There are many stories that I had read and pondered over, which helped me progress towards my realization.
Is THIS True or THAT True?
One a day, a courtier came to King Janak and informed him that there was an attack on the kingdom. King Janak prepared himself and declared for a war. It was one of the toughest wars, and unfortunately, he lost it and was wounded. The enemy king captured the kingdom and ordered King Janak to leave the kingdom immediately. King Janak started his journey out of the kingdom in a situation where he was wounded and was left hungry and thirsty. He asked for water and food from the people, but they refused in fear of their new king. King Janak, left with no options, tirelessly walked for days and night with no food and water. However, at the entry of the new kingdom, he saw food was being served to the poor people. Immediately, he walked towards the line of people to get something to eat. But the moment he reached the counter, the food was over. The server saw him and said, “I can give you starch. I am sorry, but this is the only thing that I can offer.” King Janak, being helpless, agreed for the starch. The cook gave him the starch, but the moment King Janak took the bowl of starch to help himself, an eagle jumped on it, and he dropped the bowl on the ground. King Janak lost the last hope and fell down seeing the starch getting mixed with the dirt. In utter despair, he screamed, “Oh Lord!!!”
That moment, his bodyguard entered the king’s bedroom and saw King Janak on his bed, sweating heavily and with pain in his chest. The bodyguard checked if he was alright. King Janak took a deep breath and said, “Is THIS True or THAT True?” He asked, “What is the Truth?” Am I a king who dreamt that I was a beggar, or am I a beggar dreaming that I am a king? Is This true or That True?
King Janak remained in that condition for a while, leaving the people in his kingdom worried about their king’s state of mind until one day, a learned saint Asthavakra Muni came to his capital. He heard about the King’s situation and decided to visit the court. Seeing the king confused, he asked what the matter was. The king again murmured, “Is THIS True or THAT True?”
Then, saint Asthavakra said, “Dear King Janak!! Neither ‘this’ nor ‘that’ is truth. YOU ARE THE TRUTH!!!”
For the first time, King Janak got an answer to the question. In the past, people had told him, “Of course, you are the king. Why you ever doubted? You know you are the king. That was a dream.” That’s what people said. To which, King Janak always said, “No, but what is true? Am I a king dreaming that I was a beggar, or am I a beggar dreaming that I am the king?” King Janak could not believe their answer that he was indeed a king. Until this saint Asthavakra came and told king Janak, “Neither this is true – that you are a king dreaming you a beggar; nor that is true – that you are a beggar dreaming to be a king. And this made King Janak realize the truth.
Learning: My learning from this story is that the waking state is just like a dream. Because ultimately when everything is over, when life is over, everything dissolves just like everything in a dream dissolves. The saint tried to explain that neither the waking state nor the dreaming state is real. But there is the other state, the state of the true self, the Soul, which is the real state. This is what saint Asthavakra tried to tell King Janak, and King Janak being a man of seeking was awakened by this.
The Immortal Fruit
Once a great sage gave the king a fruit that would help him attain immortality when he consumes it. The sage told the king that the fruit was rare and one of its kind. The king was very happy, but while he thought about gaining immortality, his thoughts revolved around his dearest queen, without whom an immortal life seemed meaningless. So, he gave the fruit to the queen and asked her to have it so that she can be immortal and be with him forever until his last day.
The queen gave the fruit to the charioteer with whom she was secretly in love with as she wanted him to be with her forever. The charioteer, in turn, gave the fruit to the damsel with whom he had a relationship. The damsel thought that she was too ordinary a person to have such a fruit, and so she gave it to the king.
The king while receiving the fruit from the damsel doubted if the sage told the truth that the immortal fruit was rare since the damsel also had the same fruit that he gave to the queen. On asking, the damsel told that the charioteer gave her the fruit, and on further introspection, the charioteer revealed that the fruit was given to him by the queen.
