A NEEDLE-POINT WORTH OF WISDOM
“Whatever Life holds in store for me, I will never
forget these words:
With great power comes great responsibility… this is my
gift, my curse…
Who am I? – I am Spider-man.”
In our degree college, we had a
language (Kannada) teacher by he name Prof. Padakannayya. It was from him, I
first learnt the significance of the story of ‘Mahabharatha’. I particularly
remember his description of Duryodhana… The eldest of Kauravas – the 100 sons
of Dhritarashtra, the blind king of Hastinapur. I remember a passing remark of
our teacher while dealing with this story. “When God gives us great strengths,”
he said, “He, deliberately, holds back wisdom!”
Well, at age 17-18, I did not grasp the
full meaning of our teacher’s statement. It took years and years to do it..
But,
fully?
Far from it!
“With great power comes great
responsibility.” Though most of us heard it as a piece of advice to Spider-man
from his uncle, it, actually, dates back to the time of Genesis. All of us have
been given by God some strengths… some virtues. But, something is, always, kept
away from us by God, on purpose… Perhaps, to see if we are trusty-worthy of
those virtues… if we truly deserve to be strong.
Last Sunday, while having lunch at our Tai Chi camp, my
fellow-participants, Ashutosh and Anand, were having discussion about the war of
Mahabharatha. “The conflict could have been avoided,” said Ashutosh, “It had
come so close to the resolve-point.”
Krishna had gone to the Kauravas as an emissary
of peace mission. He had to come back disappointed. The blind king, Dhritarashtra,
the father of Kauravas, could see the devastation that was to befall if war
would take place. All that the Pandavas were asking for, now, was five villages
in the entire kingdom… The wise-men in the court advised the King to heed to the
request and avoid destruction… Dhritarashtra agreed… But, not his eldest scion,
Duryodhana… “Father, do not worry about your sons… We are strong enough… We are
confident of winning the war… Pandavas have sensed it and, therefore, they are
now ‘begging’ for just five villages… But, make no mistake about it… they will
not get even a needle-point of our territory!”
When Ashutosha nd Anand were talking about
this story, I remembered Prof. Padakannayya’s statement, made almost forty years ago… “When God gives us
great strength, He deliberately holds back wisdom.”
Only a little bit of wisdom – to see the point the wise-ones were making around him – Yes, just a little
bit of wisdom, would have saved Duryodhana and his camp from such a tragic end.
God did give him great power, but held back the wisdom and humility… Duryodhana
was consumed by the arrogance of his power…
Just as Spider-man was counseled by his uncle, Duryodhana, too, was
advised by his own uncle, Vidura… “Gracefully handover five villages to your
cousin brothers, Pandavas… Live and let live…
No, it was not to be…
“Make no mistake, they will get not even a
needle-point of our territory,” Duryodhana had bragged.
Alas! If alone God had given us, along with
our stupendous powers, a needle-point worth of wisdom…
Yes, in life, peace is so close… yet so
far!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic: Vikram Sharma
Comments