“Attitude determines everything”, “Attitude determines the Altitude”, declare the cliches and popular wisdom. But how and why is this possible, yearns the curious mind for some answers. The underlying GunaKarma holds the key. All of Prakriti, including us, is made up of the three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Their composition determines how a Karma is done and our attachment to it. Karma not only yields Karmaphala, leaves a trace of its impact as Vasana on the individual, but also alters the Guna composition. Usually this happens is micro doses and that’s why we can’t see immediate results with a single action unlike long term habits.
Typically Karma impacting the Gunas seem to have a definite impact on the Guna composition. What if there is a huge impact from a Karma on these Gunas? Does it magnify the Karmaphala? Do Gunas in turn determine the direction of this Karma instead? Is it possible to see some examples to understand this mechanism?
Luckily we get some deeper insights by studying itihasapuranas about boons and curses. Boon (vara) is usually the accumulated Karmaphala of some long term Sadhana. Curse (shapa) is the concentrated negative impact due to an action. Shapavimochana (Liberation from the curse) is a special set of conditions one has to follow to untie the series of gordian knots one has got oneself entangled due to their Shapa (Curse). Typically we oversimplify a boon as a good thing and blessing, while we deem a curse to be detrimental. On face value, while it appears true, the real impact is again based on the Gunas and our future Karmas. We will understand again that life is not altered merely by a single boon or curse, but what we do after this life altering incident. How the boon or curse affects the attitude of the individual amplifies its impact. This is best understood by quickly referring to the incidents in the Itihasapuranas as it gives deeper understanding into the layers of human psyche.
Is it a boon or a curse? Whenever there is a boon, if it happens to a Rishi or evolved person, they use it for a superior cause, as it further extends their dharmic cause or spiritual journey. Many Mahatmas have used their Siddhis that came out of great Tapasya for the benefit of others. But an ego centered mind like those of Asuras not only try to seek boons with a self serving motive or to exploit, but also apply it in the wrong direction. Let us look at a few examples.
Wrong pursuit of Immortality: The most popular boon sought by the Asuras is immortality. While the internal essence of every being is Atman, which is immortal; the asuric mind believes that the body is the actual self. Thus engaging in making the body as immortal is erroneous on numerous counts and an impossibility. When confronted by a streak of temporary acceptance, they try to ask for an improbable scenario not found in nature as their probable cause of death. This gives them the false egotistical assurance that they are safe as there is no such precedence in nature. Worse yet, powered by this boon, they expand their excursions into dark adharma.
Hayagriva an asura wanted to trick MahaDevi, when denied immortality by seeking death by a horse headed person. MahaVishnu’s avatara of Hayagriva came about just to end the asuras’ atrocities.
Hiranyaksha thought he was immortal as he got a blessing that he will not be killed by a deva, asura, manusha or animal. This gave him the platform to launch in evil actions including abusing Bhoomi Devi. What one must not forget is just like his boon gave him the powers, his adharmic Karmas too yielded their fruits in the form of Varaha Avatara that put an end to him.
Hiranyakashipu had learnt lessons from his younger brother’s death. He chased immortality, when denied due to his wrong interpretation of the body as self, he settled for death not to happen by any of Brahma’s creations. Death must not occur during day or night, on earth or sky, by man or animal. Nor should weapons kill him. Death can not happen from entities with life or without life, from Devas, asuras and Nagas. When the myopic minded asura unleashed terror, he failed to connect that dots that Narasimha avatara would fulfill all his conditions of death and converted the boon into a death warrant.
Ravana does the same mistake chasing impossible immortality, due to wrong definition of the Self. He ends up settling for invincibility over Devas, Asuras, Gandharvas, Nagas but leaves the door open for humans, vanaras and bears. This backdoor he opened while getting his boon was activated by all the Karmaphala of his evil actions to fructify.
