Gift of the gab

 Narrating stories is as joyous as listening is soothing. Here's a tale of a witty minister who served in the court of King Rajasimha.

King Rajasimha ruled over the kingdom of Simhapura. He believed in ruling his kingdom differently. He had ministers to take care of various activities and report the problems faced by them and the improvements that they have brought about in solving the problem. The King did not believe in a single man rule. He gave a lot of importance to the ministers and trusted their wisdom.

The subjects under him were very hard working and the ministers used to take advice from the subjects in solving their problems. The king's attitude of consulting with his ministers percolated downwards and they consulted with the subjects before implementing a rule.

In the kingdom of Simhapura, there was a very witty and wise food minister, by name Rakshasheela. His name and fame had spread far and wide. Many ministers from the neighboring kingdoms were curious to find out more about him. It was rumored that the king took his food minister's advises seriously and would pass it as law, of course after a court room debate with the other ministers. Surprisingly the other ministers were not jealous of him as they received words of wisdom from him in solving their own problems.  

The king often said that food was an important part of human sustenance. For any kingdom to thrive the subjects should have enough on their plate.

“We cannot preach philosophy if our people are hungry”, he often said. The practical approach of the King made the ministers think logically. The people of the kingdom also participated in the welfare of the state and contributed to its betterment.

One day a minister from the neighboring kingdom visited the kingdom of Simhapura in the disguise of a farmer. He requested the king to allow him to attend one of his court discussions. The king, being democratic in his attitude welcomed the farmer to the discussion.

As usual the discussion began and the ministers started presenting their reports. Soon it was the turn of the food minister, Rakshasheela. As soon as he started presenting his report the ‘farmer’ started shouting.  He screamed for all to hear, ‘Hey, you minster, what about hay?’ The food minister tried to ignore the erring entrant and continued with his report. But the man was persistent. He wanted to know about hay.  Hay happened to be a type of grass or other herbaceous plants. They were further cut, dried and stored for use as animal fodder. It required no special focus, as there were plenty of grass and other plants after harvest.

Rakshasheela explained the procedure of the court to the newcomer. He would be allowed to raise questions at the end of the report and not while he is presenting the report. The ‘farmer’s’ interest in hay did not die.

Rakshasheela continued with his report and once again the man wanted to know about hay.

This time the food minister looked straight at the tantrum thrower and said, ‘Sir, please excuse me, I am talking about human food now. I shall come to yours in a while.’ The whole court room erupted in laughter and the ‘farmer’, having got the reply he wanted made a quick exit!

The power of purity

The author of one of the most translated books is Thiruvalluvar. Thirukkural or Poyya Mozhi or vayurai vazhthu as it is known, can be construed as a book of law. A thinker, philosopher and writer par compare, Thiruvalluvar was married to Vasuki Ammayar. Vasuki ammayar’s devotion towards her husband was very pure. This purity made her a very strong person and there are a lot of tales about her pure devotion towards her husband. 

Konganavar muni had a lot of pride in himself and his powers, was walking through a forest. As he walked past a tree a stork sitting on one of the branches dirtied the muni’s head with its excreta. 

The sage only had to look angrily at the bird and the bird turned into ashes. This made the rishi prouder still. With the newly acquired power he strode towards the hut of sage Thiruvalluvar. As soon as he reached the hut he asked for food and Thiruvalluvar’s devoted wife was serving her husband and took some time in coming out to feed the rishi. The rishi got very angry and stared angrily at Vasuki Ammayar. Amazingly nothing happened. The rishi was astounded. He had such great confidence in himself that he had not expected this. 

Meanwhile Thiruvalluvar’s wife who saw the astonishment on Kongannavar’s face, smilingly asked the rishi if he thought of her as the stork that he had earlier burnt to ashes. The rishi was shocked and understood that he was up against no ordinary woman and bowed before her. 

