STORY: WASHERMAN AND THE DONKEY

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    There was once a lazy and a wicked dhobi (washerman) by the name of Nankau. He had an obedient and a long serving donkey at home. Whom, he used for transporting all the dirty clothes to the bank of the nearby river for washing in the morning. During the day he handed over the donkey to his friend who was a contractor on rent for transporting sand from the river to his construction site. And in the evening the listless and obedient animal used to return with is master with bundles of washed clothes on his back. Apart from making the donkey do all the work without any rest, Nankau even whipped him for small mistakes and at times he even starved him. But, he never complimented him for any good work. Rather considered him as the villain of his life that always brought him ill luck.

    One day Gopal a friend of the dhobi came to stay with him for a few days. During that time he noticed. How Nankau for no rhyme or reason used to whip the donkey and even cursed him loud and clear and that too off and on.

    One day Gopal asked Nankau. ‘My dear friend, what on earth is the matter with you? As I always find you quite irritable. And you often whip this poor soul, and that too in anger for no fault of his. Why do you do this? Especially, when he is so obedient and does all your work?’

    Nankau painfully replied, ‘Arrey yaar! This donkey has been very inauspicious for me. Ever since it walked into my life, I have been facing some problem or the other. Enough is enough. Somehow, I now want to get rid of him. I even tried selling him but no one seemed interested. Maybe, because, I’ve cursed and criticized him so much in front of people that no one is ready to touch him even with a barge pole.’

    During his stay, Gopal could assess the worth of the donkey. He told his friend, ‘Brother, just in case you are not happy with him. You could sell him off to me, and instead buy another one for yourself.’

     Nankau didn’t want the opportunity to lapse. He readily agreed to the offer and sold his donkey to Gopal. Who happened to be a kind master, and thereon, he looked after the animal quite well.

    In the meanwhile, Nankau, this time bought a mule. Thinking it will do more work than the previous animal he had. And, he could never forget that God forsaken donkey that he had and always cursed him, for all the misfortunes of his life. But now with the mule around, he was hoping his luck will improve and he will be a happy man.

    By now he had spent a few months with the newly acquired mule. As compared to the donkey the mule looked tougher, but refused to do, as much work as the donkey used to do. And in the changed scenario, Nankau didn’t have his donkey to curse and blame for his failures, each time things went wrong in his life—so the villain was missing. For the donkey was now someone else’s property. And the mule was too new to be held responsible for any ill luck. So, in other words he had no villain in his life whom he could curse for his misfortunes. And he didn’t have the audacity to blame and curse himself for his mistakes and this started worrying him beyond compare.

    One day when the mule was transporting sand from the river to the contractor’s site. The rear leg of the mule got stuck in the muddy waters of the river and as a result it could not move. Soon it slipped and fell down and fractured its leg, and within a few days the wound turned into gangrene and he died.

    Nankau was shell shocked at the mishap. He now had no means to transport the clothes meant for washing, and was now constrained to do it on his back. But he had limitations, as he couldn’t carry to many clothes. So he started losing business. And since the mule was now dead he was also deprived of the daily rent that he was getting from the contractor. So overall, he was at a loss of a lifetime.

    Suddenly, he realized, he had no one to curse for his misfortunes. Because, the ultimate villain of his life—the donkey, was sold off, by he himself, and so it was not influencing his life anymore. So, the big question, now in front of him was who was influencing his life if not the donkey?

    He decided to visit his learned friend Gopal for answers. Where, in his house he found his villain of life in a healthy and happy state as Gopal was taking good care of him. Nankau narrated the sequence of events to him.

    Gopal, first gave him a patient hearing and then said, ‘Dear Nankau, when I visited you last time. I knew you were a victim of your own circumstances. But you always wanted to play the victim card for every misfortune that you came across in your life. For which you always wanted a villain whom you could blame and where this speechless donkey came in handy.

    But the real solution to life is to look for the hidden donkey within you, before you start cursing any other donkey. And above all you are just a human being, who is bound to make mistakes. So, if at all, you want to blame someone for your own mistakes, blame the villain within you. And, for that, keep the villain in you alive, so that you don’t have to look for a villain outside, like this donkey.

    Nankau had got the message of life. He patted the donkey and returned home.

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STORY: GOD LIKES SIMPLE WAYS

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Once, the head of a Bheel (tribal) community by the name of Bheelkumar Kannap landed up in a temple located in a remote jungle after hunting.

