|
"One
Little Story"
|
ck2-1
- ck2-2 - ck2-3 - ck2-4 || ck2-5
-
ck2-6
-
ck2-7
- ck2-8 ||
ck2-9
- ck2-10 - ck2-11 - ck2-12 | 1.
Guru Dakshina "Children,
after many years of tapas, I was blessed
with a son. I brought him up lovingly and with
great care. One day he went to
Prabhâsa-kshetra [see
S.B.
11.30: 6]
to take a holy dip in the sea. While bathing he
was drowned. Since then I have been suffering
from inconsolable grief. But from the moment You
entered my as'ram, I have been deriving great
consolation and joy. You are so good, humble and
disciplined. I am sad because in a day or two
You have to leave the as'ram. You have learnt
all that has to be learnt [see also
S.B.
10.45 footnote
4].
You cannot stay longer. After Your departure
once again I will be plunged into inconsolable
grief". Krishna got up and with folded
hands, said firmly: "Oh best of masters! We have
to offer our gratitude to you, as our teacher.
You have taught us rare arts and sciences. Is it
not our duty (dharma) to please our guru?
We will at once proceed to
Prabhâsa-kshetra and search for
your son. If necessary, we will fight against
the sea and even the Lord of Death, to bring
back your son. Please bless us".
Sândîpani Balarâma
and Krishna hastened to the sea. Standing on the
shore they said aloud in a compelling voice:
"Ocean! Give us back the son of our guru
Sândîpani immediately, or
suffer the punishment we intend meeting out to
you." The ocean shook in fear, as soon as he
heard these words. He appeared before the
brothers in his royal form. He touched their
feet and said: "Pardon, me, oh revered ones! It
is no fault of mine! When the boy was bathing
destiny drew him and took him to the depths.
Meanwhile the ogre, Pañcajana
living in the caverns swallowed him. This is the
truth. I leave the decision to you." Krishna
thanked the ocean for giving this information
and then plunging into the deep sea, reached the
cavern of the ogre. He tore open the stomach of
the ogre but could not find the remains of the
boy because he had handed over the boy to the
God of Death [Yamarâja]. He
found a conch in the stomach of the ogre and
went to the abode of the God of Death. Krishna
blew the conch at the entrance.
Yamarâja, the Lord of Death
appeared before the brothers. He saw the
brothers, Balarâma and
Krishna and queried politely: "May I know
what brings You to my abode?". The brothers
commanded him to bring the son of their guru
Sândîpani and place him in
their custody." Yamarâja replied:
"I will certainly do as it pleases You. My
minions will bring the lad and hand him over to
You". Within seconds the consecrated son was
placed in the hands of Krishna.
Balarâma and Krishna hurried
to the hermitage with the boy. They handed
over to the guru his son and said: "This is our
Guru Dakshina; Please accept this act of
ours as such." The joy of the parents was beyond
words. They blessed both the brothers.
