If I had wondered why others around me suffered back then in the 80s and only received the answer some 14 years later, after being told to lie back, that the ruling factor was Karma; I had wondered during the last Navarathri festive period why the Gods went to battle the Asuras in the times of the Puranas and came to know that those who were rid of Karma could take on the role of an Avatar, who drives away darkness and evil and restores balance and cheer.
I had posted about these two dilemmas in earlier posts.
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, in his book "Karma and Reincarnation - An Inspired Talk," sheds some light.
As for the first,
"After the realization of the Self, Parasiva, the forces of Dharma and previous Karma still exist, but through the force of the realization of God, much of the impending impact of Karma has dwindled, and it is faced differently, treated differently. Before the experience of realization, Karmas were dealt with in individual increments. After realization, the sum total is seen. The spiritual destiny is realized."
And as for the second,
"One does not have the experience of realizing the Self until all of his Karma is in a state of resolve. When this begins to occur in him, he actually sees that man is not man; man is the Self, God, for his Karma and the forces of his Dharma have begun to become transparent to him. Through the power of his realization, the Karma is created and simultaneously dissolved. This occurs for the one who lives in the timeless state of consciousness. If one were to realize the Self each day, he would live his life like writing his Karma on the surface of water. The swamis who renounce the world and do Tapas are trying to burn the seeds of the Karmas that they did not bring with them in this life. They set fire to the whole house. They renounce the world and put restrictions upon themselves that others don’t."
Days ago, the question of why Gods and Siddhas, and later people too, went around hurling curses cropped up. It is said that Agathiyar had to come around to relieve his ancestors who were cursed to hang upside down from a tree branch. Tavayogi told me he was cursed to lose his eyesight after, as a curious kid, he tested a mantra given by Agathiyar, though he was warned against doing so, in his last birth some thousands of years ago. That curse continued into this life, where he lost his eyesight for close to a year. Another seeker who knocked on the door of my home was told the same: that his disobedience in testing a given mantra in a past birth resulted in his untold misery and suffering in this birth. I too am said to have earned the wrath of the Namboothiris after being born in this clan, challenging their time-old practice in a past birth.
I just could not digest all this stuff. Again, I asked how God, said to be kind, loving, and compassionate, could go around cursing. Should not he be all-forgiving? Then a search on the internet shed some light.
AI Overview.
Yes, that is a well-known legend, though in scriptural traditions, it is less of a punitive "curse" and more of a karmic consequence of his celibacy. According to the Mahabharata (Vana Parva), the great sage Agathiyar (Agastya) was a strict ascetic who initially had no intention of marrying or having children. While wandering through a forest (or during a powerful spiritual vision), Agathiyar came across a terrifying sight: his ancestors (Pitrus) were hanging upside down in a dark pit, suspended only by a fragile root or blade of grass. A rat (representing Time) was slowly gnawing away at the single root holding them up. When Agathiyar asked them why they were suffering in this miserable state, they wailed that they were trapped in Pitr-loka (the realm of the dead) and sliding toward a hell called Put. They explained that because Agathiyar was practicing absolute celibacy, their lineage was coming to an end. Without a descendant to perform the required funeral rites and pass on the family bloodline, they could neither be liberated nor reborn. They told him that the only way to rescue them from hanging upside down was for him to return to the material world, marry, and father a child. To fulfill his duty to his lineage (Pitr-rin or ancestral debt), Agathiyar agreed to their pleas. He went on to marry the princess Lopamudra and fathered a son named Dridhasyu. The birth of his child finally broke the "curse" of the lineage's stagnation, allowing his ancestors to be freed from the abyss and ascend to heaven. The Mahabharata tells an almost identical story about the sage Jaratkaru, indicating that this was a common narrative device in ancient Indian epics to emphasize the sacred duty of continuing the family line.
Apparently, even curses bring on good consequences. Another story goes that Agathiyar, having attained the state of a sage and Siddha, was told by Lord Shiva that he was still incomplete and that he had one thing left to accomplish. He had yet to marry. And so he was betrothed to the princess LobaMa. Adhi Sankara too is said to have been questioned by a queen about his completeness, as he lacked the experience of marriage. He took the body of the king momentarily to become complete.
Speaking to Suren over the phone regarding all this last night, he asked me the same: why do you think these happened?
I could only point out what Lord Muruga told me about the play that Lord Siva, Agathiyar, and Indran staged in my life too. It was yet another creation of the "Gods", a play of Maya or the opposites. Words and actions carry weight; Agathiyar asked us to watch them to avoid falling into the trap and win over Karma and the cycle of death and birth for good. We are to watch our words and actions to break the chain. Any given promise has to be fulfilled too. Any work given has to be done to completion. Don't jump the gun and make assumptions, too. I too tend to make these mistakes. I too have to be extra aware; otherwise I shall be lingering between worlds.