Young Vidur meets Raja Adiveera

One day Raja Adiveera was roaming around his Kingdom of Sathyamangala in the disguise of a pundit. It was a tradition in olden days and the King followed the tradition of 'nagarvallam' or roaming the kingdom in disguise. In the past he had solved many problems that he chanced upon while he was on a nagarvallam. This time though the king was in for a surprise!

As he was walking, seemingly aimlessly, he came upon a small hut. An old woman was making porridge and selling it to passers-by.As the king was hungry he decided to have a taste of the porridge, thereby checking the quality of food sold in his kingdom. He sat down on a stone placed for the purpose. Just as the old woman handed over the porridge to the pundit, Vidur, her grandson came out of the hut and sat next to her.

 “My grandson has come to stay with me for a few weeks”, explained the old woman to the pundit. 

The king was distracted and in a thoughtless moment put his hand right in the middle of the porridge. The thick liquid was hot and the king withdrew his fingers instantly and started licking his fingers. 

Seeing this the little boy placed his hands over his mouth and chuckled. Instantly the old woman stared sharply at him which was enough to silence the boy. The king, who was watching this, asked the boy what the matter was. Watching his grandmother through the corner of his eye,Vidur told the king that he too had put his fingers right in the middle of the porridge in the past.  

The naughty twinkle in his eyes were the most endearing one that the King had come across and the King was drawn towards the young boy's boldness.

Watching his grandmother through the corner of his eyes, Vidur whispered ...

His grandmother had told him that the porridge should be had from the sides first. This will give enough time for the porridge in the center to cool down. Having learnt something new the king thanked the little boy and completed the porridge in the manner taught to him by young Vidur. As the king was about to leave, Vidur once again addressed the King. As his grandmother rose, he turned towards her and gave her the same endearing look that made both the King and the old lady take up their positions. 

As the King sat down, he asked Vidur what his grandmother had said. Vidur told the pundit that the king of the land Raja Adiveera had attacked the enemy kingdom and he began by attacking the capital which is at the center of that kingdom. Instead, he should have first captured the outskirts where the presence of the army is not much and then slowly marched ahead towards the capital. 

"Like me, you too behaved like our foolish King", chuckled Vidur. This time though, his grandmother had managed to get up and gave him a chase with a cane in her hand! 

The king stood up slowly, thanking the little boy for his courage to speak the truth and his grandmother for her words of wisdom. 

A few months later Vidur and his grandmother were seated near the king in the celebrations to mark the victory of King Adiveera over his enemy kingdom!  

Maheshdas Brahmbhatt alias Birbal

All of us would have heard stories about Birbal and how he kept Emperor Akbar happy with his wit and sharp intellect. But here is the story of Birbal when he was Maheshdas Brahmbhatt and how he became Birbal.

Maheshdas Brahmbhatt was Birbal’s original name. He was born in Madhya Pradesh in the year1528. The story of how he became Birbal is an interesting one. One day Akbar asked a few of the learned pundits in his durbar to narrate the story of Ramayana to him. The Pundits were elated at such a request from none other than the Jahanpana himself. They started telling the story taking turns, each one filling in the details missed by the other. The pundits were panting by the time they completed the story and were thrilled at their skills at narration. Just as they completed Akbar rose from his throne and cleared his throat before continuing. 

He then told the pundits that he was the reincarnation of Lord Shri Ram. The pundits were aghast at such a comparison and could not give a fitting reply to the Emperor. They all fell silent and exchanged knowing glances at each other. After the day’s work the pundits were returning to their homes discussing the day’s happenings in an animated voice. A young Brahmin who was passing by heard their conversation and offered to solve their problem. The Pundits were not convinced that the young lad could even stand in front of the Emperor, leave alone resolving the issue. Nevertheless, since the lad, Maheshdas, insisted, they took him to Akbar’s durbar the following day. Akbar on seeing such a young lad asked the pundits what he was doing in their midst. 

Akbar was known for his vanity and his remark did not go down well with Maheshdas. He counter questioned the emperor and asked him if something was wrong with him. The emperor jokingly said that since he had not started growing hair under his chin he should befriend people of his intellectual capacity. The lad excused himself for a few minutes and returned with a goat in his hand. He told the emperor that the pundits had an issue and he had accompanied them to resolve the issue. Since the goat had a lot of hair under its chin, he was happy to leave the goat to resolve the issue. The entire court room was stunned, but the Emperor continued. He allowed Maheshdas to make his point. Maheshdas brought a beaker filled with water a few stones. He asked the emperor to drop the stones one on top of the other. After several attempts Akbar failed in doing so. He finally gave up and asked the young Brahmin to tell him what he meant by asking Akbar to do this. 

Young Brahmbhatt told the Jahanpana, that if he were the avatar of Sri Rama he could have done this easily as Lord Rama built the bridge across the ocean thus.

