Will I never cease to meet such people? I was having a few drinks with friends, well, not mine, but my man’s friends. I met another gentleman who just believes in Hinduism blindly. Now, just to clear the air, I’m not against ignorant people, but I do object when they try to sell their ignorance to me. Did you really expect me to buy that story?
Somehow, during the final meal (the most precious meal of all, food after alcohol), we touched on the topic of a particular painting. The painting of Arjun on his rath. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about here’s a pic.
Now, the story I was told by this gentleman of blind faith, is if you keep this painting at your residence it will be the cause of fights between the father and son of the house. And that is also the reason why most Hindu’s don’t keep this in their house.
So am I to conclude that those who don’t have such a painting in their house have blissfully peaceful happy families?
When I told him about a family where the father and son don’t get along, even though they don’t keep one such painting, his reply was… oh you’ll love this… ‘in the end, everything comes down to Karma’
Let me draw up a few scenarios:
1 Family with painting – father and son fighting
Here we definitely blame the painting, we have very good Karma, but the painting is the bad luck.
2 Family without painting – father and son fighting
Here we definitely blame our Karma… there is no painting to blame afterall!
3 Family with painting – 3 generations living peacefully under one roof
OMG! That’s just impossible! You have THE painting in your house, how on earth are you happy? You must have very good Karma.
4 Family without painting – 3 generations living peacefully under one roof
Well… your Karma is paying off well and there is no painting in the house either!
Surprisingly, of all the families I know, I have never personally met a family with Scenario 1. I’m sure there are such cases out there, but that would just be a coincidence. Also, a fight in a house now-a-days is very common. It’s not just paintings and karma to blame, there is also education and generation gap to blame. People today are comparatively more opinionated than my parents’ childhood time.
Now, on another note, this gentleman said that the painting with the shlok is the cause of fights. Here’s another question. How many of you actually know the meaning of the shlok? I’ve pasted it below for reference:
yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya tadatmanam srjamy aham
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practices, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion – at that time I descend Myself.
Now if Lord Krishna is making a promise to mankind to resurface on the face of earth in any form how is that the cause of dispute amongst fathers and sons?
On another note, what happens when you keep THE painting in a temple? Do fathers and sons refrain from praying at such temples?
Here’s what I have been led to believe about the painting (personally, I think what I believe makes much more sense that superstitious stories). In layman’s words:
Religious interpretation
Lord Krishna is the Guru who guides Arjun to his destiny, to do the right thing. Rather than God doing the justice himself, he sends his disciple (Arjun) to do the dirty deed. To ensure that all goes well and his disciple does not digress from his goal, Lord Krishna himself holds the reins of his vehicle. Had it been a car, Lord Krishna would’ve been the driver. It is to ensure that Arjun stays on the right side of the road.
Spiritual interpretation
The four horses leading the rath are the four senses; hear, smell, taste and feel. Lord Krishna is the vision and Arjun himself is the brain (not in terms of knowledge, but functionality). What he is riding is the human body. If one believes that God is inside us (i.e. our soul) then that ultimate painting of Arjun’s rath is nothing but every man.