On my recent visit to India, my brother-in-law introduced me to the ‘Shiva Trilogy’ by Amish Tripathy. Amish’s bestselling series of books are based on the simple concept that there is a story behind all the gods that people worship today, i.e., at one time they were all mere humans. It was through their Karma and their belief in Dharma that they have been venerated forever. The first book in the series, The Immortals of Meluha read like any Paulo Coelho book. It was rich in its tales of a Tibetan immigrant Shiva who had the attributes of the much awaited Neelkanth and his migration from a wild nomadic life to the orderly life of Meluha. The latter was an empire established years earlier by the famous Lord Ram, a perfect society that was based on strict adherence to law and order laid out by him. The inhabitants of Meluha known as Suryavanshis are being consistently attached by the Chandravanshis through consistent random acts of terrorism. Shiva victoriously leads the heavily outnumbered Suryavanshis into battle against Chandravanshis. Just before the battle, as Shiva appears and the soldiers exclaim in ardent exultation Mahadev! Mahadev!. He asks the soldiers the following:
– Who is a Mahadev
– A man becomes a Mahadev when he fights for good. A Mahadev is not born as one from his mother’s womb. He is forged in the heat of battle, when he wages a war to destroy evil.
– I am a Mahadev. But I am not the only one.
– I see hundred thousand Mahadevs in front of me. I see a hundred thousand men willing to fight on the side of good. I see a hundred thousand men capable of destroying evil.
– Har Ek Hai Mahadev (Every single one is a God)
– Har Har Mahadev.
‘All of us a Gods on a mission’ was the battle cry that led Shiva into a massive victory against the Chandravanshis. Reading these lines, I felt a jolt of electricity permeate inside my senses. We are all Gods. We are all capable of doing the right thing and be Gods. If by his karma a Tibetan immigrant could become the greatest God of all time, I do not know what is stopping you and me in aspiring for greatness.
Doing the right thing is not a difficult thing to do. I have read somewhere that living one’s life is equivalent to crossing a busy intersection. One has to Stop, Look and then Go. In the same way, it is important to remember that our actions (karma) end up defining what we would become in life. I have always believed in this golden rule that, if you cannot help someone, do not harm them. It is also imperative not to keep quiet as evil rages itself in front of you. By choosing our battles wisely and by doing the right thing, I do not see why we cannot live as Gods. Most people do not understand that they are blessed with attributes that can propel them to heights of divinely proportions. Accepting that our weaknesses can be worked on to become our greatest strengths, we can strive to be great and best. For that we should believe….Har Har Mahadev.
Tenny Thomas 