The purity with which Vasuki served her husband was her strength. Such was her devotion towards her husband, that one day while she was drawing water from the well in a pot her husband called out to her. She left the pot and ran inside. The pot, instead of falling into the well hung from mid-air! Just by performing her daily duties to the best of her abilities, she grew in stature and commanded respect even from great rishis. 

One of the five great epics of Tamil literature is Seevaga Sinthamani. In this the poet talks through the heroine’s character about the greatness of sanyasam or renunciation. He opines that renunciation does not lie in sitting in a forest in front of fire and giving up on earthly desires and bondages. The greatest saint is one who performs his duties towards everyone around him, beginning with his parents. In doing this he may have to give up his own desires to keep others around happy. He who does this will be called a true munivar or sage.

In this sense Vasuki Ammayar can be called a true munivar.

The deaf donkey

 Once there lived a deaf donkey. He would bray so loudly that people around him used to get disturbed all the time and did not know how to quieten him down.

Though the villagers used to complain to each other about him, no one found a solution to the problem. 

One day as luck would have it, or would you say bad luck (for the donkey) would have it, the donkey fell into a dry well and could not climb out. He brayed and brayed with all his might (you can well imagine the noise that would have emanated from the well!). Slowly, the villagers gathered around the well and as is the usual human mob mentality, the crowd that gathered was polarised in their opinion of whether to help the donkey out of the well or not. Soon a section of people were debating on whether it was worth the effort and cost involved. One bespectacled ‘know-it-all’ opined that the whole operation would not be cost effective. After all, what is one donkey less to the world! Soon the voice of an animal activist boomed loud and clear. The donkeys are an endangered species and it was the duty of humanity to save the donkey. 

The poor donkey fell into a dry well...

As the argument continued a group of self-proclaimed intellects were seen with candles in their hands, taking a peaceful march. There was yet another group of fitness freaks, who had donned ‘Save the Donkey’ t-shirts and had organised a half-marathon.

While the drama outside was mounting, there were still some locals around the well who had now started writing the donkey off and jeered at him and threw fistfuls of sand into the well. If you are wondering where the shutter bugs were all this while, a monkey was trapped inside a house in the neighbouring village.

When word got around that the stakes were greater on the donkey, the paparazzi turned its light on the donkey. Flash bulbs, microphones and reporters who knew every single word available in the language that they were speaking and would not hesitate to show off their knowledge surrounded the well. 

The poor beast in the well did not know what was happening. He saw people throwing sand and mud and then lights, more people, more light and the confused beast sat in one corner not knowing what to do. Meanwhile the reporters had promised a live coverage of the whole drama and also promised to take an exclusive interview of the donkey which also would be relayed live.

The reporters had promised an exclusive interview of the donkey...

In a while the donkey stood up not knowing what to do with the microphones that had by now dropped into the well. He even chewed up the wire and parts of it and had to spit out the entire thing as it did not seem edible to him. He then pondered, and stepped on the bund of sand that had by now created a small step on one corner of the well. As people around started throwing more mud and sand he kept stepping on the sand. He was delighted to see the crowd above and thought,"How nice these people are! They are throwing mud and sand so that I can step on it and escape from the well." It helped that he could not hear their comments. He kept stepping up gleefully and eventually came out of the well.

In some time normalcy returned. The donkey went about his usual business of braying (now a wee bit louder, to show his gratitude to the people who had saved him). The villagers spoke about the whole episode for a few days until the burden of their everyday living took over the memory of the melodrama. To me, the positive attitude of the deaf donkey and the trust that he placed on the people around him were the real winners. When you trust people, even their negative actions can spell success! And of course turning a deaf ear to negative criticism makes you a winner all the way!

Unshakeable Faith

One day the great saint Narada asked Lord Vishnu, to name the person that had unshakeable faith in Him.Lord Vishnu thought for a while and supressing his smile, told Narada that a cobbler, living under a big banyan tree, was his greatest devotee.

