Vengeance can be self-destructive

When we are wronged, we react in three different ways. The confident lot points out the injustice meted out to them and clarify the matter then and there. Then there is the timid sort who are scared to articulate and wait for some external support to vindicate themselves. The third variety seethes from within and nurse hot embers buried within seemingly cold ashes, waiting for an opportunity to avenge. The first two categories of people are only being human; however, the third group happens to be inflicting a deep psychological wound on themselves by choosing to stay on guard all the time to settle scores.

An episode from the Mahabharata elucidates the futility of waiting in vengeance which eventually wastes away life. When Arjuna burnt down the Khandava forest, thousands of snakes perished. One of them who managed to escape vowed to kill Arjuna. Several years passed, the snake could not do much. Once the war of Kurukshetra was declared, the serpent approached Karna, the archrival of Arjuna, and sought to become his ally during the Great War. The reptile metamorphosed into an arrow and found a place in Karna’s quiver and waited for the red-lettered day of his life. It was towards the last leg of the eighteen-day war, the two mortal enemies confronted each other. When Karna poised himself to discharge the Nagastra, Krishna realised the gravity of the situation. Since there was hardly any time to apprise Arjuna of what could follow, he simply used his capability as the charioteer. When Karna’s well-aimed arrow reached Arjuna, the Nagastra could only whisk the prince’s crown. The devastated serpent returned to Karna and requested to be propelled again, but Karna rejected the plea because he had vowed never to use the same weapon for the second time.

The incident is an instance of a wasted life of the serpent who spent it in ill will and resentment and it ended in utter failure when matters could have been sorted out at the first instance. On the other hand, the serpent could have adopted the policy of 'forgive and forget' and moved on. So, the next time, we are aggrieved, we must act pronto or simply let go instead of wasting our precious life away.