Sândîpani shed tears of joy
realizing his great fortune in having such
divine incarnations as his pupils. Even
Avatârs recognised the greatness of
the preceptor and obeyed the upanishadic
injunction, "âcârya
devobhava" so as to set an example to the
world. There was a
great sage called Gautama in ancient
India. He had a number of disciples studying
under him. One day he called all his disciples
and said: "My dear children! You know that we
have been experiencing severe drought in this
region and there are no signs of its abatement
too. I am very much worried about the cattle of
our hermitage. They have already become very
lean and weak. I am unable to bear the sight of
suffering of these dumb creatures. I think these
cows have to be driven to a distant place where
there is ample pasture and plenty of water. I
will be very happy if one of you could volunteer
to undertake this task. You can bring them back
when the calamity has rolled over." Many pupils
just hung their heads lest their true feelings
should be found out by their master. Some tried
to hide behind others in order to avoid the
direct stare of the guru. The guru was
happy that at least one among the many pupils
volunteered to undertake the job as service to
the guru. He blessed Sathyakama and said:
"You are taking with you 400 cows; you can
return when the herd multiplies into a total
strength of one thousand." Sathyakama
drove the cattle to a charming valley. Every
day, he used to wake up early in the morning,
finish his ablutions and bath. Then he would
offer prostration to the Sun God and recite
prayers. While tending the cattle and while
walking or sitting he would constantly chant the
name of God. He affectionately looked after the
cattle. He regarded 'go-seva' (service to
cows) as guru seva (service to the
Master). He never felt any anxiety or worry over
his life in solitude. He never bothered to count
the cows too. One morning
after the morning rites, he was seated under a
tree. Indra the chief of gods appeared
before him and said: "My dear son! Have you not
observed that the herd has multiplied itself to
the total number of 1000? You can now return to
your master's hermitage. I will be travelling
with you. Come on let us go." Sathyakama
prostrated to Indra and thanked him for
reminding him of the fact that it was time for
returning. Sathyakama and Indra
had to spend four nights in four different
places. Every morning Sathyakama was
taught the essence of one Veda. Thus by
the time he reached his guru's hermitage he was
the master of the four Vedas. His face
shone with a strange splendor as a result of the
vedic illumination that he had been blessed with
by the Lord of Heaven. Having enlightened
Sathyakama, Lord Indra disappeared
after showering his grace on the young
boy. Sathyakama
walked into his guru's hermitage with 1000 cows.
He was given a rousing welcome by his guru and
the inmates. Sathyakama fell at the feet
of his master. Gautama embraced him
saying: "I know that you are now a great scholar
of the four Vedas. You deserve it, my
son." Sathyakama could please
Indra, the Lord of Heaven, only because
of his love and loyalty to his guru. 3.
Purity - Patience - Perseverance A
certain spiritual aspirant went to a sage and
asked him to give him a mantra. The sage
said that he would impart the message only if
the disciple agreed to serve him for twelve
years, carrying out all his injunctions. The
disciple agreed and carried out his services to
the preceptor with devotion for twelve years. At
the end of the period, when the sage felt that
his own end was approaching, he asked the
disciple to bring a palmyra leaf on which he
would inscribe the mantra before his
death. The disciple went in search of a palmyra
leaf, but before he could return, the preceptor
died. On enquiry from a boy who was there, he
learnt that before dying, the sage had written
something on a bed of sand, which a woman had
copied and then wiped off the inscription. The
disciple went in search of the woman, who was
having some donkeys. He learnt from her that she
had inscribed on the palmleaf roll that she wore
in her ear-lobe what she found on the sand. When
she learnt from the young man that the writing
on the sand was a mantra intended for him
and for which he had served the sage faithfully
for twelve years, the woman said that she would
give him the palm leaf only if he served her
dutifully for twelve years. The disciple who was
determined to get the mantra at any cost,
agreed to serve her. The
young man looked after the donkeys and served
the woman for many years, living upon the food
given by her. One day, he could not get the food
from her and went about in search of food. At
that time, he learnt that the king of the region
had been feeding the poor for a long time and
that he might be able to get food if he went to
the feeding place. On going there he learnt that
the king had stopped the feeding from that day
because it did not yield the result he was
expecting from it. The king had started poor
feeding on the advice of his preceptor who had
told him that he would have a son if a truly
godly man ate the food that he would serve to
the poor. A bell was kept in the palace and when
it rang by itself, that would be the sign that a
godly man had partaken of the king's food. As
the feeding had gone on for long without the
bell ringing, the king decided to stop the
feeding. That
was the very day when the young disciple went to
the feeding place. On learning that all the
vessels used for cooking the food had been sent
to the river for cleaning, the young man
hastened to the river bank to find out whether
some food scraped from the vessels would be
available for him. He found some crumbs at the
spot and started eating them. At that very
moment the bell in the palace started
ringing. The
king was startled to hear the bell and
immediately sent out messengers to find out who
was the person who had eaten the food that day
which made the bell ring. After enquiries, the
messengers traced the young man at the river and
brought him to the king. The king was overjoyed
on seeing the young man because he felt that he
would soon have a son. He offered the young man
half his kingdom and invited him to stay with
him. The young man told the king his whole story
and said that he was not interested in the
kingdom or anything else, but only in the
mantra from his guru, which was now in
the keeping of the woman with the donkeys. The
young man insisted that the palmleaf ear-ring
worn by the woman should be obtained without any
compulsions. The
king sent out men to trace the woman, who was
brought before him. Learning that she was an
acrobat, who could perform feats on a rope, the
king asked her to demonstrate her skill before
the queen who was now enceinte. As she was
dancing on the rope, he asked her whether she
could catch two diamond ear-rings he would throw
at her and wear them while dancing on the rope.
