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Answerable to actions religion

CHENNAI: Destiny is defined in traditional terms as the inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined. It can be seen as a predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control.

The Ramayana illustrates the extent of this powerful destiny and the law of the universal accounting system that governs human actions and behaviour. Every human being is responsible for his/her actions and has to face the consequences. Good actions bring good results and bad actions inevitably result in suffering to the one who does them. Manthara, who changed the life of Lord Rama overnight — from the heir apparent status to that of a hermit’s life in the forest for fourteen years — is symbolic of the power of destiny, said Sri Lakshmi Nrisimhachary in a lecture. She came into the epic only for the purpose of turning Kaikeyi’s mind against Lord Rama’s coronation. She reminded Kaikeyi of the two boons Dasaratha had promised her long ago, taught her what to ask, and was instrumental in propelling the events in Lord Rama’s life at that juncture. Lord Rama abided by the exile sentence that Kaikeyi (not Dasaratha) pronounced.

Dasaratha, for his part, had jumped the rules of tradition by deciding the date of coronation without consulting Sage Vasishta to identify an auspicious date and time. However, the sage remained a silent spectator, having intuitively understood the purpose of the Lord’s incarnation.

When Sita faced the humiliation of Lord Rama’s unkind words about her chastity, she accepted her present sorrow as a consequence of her fate and her earlier sins of finding fault with Lakshmana when she had gone to the extent of slandering him. She makes it clear that one has to reap the results of one’s own faults while she also pleads to forgive those who err since erring is a human trait. There is none who is not free of faults. In another instance, Lord Rama suffered an embarrassment when Sugriva, extolling Vali’s valour, doubted Lord Rama’s ability to vanquish him. This was in return for His act of testing the poor man who sought gifts from Him in Ayodhya prior to His departure to the forest.

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