This refrain is probably as old as humanity. The desire to ‘have’ has been behind the most epochal events in human history. Desire does make it happen, but if left unchecked, can incrementally progress from ‘insistence to persistence to stubbornness’.
Our shastras have captured the wisdom of the ages so admirably. They also talk about three kinds of extreme desire or hatha. Simply put, they are Raj Hatha, Bal Hatha and Triya Hatha.
The first one relates to a recalcitrant king and his destructive royal will. King Duryodhana in the Mahabharata is a prime example of Raj Hatha.
Driven by egoistic pride, he refused to concede even a small portion of land to the Pandavas. Not as much as the tip of a needle, he declared loftily. The result in the form of the catastrophic Battle of Kurukshetra, was there for everyone to see.
Next up is Bal Hatha wherein a stubborn child refuses to yield and no one knows how to effectively distract him. Citing the story of Baby Rama, our mythology once again comes to the rescue.
A full-moon night and Kausalya trying to feed her little son, Rama. Captivated by the bright moon in the sky, Rama wants the moon before he would take another morsel of food. Rama’s wailing reverberates in the palace. The entire royal household including King Dasharatha, are at their wits’ end. No one knows how to pacify the lad.
Ultimately, it was a younger queen’s lateral thinking which finally resolved the issue. She brings forth a flat pot of water and places it in front of the crying child. Seeing the moon literally in his hands, Rama stops crying and starts eating, much to the relief of everyone.
Coming up last is a rather sexist kind of hatha, the Triya Hatha. Triya meaning wife, the term refers to the obstinacy of a lady in general terms. A woman’s fierce and unyielding resolve can go to any extent, they say.
Queen Kaikeyi in Ramayana embodies Triya Hatha. Her stubborn vile ultimately leads Lord Rama, Laxman and Sita to leave the palace in exile.
An age-old debate has been about which form of Hatha is the worst and most difficult to deal with. One school of thought says, “Triya Hath for sure. You have no clue what it means, until you have encountered it personally.”
“No, it is Bal Hatha”, some argue. “The child sees no logic, no reason. Even force cannot be used to alter his state of mind.”
“What are you saying?” counters the Raj Hatha proponent. “A child’s misplaced desire and a woman’s un-reasonability would have limited impact. A crazy king’s will gone astray, can ruin millions beyond imagination. Have you forgotten Nero?”
The shastras in their accumulated wisdom, stayed away from making a judgement call on this interesting debate. However, while doing so, they probably failed to capture the worst contingency of all- a King (Raja) throwing Bal Hatha tantrums without shame or remorse.
“For instance?”
“Oh, royalty behaving like a juvenile and desperately wanting to claim a shiny medal hanging on his sister’s neck as his own. Also, green with envy, he fancies the illicit prospects of acquiring a virgin land. Besotted and bewitched, a blinded stalker refuses to budge.”
“How would you describe it?”
“Obsessive Bal Hatha disguised as Raj Hatha, emanating from a sense of entitlement.”
“But then what do you do in such a case?”
“Nothing theatrical at all. Trust the karmic cycle, for this too shall pass. As Will Durant, the acclaimed historian says, “Generations of men establish a growing mastery over the earth, but are destined to become fossils in its soil.”
A modern-day corollary to which is: “Those running after fossil fuel today may even take the same form tomorrow.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Air Vice Marshal Rajeev Hora is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Experimental Test Pilot with over 3800 flying hours on multiple types of aircraft. His last appointment was as AOC HQ MAO at Mumbai. Previously held appointments are AOC Adv HQ WAC (Jaipur), Comdt Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Deputy Comdt AFA, AOC AFS Bidar and Deputy Technical Manager (Air) in the Acquisition Wing of MoD. He has earlier commanded a Jaguar squadron and was also the Team Leader of the IAF’s Hawk Aircraft Project Team in the UK.
