The lines featured are spoken as the mother who has been
stung by the scorpion is presumably dying of the poison that courses through her veins.
The lines are spoken by the villagers who have crowded around upon hearing of the woman
being stung by the scorpion. Their words bring to light the traditional belief that the
woman's soul will live on while the body dies. This faith in the universality of the
soul and its immutable nature is the reason why they speak of another life, and a chance
at living a life that will be different, and presumably better, than this one as the
woman is dying.
May the sum of all evil
balanced in this unreal
world
against the sum of
good
become diminished by your
pain.
The first
two lines bring out the idea that what is experienced in this life in terms of evil
actions done in malevolent ways is unreal, as it is not reflective of the true spirit
and the vision that it brings. The idea of human consciousness is seen as a balance of
evil and good done in one's lifetime is also brought out. The "unreal world" is a
version of maya, or illusion. The villagers probably believe the Hindu belief that the
soul must go through multiple rebirths to fully understand that the "unreal" nature of
the world is this maya and that moksha, or salvation, can only be achieved through
constant recognition of what is real and what is unreal. The idea that the woman's pain
being endured because of the poison of the sting is something that the villagers believe
will help her achieve salvation in her next birth. She experienced the worst of this
"unreal world" and that this is what will allow "the sum of good" to become the mother's
defining characteristic in this life, and what she takes into the next
one.
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