Last week, Shruthi and I were discussing about the stories and philosophies of the Mahabharata. Shruthi had a question. "Is it all just leela..maya..just a play?!?. Ravana was Jaya (dwarapalaka) of Vishnu who was born on earth only to be killed by Vishnu and merge with home". "Is this all predestined? Then why so much evil?".
We were further exploring the concept of leela and maya. Though Ravana was a great Shiva bhakta and had obtained great boons from the Lord, he had engaged in severe atrocities. He never hesitated in eliminating anything that hindered his growth and he was anything but modest. So why then a dwarapalaka who had reincarnated to be killed by Vishnu commit crimes of such extreme nature?
There are many factors that decide the place and nature of a person's birth. "Karma" for sure decides one's destiny but it is too complex for us to understand.
Imagine someone committing a petty crime. It is labeled as a lone incident and is often handled by the police constables. Criminals grabbed by the Intelligence bureau or commandos have committed crimes of a totally different order. Inorder for Vishnu to reincarnate and kill a Rakshasa, the kind of atrocities committed by the latter should be of different magnitude, something that normal mortals are not capable of. When such rakshasas are born and commit evil, several evil forces align with the rakshasa. Hence what we call "vadham" is not just of the rakshasa but of the entire force that aligns with them.Slaying the rakshasa usually involves a huge war were millions of forces that side along evil are destroyed thereby restoring peace and dharma on earth.
Lord Shri Krishna allowed Jarasandha to attack the Yadavas about 17 times, because each time Jarasandha went back, he brought thousands of warriors and Shri Krishna eliminated all of them.
Though it is leela and maya that bring them to earth, these rakshasas act as huge magnets that attract all the evil forces that can align with them. Lord Vishnu then reincarnates for their "vadham".
"Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya, Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha,
Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya, Tadatmanam Srijami Aham'."
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