The art of helping others

One day a sadhu was walking through a river when he saw a man with head in his hands. The Sadhu decided to take some rest before embarking on his endless journey.

He sat next to the man and started chatting with him. “You seem to be worried about something, what’s the matter?” inquired the sadhu. The man, Boluram, took his hands off his head and rose to greet the sadhu. The Sadhu, then, gestured him to sit down and as Boluram sat next to the sadhu tears were streaming from his eyes.

“I have a son who is my only child. He lost his mother when he was quite young and all of us around him, including the village elders, pampered him a lot. Little did we realise that we are spoiling him. He has become wayward and none of us are able to help him set his life in the right path” rued the poor father.

The Sadhu sat silent for a few minutes. He understood the situation and turned towards the weeping man. In a firm but gentle voice the sadhu comforted Boluram and told him a story.

"Once upon a time there lived a buffalo. Every now and then he suffered injuries to his back due to the weight of the cart that he helped in pulling. Whenever he got hurt, a crow that lived in the neighbourhood would sit on the buffalo and peck on his wound. The buffalo was quite petrified, but could do nothing. So he bore the pain in silence till the crow had his fill. When the crow flew off the buffalo was in more pain than the one inflicted by the wound.

One day the buffalo asked the crow if he enjoyed troubling him despite knowing that he was in pain. The crow flew and sat in front of the buffalo. He then held his neck high and in a firm voice told the buffalo that if he did not peck at the wound the organisms that he pecked at would cause an infection. All he was doing was helping the buffalo by making the wound heal faster. The buffalo stood unmoved. He asked the crow to find a better way of helping him as the pain was sometimes unbearable. The crow explained to the buffalo that he had to bear the pain if he needed a cure". 

After narrating this story the sadhu told Boluram, that there was only one way of helping someone. If Boluram wished to help his son, he had to send him out of the house in search of a job.

“If you want to help your son, be firm. It may be painful initially, but hunger will teach him to find his food. No pain, no gain” said the sadhu before taking leave.

Warmth of a little bulb

One day Akbar and Birbal were walking in the palace gardens when the ministers came to them with a very serious matter. One of the rich merchants was slapped by a poor man for asking him to return the money he had borrowed. Both the merchant and the poor man were waiting in the court room when the Jahanpannah and Birbal arrived. 

The King asked them what the matter was and the poor man hung his head in shame. The merchant told the king that he had given money to the poor man and when he asked him to repay the money the poor man slapped him. The king looked at the distraught borrower and asked him why he had done so. The poor said that the merchant used foul language. Since the rains that year were not so good, he did not make enough money and wanted more time to repay the loan. But the merchant did not pay heed to his words and abused him in full public view.

The king told the man that he had no choice but to pay heed to the merchant’s complaint. Since the poor man had physically attacked him, he had to undergo some punishment. The merchant intervened and said that the poor man should stand in neck deep water for a whole night. 

“But”, protested the poor man, “It was winter time and the water would be very cold”. The merchant did not budge and the punishment was final. 

The poor man went to the river and stood alone for one whole night. Luckily he survived the cold and the next day the king ordered the palace doctor to provide him the best possible treatment. The merchant raised objection saying that a light that was glowing far off on the outer wall of a house must have kept the man warm and the punishment had not been carried out in the fairest of manners.   

The king thought for a while and told the merchant to come to the court the next day to decide in the regard. Meanwhile Birbal wondered what went on in the mind of the Emperor. He clearly understood that the merchant wanted the poor man dead. He probably eyed the land that belonged to the poor man in lieu of the money he had loaned.

The next day both interested parties were present in court. Akbar asked the courtiers if they had seen Birbal. But Birbal was nowhere around. The king came out of the court only to find Birbal trying to cook a pot of rice by tying it atop a bamboo pole while a feeble fire was lit underneath. The Emperor was both curious and angry. 

He looked at Birbal and ordered him to come to the court at once. Birbal bowed respectfully and told the Jahanpannah that he had not eaten anything and would join Akbar once the rice was cooked. “I will be there in a jiffy, your majesty. Please don’t worry”, said Birbal with sarcasm laced in his voice. Akbar asked Birbal how long he hoped to take as the pot was tied so high and the fire was not hot enough to cook the rice. 

To this Birbal replied, “Jahanpannah, when the heat form a small bulb glowing far away is enough to keep a person warm throughout the winter night, this fire is enough to cook the rice.” Akbar smiled knowingly and dismissed the merchant’s plea to re-look at the case and rewarded the poor man for accepting the punishment bravely. Good favours the brave, said the Emperor with pride and affection in his voice!

When duty calls…

We all know that Krishna loved butter. He used to go to any lengths to steal butter. No matter where the Gopikas hid the butter, Krishna found it and shared it with his friends. This butter-eating saga was getting a little too much and the Gopikas went to Ma Yashoda (Krishna’s mother) and started complaining to her. Yashoda was perplexed. Her son was as equally endearing and helpful as he was naughty and troublesome.

Nevertheless, as complaints grew, Yashoda decided to do something about this. She called Krishna and asked him to stop stealing butter. Krishna feigned innocence, hugged his seemingly angry mother and told her that the Gopikas were jealous of them and that they were complaining to create problems between them. Yashoda could do nothing. Krishna’s words melted her heart like a hot knife melts butter!

