Nala and Damayanti

Illumination, heroism and harmony are three major powers that can uplift to higher and higher levels. It may be useful to explore and illustrate the meanings of these three terms by giving examples of those qualities through appropriate stories. This monograph, entitled Nala and Damayanti, could as well have been called "the Art of Victory". This ancient story by wisdom enabled two human beings, crushed by adverse circumstances, to emerge victorious from a terrible ordeal. Because they were intensely pure and sincere, they could, even at the worst moments, remain open to luminous intuitions; they could keep their strength and courage; they could let themselves be guided at all times by an invisible hand. By constantly invoking a higher force, they placed themselves under ts protection and they kept their mind and heart open to its action-that force actively present in the universe that pushes towards justice, harmony and unity. This is an extraordinary demonstration of how, by clinging to the golden thread of love and faith, one can traverse the whirlpools and dangerous undercurrents of the river of life and reach the other shore, on the firm ground of joy and freedom. There is nothing surprising in the fact that this story, like all those to be found in the ancient epics of India, contains great knowledge. The poets who wrote them did not intend merely to tell a tale in a beautiful or the people. They were architects and sculptors of life. Their epics contain a deep reflection on life, on psychology, on society, politics and religion-a pure fountain of knowledge at which, even today, one can quench one's thirst..

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