Myth and the Mind : Psychological Tales of Mythological Characters

by Indrani Deb

Sons of the great Aswini twins – the physicians of the Gods?’

“I will live my life, Your Highness, doing my dharma. I will inflict no unwarranted harm on anyone, friend or foe. I will treat my elders with respect. My lord, Krishna, I will treat as a true bhakt to his God. I will see death and destruction and unbearable tragedy, and will accept them with equanimity. Finally, O King, I will die unesteemed and unsung. Yudhisthir will say that I died because I was proud – proud of my wisdom. Posterity will judge me as such, because the great Yudhisthir deemed it so. Prepare, O King, as I have prepared myself – for the end of the world”.

marry only him long before

The famous debate between Gargi and the sage Yajnavalkya forms an intriguing part of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,

“On what is akash woven, warp and woof?” Yajnavalkya’s answer capped it all – “Akash is permeated by Akshara, the eternal, the imperishable. It is neither rough nor smooth, neither long nor short, neither red like fire nor flowing like the sea. It is without taste, smell, sight, nor touch. It has neither light nor shade. It has no mind, speech, nor strength. It has no within nor without. That Akshara, that Brahman, O Gargi, is all-seeing, though unseen, all-knowing, though unknown, it is this which is bound to Akasa, warp and woof”. Yajnavalkya’s answer did not require any further questioning. He had not attempted to define the indefinable, and he had only listed those characteristics which it is not (“neti, neti”), not those characteristics to show what it is.

The final victory was indeed hers, for the declaration of the Victor was actually made by her, and not by the King.

“The Chosen One, who had to fight against terrible odds merely to survive, and who survived only with the help of his wits right till the end.”

“Ram! Ram? What will HE understand? All he knows is reason and duty and laws and rules! He is an out and out boring person compared to our lord! Can he play and sing, till even the Gods stop to listen, and even Shiv is forced to open his eyes? No. Is he a scholar comparable to Raavan? No. Has he set down his wisdom and observations in texts which will become classics for posterity? No. Has he ever done anything spontaneous in his life, just for the pleasure of it? No, and again No! Raavan was an artist. Ram is a karmic. Raavan was always creating something wondrous – flying chariots, the Rudra veena, life-saving medicines, poetry, songs – anything and everything! How will Ram understand why I am in such a terrible quandary? He won’t see Vibhisan as a traitor; he will only see him doing his duty! If I talk to him, he will give me a lengthy lecture on my duty and responsibility to my people! If I wasn’t already aware of that duty, I wouldn’t deign to waste my time thinking of this preposterous proposal!”