Thread by @mmpandit

A few people feel that there are some things in the Hindu scriptures which cannot possibly be true.
For example
Boons vs curses
Hanuman’s flight
Etc
A short thread to put some of these things to rest.

Let’s come to curses first:
Years ago, in med school, a senior friend of mine, now a doctor abroad related a true story which happened according to him around 10 generations ago.
No male member of his family ever crossed 50 years of age! Why?
Acc to him: a curse by a Brahmana.

10 generations ago, his ancestor was friends with a Brahmana who wanted to go on a Kashi yatra.
He had a bit of money and gold which he entrusted to my friend’s ancestor.

My friend’s ancestor agreed to keep it safely for him if and when he would return.
Those sort of days

Now, eventually what happened is that a decade or so later passed by and my friend’s ancestor one fine day motivated by a little bit of curiosity(maybe greed) finally opened the package entrusted to him.
There was gold and other effects in it.

His greed activated, his intelligence perverted by the gold, he took to the path of severe adharma.
My friends ancestor sold all the effects of that person and made his life better.
Years passed by... he was happy.

Having screwed someone’s life, he couldn’t possibly think about what was to happen next...
A few years went by. One day the impossible happened and that man returned from the Kashi Yatra.

That man was now a sadhu, his body purified by intense Tapascharya...

Maybe he was just a small sadhu... maybe his Brahmacharya vrata was perfect, maybe he had accumulated a lot of merit by that Kashi yatra... we will never know what sort of power he accumulated except by the effect of his words...

Nowadays people think that a Brahmana is but a fool... and Kashi yatra is but a aeroplane trip away...
but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting... in this case it was in the final outcome of what happened...

He asked my friend’s ancestor for his personal effects ... gold and all.
My friend’s ancestor refused to recognise him... finally got him thrown out of his house.
The Brahmana wept... then in extreme anger (in Marathi there is a word kalkalun)... he gave a shraapa!

Hear the Shraapa... “Nirvansha ho! Let the descendants lose their longevity like you lost what was mine”
Then he died... having delivered that curse.
Curses and blessings are the most powerful thing in the Universe...

You know the power of his austerities by the effect of his words 500 years ago..
till today not a single male member of my friend’s family crossed the age of 50. Most died badly... that my friend is the power of a curse.. never take these things lightly..

This is a real story. My friend wishes that his ancestor had never done something so wicked. But such is life... I will continue the thread some days later.