Chak de Fate!

This is a lesser known sub-plot of the epic of Ramayana. The story goes like this... There was once a very wicked Asura who used to torment saints and commoners. (Have you noticed, by the way, that every second Hindu mythological story begins thus! Sorry, coming back to the story...) One day, he met a wise saint and had a sudden change of heart looking at the serene disposition of the seer. He begged the saint to absolve him of all his sins and grant him salvation. The wise man recalled the Asura's sins and asked him to follow the path of penance. He said that the Asura's sins were so great that they could be cleansed away only if Goddess Laxmi would appear under him and Lord Shiva above! What did it mean? Did it happen? And how?

The Asura was reborn as a tree. In the Ashoka Vatika in Lanka. The one under which Sita was seated. And the salvation point came when Hanuman perched on top of the tree when he found her!

Wow!

Retracing the steps... so it was all predestined. Hanuman finding Sita, Ravan kidnapping her, Ram going to exile... So if it was pre-wriiten, why do you blame Ravan for kidnapping her? Or Sita for crossing the Laxmanrekha? Or Kaikeyi for inciting Dashrath? Or Dashrath for killing Shravankumar? Or worse still, did these characters do what they did by their own thought or choice, or because it was fatalistically predetermined?

Going by the same logic, is everything in our life too predecided? Where do our choices, actions or free will stand in that matter? Are we merely puppets in this play, following the prewritten script with no inputs of our own?

A little brainstorming, and i cleared my perspective. (Disclaimer: My personal opinion, completely. You may agree or disagree.) Life is a series of equations with constants and variables. The constants are events/incidents you cant change-they are pre-imposed on you. The variables are the decisions you take & the choices you make. They are key in determining the future constants of your (& others') equations.The situations that arise are the culmination of each equation.

For example, let us look at the Asura. He had a choice to make: to repent for sins or not. If he chose the latter, he would not have been part of this story. But he chose the former & created a 'constant' for his future-the salvation point. This constant also became manthatory for Laxmi & Shiva to materialise. They could have merely appeared (as Bramha generally does) to bless the Asura, but they chose to be part of a greater plot. Again, going in flasback mode. Had Ravan not kidnapped Sita, had the situation materialised? Why not, he could have simply invited Ram & his consort along with his deity Shiva/Hanuman to bless him & absolve his own sins. He chose otherwise. The constant remained, but the equation changed! Had Dashrath or Kaikeyi made alternative choices, Ram still might have gone to the forest -for expedition, not exile! The plot would not be affected, but their lives would have been considerably different.

Guess it works for us too! Folklores & myths are subject to interpretation after all. And talking about parallel worlds... Well next topic, next time!