‘More so than you can imagine. The Devas and the Asuras, just like the Chandravanshis and
the Suryavanshis, represent two balancing life forces — a duality’
‘Duality?’
‘Yes, a duality that is one of the many perspectives of the universe — the masculine and the
feminine. The Asuras and the Suryavanshis stand for the masculine. The Devas and the
Chandravanshis speak for the feminine. The names change, but the life forces they embody
remain the same. They will always exist. There is no way that either can be destroyed.
Otherwise the universe will implode.’
‘And they see their fight with the other as the eternal struggle between good and evil.’
‘Exactly,’ beamed the Pandit, marvelling at Shiva’s keen mind even in this time of distress.
‘But they haven’t been fighting all the time. Sometimes, there have been long periods of
cooperation as well. In times of strife, which usually happens when there is evil, it is easiest to
blame each other. A difference of opinion between two dissimilar ways of life gets portrayed as
a fight between good and evil. Just because the Chandravanshis are different from the
Suryavanshis doesn’t mean that they are evil. Why do you think the Neelkanth had to be an
outsider?’
‘So that he would not be biased towards any one point of view,’ said Shiva, as a veil lifted
before his eyes.
‘Exactly! The Neelkanth has to be above all this. He has to be devoid of any bias.’
‘But I was not beyond biases. I was convinced that the Chandravanshis are evil. Maybe
what Anandmayi says is right. Maybe I am naive, easily misled.’
‘Don’t be so hard on yourself, my friend. You cannot drop from the sky knowing everything,
can you? You would have to enter from any one side. And whichever side you entered the
equation from, you would obviously be coloured by their viewpoint, seeing the other side as evil.
You realized your error early. Lord Rudra did not recognise it till it was almost too late. He had
nearly destroyed the Asuras before he grasped the simple fact that they were not evil, just
different.’
‘Nearly destroyed them? You mean some Asuras still exist?’
The Pandit smiled mysteriously. ‘That conversation is for another time my friend. The point
you need to understand is that you are not the first Mahadev who was misled. And you will not
be the last. Imagine, if you will, what Lord Rudra’s feelings of guilt must have been?’
Shiva kept quiet, his eyes downcast. The knowledge of Lord Rudra’s guilt did not reduce the
shame that racked his soul. Reading his thoughts, the Pandit continued. ‘You took the best
decision you could take under the circumstances. I know this will be cold comfort, but being the
Neelkanth isn’t easy. You will have to bear the burden of this guilt. I know the kind of person
you are. It will be a heavy burden. Your challenge is not to ignore the guilt or the pain. You
have too good a heart to be able to do that. Your challenge is to stay true to your karma, to
your duty, in spite of the pain. That is the fate and the duty of a Mahadev.’
‘But what kind of a Mahadev am I? Why am I required? How am I to destroy evil if I don’t
know what evil is?’
‘Who said your job is to destroy evil?’
A startled Shiva glared at the Pandit. He hated the irritating word games that these pandits
seemed to love.
Glimpsing the anger in Shiva’s eyes, the Pandit clarified immediately. ‘The strength that evil
has is overestimated, my friend. It is not so difficult to annihilate. All it takes is for a few good
singke
(singke)
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