Square 17: Mercy (daya)
Leela Atlas team · Updated
Square 17 in Leela is Mercy, daya in Sanskrit, and it holds one of the longest arrows on the board. Landing here lifts the player from the second row straight to square 69, the Absolute plane. Johari explains that compassion and forgiveness strong enough carry a person from the second chakra to the eighth level, though past karma is not yet spent.
What square 17 means
Johari describes Mercy as compassion and the power to forgive, so strong that it changes the player's whole level at once. After the fears and envies of the second row, square 17 shows the opposite movement: instead of contracting around a loss, the heart opens and lets go of the grievance. That release is enough, in the logic of the board, to carry the player past every chakra.
The Sanskrit daya means compassion, kindness, the wish to relieve another's suffering. In Indian ethics it is counted among the noblest qualities. Daya does not mean weakness or approving harm. It means seeing the other clearly and still choosing not to strike back.
Yet Johari adds a sober note. The arrow of Mercy lands on 69, the Absolute plane in the eighth row, not on 68, Cosmic consciousness, the goal. The player has leapt beyond the chakras while their karma remains, so the game is not finished. From the top row the only way down is the snake of Inertia (tamoguna) at 72, which returns the player to 51, Earth. Square 17 teaches that forgiveness is immensely powerful, and that a sudden leap does not replace the slow work still to be done.
On the board
Square 17 is the foot of an arrow in row 2, the Realm of Fantasy, just after the snake of Jealousy at 16. A player reaches it by an ordinary throw; no other arrow or snake leads here. Landing on 17 lifts you directly to square 69, the Absolute plane, in row 8, beyond the chakras. Play then continues in the top row, where square 72, Inertia (tamoguna), is a snake back down to 51 Earth.
The Bhagavad Gita and this square
Gita 16.2 counts compassion for all beings among the divine qualities, while warning of a false pity that paralyses; true mercy is clear and strong. In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira refuses to enter heaven without the dog that followed him, compassion that will not abandon even the humblest companion.
The Gita counts compassion for all beings as a divine quality. But there is also a false pity that paralyses; true mercy is clear and strong.
Gita 16.2 · Yudhishthira and the dog
Questions to reflect on
- Whom could I forgive today?
- Is there a grudge I keep because it protects me?
- How would I treat myself if I showed myself the same mercy?
Questions
What happens when you land on square 17 in Leela?
Square 17, Mercy, is an arrow. Landing on it lifts you from the second row directly to square 69, the Absolute plane, in the eighth row. You then keep playing in the top row. Because square 69 lies beyond 68, the goal, the game is not over: the snake of Inertia (tamoguna) at 72 can still return you to 51 Earth.
Why does the arrow of Mercy go past square 68 to 69?
Johari explains that mercy carries the player beyond the chakras to the Absolute plane, but past karma remains. Square 69 is Brahma's plane, the creative principle, which can give form but cannot free the player. So the leap is real yet incomplete: the player must still come back through Inertia (72) to 51 Earth and continue.
Which arrows can save a player who fell to Nullity in Leela?
A player dropped to square 13, Nullity, by the snake of Negative intellect at 61 has two arrows just ahead. Mercy at 17 lifts to 69, the Absolute plane, and Charity at 20 lifts to 32, the Plane of balance. Johari names exactly these two virtues as the ones that can intervene after that fall.
Related squares
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