Sunday Nuggets from my Dad..:) (Part 96)

Son, as per the widespread common belief, the nature of our lives in the current state is pre-determined by not only our deeds or karma of our present life but also a possible extension or repercussion of our deeds from our earlier birth too. By this corollary, your sufferings in the present may be related to your sins in the past that may have traveled numerous cycles of birth in different forms viz. human, insect or animal. With due respect to the said belief, I feel inclined towards another perspective which got reinforced again last week when I witnessed the following incident.

Yesterday morning, I was sitting in the balcony reading the newspaper when the doorbell rang and your sister opened the door for our maid. As there was nothing unusual, I drew my attention back to the news article that I was reading which shared the experiences of people who had gone to take a holy dip during the auspicious kumbh snan. A few minutes later, I felt that I have heard the sound of a low cry from someone. Feeling slightly shaken up, I rushed towards the living room where I saw your sister sitting with the maid and trying to comfort her. The sound of cries was of the maid as she had buried her head on the shoulder of your sister. Intermittently gasping for her breath, she was now sobbing heavily.

“Beti, what happened?” I asked.

“Nothing, babuji.” she said as she wiped her tears from her face and tried to stand up.

Her face looked swollen and her sallow eyes suggested that she had been awake and crying for quite long. I looked at the first aid box that was lying on the table and your sister was applying an ointment on a fresh looking bruise on her elbow.

“Papa, let me tell you the reason for her current state. Her husband beats her quite often and it happened again yesterday. He quarrels with her on trivial issues and in cases when the tiff aggravates, he hits her with slaps, fists and punches. She has borne the brunt of the mercurial aggressive nature of her husband on multiple occasions.” your sister spoke with a visible element of inflated temper while on the other hand; she continued to calm her down.

“Didi, I am paying the price of my sins that I committed in my last birth. It is all destined. My suffering is my penance. I have to suffer the complete ordeal in this birth and seek absolution.” she spoke as her tears continued to roll down.

After she left, I sat down and began to dwell on her statement. My mind had turned into a whirlpool of thoughts mostly in form of the questions that I had asked before too to myself. Given the belief that the present is a dangling shadow from the past, is the oppressor a facilitator for atonement? Is the oppressor an oppressor due to the good deeds done in the past that must have been antithesis to the current acts? Will the oppressor be allowed to go scot-free for the sins committed in this birth and be born as noble again? Is the prey not committing a sin by succumbing to its predator? Will protesting to something unjust result in ordeal in the next birth? It is believed that the human form of birth is the noblest one and is attained after multiple cycles of birth in different forms. Why then should one allow being the victim of suffering at the hands of others?

Son, I may not have all the answers to my questions but I categorically believe in one thing: Each of us has a right to live our lives on our own terms in a dignified manner. Let the almighty decide the manner of our atonement of our sins but to endure suffering from another human being in the pretext of penance is a greater sin than one could possibly fathom. Live a life guilt free; live it to the fullest.

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