    Temple housed an idol of Lord Shiva. And upon noticing the idol of Shiva in a degraded state Kannap got a little emotional. He was simple at heart and felt—‘Shiva is alone in this jungle with countless wild and notorious animals. Hope no animal comes in the night and attacks him.’ By now it was evening and obviously getting dark. Concerned about Shiva, Kannap loaded his bow with an arrow and decided to guard the temple by standing across the door, where he spent the entire night.

    At dawn, Kannap thought of doing puja in the temple; but truly speaking he didn’t know how to perform a puja. So he went to the jungle and killed an animal and roasted its flesh on fire for prasad. He then climbed a tree and broke open a honeycomb and collected honey. Thereafter he collected everything in a leaf-bowl and then plucked some flowers and stuck them on his unruly hair and plaits. He then filled his mouth with water from the nearby river and reached the temple to perform his puja. The idol had some dry leaves and flowers rotting around it. Kannap removed them with his feet; because his hands were tied up, because with one hand he was holding his bow and with the other he was holding the leaf-bowl filled with roasted flesh and honey. He washed the idol with the water in his mouth. And then he pulled out the flowers from his hair and started respectfully placing them in front of Shiva and thereafter he placed the leaf bowl in front of the idol. And in his simplicity he thought the puja is over, and then with his bow and arrow he started guarding the temple.

    In all of this Kannap forgot his home, his family, and so much so that he even forgot his hunger and his sleep. In his endeavour to safeguard his beloved God and performing the puja he as if forgot his world and his own self and even his body.

    But, surprisingly, in that very temple every morning, a Brahmin also used to come from a distant village to perform puja and after the ritual he used to go back. He normally came when Kannap was away in the forest, hunting. And on finding morsels of flesh in the temple the Brahmin was saddened. He walked up to the river and got some fresh water and cleaned the temple. And he bathed again to perform the puja. But this was not a matter pertaining to a particular day. When the Brahmin found the temple in this condition every morning he decided, ‘today I’ll hide and see as to who is this person who is polluting and soiling the temple every day.’

       Brahmin hid himself in the temple and started gazing to and fro from the camouflage. After a little while he was astounded to see a scary appearing bheel (tribal) carrying a bow and arrow on his shoulders. And after seeing him he did not have the guts to say anything. And when Kannap entered the temple he was shocked to see that one eye of the idol was bleeding. He slowly kept the leaf-bowl on the ground and started weeping—‘Who is this devil who has hurt my God in the eyes?’

    Immediately, Kannap loaded his bow with an arrow and ran out of the temple. He wanted to kill the person who had inflicted injury upon the idol; but he could find no one, soon he kept his bow and arrow on the side and started collecting some grass and leaves. And in a little while he had collected a heap. He then returned to the temple and started crushing the grass and the leaves that he had collected, and started applying it on the eyes of the idol. But even by doing so Kannap was not successful in stopping the bleeding. This made Bheelkumar Kannap extremely uneasy. But just then he remembered what another bheel (tribesman) had one told him—‘In the wound of a person if the same body part of a different person is placed then the wound heals immediately.’ Kannap was happy to remember it and he decided to act immediately. From his quiver he quickly pulled out an arrow and with that he scooped out his own eye even when it pained to the hilt and placed it on the eye of the idol and pressed it hard. And, from his own wound, from where he had pulled out his eye blood had started oozing out but he was unaware of the pain. On the contrary he was feeling happy that it had stopped the bleeding from the eye of the idol.

   But the agony was not over as just then the other eye of the idol too started bleeding. But Kannap by now had the therapeutic solution for it. He kept the toe of his foot on that eye of the idol, so that after he scoops his second eye and goes blind it will not be difficult for him to find the second bleeding eye in the idol. And with his arrow he scooped out his second eye. But before that suddenly there was divine illumination in the temple, and from the idol Lord Shiva emanated and embraced Kannap; and said,

    ‘Dear Brahmin! Puja and its complex methods don’t make me happy. What really, makes me happy is the earnest and respectful feelings of a devotee towards me.’ Lord Shiva addressed the Brahmin hiding there. And by now Kannap’s eyes had healed as that became Ashutosh’s (Shiva’s) prasad, and along with him he went to his divine abode. The Brahmin too because of Bheelkumar Kannap’s simple ways that God liked got darshan of Lord Shiva.

And that is why it is said, ‘it is so simple to be happy, but so difficult to be simple.’

