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Vali Vadham 57

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Hari Krishnan • December 23, 2002 


Do ends justify means?


As we have been discussing earlier, Rama if he were really selfish, would have shifted his preference to Vali as against Sugriva.  If it was his purpose to recover Sita alone, he would have resorted to that course only.  Why should one have to undergo all the trouble when you have a person here, who is as good as a devotee, who admires you, who secretly worships you and who has established a clear superiority over your enemy, ready and available to do the job for you?  

In fact that's what even Vali asked Rama.  "I would have brought (back) your wife (the princess of Mithila) to you in a single day, had you but moved me in this behalf before; for it is for this that I have been killed by you, keen as you were to oblige Sugriva.  Nay, tying round the neck the evil-minded ogre, Ravana, who stole away your wife, I would have handed him over to you without his being killed in battle.  I could have brought back at your command the princess of Mithila even if she had been kept in a place surrounded by sea water..." (Valmiki Ramayana, Kishkindha Kanda, Canto 17, Sloka 48-51)

Kamban's Vali, who initially chided him for his vain attempt in allying himself with Sugriva, laments during the hour of his death that it was his misfortune that he could not get an opportunity to be of service to Rama.  'matru ilEn eninum maaya arakkanai vaalin patri' Even if I could not do other things, I would have tied that demon with my tail, 'kotrava nin kaN thandhu' and would have produced him before you. 'kurakku iyal thozhilum kaatap petrilEn' Alas, it is my misfortune that I could not do so.

Victory was minutes away for Sri Rama, had he chosen to change his mind, once he came to know that Vali was the better of the two.  Agreed that he has given his word to Sugriva before he came to know of the prowess of Vali.  He could have changed his mind, if he were really selfish!  After all that is what we are witnessing in today's scenario, be it politics or business or any other walk of life.  Who cares for how things are to be done?  Ends justify means.  If the results are good, then the way one adopts to reach the goal need not be gone into.  If the result is good, the road that leads to it must also be considered good, even if it is really not.  

That was one aspect and only one aspect of the answer.  But that cannot be considered to be wholly right.  Rama would not have chosen Vali, even if the information that he was better was made known to him, before he gave word to Sugriva.  When speaking of a character like Rama, such a possibility is not even imaginable.  

If Rama established Dharma and demanded it from others too, the demand that he made on himself was much more in adhering to the principles.  For him the ends have to be good and the means to attain those ends should also be, necessarily, good.  What he needed here was assistance in his endeavour and not an alternative for his own self.  Rama could not have thought of such a course.  Even if he had done so, Sita would not have approved it!




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