STAIRCASE TO HEAVEN

It’s said a famous mythological demon,

Had an ambitious aspiration,

He wanted to build a staircase to Heaven,

But failed because he had an obligation.

A certain famous kid-brother,

Had disfigured, face of the demon’s sister,

He never thought to look deep into the matter,

In a fatal fit of anger,

He abducted the spouse of the Eternal Illuminator,

Not a very smart manoeuvre,

About which he regretted much, much later.

On deathbed he made a confession,

There is always a gap between intention and action,

Only difference between good and demon,

Is the extent of that gap minimization,

With a well thought decision,

Only if he had made a quick materialization,

Of the staircase to Heaven,

Only if he hadn’t given into that obligation,

Only if he had tried to find the reason.

He might have failed; he would have been a nobody,

Better still, at least not the “Raavan”.

This is my understanding of the famous Indian Epic “Ramayana”. Though it’s said to be a completely made up story, but every chapter of this story teaches you a thing or two about how to be successful and more importantly good human being, only if Raavan had decided to go instantly with a constructive idea, rather than with a destructive plan, he wouldn’t have had the “evil” tag. I feel this is the essence of every modern day success story. I was also deeply moved by a phrase “gap between intention and action” I found in Paulo Coehlo’s book “Veronika decides to die”.