Thursday, January 24, 2019

too much of anything is fraught with danger



अति रूपेण वै सीता चाति गर्वेण रावणः
अति दानाद् बलिर्बद्धो ह्यति सर्वत्र वर्जयेत्
चाणक्याद्
ati rūpeṇa vai sītā cāti garveṇa rāvaṇaḥ
ati dānād balirbaddho hyati sarvatra varjayet
cāṇakyād
Sita went into captivity on account of excessive beauty
Ravana perished because of excessive arrogance
Mahabali paid the price of losing everything simply because he was too generous,
Therefore the wise people should avoid doing anything in excess
So says Chanakya....
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If Sita were not as beautiful as she was, Ravana would not have abducted her..
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Ravana was a great scholar who is famed to be an erudite exponent of Samavedam, and who is a great poet and singer,.
He is a great Devotee of Lord Shiva.. and is placed as second only to Bana in the list of the closest aides of the Lord.. 
The protocol is Baana, Ravana, Chandesha, Nandi and Bringiridee.. and so on
But He was arrogant, and always thought He is the best, and He landed Himself in many difficult situations ..First with Lord Shiva Himself when he tried to lift Kailash mountain.. and scrapted out of danger .Then he tried to fight with Bali, the monkey and was tied to the cradle of a child of Bali.. and only with great difficulty he could get release from the captivity of the monkey chieftain.
And finally, He encroached upon the honour of Rama by abducting Mother Sita, and for this he paid the price with his own life along with all his kith and kin.. 
Arrogance did the damage.
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Mahabali, though an Asura, was great in all respects.. He was the darling of all his subjects.. The Devas were jealous of Him but could never breach his suzerainty because he was so noble and was so just and blemishless in his dealings.. The only soft spot in him was perhaps his preparedness to be generous to a fault.. So the Devas cheated him by sending Vamana, Vishnu incarnate as a child to the place where Bali was doing a Yajna..The child was offered whatever he desired.. And the clevr boy said he wanted only a piece of land that could be covered by the area of three steps with his tiny feet.. 
The preceptor of Bali, Shukracharya, could sense the risk.. He knew that Lord Vishnu had been sent to ensure that Mahabali was divested of all that he had.. So Sukra tried his best to prevent the gift.. But Mahabali could not even think of denying such an insignificant gift..
The gift was confirmed.. and when it came to measuring of the three feet of land, the tiny Vamana metamorphosed Himself to the imposing, huge form Thrivikrama, and the whole universe and netherworlds were just sufficient to be measured by two of his feet.. Mahabali had not place in his possession to offer as the land to be measured by the third step.. So Trivikrama had to place the third step on the head of Mahabali, implying that he had lost everything he had.. 
So misplaced or excessive generosity finished off mahabali..
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Lessons of life are there for all to read and understand.. and follow too..

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