*****

SHORT STORY: THE LION AND THE SHEPHERD

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Once a lion in the forest was wounded by a sharp and poisonous thorn and soon it become sore. The lion tried to pull it out with its teeth but was unable to do so. And he was now in deep pain and could not even walk properly. In hope of some help he started limping slowly and reached a shepherd near the jungle. When the shepherd saw the hefty lion approaching him he got scared. He thought if he now tried to escape the lion in a couple of leaps will pounce on him and tear him to shreds. Also in the vicinity there weren’t any trees that he could have climbed to save himself. Having no other option he just stayed put there.

    The lion neither roared nor growled. He just came and sat in front of the shepherd and raised his foreleg. The shepherd saw the wound and could immediately understand that the lion was in deep pain and wants help. He immediately pulled out the thorn from the lion’s foreleg. The lion was relieved of the pain and he took an about turn and went back to the jungle.

    After some days there was a theft in the King’s Palace. Some people out of enmity informed the king that the shepherd was the thief and he alone had burgled the king’s palace. Shepherd was caught. But in his house the stolen stuff was not found. The king thought that the shepherd had hid it somewhere. And therefore he issued orders the shepherd be thrown alive in front of a lion.

    But by stroke of luck the same lion was caught to kill the shepherd, whose thorn the shepherd had pulled out. When the shepherd was thrown in front of the lion, the lion recognized him. He immediately came close to the shepherd and sat beside him and started wagging his tail like a dog.

    The king was surprised at this gesture of the lion. Upon enquiring he came to know about the helpful nature of the shepherd and also how he had helped the lion when he was in deep agony, because of which the lion was grateful towards the shepherd. The king then decided to set free the shepherd, realizing he may not be the culprit.

    Moral of the story: Even the mighty predator lion did not forget the help that he had received from the shepherd. Human beings who forget the kindness that is showered on them by others are worse than animals.

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DIGNITARIES NEED TO EXHIBIT GOOD BEHAVIOUR

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

A TIP FROM BHAGWAD GITA

    We often hear of politicians and senior government officers misbehaving with the common man. Debates arising out of such incidents are often broadcasted in prime channels and at the prime time slots; not alone for TRP ratings but also to sensitize these misguided dignitaries about their bad behavior. The media also refers it as VVIP racism, where a Neta bashes up the common man or where a government official abuses and ill treats the aam aadmi. And at times our VIPs are also seen misbehaving in an inebriated state.

    To all such people who believe that success in life comes only by showing brute misdemeanours to people below them, there is a tip from the Bhagwad Gita:

Yadacharitra shrestastha devevtro janah

Sa yetpramanam kurute lokast danuvartate.

    The verse tells us:

    The demeanours of all eminent people in the society are followed quite closely by the common man. Whatever he projects through his daily behavior as his deeds is followed by his followers, rather even the world at large.

    Let us not forget that the Aam aadmi (common man) always needs a leader to continuously inspire him and the purpose is best served when the leader exhibits decent civil behaviour and righteous orientation.  If a mass leader himself smokes or drinks, how can he stop the junta (common man) from smoking or drinking? And if he behaves in a rowdy manner how can he expect his followers to be civil and if he creates scams how can he expect his constituents to be honest? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu preaches that a teacher (in this case any leader) must observe right moral behavior, and only such teachers with upright and good behavior should be considered as ideal teachers.

    Therefore teachers before imparting education to commoners should apply religious and moral texts on themselves. And no teacher should ever deviate from the time tested and proven religious texts and should not pass his own self made laws to the commoners. Proven religious texts like Manu-Smrti should be followed by common people as a benchmark of teachings. Therefore the sermons of the netas should be based on the rules of the religious shastras and there shouldn’t be a difference kathni and karni (what you say and what you do). But unfortunately this is not the case with most eminent people.

    People who want both spiritual and worldly progress in life should imbibe and practice teachings of high moral values and rules practiced by great teachers. Srimad bhagwad Gita too confirms the point that human beings should follow the spiritual footsteps of knowledge for spiritual and materialistic progress; and this is the only way.

    Whether it is the king or his administrator, whether a father or a teacher—they all are considered as natural leaders. They have a great duty and responsibility towards people who lean on them and therefore they should be well versed with spiritual samhita and other religious texts so that they can convey a proper message to the society at all times.

