"Ram Bhakth Raavan”

Bakthi of Hatred and the Power of Tapasya and "entertainment tax."

Ravana, let him rest in peace, was one of the greatest Bhakths of Sri Rama. Kansa was the biggest 'Fanatic' or 'Fan' of Sri Krishna, and Mr. Kashyapu, the father of Raja Prahalad, was an intense devotee of Sri Maha Vishnu. All the Maha Kalmnayaks, Mr. Raavan, Mr. Kansa, and Mr. Kashyapu, all intensely practiced devotion of  Hatred.

While you're studying about some of the Tapasvis like Prince Dhruva, Raja Prahalad, or even the mighty Elephant King Gajendra, all of them performed intense Tapasya to earn the undivided attention of whom they believed to be the supreme primordial entity. All of them, born into distinct societies with different backgrounds, applied their unique functions to invoke the Primal Divine Essence. One common thing to note while studying these Tapasvis is that despite their intense desires and ambition to achieve competence and excellence in their respective fields of interest, they all gradually evolved into sweet, gentle, and blissful powerful beings during the course of their Tapasya. What we ignorant ethereal nuts try to perceive as 'God' eventually manifests in their experience in the same image they persistently beheld in their minds.  She blesses them with perfectly adequate Gnana required to fulfill their personal ambitions and innate desires. They even transcended beyond the cycle of worldly affairs after accomplishing their material goals, thanks to the Gnana they earned through the gentler forms of devotion and Tapasya.

The characters deemed in our minds as supervillains like Raavan, Kansa, or Hiranyakashyapa were also Tapasvis, but of the volatile kind, who vehemently tried to catch the attention of Sri Maha Vishnu with their high-voltage intense devotion of hatred. They too succeeded in their attention-mongering Tapasya of the highest kind. God appeared in front of them as well, but she did not bear the form or wear the same costumes as they imagined, visualized, or expected. Karma had its way, the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent entity blessed them also in an exponentially terrorized and cruel manner. One of them got a fatal strike of an arrow, one got beaten and kneaded into pulp, and the other got his chest shredded while he was still alive.

When we start hating someone else, we have to be aware that we are sowing the seed of hatred in our minds. Learned masters of the dharmic culture say that anger is the poison we consume and expect someone else to die. Anger, it seems, is the best fuel that nurtures a tiny potent seed of hatred into a mega tree that will eventually bear toxic fruits containing mutated next-generation seeds with high potency for prejudice and hostility. We know of many examples of civilizations being wiped out from the planet. Hatred is adding more to the clamor that is already widespread in society and taking us away from the clarity that is of the most value and essence.

The Society, as I observe, is constantly seeking entertainment in the form of clashes between political rivals, and will eventually have to pay the "entertainment tax," which will cost more than entertainment. We are radicalizing even our children with our political ideologies. What is the difference between children in Pakistan who declare 'Fatwas against infidels' and primary school children already taking strong biased political stances in India?

In our Itihasas, loyal subjects and supporters of Raavan, Kansa, or Hiranyakashyapu were spared, and livelihoods were not snatched away from them. In other words, they were not punished for the blunders of their leaders. In today's day and age, we will be fools to expect courtesy, decency, or respect from people whom we have prejudiced our minds against as our adversaries. We as Indians have this flaw of mimicking the West in our polity and public discourse. We are neglecting the Puranas and Itihasas which speak volumes about how an ideal society must function. Like modern medicine, even modern politics is becoming more disease-oriented rather than about preserving natural health. Modern polity is getting more "agitation"-driven than solution-driven. In our Legislative temples, people representing us are wasting time negating their rivals and inciting hatred more than presenting solutions for the larger problems of our society.

Every Maha Bharathi's child is a Tapasvi. Tapasya is encoded into our DNA. Let us not fuel it with hatred and burnout as a nation. Instead, fuel it with compassion, and let the fire of our Tapasya transmit radiance and adequate warmth and light for all the world to enjoy.

Asatoma sadgamaya,

Tamasoma jyotirgamaya,

Mrityorma amritam gamaya.

Satyameva Jayate.

Dhurahamkari Desh Bakth."