Copyright@kamleshsujata1
By Kamlesh Tripathi
Long time ago, in a far away kingdom lived a king. He wanted
to know about the complete history of mankind beginning from the birth of the
first man till the present day man. He therefore summoned all the Vidvans (scholars) in his kingdom and
asked them how much time, will they take to provide him with this valuable and unique
knowledge. Vidvans discussed the
matter amongst themselves, after which the senior most out of them got up and
humbly said, ‘Your majesty this will take a long time, but still we will try
and complete the exercise in about 20 years. And it will cost around 27,000
gold coins.
Although, the cost
and time for the job was exorbitant, the king was still eager to know about the
history of mankind. And, therefore he agreed to their proposal and handed over
the gold coins to them and decided to wait for the findings.
When the king had
ordered for this exercise twenty years back he was 50 years old. And since then
twenty years had passed and he was now 70. And, upon completion of the promised
period, Vidvans reached the palace of
the king with some 2000 books in 20 elephants. But by now the king had grown
old and his eyesight and hearing had receded. And even his health was not as
good as before; that he could have sat and attempted to read these voluminous books,
because to read these fat books one required at least a time frame of ten
years.
King softly said, ‘With
this health condition of mine ten years is a long period. So kindly reduce the
number of books for me further.’
Vidvans again got into a huddle to discuss the issue and came out in
consensus, ‘Your Majesty, we will surely fulfil your wishes of reducing the
number of books, but it will take five years and 5000 gold coins.’ The king had
no choice being midway but to accord his approval. And after 5 years, the team of Vidvans as agreed entered the King’s
palace with some 200 books.
But in the last 5
years the king had fallen sick and had become so weak that he could not even
move. And his eyesight and hearing capability had reduced so substantially that
he couldn’t have gone through these books.
The king therefore smiled,
and politely said, ‘I am obliged, that you all worked so hard for me, but now, I
am physically not capable of reading these huge books. And, in case someone tries
to read it to me, then also it will take a lot of time so kindly reduce the
number of books further.’ Vidvans again
agreed to the King’s request, but told him it will take one year and 1000 gold
coins to complete the exercise, to which the king again agreed.
And after a year, all
the Vidvans as agreed reached the king’s
palace with three voluminous books, but by now the king’s health had
deteriorated further and the doctors had given up hopes, and pundits and
priests in the kingdom had started their prayers to save him.
One Vidvan went close to the king and said, ‘Your
majesty we have finally summarised the entire history of mankind into just 3 voluminous
books for you to read and benefit.’ King replied in dejection, ‘Now it is too
late, as I am on my death bed. My wealth, time and efforts, all went for a
waste in pursuit of this knowledge. And before I even start reading the history
of mankind that you all have brought for me, my death will take me far away.
‘Nahi Rajan’ (No your majesty) said the Vidvan standing close to the king, ‘you’ll
surely know about history of mankind. And, should I tell you about it, in your
ears?’ King was in deep pain, but he made an effort to say, ‘Well if you can
narrate the history of mankind in my ears, please do it fast.’
Vidvan respectfully bowed at the king and
whispered in his ears, ‘a man is born, he eats all his life and at the end he
dies. And, in short, this is the ultimate story and reality of mankind.’
‘That’s all, only this much,’ said the king and he expired.
This is such a
story out of the Vedas (religious
scriptures) that narrates, how the majority of mankind have spent their time in
this world. They are born, they eat and in spare time they do some work and one
day because of tension and disease they expire.
Can we not do better than this?
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