and you may be grinding the dust."

Why Providence is like a wheel?; because sometimes one part of the wheel is at the top, and then it is at the bottom. Sometimes this part is exalted, and anon it sinks down to the dust. Then it is lifted to the air, and then again by a single revolution it is brought down again to the earth. So it is with our life. Sometimes we are in humble poverty, and hardly know what we shall do for bread; anon the wheel revolves, and we are brought into the comfort of wealth; our feet stand in a spacious room; we are fed with sumptuous food; we drink of a cup overflowing its brim. Again we are brought low through affliction and famine. A little while and another page is turned, and we are exalted to the heavens, and can sing in praise of the good Lord. I have no doubt many of you here have experienced a far more checkered life than I have, and therefore feel the same.

'In a wheel there is one portion though that never turns round, that stands steadfast; and that is the axle", my dad would say. "So in God's Providence, there is an axle which never moves. So son, here is a sweet thought for you! Your state is ever changing; sometimes you are exalted, and sometimes depressed; yet there is an unmoving point in your state. What is that axle? What is the pivot upon which all the machinery revolves? It is the axle of God's everlasting love toward his covenant people. The exterior of the wheel is changing, but the centre stands forever fixed. Other things may move; but God's love never moves: it is the axle of the wheel; and this is another reason why Providence should be compared to a Kaalachakram”.

Hasn’t some poet said?

"Here He exalts neglected worms
To sceptres and a crown;
And there the following page He turns,
And treads the monarch down."

"Taqdeer ke kalam se koi bach na paayega, betaa", he would remind me.
That to my mind is how apt and relevant Ramayanam is: “Daivam hi thathaa prabhaavam…” (Verse 30).

Warm rgds
V V R
16th Sep 007