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Interpreting Actions in the World Based on Our Preconceived Ideas and Notions · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In the Mahabharata, a story is related that illustrates the
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  inability of anyone to judge an action by the outer form it
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  takes or the result that eventuates.
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  The birth of Bishma is related. In the Adiparva, Prince Shantanu
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  fell in love with a beautiful woman he met and asked her to
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  marry him. She agreed on the condition that
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  he never questioned any of her acts.
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  She gave birth successively to a number of sons and immediately
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  took them to the river Ganga and drowned them one after another.
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  This went on for a number of times.
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  Finally, Chantanu could no longer stand it that his
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  presumptive heirs were being killed by his wife and he broke
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  a promise and asked her what she was doing.
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  She then replied that he had broken his promise and thus she
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  would have to depart, but she would keep the last and final
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  sun alive. This sun became Bishma, the
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  renowned elder and warrior in the Mahabharata War.
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  She indicated that she was actually an incarnation of the
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  river Ganga and had taken birth expressly at the request of
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  certain celestial beings, the Vasus, who had been cursed to
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  take a human birth in their former lifetime.
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  She had agreed to release them from the curse by giving birth
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  and then immediately ending their lives.
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  Thus she was carrying out an action related to another
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  domain, another plane, another realm of experience played out
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  in the material world of human life.
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  Who among us could have understood such a line of cause
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  and effect that departs so widely from our normal human
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  conceptions about the significance of life on Earth?
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  Many things which happen in the world defy direct interpretation
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  from our mental preconceptions. Different cultures hold
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  different values. People grow with vastly
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  different viewpoints and expectations.
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  Our religious beliefs, our educational background, our
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  political and social framework, our familiar circumstances all
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  go to shape how we see and interpret things.
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  And based on these factors, we seem to have a very narrow view
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  and understanding, which sometimes gets things right but
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  many times does not. A disciple inquires, Are there
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  not accidents which are almost inevitable?
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  I just read of a case cited by an American who had the gift of
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  clairvoyance. A child was playing on a railway
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  track. It was in danger.
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  Suddenly the witness saw an apparition beside the child, and
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  he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the child will be
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  saved. But to his great astonishment,
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  the apparition put its hand over the eyes of the child and threw
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  it in some way under the train. This man was much troubled.
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  He could not understand why a being whom he had taken for a
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  higher being would push a child to its death.
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  The mother responds. Quote.
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  Certainly this may be true, but without having the vision
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  oneself, 1 can't explain it. It may be a question of two
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  absolutely different things. Perhaps, indeed, it was its
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  destiny in the sense that it was the end of the life necessary
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  for its psychic being. It was a death which had been
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  predestined for some reason, because that can happen.
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  Or perhaps it could be an adverse force which he took to
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  be an Angel of light. For generally people make this
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  mistake when they see an apparition.
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  They always think it is something heavenly.
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  It is heavenly if you like, but it depends on what heaven it
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  comes from. It is a strange thing because
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  yes, the moment of unconsciousness, the slackening
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  of consciousness may be translated by this someone
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  putting the hand over the eyes. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of
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  Life, Chapter 5, Occult Forces, pages 111 to 112.