But after the little prankster left for his next round of the ‘butter stealing’ adventure, Yashoda decided to catch Krishna ‘red-handed’.She took a huge pot and filled it with butter. She hung it high up on the ceiling and hung a bell over it. “The minute Kanhaiya puts his hand into the pot the bell will ring and I am going to catch him. I will teach this little boy a lesson” vowed his mother. 

As expected, Krishna and his friends arrived home and their eyes fell upon the pot. They looked at each other, exchanging greedy glances. In an instant, the group of little boys vanished and in their place stood a human pyramid with Krishna on top of it, all ready to dip his beautiful and tender fingers into the pot. Just as he was about to put his hands into the pot, he saw the bell. The smile that adorned his lips was beyond compare and the bell was mesmerised!

In a very soft and cajoling voice, Krishna addressed the bell. “Hey, bell! Listen. Just don’t ring until my friends and I finish eating the butter”, he told the bell. Then he put his hands into the pot and brought out generous helpings of butter and passed it to his friends. The bell remained silent. His friends told Krishna that they all had eaten enough and it was Krishna’s turn. As the Lord dipped his finger into the silky layers of the butter laced with his mother’s unequaled love, the bell screamed his presence. The whole room echoed with the heavenly call of the holy bell!

Krishna stopped in his track and turned angrily towards the bell. The bell, sensing his Lord’s anger, became silent. After the few moments of silence, which to the bell seemed ages, it began in a quivering voice. “Oh! Lord,” the bell addressed his maker, “Is it not my duty to ring when anything is offered to you? Do I not ring when there is a ‘naivedhya’?” inquired the bell of his Lord.

Krishna, for once, was forced to accept the bell’s reasoning. 

“Duty above all” is the message the Lord sent to humanity through this episode.

The importance of strong parenting

The making of the Buddhist saint Manimegalai, is set against the back drop of a strong willed mother, Madhavi.

Kovalan met Madhavi and fell in love with the dancer. He married her, though he was already married to Kannagi. Kovalan and Madhavi had a daughter by the name Manimegalai. One day, when the duo was spending time at the beach in Kaveripattinam, Madhavi sang a song in praise of the sea. Kovalan misunderstood her, and in a moment of jealousy left her and went back to Kannagi.

After Kovalan left her, Madhavi, brought her daughter up with the purest of values. Though Madhavi herself was a dancer, her strength of character came to the fore in the manner in which she brought up her daughter. 

 

Manimegalai became a Buddhist nun.

Manimegalai grew up to be a very beautiful woman and the prince of Chola dynasty, Udhayakumaran, fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. But Manimegalai chose to lead life of celibacy. She became a Buddhist nun. She was blessed with the Akshayapatra or the bowl which gave unlimited food. She used this to feed the hungry and the poor and travelled from place to place as a Bhikshuni (Buddhist nun).

Manimegalai converted to Buddhism from Jainism and served the poor. She led a  virtuous life upholding ahimsa. Later she became a disciple of Bhikshu Aravaṇa Aḍigal.

The story of Madhavi on one hand was that of great commitment to motherhood;  instead of seeking revenge on Kovalan, she decided to take up her duty towards her daughter seriously and completed it flawlessly.

A single grain of rice

What do you do when a great rishi suddenly visits you with thousand disciples and you have nothing to offer him? As though the situation is not already difficult, he happens to be a rishi known for flaring tempers. This was the position that Draupadi was in when the Pandavas were on their exile.

On a particularly windy night the Pandavas ate their food followed by Draupadi and were ready to take rest. Suddenly Sage Dhuruvasa visited them along with his thousand disciples. The Pandavas had a bowl that gave unlimited food every day, until Draupadi finished her dinner. Since Draupadi had eaten and was ready to sleep, there was no food available to offer to the sage and his disciples. Draupadi did not know what to do and requested the sage to wash his hands and feet. Meanwhile she prayed to Lord Krishna to save her from the anger of the holy man.

Krishna, who always considered Draupadi as his best friend and sister, appeared before her and asked her to bring the vessel. “But “, said Draupadi, “I have finished my food and washed the vessel. Until morning the vessel will not give any food” said Draupadi.

But since the Lord insisted Draupadi brought the vessel and handed it over to Krishna. Lord Krishna took the single grain of rice from the vessel and ate it. Draupadi was feeling quite embarrassed as she had not washed the vessel properly. But it was this imperfection that saved the day for her. After eating the grain of rice that was stuck to the vessel, Lord Krishna disappeared just as he had appeared.

The single grain of rice that God ate satisfied the hunger of the sage and his disciples!

Draupadi came out of the hut to where the sage and his students were washing their feet and hands. By the time Draupadi came out they had all finished washing their hands and the sage walked up to Draupadi and told her that they were already full and did not feel like having any food. So saying the sage blessed them all and took leave.

There is a belief among a very large number of families that every night some food has to be kept and the entire food should not be emptied. Even today many households have the habit of pouring some water in the left over rice and keeping it aside at night. The water can be drunk the next day and the rice, usually is eaten with curd. The water and the rice thus made are said to be nutritious and especially during hot summers this is a popular means of combating the heat.