The Inner Meaning of Curses and Blessings in Scripture

Question:

Sister, what about curses and blessings — shraap and vardaan? How should we understand them in the scriptures?

Answer

Yes, both shraap (curse) and vardaan (blessing) are definitely there, and they always have significance.

Wherever the scriptures mention a curse, it means that something has to happen — there is something in us that still needs to be corrected.
It indicates that there is still some impurity or negativity within us that must be purified.

So when a curse appears in a story, it’s pointing toward this:
“You still have certain weaknesses — now you must face experiences that will help you purify them.”

For example, in the Bhagavat Purana, there is the story of Jaya and Vijaya.
The Sanaka sages cursed them: “You will take birth in an animal or demonic form.”
Why did they curse them?

Because they still weren’t fully pure — some impure tendencies remained.
So they had to go through suffering, take birth in a lower state, and through that pain they would turn again toward God.
That suffering would make their thoughts pure, and only then would they return to their divine state.

So a curse is not to harm — it actually helps us move toward purification and higher consciousness.
It is a form of divine correction.

In the same way, whenever the scriptures speak of vardaan (a blessing), I will explain it to you when we come across it in the stories.

But understand this clearly:
A curse or a blessing doesn’t mean that someone literally said, “I curse you,” or “I bless you,” and something magically happens.
No.

No one’s harm actually comes from a curse, and no one’s welfare automatically comes from a blessing.

Shraap and vardaan both point to the state of our own personality —
whether we still need to rise higher, or whether we are already uplifted.

A curse or a blessing simply indicates what is inevitable (avashya bhavitavyata) — what must surely happen in our spiritual growth.

If at a given time, my nature has a weakness, that is symbolized as a shraap (curse).
If my nature holds a virtue or strength, that is symbolized as a vardaan (blessing).

So when these terms — vardaan and shraap — appear throughout the stories, I will keep reminding you to understand them symbolically, not literally.

Both are spiritual symbols that point to our inner state — to our abilities and our limitations, our purity and our impurity.