Copyright@shravancharitymission
By Kamlesh Tripathi
Maharishi Mandalya
was a scholar of great repute. He had many pupils in his hermitage. One day two
of his pupils went out of the hermitage and near the close by river, to collect
some flowers and fruits. And while going they saw a scorpion crawling near the
banks of the river. The first pupil while cautioning the second one said, ‘beware
of the poisonous scorpion, as Guru ji has said to keep away from bad people and
bad things.’
In the meanwhile the scorpion slipped and
fell into the river and started struggling, to save its own life. And on seeing
the scorpion struggling, the second pupil bent over and picked the scorpion with
his hands and put it back on the banks of the river. And while doing so the scorpion
stung him and soon he was in deep pain as the poison of the scorpion started
spreading.
The first pupil, when he saw the second one
in deep pain got angry and said, ‘You did not follow the teachings of the Guru
and that is why you are in deep pain now.’ The second pupil replied, ‘No I have
followed the teachings of our Guru, and he can’t be wrong.’ And, that started
the vehement argument between the two, about the teachings of the Guru.
And in spite of the severe pain, the second
pupil told the first one, ‘Our Guru, has taught us to help anyone in need, and
at any cost, and even if others don’t agree to our sentiments. And the way
scorpion’s nature is to sting, my nature is to save the scorpion from drowning.’
The first pupil said, ‘But our Guru has
also taught us to keep away from bad people and to protect ourselves. And you have
violated this rule of the Guru, and that is why you are in deep pain.
Both stuck to their guns and could not
reach a conclusion. Finally they went to the guru and narrated the whole
episode. Maharishi with a smiling face heard both, and in a peaceful tone said,
‘Up to a point you both are correct and beyond a point you both are incorrect. You
all have not understood my teachings properly, as there is no contradiction in what
I’ve taught you.’
‘When I taught you to stay away from bad people
and things, what I meant was don’t let yourself get polluted by the evil. And every
intelligent person should do this only till he doesn’t develop the inherent capacity
to remove evil from the society. When I taught you not to give up your helping
nature, the objective behind was to teach you service. You should be like a
true doctor, who doesn’t decipher between enmity and friendship and should only
concentrate and be eager on reducing and removing pain.
In this episode the second pupil got mixed up
with both the teachings. It was his duty to save the drowning creature. But he
could have used a stick for that. There was no need to use your hand. By using
a stick he could have saved that scorpion as well as himself.
‘If the evil is powerful and big, what
should one do?’ asked a pupil. The guru replied, ‘your first obligation is to
save yourself, because to stay alive is the biggest obligation of life. Later on
if it’s possible you can kill the evil with your materialistic and spiritual
powers.
This
interesting story tells us how we should help others and while helping others
we should also keep in mind that we don’t hurt ourselves. And as our gurus have
said, help others by keeping yourself safe.
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