OUR HAIR, OUR HEELS AND OUR GROINS...

Samson, the strongest man in the Old Testament, was not supposed to lose his hair. For, with the loss of hair, he would lose his strength… He would fall. Samson lynched the fieriest of the lions in a wink, he destroyed army of mighty men… he could bring down the gigantic temple by pulling down its pillars, killing with it not only himself but hundreds of his enemies. No one knew the secret of his strength… not even the beautiful Delilah with whom he had fallen madly in love. Finally, when he told her that his strength lay in his long hair, uncut since birth, he didn’t know he was nearing his end. Delilah had betrayed him… The enemies came and cut his hair in his sleep. Then, they blinded him… and dragged him away as their captive. 

 

Yes, even the mighty man Samson had a weak spot!

The Greek hero – the invincible warrior of the Trojan War – Achilles had a weak spot, too. No one knew it till his end came. When he was born, as told by the Mystics, Achilles’ mother had dipped her new-born in the holy river. But, the heel, by which he was held, had not been touched by the holy water… and, hence it remained, all his life, his weak spot. His vulnerable area. In the end, when it was impossible for any of his enemies to defeat him, it was the timid Paris, who knew how to do it. He shot the poisonous arrow into Achilles’ heel. And, the valiant man came crashing down!

For Duryodhana, the tallest of all the Kauravas, it was his thigh, rather his groins. And, none other than Lord Krishna knew it. The strong man, Bhim, had struggled for days, without any success, to defeat Duryadhana. It was a long-drawn battle, Bhim looking all lost. Just then, came in Krishna - gesturing Bhim to hit Duryodhana below his waist - at his groins, his thighs. That was it. The end of Duryodhana. The last man to die in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, as it is written.

We all are strong men in our own ways. We fight our Trojan Wars, in our own Kurukshetras. We do seem invincible, strong… to the world. But, then, it is only those closest to us who know our vulnerable spots – our hair, our heels and our groins. It is, therefore, for them to protect us, our strengths.

I wonder, whether my mother had held me by my heart while she was dipping me in the holy river!