Narada needed proof and therefore decided to test this. He descended on earth to meet the cobbler. When he finally reached the banyan tree, he saw the cobbler, attending to his daily duties. Before meeting the man he decided on a game plan to test the man’s faith in his Lord. He took measured steps towards the banyan tree and waited till the man finished his work. He then walked up to the cobbler and asked him, “Do you know who I am?” Narada queried.

The cobbler looked up and greeted the great saint. “Oh, great saint Narada, what brings you to this humble man’s dwelling?” asked the cobbler, bowing before the great sage. The cobbler continued, “For the wisdom giver of the universe to descend upon a cobbler, the purpose must be of great concern. Tell me, Oh great Muni,what brings you here to meet me? “

 Narada was discreetly astounded at the cobbler’s knowledge, though he continued, outwardly unaffected. “Do you know where I come from?” Narada asked the cobbler.

The cobbler, still bowing, answered “Yes, Oh holy sage! You are the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu and sing the praise of the omnipresent Narayana. So you come from heaven where the Lord resides.”

Narada had to hide his surprise and continue. “Do you know what your Lord was doing when I left heaven?” Narada asked the cobbler. “No” said the cobbler asking Narada to enlighten him in the regard.

Narada told the cobbler that Lord Mahavishnu was trying to squeeze a camel through the eyes of a needle!

“Oh!” said the cobbler with no astonishment or surprise in his tone. Narada asked the cobbler if he thought this was possible. The cobbler told Narada to take a look at the tree that he was sitting under. Then he picked up a seed of the tree that had fallen down. He then gave the seed to Narada and told the sage that if Lord can hide a tree as big as this in this tiny seed, he can squeeze a camel through the eyes of the needle!

Though often known as a mischievous character, Narada’s intentions were always good and noble. Through his play Narada let the world know that the profession of a person has no bearing on the character that he possessed.

The true devotee

Arjuna, the third in line of the Pandava brothers always thought that he was the greatest devotee of Lord Krishna. One day he wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth. So, the next day when he was alone with Lord Krishna, he asked Krishna if he knew of any other greater devotee than himself. Lord Krishna knew what was going on in Arjuna's mind. He slowly began speaking. He addressed Arjuna kindly and told him that the world is full of devotees and that the need for such comparisons does not exist.

Arjuna did not give up. He again questioned Krishna and asked him to name the man that Krishna thought was his greatest devotee. With eyes full of gleam, Krishna told Arjuna that Bhima was his greatest devotee.

Arjuna could not believe what he heard and mockingly told Krishna that Bhima does not even sit and pray daily. Arjuna continued, ”Oh Lord! How then do you say Bhima is a greater devotee than me? Look at me. I spend most of the time with you. Bhima is far away from you and yet you call him a devotee. How do you expect me to believe this?” he questioned.

 Lord Krishna calmly told Arjuna to follow him wherever he went the next morning. Arjuna agreed. Lord Krishna took him to a big and blooming garden the next day and asked him to hide behind a huge tree. Arjuna did as was told to him by Krishna. Bhima arrived at the entrance of the garden and as he went past the trees, standing tall on his chariot he waved his hands towards the trees and uttered the words “Krishnarpanam”. “Arpanam” means offering to God.

The minute Bhima uttered these words, the flowers from the trees fell at the feet of the Lord. Arjuna could not believe his eyes and asked the Lord to explain the strange happening. Lord Krishna then told Arjuna, that it is not the hours spend in front of the Lord or the prayers that are told daily that determines the Bhakti or devotion.

Bhima's source of strength was his pure devotion...

Bhima has a lot of duties that he completes every day. He has to keep himself strong by exercising and eating proper food. He also has to keep his weapons cleaned and repaired. Even though he is hard pressed for time he remembers to travel through the garden every day and offer flowers with no other thought in his mind. His pure devotion, even if for a brief period of time, makes Bhima a great devotee explained the Lord. 

Arjuna bowed his head before the Lord and told Krishna that he was happy to be his friend and he did not want to compete with his brother. Arjuna also acknowledged Bhima’s devotion towards the Lord and felt extremely proud of his brother.