Five Lamentations For The Newborn Child

“For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pritha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.6-7)

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ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि
मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्-पराः
अनन्येनैव योगेन
मां ध्यायन्त उपासते
तेषाम् अहं समुद्धर्ता
मृत्यु-संसार-सागरात्
भवामि न चिरात् पार्थ
मय्य् आवेशित-चेतसाम्

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

1. That they will suffer in school

“This child is born and everyone is elated. They are thrilled to have an addition to the family. They take so many pictures. There is one video after another, later played on repeat. Everyone sends their congratulations and well-wishes. The extended family, in particular, feels a kind of excitement.

“I, on the other hand, can only lament. I know that this poor child will likely have to sit in the classroom for many years. They will be forced to get up from bed, early in the morning, on the cold days of winter. In the summer, they will get a brief reprieve, but it is not nearly long enough.

“They will have to compete with their classmates for positioning, for reaching the top so as to get noticed by the next judge of characters. How can I be excited for this child? I would rather they never have reached this world.”

2. That they will suffer from rejection

“This poor child has no idea. They are happy and carefree right now. They are the center of attention. Everyone jumps at the slightest sign of agitation. The crying has a corresponding response rooted in the desire for pacification. People pray for the wellbeing of the innocent one.

“But I know what will happen. I can see into the future. This child will suffer the sting of rejection. After pouring heart and soul into a relationship, the other person will callously toss them aside. This poor child will feel the sting of rebuke, delivered in the harshest tones. I would never wish that on anyone, especially someone who does not see it coming.”

3. That they will suffer from lack of direction

“This poor child is in for a rude awakening. At some point down the road they will realize their mortality. Everything they have been interested in. Every action they have taken. Every accomplishment to their name. It will be crushed under the wheels of time. That time is relentless and without forgiveness. It spares no one.

“It is only natural to fall into depression upon reaching that realization. They will suffer from a lack of desire. They will have no idea what to do in life, in how to find meaning to everything. This is the worst fate, if you ask me. I would rather they have never come to this awful place.”

4. That they will suffer from disease

“This poor child is healthy today, but it will not last. Eventually, the forces of nature will make their mark. They are learning to walk today, but soon they will not be able to move one step without assistance from others. Climbing up and down the stairs will be a motion as dangerous as riding a motorcycle, running into a burning building, or jumping out of an airplane.”

5. That they will suffer from loneliness due to a lack of genuine well-wishers

“This poor child will be another victim to this sick game of life. They will be happy with friends. They will get spoiled by the care and attention of loving family members. It is all a ruse, though. Everyone merely cares for themselves.

“If this child should ever succeed in anything, others will become envious. This child will be shocked at the degree to which that envy manifests, in how supposed well-wishers turn the other way. It will be nothing that the child has done; this is simply the way of the world.

“There are no real friends. The child will eventually realize that they took birth alone, they will have to live alone, and they will one day depart this world alone. It is too much of a truth to bear. I have come to terms with it, but I try my best to shield others from this harsh reality.”

…

Upon reviewing the above, a person realizes that there is no need for venturing into the category of tragedy. If a person has skill in the literary arts, if they are adept at crafting a novel, developing a screenplay, or proposing dialogue to be played out on a stage, there is no particular need to have a tragedy.

In the sense where the ending is bad. Instead of the hero triumphantly succeeding against all odds, overcoming the aggressors, bringing the evil to justice, there is only sadness. A poor fate for an otherwise innocent person. A crime without a cause. A victim without blame.

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्
ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च
तस्माद् अपरिहार्ये ऽर्थे
न त्वं शोचितुम् अर्हसि

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur
dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca
tasmād aparihārye ‘rthe
na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

“For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.27)

The tragedy is not necessary because birth itself is the greatest misfortune that can be imagined. As Shri Krishna explains, whenever there is birth, there must be death. All miseries begin with birth. The birth in this sense, janma, relates to contact with the material nature, which is miserable and temporary.

किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणा: पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम्

kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā
bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā
anityam asukhaṁ lokam
imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām

“How much greater then are the brahmanas, the righteous, the devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.33)

Krishna describes this world as anityam and asukham. Nothing built lasts and there is no happiness. The different categories of individual who worship Shri Krishna are fortunate because they endure through the struggles. They overcome the conditions of their playing field, so to speak, by connecting with transcendence.

It is in this area that the lamentations towards the newborn can change. It does not matter if they will face discrimination based on caste, gender, ethnicity, or country of origin. The entire world may forsake them, but if they have devotion to the Supreme Lord, if they somehow receive the wisdom of the sages from an appropriate representative of the Almighty, then they can reach perfection in a single lifetime, in the manner of Prahlada Maharaja surviving the greatest hostility pressed against him during childhood.

In Closing:

What stronger case to make?
Then Prahlada’s triumph to take.

How childhood never to come back,
Memories only of hate and attack.

By the own father sent,
In torture and misery spent.

But hope from end of the ordeal,
When Narasimha from pillar to reveal.