She readily agreed. Catching them in her hands,
she took out the palmleaf rings from her
ear-lobes, cast them down and wore the diamond
ear-rings in their place. As
the palmleaf rings dropped down, the young man
rushed towards them and eagerly read the message
inscribed there in. Immediately after reading
the mantra the young man secured instant
illumination and liberation
thereafter. A
spiritual aspirant should have such
determination and preparedness for any kind of
sacrifice to achieve his goal. In
a place called Baadar in the Aurangabad
District of Maharashtra, a son was born
to a couple highly devoted to God. He was named
Nârâyana. He grew up as a
naughty boy, neglecting his studies and
quarrelling with other children. At the age of
eight years, he lost his father. His mother,
Ramâ Devî, found it hard to
control her mischievous and delinquent son. Her
relatives and neighbors advised her to get him
married so that he might realise his
responsibilities and change for the better.
Although the boy was only 13 years old and too
young for marriage, his mother yielded to the
persuasions of others and arranged for his
marriage. At the time of the wedding, a screen
of thick cloth was held in between the bride and
bridegroom, according to the prevailing custom,
and the purohits removed the curtain to hand
over the Mangala Soothram (the sacred and
auspicious thread of wedlock) to the bridegroom
for him to tie it round the bride's neck. Lo and
behold! The bridegroom had disappeared from
behind the curtain, without anybody's notice. A
thorough search was made to trace him out, but
in vain. So, the marriage could not be
performed. After
12 years of intense penance at
Panchavati, Nârâyana
gained the three-fold realisation of
S'rî Râma, as did
Hanumân, namely, 1 - when he had
body consciousness, he was the servant and
Râma the master, 2 - when he was
conscious of his being a jîva
(individual soul) he was a part of
Râma (Visishthha-advaita)
and 3 - when he was aware of his being the
âtma, he and Râma were
one (advaita). After this realisation, he
returned to Nasik from Panchavati.
There, he came to know that the country was in
the grip of a severe famine. Then he began to
reflect that to spend his time thinking of only
his own liberation, when all his countrymen were
suffering due to famine, amounted to extreme
selfishness. So, he coined the slogan: "dil
mae Raam, haath mae kaam" (i.e.
Râma in the heart, and work in the
hand), and entered the arena of social
service with all his energy and zeal, giving to
himself and his band of dedicated workers mottos
such as: "mânava seva (service
to man) is Mâdhava seva
(service to God)" and "grama seva
(service to the villages) is
Râma seva (service to
Râma)". He filled the tank of his
heart with the holy water of
Râmanam (Râma's name)
which flowed through the tap of his hands to
quench the thirst of the multitudes of his
countrymen. Proceeding thus from village to
village, doing social work, coupled with
chanting of Râmanam,
Nârâyana finally reached
Rameswaram at the southern tip of the
Indian peninsula. From there he went to the
pilgrim centres of Tirupati (where he had
the darshan of Lord Venkateswara
(Lord Vishnu)) and Hampi (where he
worshipped Lord Virupâksha (Lord
S'iva)). Ultimately he returned to Nasik.
