GB ‘Lokkhi in Olokhhi’ – MRINAL MANDAL
It is often said when Devas & Asuras churned the ocean of milk (samudra manthan) Goddess Lakhsmi finally appeared with the eagerly awaited ‘amritam,’ that would make them immortal. Lakkhi, the paragon of virtue and Goddess of prosperity and good fortune, was preceded by Olokhhi -- the dark Goddess, who lashes mankind with misfortune, vice and ruins, came out with ‘Holahol’- the poison.
The Lokkhi and Olokkhi saga advocates for the requirement for balancing act of material needs in human life and symbolizes the consequences when greed of people overpowers need, lust takes over love and selfishness defeats selflessness. When we fail in this balancing act (most of us, if not all of us, do fail), result comes in our life in terms of ill physical and moral health, disobedient and dishonest siblings and in terms of utter feeling of restlessness and insecurity; what is often called the curse of Olokkhi.
Our lifestyle, our thought process, our virtue should be programmed in a way that we always strive for striking this very important balance in life. Otherwise, we won't even be able to recognize when our greed has become our need and at what point of time, even the amritam turns to poison. This is the point, when the role of Olokkhi comes into play. She warns us of the consequences we can face if we don’t maintain that balance and the most unfortunate part is - we won’t even know that it happened.
Now the point is - is there a way out of coming out this vicious cycle. Yes. . . There is one -- that is our righteousness. Why not accumulate less and distribute more, please ourselves less and make others happy more, focus on financial health less and on mental, physical, social and spiritual health more, be sincere in what you do but don’t be serious, because we can't be too sure of the result of our effort. So, be dispassionate. And finally - try to be happy and don’t try to show others that you are happy. Olokhhi is just a symbolic representation of what goes on within a human mind and human life.
