After his demise in the battle with Lord Rama, Ravana prayed in repentance to Lord Shiva for years.
He was one of Lord Shiva’s favourite devotees. Despite known for being a benevolent god, Shiva did not show up in front of Ravana.
This meant Ravana did not achieve salvation. This surprised Goddess Parvati(Lord Shiva’s partner).
She enquired why the Lord was being so harsh on his favourite devotee. He could forgive the king and open the gates for his salvation.
Upon hearing this, Lord Shiva smiled and shared an explanation. It went something like this…
“There are three types of sins that one can commit.
The first type is paap, which happens by mistake. To which forgiveness is possible if the doer repents his act and apologises.
The second is Ati-paap which include murder, kidnapping and other heinous acts. Though deplorable, there is a possibility of forgiveness even in this case.
But the third type is Maha-paap for which there is no forgiveness.”
Goddess Parvati exclaimed, ”But Ravana kidnapped Goddess Sita which is Ati-paap. Hence he should be forgiven, right?”
“No.”, replied Lord Shiva.
“If Ravana would have kidnapped Mother Sita as himself, the act would have been forgivable. But he deceived her by showing up as a Sadhu(Saint), and hence he has put sainthood in question for centuries to come. People will find it difficult to trust saints for a long time, and hence he committed Maha-paap. And it is impossible forgive such an act.”
I am paraphrasing the story from a climax scene in the movie ‘Sirf Ek Banda Hi Kaafi Hai’. The movie is based on the case fought by Lawyer P C Solanki, which put Asaram Bapu behind bars for molesting a minor.
Manoj Bajpayee, at his finest, continues the scene pointing his finger at the character of Asaram Bapu.
“And this man is Ravana. He has betrayed Guru-worship. He has molested kids. He has betrayed Lord Mahadev.”
I don’t know about you. But in that moment, I understood the gravity of the accused’s deeds.
Anyone holding on to Asaram Bapu’s image of a saint, the story would have managed to turn it into a villain.
That’s the unimaginable power of story.
One communication tip for today.
Draw parallels. Transfer emotions
The scene in the movie is the finest example of using a certain story and transferring the emotions the audience would feel towards someone or something else.
Now the question is how and where to use the tool of story in business and career. And of course, this technique can be used for positive reinforcement by us.
Here are some situations I can think of:
- Inspiring people towards the future you are building together
- Making your audience realise the importance of something
- Putting the positive spotlight on someone by comparing them to someone else
- Making audiences believe in your success by equating it with the success of some other well-known success
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