On the way to Nasik, he saw saint
Tukaram, who was singing the glories of
Râma so melodiously that a large
number of people including S'ivaji, the
ruler of Maharashtra, were attracted to
him. S'ivaji listened to Tukaram,
and told him about his decision to give up his
kingdom and to devote himself fully and
whole-heartedly to the pursuit of the spiritual
path. Tukaram admonished S'ivaji for his
narrow-minded view of spirituality and exhorted
him to consider duty as God, and work as
worship. Thereupon S'ivaji prayed to
Tukaram to give him initiation.
Tukaram declined saying:
"Râmadas is your guru, not I, so
you have to receive initiation only from him".
Rather disappointed, S'ivaji returned to
his capital. When
S'ivaji came to know that
Nârâyana alias
Râmadas was in Nasik, he
sent his Ministers and other high dignitaries to
invite Râmadas to the royal court
with a band of music and other traditional
honors befitting a highly distinguished
personage. When Râmadas arrived,
the king received him with due honors and
reverence, arranged for his stay in the palace
itself, and after washing his feet, he sprinkled
the holy washings on his own head and submitted
to him in all humility: "O revered Master! From
this moment this kingdom belongs to you; and I
too am yours". Thereupon Râmadas
replied: "My son, I am an ascetic who has
renounced everything. I have neither the right
nor the desire for your limited kingdom. God's
kingdom is unlimited. The goal of my life is to
help every one to reach that unlimited kingdom
of God. So I don't want this kingdom of yours. I
am now coronating you as the ruler of this
kingdom which you have offered to me. From now
onwards, you will be a king with a difference.
You should consider that the kingdom really
belongs to God and that you are only His
instrument or trustee administering the kingdom
on His behalf". Since
Râmadas had the extraordinary
capacity to do many great things, he came to be
known as Samartha Râmadas, the
appellation Samartha meaning a man of
versatile skills. There is an episode in his
life which describes the context in which the
title of "Samartha" was conferred on him.
He used to dress himself and move about like
Kodandapani (Râma armed with his
bow and arrows). Once when he was walking along
the banks of the Godavari in this dress,
some brahmins who were taking bath there
questioned him whether he belonged to the
community of Koyas (hunters belonging to
a hill tribe were called Koyas).
Râmadas told them that he was
Râmadas (a servant of
Râma) and not a Koya.
Thereupon, they questioned him why he was
dressed and equipped with bow and arrows like
Râma if he was only a servant of
Râma. They heckled him saying:
"What is the use of merely trying to imitate
Kodandapani in appearance only? Are you
capable of wielding the bow and arrows as
Râma did?" Just then a bird was
flying fast at a great height across the sky
above their heads. The brahmins pointed the bird
to Râmadas and asked him whether he
could shoot the bird. With Râma's
name on his lips, Râmadas
immediately aimed an arrow at the flying bird
and brought it down right in front of the
brahmins. Seeing the dead bird, the brahmins
accused Râmadas saying: "There is
no harmony of thought, word and deed in you and
therefore you are a durâthama (a
wicked person); you chant Râma's
name and at the same time you have committed the
sin of killing an innocent bird, to show off
your skill". When Râmadas replied
that he shot the bird at their instance only,
they remonstrated, saying: "If we ask you to eat
grass, will you do so? Don't you have your own
independent thinking or discrimination?" Then
Râmadas gently replied: "Sirs, past
is past. Kindly tell me what I should do now?"
They asked him to repent for his sin.
Râmadas promptly closed his eyes and
prayed to God wholeheartedly, repenting for his
sin and asking for His forgiveness. Then he
opened his eyes and pointed out to the brahmins
that the dead bird had not regained life, in
spite of his repentance. The brahmins said
reprovingly: "What a madcap you are! Repentance
cannot undo what you have done; but its purpose
is to enable you to make up your mind not to
repeat such misdeeds in future". "That is no
repentance in my humble view" countered
Râmadas; "God and His name are so powerful
that if we pray sincerely, His grace will bring
the bird back to life". So saying he picked up
the dead bird, hugged it to his bosom, and with
tears flowing down his cheeks, he wholeheartedly
prayed: "O Râma! If I have been chanting
Your name with all my mind, heart and soul and
if it is a fact that I have killed this bird out
of ignorance and not with an intent to kill, may
Your grace either revive this dead bird, or take
away my life also along with that of the bird".
