Good Vs Bad!

 

Rsi Lomasa arrived as sage Dhaumya was speaking to Pāndavās about merits of visiting holy places. King Yudhisthira received him with great veneration & subsequently enquired about his purpose to come to kāmyakavana

 

Lomasa Rsi explained-In course of my wanderings, I came to abode of Indra. There, I was exceedingly surprised to see how Arjun was sitting on royal throne next to King of heaven. Indra then ordered me to come here & describe Arjun’s wonderful achievements. Not only has your brother received the best celestial weapons including Lord Sivā’s Brahmasira, but has also become a master in music & dance under guidance of Gandharva Citrasena

 

Indra’s message to you is-O son of Dharma! You can be rest assured that Arjun will soon return. However, you must first accomplish a great task on behalf of demigods, which even they are unable to perform. You should perform austerities & under my guidance visit the holy places of pilgrimage & give profuse charity to earn religious merits

 

Yudhisthira thanked Rsi & said he together with brothers & wife, await his command to set out soonest. As the journey was arduous, only few Brāhmanas joined him. Carrying their weapons, Pāndavās then started with all needed paraphernalia for the Tirtha Yatra

 

On the way, Yudhisthira began to converse with Lomasa Rsi & said-I don’t think I’m bereft of any pious merit & yet am suffering more than any king in history. On the other hand, my enemies, who’re completely devoid of good qualities & bereft of moral sense are prospering. How can this be?

 

Rsi said-A person may apparently prosper by sinful means, but such success is only temporary & thus illusory. After a brief period of prosperity, a sinful, foolish & puffed-up person is invariably vanquished. Long ago, demigods carefully observed all religious principles while visiting innumerable holy places of pilgrimage and thus attained high standards of prosperity

 

On other hand, since demons were proud, they didn’t prosper & because of conceit became very angry at their misfortune. From that anger arose all kinds of sinful propensities, so that they eventually became totally shameless & discarded all good behavior. Becoming completely bereft of good sense, they fell more & more into adversity. Upon seeing this, Kali possessed them. In this way demons were completely vanquished, whereas virtuous demigods prospered beyond imagination

 

We see around that sinful men prosper & good men struggle to barely survive. Being confronted with reality, many people think: If there is God & if He is good, then sinful men should meet with defeat, whereas godly persons should experience success in all their endeavors. How could God let a demoniac tyrant became the leader of nation & even murder countless people?

 

We should understand that birth in a particular family & condition of life is the result of one’s previous activities. This is the reason that anyone who is born in a rich & influential family is given facility to enjoy material advantages due to his pious activities

 

It is also common experience that when a person is born in a rich family, tends to be very proud of his stature & thinks he can do whatever he wants. Thus although, he attained such a position by the performance of pious activities, such a person easily becomes addicted to sinful life

 

When we face problems and have this dilemma of good Vs bad, rather than comparing & complaining, we should learn what good people do when they are faced with bad situations. Adversities are steppingstone for learnings & elevation not cribbing

 

Thoughts? #gameoflife