THE INEVITABLES

EVFRYONE must reap the result of his past
Karma. One must admit the influence of
tendencies inherited from the past births and the
result of the Prarabdha karma. And one must
remember that pleasure and pain are the
characteristics of the embodied state. In Kavi
Kankan's Chandi it is written that Kaluvir was sent
to prison and a heavy stone placed on his chest.
Yet Kalu was born as the result of a boon from the
Divine Mother of the Universe. Thus pleasure and
pain are inevitable when one accepts a body.
Again, take the case of Srimanta, who was a great
devotee. Though his mother, Khullana, was very
much devoted to the Divine Mother, there was no
end to his troubles. He was almost beheaded.
There is also the instance of the wood-cutter who
was a great lover of the Divine Mother. She
appeared before him and showed him much grace
and love; but he had to continue his profession of
wood-culling, and earn his livelihood by that
arduous work. Again, while Devaki, Krishna's
Mother, was in the prison she had a vision of God
Himself endowed with four hands, holding mace,

discus, conch-shell and lotus. But with all that she
could not get out of the prison.