Shakuntala, asks Kanva Maharshi ‘Who do you support’?
Kanva Maharshi is now going to describe a completely different angle to the complex question posed by Shakuntala. He asks, ‘Is it important to know my viewpoint’? Also, why do you think that Ahalya was not at fault?
Shakuntala frowns and says, ‘I knew this was coming, you are my father but before that, you are a Man. Anyways, we all know the story of how Indra disguises Ahalya and has cheated her. She was innocent, still, she got punished severely. She is lying in the jungle as a stone. Who is to be blamed for this? Was it not Indra who is supposed to get harsher punishment? I feel Gouthama Maharshi is at fault. He discriminated between the genders!’ She rests her voice.
Kanva Maharshi calmly listens to her and says ‘Have you looked at the other side of the coin?’
Ahalya is a Brahma Kumari, we know this fact. She was an apsara created by Brahma and she was supposed to remain chaste & celibate. But Brahma decides to get her married to Gouthama Maharshi due to love and affection shown by him. These apsaras are blessed with special powers, they can understand & differentiate their husband no matter which forms.
Another point is, Gouthama Maharshi is extremely moral & obedient. As per the sutras, ‘Sex’ is an act which is performed only during the first hour of the night. Moreover, during the Brahma Muhurtham, ‘Sex’ is inauspicious and banned. Brahma Muhurtham comes 2 hours before the dawn.
Thirdly, Ahalya is a learned lady, she is talented and intellectual. Above all, there is a difference fragrance between people from different Lokas. Indra from Swarga Loka has a different fragrance compared to Bhu Loka people.
Kanva Maharshi explains all these points to Shakuntala as she remains silently angry. He then says ‘knowing all this, knowing that Gouthama Maharshi wouldn’t return from bath and indulge in sex during Brahma Muhurta, knowing that the fragrance is of Indra – Ahalya allowed it’.
Shakuntala dismisses his view and says
‘Are you trying to suggest that she did it deliberately? Do you mean to say that she is a lady with low morals?
Kanva Maharshi with a heavy heart and exclaimed expressions ‘My dear daughter, all this is too big for you to know now. Time will come and you will learn things. But all I can say is one thing, Human emotions and feelings are a mystery. Let it be anyone, there comes a time when you get emotionally weak. That leads them to something unwarranted. Even though she knew that it’s Indra she allowed it. She was too weak to fight her emotions. I wouldn’t judger her character, but understand that she was not wrong on her to do that’.
In my view, continued Kanva Maharshi ‘Gouthama Maharshi was right to punish her for the mistake that she committed even after knowing, whereas Ahalya is right in doing what she did’. Being a woman, she will have certain desires which an old rishi who is following the path of knowledge can satisfy. ‘Finally, I feel it’s the game of destiny and we cannot judge these things. We need to listen to everything and form no judgement’. Kanva Maharshi tells to himself “maybe the degradation of society and moral values have picked up pace as we reach the end of Satya Yuga”. We are talking about incidents that happened around 10100 BC and Satya Yuga ends around 9667 BC.
It was too late in the night. Maharshi asks Shakuntala to sleep and he goes out of the room. Next day morning Gouthama Maharshi is supposed to leave the ashram. Hearing to all this, Shakuntala is raging with anger inside. As she lied down, her thoughts are stuck with Ahalya.
She thinks ‘Ahalya is getting blamed for nothing, she was a young lady. I wonder if she was even consulted for her married with old Gouthama Maharshi. She would’ve not wanted this marriage?’ She questioned to herself.
She then contemplated ‘Gouthama Maharshi is an old-person interested in Vedas, due to all this may be Ahalya couldn’t get her sexual wishes fulfilled. If Maharshi can punish Indra and Ahalya, isn’t he punishable for not fulfilling his wife’s wishes… if he brought up Ahalya as father and later married her, ultimately punishing her, how fair is it? And, then thunder strikes her. What if, Ahalya’s story repeats, on me?? That thought itself sends shivers down her spine and she decides to put aside all these negative thoughts and sleep. Reluctantly, she shuts her eyes and tries to sleep.
Menaka, her mother is watching from the heavens but can’t do anything. We know that she is punished by Vishwamitra and is under the control of Indra.
This is one of the most complex stories that I have come across. Shakuntala as a character can be any one of us, questioning the doings of our parents, elders or anybody. But there will be another point of view ‘always’. We need to respect that, feel it and then respond. The story will build from here and we will soon know who’s morally right and morally wrong.
Apart from that, we will also see the entry of a new character ‘Dushyant’. His entry is the beginning of the most famous and illustrious chapters leading to Chakravathi ‘Bharat’ and then to the epic book of lessons taught by Krishna to Arjuna on war turf.
‘The Bhagavad-Gita’
