All mythologies generously use adjectives such as brave, courageous, beautiful, powerful and so on to describe their characters. The small print, however, talks of their determination, optimism and perseverance, not falling prey to poor self-esteem and dejection. Only such people become legends. For instance, Vishwamitr, the fiery-tempered sage. Vishwamitr was once a powerful king. While on a world tour with a large entourage, he met Sage Vasisht. The sage welcomed him and wished to entertain him. Incredulous at the thought of a sage being able to feed his entire retinue, the king politely refused. But the sage insisted. And so a life-changing event took place. The sage commanded his cow Sabala to lay a regal repast. As the astounded king watched, delicacies after delicacies were being placed before him and the entire army. Greed veered its head and the king desired to possess Sabala. Vasisht refused to part with Sabala. Vishwamitr tried all means to convince the sage and finally resorted to violence. Vasisht stopped all of Vishwamitr’s arrows with his staff alone. Vishwamitr was jealous of the sage’s prowess. He decided to harness that power. His goal was to attain the status equal to Vasisht’s, in terms of spiritual merit. Sudhamahi Regunathan