Mahisasura on the quest for immortality of the body had to settle for a boon from Brahma that gave him immunity from Devas, Danavas and male humans. He assumed all women to be weak and hence discounted it himself. Ultimately Devi took an incarnation to put an end to his atrocities. Similar is the case with Sumbha and Nisumbha. Tarakasura thought of everything except a little boy for his death, which was the reason for the birth of Kartikeya, who led the Devasena to victory.
Raktabija thought of cloning himself endlessly that each drop of his blood falling on the ground should multiply him. It worked till Kali draped the earth with her tongue and denied any blood to come in contact with the earth.
While we have a long list of Asuras, the commonality is the arrogance of defining the body as the Self. As this primary mistake clouds the boon obtained, they believe that the body is immortal as they obtained an impossible death option. Abusing their powers, they propagate their adharmic karmas which waits for the opportune time to open their death door, without violating the conditions of their boon. Asuric mind is obsessed with the body as the self, enjoyment at any cost as the goal of life. This flaw blocks any change of their Gunas, boosts their egocentric actions, amplified by the pursuit of Adharma thus converting their original boon into a death wish.
Ego blinds so much that the boongiver is challenged: This is a real odd scenario that the Gunas are so Tamasic that instead of venerating the boongiver, the sick evil is bent on destroying the blessing. We see in case of Bhasmasura he wanted to test his powers of reducing anyone to ashes by placing it on the head of the one who gave the boon, Maheswara. It took Mohini avatara to trick the lust filled asura to place his own hands on his head.
In the Mahabharata, we see that Shisupala who is granted immunity for a hundred deathworthy punishments by Sri Krishna is only emboldened as his counter heads to zero. His level of abuse also increases in its evil and darkness. Eventually, despite repeated warning he succumbs to his own ego at the hands of Krishna’s Sudarshana.
One can draw parallels to unnatural objectives of Sambukha which causes the untimely deaths in Rama’s kingdom. While death at the hands of Rama would have earned him better options in future, but till date, this incident is misunderstood by the masses.
In Devi Bhagavata, an interesting incident of Madhu and Kaitbha is narrated. Having stolen the Vedas and terrorized Brahma besides holding Vishnu in a prolonged hand to hand combat for thousands of years, their ego finally gets to them. Vishnu invokes Devi’s blessings. Her glances on Madhu Kaitabha only increases their Moha. So when Vishnu offered them a boon, they instead arrogantly offer MahaVishnu a boon, who seeks a boon that their death should be at HIS hands. Again seeing the entire world covered under water, they grant foolishly that their death can happen only on land, little knowing Vishnu would form a land mass by expanding his thighs.
If ego deludes the mind, no amount of accumulated powers due to Sadhana can be of any use. The power of the past that were borne out of Sadana/Tapasya do not help if they do not ground the GunaKarma in Dharma.
Myopic actions: Vara confers a huge position of strength. With power, comes a greater responsibility. If one is myopic in the use of great power, the consequences can be undesirable. Even the ignorant child, Anjaliputra Pavanakumara was made to forget his powers till Hanuman realigned completely for Rama kainkarya. Arjuna was stopped from demonstrating the Divyastras to merely do an ego boost. Kaikeyi didn’t understand the grave consequences of killing her own husband and happiness by exercising the boons she obtained to satisfy her desires.
Amongst all the examples of people choosing to exercise their boons driven by Kama, Yudhishtra shows the right example. After YakshaPrashna, when Yama asks him to choose one person to regain life, he sticks to the path of Dharma by asking for Nakula, who can do the Pitrkarya for Madri. This again highlights that Vara usage and its dharma alignment determine the future direction of the individual.
Is it a boon or burden? At times, what appears as a boon, may not turn out to be one. We have heard of the Midas touch in the fables that turned out to be a burden. Devavrta on account of his Brahmacharya vrata is blessed by his father Shantanu to get death only when he seeks. This elevated him as Bhishma, yet wrapped him with his own promise to secure the Kingdom. Not only was he living past generations of chaos, death and Adharma, the blessing turned out to be a huge burden. He was not only a part of the Mahabharata war, but had to live weeks after on a bed of arrows, awaiting for an auspicious time to depart.
