Victory of good over evil.” This phrase encapsulates so many legends we grew up fascinated by, the Bollywood sagas that more often than not informed our sense of morality, and the larger socio-cultural narrative that formed our collective unconscious. In all of these, we were always “good”, cheerleading on the side of good. Every Dussehra, when Ram’s arrow pierced Ravan in battle, or when the Goddess impaled Mahishasur at the end of her spear, we rejoiced. Just as we did when the “hero” beat up the “villain” single-handedly in film after film. For it was crystal clear who the bad guy was, and we collectively celebrated his end.
Most of us continue to believe the narrative of our collective “goodness” well into adulthood and even throughout our lives. This might extend to our rightness as a people and country, and the fact that “we”, the good, shall continue to vanquish the other, the one that is evil. Perhaps this “othering” of evil, the firm belief in the otherness of evil, is something to examine afresh this Dussehra.
According to several philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent, there is no evil per se, only ignorance. Vedanta believes that all that is wrong, or evil, stems from ignorance of one’s true Self — that which is a spark of, and a part of, a unitive reality, Brahman. When we believe ourselves to be limited to an individual self and tied to its ego-personality, we act accordingly. We become bound to our daily neuroses. We become slaves to our thoughts and habits, perceptions and conditioning.
Swati Chopra writes on spirituality and mindfulness. Blog: swatichopra.com
