When you live in a nation like India -- with its vast landmass, varied people and ancient history -- it's quite possible that there are many things you may not know about her. It's a game almost all of us have played. Yet, as we navigated our path across the snake-and-ladder strewn board, rejoicing with every boost the ladder gave us, and groaning each time we landed on the snake to slither down many hard earned spots, barely a handful of us must have spared a thought for the game's origins.
Yep, Snakes and Ladders is an original Indian game.
The Government of India site credits the invention of the game to the 13th century saint, Gyandev. The game, they say, was originally called Mokshpat; with the ladders representing virtues and the snakes representing vices. Through its several modifications over the decades, however, the meaning of the game has remained the same -- that good deeds will take people to heaven while evil deeds will lead to a cycle of rebirths.
According to The Online Guide To Traditional Games, which also credits the game to India, the original game was called Moksha-Patamu. The concept of morality remains the same, with a ladder representing good deeds and the snakes representing evil.
The snake and ladder of life Yoga
Whatever the past karma, it is like this: let us say, until the age of 30 you earn 10
million rupees. Now you can either squander it or make it grow. In the past, you might
have created some riches within you. In this life you may either add to it or squander
it; but definitely some quality of that will be there in your life, though in
unconsciousness it may go to waste. So because of your spiritual practices, those riches
may manifest now in terms of material comfort, like a good house, the right kind of
atmosphere, or maybe good people around you. In spite of all this, you may not make
use of it and just become complacent. That is the whole cycle.
Why I repeatedly say that the whole game is like the Snake and Ladder game is; you
climb the ladder and there you’re happy. The very comfort that comes out of it, that
comes out of good karma, may make you complacent and that is it, down through the
snake you go. Then once suffering comes, you start looking and grow. You may
squander it and go down again. This is the way of the fool, wasting his energy; but
someone who has sufficient intelligence in him should even take each breath as a step
towards growth. It is very much possible. Even after reminding a person hundreds of
times, if he still does not wake up, if he is still lying down in his comforts, what can we
do?
He will be lost. He has to suffer once again, and then maybe seek growth.
This whole spiritual process is not happening to
even one per cent of the population. For all
others, when things are going well they are
laughing, and when things go bad they are
crying. There are very few people in the world
who, whichever way it is, are okay and balanced. For them nothing is a great
benediction, nothing is a problem. Everything is just another life situation through which
they can become free. The rest of the people are all the type who will go the way the
situation pushes them. They are like cattle. You have evolved into a human body, but
otherwise there is no real difference. Between the way animals live and generally the
way people live, is there any great difference qualitatively? Maybe quantitatively there is
a lot of difference.
There is more variety to your activity; you drive a car, you watch
television. All that nonsense you do, but qualitatively, where is the difference?
If the difference has to come, it can only come with awareness; there is no other way.
Generally, mental alertness is mistaken for awareness, but awareness is a far deeper
dimension than just mental alertness alone. When awareness arises within you, love
and compassion will be the natural follow-up; then each breath becomes a step towards
growth.
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