Despite all the pain Bhishma endured, he was completely insulated as a Bhakta, Jnani and KarmaYogi. One must not forget that his birth itself was rooted in a curse of Prabhasa, the Vasu. Yet, his very elevated actions, being always rooted in Dharma, being constantly associated with Sadhus, Rishis and Mahatmas, his curse merely played out.
Is it a curse or blessing? Conversely what usually appears as a curse may not even be a curse. Dasaratha found himself at the receiving end of a curse, as he accidentally killed Rishi Sravanakumara, whose father, another Rishi, cursed him to die of PutraShoka. Dasaratha was without any offspring, got completely confused if this was a curse or a blessing.
But the real nature of the curse is much subtle to grasp. While many from Rishis and even enemies’ wives like Tara and Mandodari, were able to understand Rama as an Avatara, Dasaratha, one of the wisest Kings, never thought of Rama more than his son. Due to this extreme affection, he failed to attain Moksha, which Rama granted to all Ayodhyavasis at the end of his rule. He merely goes to Swarga on account of his extreme Dharma centered actions. So though the curse was a blessing, it denied him the ultimate.
Lower forms of curse expression – The simplest benefit one can accrue from a shapa is to work the way out. Ganga, Mahabhisha (reborn as Shantanu), Prabhasa (reborn as Bhishma) used the accumulated Papa and Shapa to exhaust by leading a strenuous life to extricate themselves. The same is true as Kabandha of Ramayana or Gandharva Huhu who was cursed as a Makara in Srimad Bhagavatam. The curse on Aswattama is also playing out as an act of repentance.
On most people, the curse merely acts as a punishment, as an outlet of their Karmaphala. Though sad, it reminds the weight of the curse and the highlight on the inaction on the part of the individual. Tataka upon the curse of Agastya merely worsens in her behavior by transforming herself from a Yakshini to a Rakshasi. Duryodhana was cursed by Maitreya who even told the curse will be useless if he turns a new leaf. Karna had a couple of curses, yet did nothing to counter them or evolve. He even discounted them as he believed in his prowess. They were one of the reasons behind his death. Pandu, though he tried to restrain himself, became a passive outlet to Kindama Rishi’s curse when he approached Madri. Krishna accepted Gandhari’s curse as an opportunity to establish Dharma from the growing Adharma from his own clan.
Using curse to evolve – Aside from the above, it is possible to springboard using the curse. Ahalya is perhaps the best example. Her greed led to her infidelity and curse from Gautama Maharishi. She followed her prescription to earn the personal visit of Rama Lakshmana and the accolade of Vishwamitra. She completely transcended her basal traits.
Nahusha, despite performing a hundred Aswamedha Yagas and earning the post of Indra, did not overcome his lust. Worse yet, he did not grasp the basic of what GunaKarma of a Brahmana is and how he should interact with one. The curse of Agastya reduced him to a Sarpa but after a prolonged period of repentance, he encounters Yudhishtra and learns the correct answers.
Yayati is another interesting example, who despite the turn of events and curse is steadfast in Dharma that keeps guiding not only his way out but also evolving him continuously. (Read Lessons from Yayati – Prelude, Endless desires, Renunciation, Swarga, Wisdom conversations 1, Wisdom conversations 2 and Satsangha)
Best thing to do with a curse - The best option with a curse is to hold on to the highest at any cost, which will help one evolve. Jaya Vijaya, the doorkeepers of Vaikunta were cursed by the Sankadi brothers. When given the choice to evolve fast and hard or slow and painless, they chose the former. They were born as Hiranyaksha-Hiranyakasipu, Ravana-Kumbhakarna and Sisupala-Dantavakra. They embodied maximum tamas. Yet after even interaction and death at the hands of Bhagawan, the quality and quantity of evil reduced by great magnitudes.
