ESSENCE OF SACRED LITERATURE

It is often said that it is rare indeed to be born and rarer indeed to be born a man, a statement that puts human beings on a plane above all creatures. One may ask what is the quality that gives man such a pre-eminent position? It is the ability to chart the course of his own life as per moral laws. Literature is one of the oldest available tools for mankind to progress in the right direction. Broadly, these may be classified three-fold as moral instruction aimed at the soul, the mind-elevating texts and aesthetic literature. The genesis of devotional literature aimed at social reforms and those portraying nature are the media of instruction for aspirants. The essence of all categories of sacred literature is ensconced in the Tamil classic, Thirukkural, for the ordinary seeker. The saint's approach to gaining wisdom and right conduct is steeped in a pracical approach. For instance, one may want to know, what is truth? It is nothing but unsullied utterance. Yet there are many instances found in epics and puranas where the proponents of virtue appear to have not been entirely truthful. The so-called ambush of Vali is often held up by debaters as a point of dissension. Scholars point out that there was no personal motive in Rama's action against Vali, for how else could the errant ape King be brought to realise the error of his ways in coveting his brother's wife, further compounding his mis-deeds by not giving a fair hearing to his sibling's version of events. Besides, as the repository of mercy Rama would have extended His grace to Vali if he had surrendered to him. Similarly in the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira the doyen of virtuous conduct participated in a collective fraud by misleading his enemies into thinking Ashwathama had fallen in battle, when in fact it was an elephant called Ashwathama which was killed. In the fight for righteousness, these men were filled with nothing but truth which permeated the very core of their selves. A medical practitioner faced with the truth of the terminal illness of a patient would try as much as possible to soften the blow or postpone the announcement when faced with the inevitable. There are also numerous instances where a mother threatens her child with an imaginary bogeyman waiting to kidnap a child that does not eat or throw tantrums. Would these qualify as untruths? As the Kural states, 'Even untruth has the stamp of truth if it is free from harm'.
C.S. Chakravarthy
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