As he concluded his prayer, the bird fluttered
in his hands. Then he opened his eyes, thanked
the Almighty and released the bird into the sky.
Astonished at this miracle, the brahmins
exclaimed in one voice: "Revered Sir, forgive us
for not recognising your greatness. Since you
have the capacity to kill a flying bird with a
single arrow, and also the capacity to revive
the dead bird, you will hereafter be known by
the worthy name of "Samartha Ramadas!"
Râmadas
duly performed the obsequies of his mother.
Shortly thereafter, he heard about
S'ivaji's death in A.D. 1680 (just six
years after he was coronated by
Râmadas in A.D. 1674). He went to
the King's capital, installed S'ivaji's
son as the king and blessed him so that he might
rule the kingdom, following the footsteps of his
noble father. 6.
The Master and the Disciples There
was a guru who advised one seeker, "Go to the
forest, how can you have peace in the market
square?" To
another seeker he said, "Stay where you
are." The
two seekers met and talked about the guru's
advice. One seeker said, "How is it that he gave
us such contradictious advice? Perhaps we did
not understand his words properly. Let us both
go to him to clarify our doubt." Both
of them went to the guru and expressed their
doubt. The guru replied, "The advice differs
because it is based on the spiritual progress of
the seeker." ......
to be continued ..... [part-]Painting
of Sândîpani by
Âcârya dâsa |
Those
were the days when Krishna ['dark',
because of His dark blue-grey colored skin]
and Balarâma ['strength of
joy'], were studying under the great sage
Sândîpani [see also
A
pupil by name Sathyakama, got up and,
paying his salutations to his master, said:
"Master, I shall take them, don't worry." Many
students tried to dissuade him from undertaking
such a hazardous task. They warned him: "Oh! You
have to be all alone in the wilds away from the
comforts of the hermitage. You may not even find
good food. Sathyakama replied: "My dear
friends, I am quite confident that the
goodwishes of our guru will provide me enough
safety and sustenance. I shall not be alone for
I will have these cows to keep
company."
The
boy Nârâyana, who had escaped
from the marriage hall, ultimately reached a
place called Nashik near the source of
the sacred river Godavari. He stayed
there for some time and then moved to a nearby
mountain called 'Chitrakoota' which is
considered holy, because S'rî
Râma lived there for nearly 12 years
[see 
After
this, Râmadas visited
Pandaripuram where he was an eye-witness
to the ideal way in which a man by name
Pundarika served his parents as veritable
gods, making Lord Panduranga (Vishnu,
Nârâyana, Krishna) Himself wait in
front of his house standing on a pair of bricks,
till he completed his service to his parents.
Then he visited S'ivaji and gave him
three things to guide him in his royal duties:
One, a coconut to remind him that just as our
intention in buying a coconut is to consume the
white kernel inside, so also the purpose of
owning and administering the kingdom is that the
king himself should lead a satvic life
and also to ensure that the satvic
quality prevails in his kingdom; second, a
handful of earth to remind the king and through
him his subjects, about the sanctity of
Bharat, their motherland; third, a pair
of bricks to symbolise that just as bricks are
used to construct houses for the safety of the
inmates, the king should use his powers to
protect the people and promote their welfare and
progress. At this time the memory of
Pundarika's devoted service to his
parents at Pandaripuram was revived in
Râmadas' mind and he hastened back
home with the idea of serving his aged mother.
When he reached home, his old mother could not
recognise him, particularly because of his long
beard and strange dress. He told her that he was
her son, Nârâyana, who was
popularly known as Samartha
Râmadas. Thereupon, his mother
exclaimed ecstatically: "O my dear son, I have
been hearing so much about Râmadas
and have been eager to see him for a long time.
But I never knew that it is the popular name of
my son, Nârâyana. I am proud of you
and thank the Lord for making me the mother of
such a great one. My life is fulfilled". So
saying she breathed her last on her son's lap.
