Her doubts were not dispelled inspite of my attempts to tell her the truth. It
appears that the creator is ill-disposed towards her and the stars are opposed to her
well-being. These are bad omens and they portend harm for her^2. (6)
What is the use of unnecessarily debating and contemplating upon things
which are beyond one’s reach and grasp; what is the benefit of uselessly creating
imaginary trees with their extended branches for things? It’s best, therefore, to leave
the fate and whatever is to happen in the unknown realm of the future in the hands of
Lord Ram, for ultimately it is the Lord’s wish that shall prevail. [So, there is no point
in worrying unnecessarily)’ (7)
[Note—^1 It is clever to use the phrase “daughter of Daksha” for Sati. Daksha, Sati’s
father, was also egoist, stubborn and arrogant by nature. He also lacked wisdom and
could not understand that Lord Shiva was not merely his son-in-law by the virtue of
marriage of his daughter Sati with him, but is the “Mahadeva”, the greatest of all the
gods, the most enlightened and powerful among the entire lot. So Daskha harboured
ill-will against Lord Shiva and did not think twice before insulting the Lord. Daksha
was so stupid that he did not realise that if Lord Shiva did not pay heed to his
insultive behaviour it was not that the Lord was afraid to take revenge or was afraid
of Daksha, but it was because Shiva was immune to such gross emotions as feeling
elated at being honoured or angry at being insulted as he was beyond such things
being a renunciate ascetic and an extremely self-realised god amongst the pantheon of
gods. Daksha held Shiva in very low esteem and had boycotted him during the fire
sacrifice when offerings are supposed to be made to all the gods without exception—
refer: Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, Chaupai line nos. 1-3 that precede Doha no. 62.
Being his daughter, Sati inherited many of her father’s traits—one being stubborn,
and the other to treat Shiva to be of a low intellect. We shall soon read that inspite of
learning the hard way that what her husband Lord Shiva had told her with respect to
Lord Ram being the absolute truth, she continued to disobey Shiva and doubt his
advice. When the Lord advised her against going to participate in the fire sacrifice
organised by her father Daksha because she won’t be welcome, Sati did not pay heed
to him and was adamant to go. Of course, she faced scorn and taunts there, and
finally, being unable to bear with the insult, she had burnt herself in the fire
sacrifice—refer: Ram Charit Manas, Baal Kand, from Chaupai line no. 7 that
precedes Doha no. 62—to Chaupai line no. 8 that precedes Doha no. 64.
Sati has also been addressed as ‘the daughter of Daksha’ later on in this narration
in Chaupai line no. 7 that precedes Doha no. 55 where it is said that she ‘was so
dazed by the magical sighting of numerous images of Lord Ram in his Viraat form
that for a moment she felt giddy and her senses were numbed, leading to her being
blinded for sometime’.
(^2) And this was the ‘harm’ that Sati suffered—she not only was overwhelmed with
guilt that made her lose her mental peace and face (refer—Baal Kand, Chaupai line
nos. 5-6 that precedes Doha no. 55; Doha no. 57 ka; Chaupai line no. 4 that precedes
Doha no. 58; and Chaupai line nos. 1-5 that precede Doha no. 59), but she also
acquired ignominy for herself in the annals of history as a stubborn and stupid woman
who did not obey her wise husband (refer—Baal Kand, Chaupai line nos. 1-5 that
precede Doha no. 59). She also had to suffer being abandoned by her husband
(refer—Baal Kand, Chaupai line nos. 7-8 that precede Doha no. 56; and Chaupai line
no. 3 that precedes Doha no. 58), and ultimately burn herself in the fire sacrifice at
her father’s place, resulting in the ruin of the whole family when Lord Shiva sent his
follower named Birbhadra to punish Daksha and destroy his fire sacrifice (refer—
Baal Kand, Chaupai line nos. 1-3 that precedes Doha no. 65).]