Sumathi Sataka - Its relevance to modern living (7)

“Ichchunade vidya, ranamuna
jochhunade magatanambu, sukaviswarulun
mechhunade nerpu, vaduku
vachhunade keedu vasudhanu Sumathi”

In this world
"Knowledge is to be imparted
going into war fearlessly is valour
Expertise is recognized by the top experts
A bad thing to happen hunts the person (to whom it happen)"

On the face of it this looks a simple and straight forward poem. It is a well known thing that Knowledge needs to be imparted to others. Such imparted knowledge increases the quest for knowledge further and adds further to the mankind's knowledge. If one has knowledge but did not impart / teach it to others then such knowledge ends with that person and will not be of much help to anyone.
Valour of a person can be gauged by the fearlessness with which the person gets into a war. The war may be an actual war or any situation which is like a war. In other words it is like an situation threatening existence (existential crises). At such times one needs show fearlessness and other such traits as far as possible. There is an old idiom “a cat will fight back if cornered”. If one is not showing such traits then the existence itself will be endangered.
Similarly an expert is one who is acknowledged by other experts in the field. A writer or poet cannot be taken as great / expert unless the person is acknowledged by the top people in the field. The inner meaning of this line is that one should acquire expertise to such an extent that he / she is acknowledged by other top people in that field and peers. A half learner is no learner.

If a bad thing is destined for some one it will catch the person wherever the person hides. There is a story in Indian mythology about king Parikshit. He kills some snakes while on a hunting trip on some day and their king Vasuki vows to kill king Parikshit before a specified time. Otherwise Vasuki will kill himself. Parikshit came to know about this vow and built a citadel on a single pillar. All movement to the citadel is restricted through a way in the pillar and the entrance was heavily guarded. The soldiers were inspecting every item and every person going into the citadel. King Vasuki sent several snakes to try and creep into the citadel to kill Parikshit but all the attempts were identified and the snakes were killed. Finally Vasuki takes the form of a small worm and gets into a fruit (a berry). A person was instructed to take this fruit along with several other fruits in a basket and gift it to King Parikshit. The guards thoroughly checked the person and the fruits but could not identify the small hole through which Vasuki entered the berry in the form of a worm. The basket is gifted to King Parikhit. When he opened the basket, the worm came out and took the form of snake to bite and kill King Parikshit thus King Vasuki fulfilling his vow. The ultimate moral of the story is nothing can stop a bad thing from happening if it is destined to happen.

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