Man of a Thousand Chances - Tulsi Badrinath

"Harihar Arora: second-generation north Indian in Madras, museum curator, indifferent husband, indulgent father – and thief. Desperate to meet his beloved daughter’s wedding expenses, the otherwise honest Harihar steals a rare gold coin minted by Mughal Emperor Jahangir and pawns it, with every intention of returning it after the wedding. But when he finds himself in a position to redeem it, he learns that it has been melted by the pawnbroker. What follows next forces Harihar to readdress his place in the world, and in his own marriage. Beneath the deceptively simple surface of a story about an ordinary man in a rather extraordinary fix, are questions about the workings of karma, causality and the power of art, that offer profound matter for debate. " - So says the back cover of the book and this was my 85 of 2020.

Ancient sculptures, did not have blueprint of what they were about to do, they meditated on the image they were about to sculpt or mould, before they actually cast it. No wonder some of the images seem alive.....

The famous folk tale about the Pregnant deer and Faith is also mentioned here, as they have have a painting in the museum. 

In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth.

She finds a remote grass field near a strong-flowing river.

This seems a safe place. Suddenly labour pain begin.

At the same moment, dark clouds gather around above & lightning starts a forest fire.

She looks to her left & sees a hunter with his bow extended pointing at her.

To her right, she spots a hungry lion approaching her.

What can the pregnant deer do?

She is in labour!

What will happen?

Will the deer survive?

Will she give birth to a fawn?

Will the fawn survive?

Or will everything be burnt by the forest fire?

Will she perish to the hunters’ arrow?

Will she die a horrible death at the hands of the hungry lion approaching her?

She is constrained by the fire on the one side & the flowing river on the other & boxed in by her natural predators.

What does she do?

She focuses on giving birth to a new life.

The sequence of events that follows are:

– Lightning strikes & blinds the hunter.

– He releases the arrow which zips past the deer & strikes the hungry lion.

– It starts to rain heavily, & the forest fire is slowly doused by the rain.

– The deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.

In our life too, there are moments of choice when we are confronted on αll sides with negative thoughts and possibilities.

Some thoughts are so powerful that they overcome us & overwhelm us.

Maybe we can learn from the deer.

The priority of the deer, in that given moment, was simply to give birth to a baby.

The rest was not in her hands & any action or reaction that changed her focus would have likely resulted in death or disaster.

Ask yourself,

Where is your focus?

Where is your faith and hope?

In the midst of any storm, do keep faith on the Creator always. He will never ever disappoint you. NEVER.

Was it fate that saved the dear or Divine grace?

Then after Harihar's event, Mahadevan tells "Karma is stark in terms of accountability. You are responsible for your life, indeed you shape it by your own actions'. God does not figure in the theory of Karma. An act might be finished here and now, in the present, but it has eternal consequences though those may affect other people as well. So you see there is no room in this for God or divine compassion or grace"

There was a German philosopher called Schopenhauer who said one can do as he wills, but not will as he wills.    

It is not even our endeavors alone that count or all of us would be millionaaires. 

"Instead  we see that some people work very hard their whole lives and never get recognized for it, not even paid adequately, Then we have the opposite - some people don't work at all but the world is at their feet, some of our politicians for example. I could go on. " 

Both operate in the world fate and endeavour. Only human endeavour must come first before fate can have a say. 

Krishan says to the Pandavas that he will do everything in his power to help but it is not in his power to alter providence!

Fate  and effort are not effective by themselves, they work in combination. 

"Kalaha Srujati bhutani kalaha samharate prajaha....." " Time creates all beings and Time destroys what is created. Destroying what is created, Time pacified by Time".

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Harihar loosing money on account of CBF and Sarla's making money on the stock-exchange, was an act that they had performed on their own will: investing money and day trading. How then was one to know the consequence of one's action in advance, protect oneself from misfortune? He had acted rationally, having taken the ordinary precautions one would take before investing money and yet, far from the expected outcome of an increase in savings, he had lost everything he had. Sarla too could have ended up with a huge loss she could not afford, but she had profited instead from other people's panic. 

All through there is the sorry of Ratan, their son's disappearance. 

Indeed a thought provoking book.