    In school days we had a paper on moral science but it was never taken seriously as the marks were never added to the finally tally deciding our ranking. But the time has come when these marks need to be added in the education of life. Maybe, an abridged form of all religious texts should be taught in school and a refresher course should be part of State Assemblies and Parliaments curriculum, including government offices.

    We have tried many ways to refine the behavior of politicians and government officials but failed. So, where is the harm in trying out religious texts? For, if nothing else, it will at least remove the misconceptions about religions.

*****

   

    

STORY: BLESSINGS AND SUPREME HAPPINESS

Copyright@shravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Once upon a time there lived a renowned scholar in the forest who had many bright shishyas (pupils). They were under his aegis for a long period of time, and were eager and impatient to learn the rare talent of Brahmagyan (divine knowledge) from their Guru; considering they had acquired enough mastery on other issues and what was left was only the divine knowledge.

     They were somewhat suspicious, thinking the Guru was not keen to teach them Brahmagyan the way to paramsukh (supreme happiness) for reasons best known to him. Somewhat, dissatisfied these shishyas were now desisting to move as per the guidance of their Guru and had started putting pressure on him for teaching them Brahmgyan. Their logic was, when they had surrendered themselves completely at the Guru’s feet, then why wasn’t the Guru teaching them the coveted talent that was the way to supreme happiness.

    One day the guru called all his shishyas and said, ‘don’t be under the impression that I don’t want to share Brahmagyan with you. But I only want to say that you all are not ready for it as of now. There is no point in pouring amrit (elixir) in a vessel which has many holes because the entire nectar will just flow out. Before pouring the nectar we need to close all the holes.’

    Upon hearing Guru’s words all the shishyas started whispering amongst themselves. The oldest out of them got up and said, ‘Gurudev we don’t agree to your logic that we are not ready for Brahmagyan yet.  For many years we have been staying with you and we have carried your message and teachings to many places.   People know us as your representative and even you have praised us for our work in the past. Besides Brahmgyan what else is left for us to attain? Your words are creating doubts in our minds, that you don’t want to share this divine knowledge with us, which is the only way to attain supreme happiness.’

    Guru for a moment went quiet as it saddened him, thinking his pupils were not humble, and on the contrary arrogant. He thought this distance between the pupils and the Guru will only weaken them and give them a feeling of defeat, and on the contrary nearness to Guru will increase the feeling of self respect.

    After a little while the Guru said, ‘dear students, possibly; I was wrong when I thought you all were not ready for Brahmgyan. I guess you all are adults, knowledgeable and ready for the divine knowledge. But I want to take a small test of you all.’

            After saying this he took out is basket of fruits and distributed one fruit to every shishya and requested them to hide it in such a place that when no one is watching they could eat it.

    All the pupils were a little surprised at this unusual and simple request of the Guru but since all of them were determined to learn Brahmagyan they decided to carry out his the instructions at any cost. They accepted the order of the Guru. After sometime all the shishyas returned with the belief that they had successfully obeyed the orders of the Guru. Leaving aside one who was a continuous laughing stock, and considered a simpleton in the entire group and many didn’t even consider him in their league.

    Guru was eagerly waiting, and with a lot of inquisition he asked about how they ate the fruit without anyone noticing them. Everyone narrated their success story.

    Then, was the turn of the simpleton, who was often ridiculed by his fellow students. Upon orders from the Guru he came forward on his wobbly legs with the fruit in his hand to tell his story. Guru displayed anger and said, ‘I had asked you to eat the fruit. Everyone obeyed my orders then why did you not have the fruit? What is the reason tell me?’

    Shishya said, ‘’Gurudev I wanted to obey your orders but I had no place to hide. You had instructed to have this fruit when no one is around. But wherever I went I felt I am not alone and God is around me, as you only told us God is omnipresent. Because of this I could neither hide myself nor the fruit. Kindly therefore forgive me because I could not pass the test.

    ‘No, my child, only you have passed in the exams. All the other shishyas only counted on the physical presence. They forgot about the omnipresent God who watches every action of ours and is a witness to all our deeds. When they don’t understand omnipresent God, how will they be blessed with Brahmagyan? Only you could recognise that supreme existence and that is why only you are entitled to receive the supreme divine knowledge—Brahmagyan.’

    This story is from the purans (religious texts) which highlights the point that we should only desire for something when we are capable of handling it. Guru knows when he has to bless his shishyas and when they would be capable enough to learn Brahmagyan the way to supreme happiness.

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SHORT STORY: THE LONG HISTORY OF MANKIND

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?