Page 21 - Seniorstoday September 2022 Issue
P. 21
her to attend the weekly mass and at times and Mahesh or Shiva (the destroyer)
used to admonish the kid as well. One day, had specific astras attributable to them.
in a bid to get her mother off her back, she Broadly, those divined by Brahma were
said to her, I am sure my grandmother called Brahmastra, those divined by Vishnu
must have enjoyed the visits to the church were called Narayanastra and those divined
much more than you do considering she by Shiva were called Pashupatastra.
used to visit the church more often than Besides these, there were other astras
you do. Essentially, faith and observance like agneystra, varunastra, vayuastra,
are individual traits or belief systems and nagastra, etc attributed to various divind
it is best not to enforce anything, but to let entities like sun, water, wind, snakes, etc.
everyone discover and learn by themselves. Rama, Vishwamitra, Laxman, Vibhishana,
To explain brahmastra (and other astras) Indrajit and some others in Ramayana
in an overarching way to the unversed, were known to possess brahmastra or
succinctly gleaning from references in one or more of the other astras. Rama is
the Hindu scriptures, they were powerful supposed to have used the brahmastra
divine weapons which can wreak untold to part the ocean to reach Lanka and also
destruction of lives and lands and to be to kill Ravana. In Mahabharata, Arjun,
used only to vanquish the evil. Given Karna, Bhishma, Yudhishthira, Drona,
their potent and irreversible destructive Ashwatthama and some other were known
powers , they were booned very selectively to possess these astras and some of them
by the Divine to deserving people who used these weapons during the great 18
were seen as dharmic, mature and will days war leading to annihilation of most. It
be very circumspect in using them. is said that access to these divine weapons
Brahmastras were not meant to be used and knowledge of about these weapons
except in exceeding and extraordinary ceased at the end of Mahabharata given
circumstances. The Trinity – Brahma the ensuing onset of Kaliyuga and the
(the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) attendant adharmic people and falling
values. Just imagine these divine astras
in the wrong hands in these times and the
threat to humanity!
To conclude, I am dreaming of a world
where every religionist, besides knowing
their own religion in depth, study and
understand the other religions to ensure
overall syncretism in the society, in thought
and action. I remember my late uncle, a
rationalist Hindu, studying and mastering
the holy Quran and holding forth on Islam,
whenever I met him. The world we live in
could do well with a world less asunder
and more surrender. To me, that will
be ultimate astra – not weapons of mass
destruction, but means of universal love.
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #39 | SEPTEMBER 2022 21
