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Mahabharata katha London
2012
Never force the issue of having children. If anyone tries to procure children they are not destined to have, the situation usually ends up being sad. You have to have karmic bonds between souls to form the link of parent-child. If there are no links, you can't magic them up or manufacture them without upsetting the balance in Nature.
If a soul has sufficient karmic bonds to be ‘born’ of a couple but not enough bonds to stay with them, the resulting child can be born to a couple but won’t remain with that couple. Child can be separated soon after birth or be given away to be raised by those that have sufficient runanubandh to raise the child. Bound by runa, and karma, the soul moves from one family to another. Sometimes, the karmic links are such that a soul is born to poor, unmarried couple in one part of the world, spends some time in an orphanage, gets adopted and ends up living with a rich family in another part of the world. Karmic links propel the soul from one stage of life to another till it is sufficiently mature enough to start creating new karmas.
If someone tries to force the issue with nature and demand on having a child, nature usually refuses to cooperate. Universe / nature knows what we are due and in what measure. If we try to make demands beyond our means, we have only ourselves to blame for the pain we feel. Sometimes people beg God, saints or scientists for children they are unable to have naturally. It is painful to beg. It is even more painful for the compassionate beings to refuse. It is thoroughly pointless to have children who have no karmic link to you. The joy of having had the child is usually cancelled out in some way or the other during the few years they ‘live’ with such a child. As soon as the child is old enough, he/she leaves to fulfill their own karmic journey.
If a sage feels compassion for a childless couple, he/ she can bless them by creating a temporary karmic link with a soul that is desperate to be born, but can’t find a womb to be born to. That soul may lack karmas or runaubandhas to be born just yet. If a sage feels compassion for both parties – the unfulfilled soul and the childless couple, he/ she can arrange it for the soul to be born to the childless couple. That way both parties benefit. The soul gets to be born and carry on with his / her spiritual journey. The couple get to have the child they always wanted. BUT, because this is a temporary bond, the child and parents part company at the earliest possible stage. Before the end of their lives, the sum total of happiness and sadness between the three souls connected this way becomes zero.
For this reason, Hindu scriptures warn people not to force nature and demand children. There are plenty of examples of what happens when people try to do that.
Eg – In the Puranas, there is the story of Savitri. Born after several yagnas to the God Savitar, the princess was the prasad of gods. Yet, the king abandoned her the moment she decided to marry a poor, deposed, destitute prince Satyavan who was fated to live for only a year. Being the father of an only child, Ashwapati could have invited Satyavan to come and stay with him and be his crown prince. But, there were no karmic bonds between him, Savitri and Satyavan, hence the king did not even think to help his daughter despite her impending troubles.
In the Ramayan, king Dashrath married several times but was unable to sire a child. King insisted on having an heir and asked his guru, Brahmarshi Vashishtha to help him. Though Brahmarshi Vashishtha is capable of creating an entire universe, he could see that the king had no karmic links to any souls ready to be born. Why force karmic links and increase the load of karmic debts of his disciple? Brahmarshi Vashishtha advised the king to be patient. Yet, the king was desperate and requested Rishi Shringa to help him. Through Putra Kamesthi yagna, the Rishi was able to entreat the universal spirit to be born as a child. However, the king’s karma were such that he divided the blessed prasad in to four parts for his three favourite wives! The king was overjoyed at the birth of his sons. Because he had no karmic debts with the sons, they caused him intense pain when they left. This sadness cancelled out the joy they had provided earlier. Poor king died without any of his sons being near him at the time of death. That was his fate and even Brahmarshi Vashishtha or Rishi Shringa could not change that.
In the Shrimaad Bhagvatam, there are several examples of why forcing the issue of having ‘issues’ is not a good idea. The entire scripture starts off with the story or Atmadeva who is so desperate to have a child, he is contemplating suicide. A kindly sadhu gives him a blessed prasad infused with a soul that wants to be born, but has no runaubandhans to be born at that time. Atmadeva’s wife does not want the inconvenience of being pregnant and gives the prasad to the cow. She secretly adopts her nephew Dhundhukari to make Atmadeva think she has birthed a child. Through the power of the sadhu, soul that has been accidently fed to the cow results in a human child, Gokarna. Overjoyed at having two sons, Atmadev hopes to live a happy life. Sadly, he has no karmic link with either child. The sum total of joy they bring is cancelled by the sum total of pain they inflict upon the hapless couple. Gokarna is the prasad of a sadhu and hence continues on his spiritual progress in this life. Dhundhukari is an evil child who steals, cheats and hurts everyone he meets. Dhundhukari dies a terrible death and Gokarna recites the ShriMaad Bhagvatam to release him from his ghoulish existence. There are other examples in the scripture including a king who begs Narad muni for a son only to have the son killed by his other wives. The soul when it is recalled to the grieving parents, says nonchalantly, I have no feelings for you, so why do you harbor these feelings for me? Let me go my way as I don’t want to be bound to you.
The war of the Mahabharata is entirely caused by children that should never have been born. Despite having two wives, King Vichitravirya had no children. His ambitious mother Satyavati insisted that his illegitimate son, Sage Vyasa, should sire children on his widowed sister-in-laws. Despite protests from her learned son, Satyavati used emotional blackmail to force the issue and three sons were sired in quick succession. One was born blind, another was perpetually ill and the third, though hale and healthy, was judged to be born of a slave and hence unworthy of the throne. Dhritarastra had no children either and sage Vyasa was once again prevailed upon to covert a tumor in the womb of his wife into 101 children! The result was the catastrophic war of the Mahabharata that wiped out millions of people at once! Sum total of joy these unfortunate princes brought at their birth was cancelled out by the horrific cries their wars inflicted upon everyone before their death.
Even in the collection of stories that are often recited during SatyaNarayan katha, the story that captivates everyone is the one about a childless merchant who is blessed with a daughter, but suffers in life through his refusal to follow ‘satya’ (truth) in his life. The sum total of the daughter’s birth and life is cancelled out by all the miseries he suffers.
Amongst the Nath Sampraday, there is a famous story of Gorakh Nath being born
out of a dung heap.
A childless
woman begged Matsyendra Nath for a son.
Compassion made the sage encapsulate the soul of a fantastic yogi in a
fruit and give it to the woman. Matsyendra
Nath He
told her that he was giving her a son on loan for 12 years. At the end of
that time, he will come and collect the child.
Soul of
a great yogi was desperate to be born, but it was too highly charged with positive energies to be born to any couple
alive at the time. The soul of the
poor woman had no ruanubnadhan with any soul to have a child. But Matsyendra Nath used his siddhis
to engineer a temporary connection so that the woman had someone to mother and call
'her
own', and the Yogi had a womb he could be born to.
However, karma being karma, though the woman was given a priceless gift, the
woman abandoned the fruit in a dung heap for fear that it was drugged. When Matsyendra Nath came to claim
his child after 12 years, the woman feigned ignorance.
When threatened with dire consequences, the lady confessed to having
thrown the fruit away. Matsyendra
Nath went to the dung heap and called the child to come out. Gorakh Nath came out and joined his
guru to continue his spiritual journey.
Sadly, this proves that sometimes, if you have no karmic balance. even blessings are rejected or
abandoned.
So be careful of what you ask for, because sometimes, you might just get it!
© Bhagwat Shah
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