Akbar understood that his claim was baseless and was thrilled to find a bold and intelligent man. He offered Maheshdas Brahmbhatt a job in his palace, which Brahmbhatt gladly accepted and stayed on with Akbar, assuming the name of Birbal.

The Indestructible Inner Power

In Ramayana, Hanuman is believed to be the super power behind Rama’s sena. He was a powerful child, as he had the blessings of all the Gods including the God of creation, Brahma, the God of protection, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Shiva. He also had the blessings of Yama, Kubera and Agni. 

As a young boy, Hanuman was very playful and in his playfulness, he had earned the wrath of many saints and holy men. They had cursed Hanuman and due to their curses, Hanuman forgot the power that he had within him. 

The always-cheerful and mischievous Hanuman was crest-fallen. Brahma the creator appeared before Hanuman and told him that the curse was mild. Since destiny required him to perform greater tasks than merely teasing holy men and disturbing the wild animals in the forest, the curse was to be viewed as a boon. Hanuman became cheerful and went about his duties with more responsibility. He was also told by Lord Brahma that when required, someone would remind him of his inner strength and the effect of the curse would not weigh on him.

When Lord Rama met Hanuman and reminded him of his powers, Hanuman realised his potential and lived up to it. The inner strength of Hanuman came to the fore when he, for the sake of his Lord, guided the Vanara Sena to victory against Ravana. 

The entire Vanara Sena was united and carried out the brave job tirelessly unto the end.

This story makes us wonder if such mammoth tasks are achievable by efforts of mortals. Can great bridges be built by a mere Vanara Sena? Can huge wars be won with inner strength? Are these only happenings of the past, or is mankind capable of such things at the present?

Well, Salem in Tamil Nadu has recently witnessed a mammoth feat being achieved. The local youngsters comprising of school kids, college students and office goers, under the guidance of Siruthuli, an NGO, have achieved the feat of cleaning one of the biggest lakes in Coimbatore. Such feats happen when people understand their inner strength and believe that problems can be resolved if we look inwards. The essence of any form of belief is belief in oneself.

When thousands of people with strong inner belief and strength get together, tasks of immense order can be achieved. The inner power we have is indestructible. Many of us are only waiting to be awakened. Let us wait with positive hope and patience for our turn to deliver. I recall the oft quoted lines of the blind poet John Milton,

“They also serve who only stand and wait.”

The undying spirit of friendship

This is a topic very close to most of us. From the day we enter school as tiny tots, our eyes start searching for familiar faces. Something attracts us to certain people and we become friends. Then as we grow older and wiser we develop deeper bonds with our friends. Though I have heard many people say that beginning with father and mother, relatives are predestined, while we are able to choose our friends. But I feel that even friendship is predestined and we cannot become close to anybody that we come across.

Destiny brought Karna and Duryodhana together. But their friendship has stood the test of time. Duryodhana befriended Karna knowing well that he belonged to a lower caste (at the time of their friendship, it was not known that he was Kunti’s son).

One day, Karna and Duryodhana’s wife, Bhanumati, were playing a game of dice. Bhanumati was losing the game to Karna, when Duryodhana walked in. Seeing Duryodhana, Bhanumati stood up in respect. Karna, thought that she was fleeing from her loss and pulled her down. This caused her pearl chain to break. Karna looked up only to find Duryodhana staring down at him.

Fearing the worst, Karna stood up in silence. Duryodhana, sensing the embarrassment of his friend and wife eased the situation by asking them, if he had to only collect the pearls or string them too! In that one act of his, Duryodhana unmistakably proved that he was a loyal friend and a trusting husband. 

Duryodhana did not believe in the caste system, but believed in merit. Since he felt Karna was fit enough to be a ruler, without taking into account his father’s profession or status in society, Duryodhana made him King of Anga. True to the Kshatriya tradition he fought with valour to protect his kingdom. In all fairness to this often-mistaken character, Duryodhana was a protective brother, dutiful son, trusting husband, loyal friend and above all, a brave warrior and capable ruler. These traits, it is believed, took him straight to heaven when he died, while this honour was not granted even to Yudhisthira, the son of Dharma! When Duryodhana died, the heavens showered flowers over his body in appreciation of the life that he had led!

"Should I only collect the pearls or string them too?"

Karna, on his part, shunned even his mother’s love to be by the side of his friend in the war! In some ways, the gratitude shown by Karna was much greater than the one shown by Kumbhakarna towards Ravana. Karna was hailed as a selfless giver. Knowing this, Lord Indra once went to Karna and asked for the ‘Kavacha Kundalam’ that he was born with. Indra knew that with these on, Karna was invincible and could not be defeated in war. Despite knowing Lord Indra’s intentions through his father, Surya, Karna gave away the Kavacham or the Armour and the Kundalam or the earring that his father had given him at the time of his birth.

