Almost all epics, sacred or social, are filled with stories of revenges and wars. When asked about the final winner, every time the answers appear to be vague. After the big Kurukshetra war, on the Pandava side, only eight persons remained. One of the Kurukshetra war stories I remember most is that of Draupadi returning after visiting Bhishma, lying on arrows. On her way back, she saw Duryodhana and his men going to Bhishma. Draupadi asks Duryodhana how things are for him. She kept combing her loose hair with one hand, certainly reminding him of her vow and his fall.
Similar pinching questions are common and everybody likes to make best use of them too. Still, see that the pleasure we get is just momentary only. Revenge, according to me, should always be positive; yes, there is a category called positive revenges. It needs a little more patience, that’s all! But the benefits it has is multi fold. Take anybody whom we consider a classic winner – we see how meticulous and patient they were in handling humiliations of varying kinds. May be the shame he was given that made Gandhiji great. The sister-in-law of Rajaram Mohan Roy was burned alive by force, as part of the prevailing practice of Sati. He avenged everybody by fighting against Sati. He was also instrumental in prohibiting child marriages too.
S N Goyankaji (the exponent of Vipasana meditation) while speaking in the international conference of world religions, said that the first victim of revenge shall be the source itself. He recommended forgiveness and reconciliation to all those who suffer from continuous failures, chronic diseases and misfortunes in life. Most of those in jails the world over are preys to revenge attempts. They may need another life to live, as this was sacrificed in prison cells. We have mistaken all provocations in life to be occasions for revenge practises. It is our attitude that are to change. If we count at least five provoking incidents each every day, from the age of ten, there would have been some forty to fifty thousand situations of revenge, at thirty. If we had been after all that we would not have had any time to live. Also, all these would have decayed and got rotten inside.
There could be no societies without anti-social elements in it. They make everywhere muddy. It is not possible for reformers to mend their ways and die in peace. The best technique is to turn into models. It’s a positive approach. Everywhere there are chances for positive revenge. Men, situations, plants, animals, thoughts…. all come in this long list of ‘deserve to be revenged’. The moment one begins to think of positively responding to things, his life also begins to change. Observe carefully and we may feel ‘smell of revenge’ in every breath we take in.
One day a lady called the attorney’s office and asked for the attorney. The office assistant told the lady that he passed away the previous week. Again, the same lady called the office the next day and asked the same question. When the lady repeated this question for a third time the office assistant asked her why she is asking this every day. She replied that it was great pleasure for her to hear that he is dead. Revenge is like eating rat poison and waiting to see the rat die.
