#human fate

Alfred Kubin (1877–1959), “Human Fate”

etching & aquatint , 1903

from The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, James Canton

The epic explores themes of family ties and conflict, duty and courage, fate and choice, and present them in a series of allegories to explain the elements of dharma, a complex concept of "correct conduct."

"There are two forces: fate and human effort --- all men depend on and are bound by these, there is nothing else."

What is right and wrong is seldom clear, and it is by reconciliating conflicting interests such as love and duty that we can achieve liberation from the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

While most of the poem show its characters dealing with moral dilemmas in their human affairs, in the final sections, and especially after the death of Krishna, we see them facing up to their spiritual fate.

The story ends, after much tragedy and conflict, with the protagonists achieving eternal bliss, but also with the warning that the human struggles continue here on Earth.

leave a little kindness

~ Edvard Munch

{Munch - Starry Night (1922–24)}