Parikshit demonstrated this by dispensing his responsibilities when he learnt that his curse would be to meet death at the hands of Takshaka in a week. He wasted no time to head towards Naimisharanya, the abode of Rishis. His Karma and Shraddha was blessed with the arrival of Suka who gave him Bhagavatam and the path to Moksha in just a week of concentrated inward evolution.
Gajendra was originally a cursed Pandya King, Indradyumna. Having struggled due to the pride of his strength, his surrender to the Absolute and purity of purpose, not wanting to be saved from the crocodile, but to be liberated forever earned his Moksha. The involved Makara had a different Object of attention and an Objective, and hence had a different ending.
All stories, what is in it for me?
The popular modern Hindu mindset is borrowed by the Western one that these stories are mythologies. If one were to see this like Greek or Norse myths or like Harry Potter fantasy, the reader has lost the plot. Itihasapuranas are all about applying it in our daily lives with a practical lens. Here are two simple lessons.
Lesson 1: Vara or Shapa is a snapshot in time that was a concentrated expression of the past. But, what we do now and in the future is more potent. Being entangled only in that incident and project it positively or negatively rooted as an echo of the past, merely augments the expression of Ahamkara. There is no active change in the Gunas for the better.
Instead take a firm stance in distributing the fruits of you Vara to others in line with Dharma or proactively raise your Sattva quotient and making all the Rajasic activities aligned with Dharma, it starts altering the underlying GunaKarma machinery for the better. So the fruits of the Vara and the dormant potential of the Shapa are both unleashed in favor of our higher evolution.
Vara and Shapa provide windows into the potentiality of our focused efforts of the past, yet the future direction lies firmly in the present actions. Shapavimochana is special condition that is needed to evolve out of the miserable plight one has gotten into, to transform into a higher state. This happens only when one is working on oneself with rigor and discipline of tapas. This gradual shift in the gunas blossom the persona transformation that is sustained by the engine of good consistent karmas.
Lesson 2 – The continuous Sadhana/Tapasya leads to a Vara. In case of Shapa, the Sadhana is after the fact. In both cases, there has to be a paradigm shift in our attitude towards dharma alignment. In such a Sadhana, it is paramount to properly establish the OBJECT OF MEDITATION and the OBJECTIVE. In case of asuras getting the boons, the Objective was definitely misaligned with Dharma, the Object of Meditation was a limited deity who was seen as a granter of their wishes and worst mistake was that the Subject as their body, not Atman. The same error happens when one is not using a Shapa to springboard like Gajendra or Parikshit.
This error in judgment of the SUBJECT, the OBJECT and the OBJECTIVE is a factor of our GunaKarma and our willingness to commit our present/future steps in line with Dharma. The correct understanding of the Subject and the object and aligning the Objectives with Dharma provide the correct momentum and direction of our inner evolution.
The constant pondering over the wrong subject, object and objective skews our gunas, leading us to get overly attached to the object through a crooked objective. This results in a perverted view and over reliance of our Ahamkara on the object, like in a boon. Over time, this lends to error in judgment causing us to make more mistakes by dragging us deeper in adharma. This trend and possibility can be negated by rooting oneself in Dharma, which not only corrects our objective misalignment, but also corrects the relationship between the subject and the object, besides deepening the understanding about the Self.
Dharma is an effective antidote to the materialistic mindset of possessing objects to feel more complete or derive happiness. In short, the possession or absence of objects don’t make a dent in the Dharma orientation. As evident through out, attitude doesn’t change 180 degrees in a jiffy, instead is affected by small consistent incremental changes through our Karmas. Attitude can be improved through Satsangha, svadhyaya and sadhana as they are bound to alter and align our GunaKarma with Dharma.
ॐ तत् सत
