Prescription!

Vidura, the son of maidservant was actually Yamarāja, who was forced to take birth as a sudra being cursed by Māndavya muni

 

Māndavya once performed austerities while observing vow of silence, sitting at entrance of his cottage with both arms raised above his head for several years. It so happened that once some thieves entered his hermitage after stealing some wealth & hid in his ashrama after being chased by King’s men

 

When king’s agents came in pursuit, they asked sage about thieves, who didn't say anything due to his vow. They then searched ashram & found the thieves hiding in his cottage. Considering the sage as an accomplice to crime, they arrested him together with thieves. The culprits were brought before king, who ordered all of them to be executed

 

On King’s order, sage was pierced with a lance, but miraculously he didn’t die due to power of his austerities. The officers went to inform king about sage’s survival. The King immediately realized his fault & begged sage for his great offense. The sage was pacified by king’s genuine repentance. When men tried to extract lance from sage’s body, they were unable to do so despite their best efforts. They then cut off the lance where it entered the body & sage was left with a portion of lance lodged

 

Sage Māndavya once journeyed the abode of Yamarāja. When he came before Lord of death, he took opportunity to enquire about what sinful act he did in past to be punished so severely by king?

 

Yamaraja replied that in his childhood he had pierced an insect with a sharp blade of grass & so he was pierced in similar manner. The sage asked-How old was he when he committed this sinful act? When Yamarāja said that he was child, the sage became very angry & retorted-Punishment you inflicted upon me was disproportionate to the sin committed, especially when you consider that killing of a Brāhmana is most sinful of all sinful acts

The sage then cursed Yamarāja to be born as a sudra on earth. In addition he said-From this day onward, any sin committed by a person below the age of 14 will not produce a reaction

Krsna says in B Gita:

yesam tv anta-gatam papam jananam punya-karmanam

te dvandva-moha-nirmukta bhajante mam drdha-vratah

 

Persons who have acted piously in previous lives & in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated & who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination

 

We all commit sin knowingly or unknowingly but the reaction of the same is bound to come. When we perform devotional service onto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, we are automatically freed from bonds of reaction

This has huge implications. Unless one is reinstated in his own constitutional position it is not possible to understand the Supreme Lord and to serve him

This applies well in our professional spectrum wherein we all should execute our prescribed duties with determination. Prescription comes from scriptural wisdom

Thoughts? #gameoflife