Belief in Fate and Curse
Belief in 'fate' has a great influence on the day-to-day living of the followers of Ayyavazhi. An oft-repeated refrain in Akilattirattu is that "such and such a thing happened according to the 'Oolivithi' (fate accruing from the past)".
Belief in 'sabam' (curses), an associate of fate, is also part of the ethos of Ayyavazhi. A fitting example of a curse, the oppression that the Chanars have undergone in history, is given in Akilattirattu which attributes it to a curse invoked by one of the kings of Thiruvithankur at his deathbed.
Read more about this topic: Ayyavazhi Beliefs
Famous quotes containing the words belief in, belief, fate and/or curse:
“Hang ideas! They are tramps, vagabonds, knocking at the back- door of your mind, each taking a little of your substance, each carrying away some crumb of that belief in a few simple notions you must cling to if you want to live decently and would like to die easy!”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“The expectation that every neurotic phenomenon can be cured may, I suspect, be derived from the layman’s belief that the neuroses are something quite unnecessary which have no right whatever to exist. Whereas in fact they are severe, constitutionally fixed illnesses, which rarely restrict themselves to only a few attacks but persist as a rule over long periods throughout life.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“There is nothing worse than an idle hour, with no occupation offering. People who have many such hours are simply animals waiting docilely for death. We all come to that state soon or late. It is the curse of senility.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)