Friday, October 17, 2008

Sukra

For Indonesian people, Sukra sounds like a kind of nuts. It is so sad, yet nothing I can do about it. I think it is a bit hard to ban some names to be a product’s brand. Sukra is actually a character in Wayang (traditional Javanese or Balinese drama performance), with its full name Sukra Maharesi.

Sukra was a human with power that should only be possessed by god. With the power owned, gods became anxious, afraid that they would lose their dignity, and worried that the gods’ fate will prevail any longer. The power he owned was Amertasanjiwani, a power that could reawaken dead people. By having the power, he helped others without thinking about status and friends or enemies. In other words, Sukra means eternal immortality in professionalism.

Sukra had a daughter named Dewayani and a student named Kaca. Kaca was a god’s envoy (but his identity was not known by Sukra) who was assigned to take in Amertasanjiwani and reminded his teacher that the power should not be taught to anyone.

*In Vedic legend, Sukra was the teacher of Asura (giant). While Kaca was learning, Asura found out his identity and finally he was killed by Asura. Sukra as Asura’s friend and teacher reawakened Kaca, who was actually his enemy.

Dewayani’s love was rejected by Kaca because of his desire to be a brahmacarya that means not getting married forever. Finally Dewayani decided to marry to Prabu Yayati, who begot a line of Pandawa’s family.

The gloomy part of this story was that Prabu Yayati, who was a bold and courageous king, turned into an old man as he was cursed by Sukra. It happened since he defied his prohibition that was having an affair with another woman.

That’s the short story of Sukra. By the way, in astrology Vedic, Sukra was another name for Venus in Sansekerta language that means white or light; for Friday or sperm in Javanese langguage.

Enjoy, peace, and love from Sukra. (130 170708)

Reference:
Indonesian Wayang Encyclopedia, vol. 4, Sena Wangi, Jakarta, 1999.
http://www.kamalkapoor.com/puja/images/sukra_venus.jpg

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