His penchant for learning princely disciplines like archery and the Vedas, made him assume the guise of a Brahmin so that he could become the disciple of Parasurama. One day, Parasurama was sleeping on the lap of Karna and just when the Guru was fast asleep, a beetle bit into Karna’s thigh. But Karna withstood moving from the spot. He was more worried about disturbing his Guru’s sleep than the blood oozing out of his thigh. When the hot blood touched the arms of Parasurama, he woke up, only to see Karna bleeding profusely. He at once knew that Karna had fooled him since only a Kshatriya could bear that much of pain, and was infuriated. He cursed Karna and said that the Brahmastra, which he had acquired through falsehood, would not help him when he most needed it! 

During the war, Karna’s chariot got stuck in the mud and Arjuna pierced him with his arrows. Yet, Karna did not die. His dharma of offering to people in need had earned him a lot of ‘punya’, and it was difficult to kill him. Lord Krishna, in the form of a Brahmin, approached Karna and asked him to give his ‘punya’ as alms and Karna obliged. The arrows of Arjuna then killed Karna.

Duryodhana and Karna, two great friends, and extraordinary warriors, were undone by their own wrong doings. Sakuni’s advice to challenge Yudhisthira brought about Duryodhana’s downfall, while it was the hatred towards the Pandavas, triggered by the constant remarks by others on his lowly birth, that made Karna lose his hard-earned weapons. So intense was his hatred that he lost his mind and instigated Duryodhana against Draupadi. What added fuel to the fire wasthe fact that she had earlier refused to marry Karna as he was from a low caste. 

Karna did not spare young Abhimanyu’s life either, and went against all known warring regulations of that period and killed a warrior who was weapon-less. In the end, he died in the same manner in which he killed Abhimanyu.

The one message that meets the eye is that we are bound by our own actions and all of us have some negative trait in us that we need to conquer. I am tempted to quote Edward Wallis Hoch : 

“There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it ill behoves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.”

We must learn to respect ourselves before we can respect others. When we understand this, we can begin with being our own best friend, and then we will find that we can understand others around us better!

The Crow and the Cuckoo

Once in the ashram of sage Vidhyatheertha, the disciples were having a very heated debate and the Guru was silently watching them.The students were debating whether it is wise to be selfless or is it foolishness to allow people to make use of you. Since they could not come to any consensus, they decided to approach the Guru and get their arguments judged by the Guru.

Each faction presented its argument. The faction that opined that people should be selfless argued that changing the way others think is not within our control. But if each of us decided to be selfless at least there will be more selfless people and therefore Dharma will survive. Otherwise there will be complete anarchy in the world and the entire earth will move towards destruction.

The other faction which argued that it is foolishness to be selfless had a very strong reasoning too! They bowed respectfully in front of the Guru and told him, “Guruji, with due respects to you, we all felt that as you have been rightly teaching us that God is the full of kindness, let God himself take care of everyone. Who are we to take over the duty of God? God has created all of us equally and if one person can do something the rest of us can do it too!”

The Guru was quite happy and proud of his students as they were able to think beyond his teachings and debate thus. Initially the Guru agreed with both their contention and then started telling a story.

Once there lived a cuckoo on a tree near a village called Lakshmipur. She sang very beautifully and passers-by were enthralled by her voice. She became the talk of the town and people. Everyone used to sing her praises as her voice was melancholic and yet divine. There lived a crow in the neighbouring tree. She could not sing or caw sweetly. People started making unreasonable comparison and used to ask the crow to shut up so they could hear the cuckoo sing. Though the crow felt bad she kept quiet and went about her business.

She built her nest and laid her eggs. The next day she saw that the number of eggs in the nest had increased. She knew that the cuckoo had laid her eggs in the crow’s nest. The crow could stand it no more. But without erupting in anger, she went to a sage who lived under the tree and asked him what she needed to do. The sage told the crow that she had to incubate the cuckoo’s eggs like she did hers. The crow obeyed the sage’s orders. The passers-by who were watching the crow’s nest one day saw a tiny cuckoo emerging from her nest. The word soon spread about the crow’s selfless behaviour. Soon people from the village brought food for the crow. 

The word about the crow’s selflessness spread far and wide and people started eating their food only after offering the first handful to the crow. Priests asked grieving relatives of the dead to offer food to the crow as her blessings will lighten their grief. Soon the crow began to enjoy a status far superior to that of the cuckoo, who by now had become lonely. Even her children flew away from the crow’s nest. Due to her loneliness her melancholy increased and her voice became sweeter. The passers-by stood to hear her voice and her singing, but offered food to the crow and left. 

The crow understood the need to help others irrespective of their behaviour towards her. Each time people offered her food she started cawing and calling as many friends as possible and shared her food with them.

The Guruji paused and looked at his disciples. To his amazement he now saw both the factions had merged into one as they silently stood up bowed respectfully in front of the Guru!