On hearing this, the king heartbroken, and realizing the illusion of this world, left all attachments and lived a renounced life.
Learning: The world is full of suffering. We should not have expectations because if we do, we are bound to become miserable eventually. Love of the earth is not eternal and is often faced with disloyalty and deceit. Such is the world! Why should we be disappointed and heartbroken?
Love of God is eternal. Instead of loving humans who may break our heart, it is far better to love God who will never do so. This story clearly showed how earthly love can be so fickle and lack true devotion. It is sad but true. Hearts in the world will be broken again and again. Love God instead.
During Ved Vyas’s time, there was a king named Jaimini. He wanted to renounce the world so Vyas told him, “Don’t stop your devotion and love for God. Renounce your desires here itself.”
But Jaimini insisted on going to the forest and left. One day, in a storm, a group of girls lost their way. One girl got separated from the group and reached Jaimini’s hermitage in the forest. She was fully wet and looked sensual. Jaimini told her to go away, but she said that it was raining and animals would attack her in the forest. She requested Jaimini to give her a place to stay for the night.
After much persuasion, Jaimini gave her a room, provided that she would agree to go in immediately, lock the room and not open it at night for anybody, including him.
As it would be, the sensual image of the girl disturbed Jaimini, and he went to her room later at night and knocked at the door. She refused to open it. Even when he said, “It’s me – Jaimini.” She refused.
Finally, Jaimini climbed to the window at the top of the door, pulled it open and jumped inside.
What did he see? Ved Vyas was sitting inside. It was a test to show Jaimini that going to the forest does not mean that a person has renounced everything. Renunciation is about having a will power and power of discrimination to control cravings.
Learning: Unless we control our mind and the senses, we cannot live a life of renunciation and liberation. And this need not happen in the middle of the forest. Man is a social being. He has to act. Man cannot abstain from action. We can have freedom in action, not freedom from action. The mind would always think, and the senses would always perceive. We cannot stop the mind from thinking and the senses from perceiving. But we have to get the mind and senses under the control of the intellect and the intellect under the control of the Soul. That is the challenge! What I learned is that by running away from this world, we cannot get liberation. We have to face this world. We have to realize the truth of who we are. And we have to live, renouncing the cravings of the senses. We have to live despite the wandering of the mind. In this world, as a seeker, as a renunciate, we have to renounce by knowledge of the truth that we are not this body and mind. By suppressing our feeling, we will not reach anywhere. And there cannot be a better story to teach me this truth.
Karna and Arjuna
Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model and not himself. Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson, snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path that they were walking on turned into gold. Krishna said “Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers. You must donate every last bit of gold”.
Arjuna went into the village and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises, and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a puffed up chest. For two days and two continuous nights, Arjuna shoveled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in the slightest.
Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, he told Krishna that he couldn't go on any longer without rest. Krishna called Karna. “You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna”, he told him. Karna called two villagers. “You see those two mountains?”, Karna asked, “Those two mountains of gold are yours. Distribute these fairly to all the villagers”, he said and walked away.
Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him? Krishna smiled mischievously and told him “Arjuna, subconsciously, you yourself were attracted to the gold. You regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus, the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination. Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man who is already on the path of enlightenment”.
Learning: My learning from the story of “Karna and Arjuna” is very simple, yet profound. Both of them were great warriors. But here, Krishna was trying to talk about the goodness of the spiritual values. And he taught Arjuna a lesson about detachment. He told Arjuna that although he was given two mountains of gold to give away, his ego and his mind were in command. Thus, he could not distribute the gold, and he failed. But it was very simple for Karna just because Karna was detached. He was a man of realization. He knew that nothing belonged to him. We come empty handed, and we go empty handed. He was given a task by his Master just to distribute the gold so he did not feel that he owned the gold. He just called the villages and said to distribute the gold among themselves. He did not feel that it belonged to him. He did not have a feeling of ego that it was he who was giving away the gold. He just walked away, achieving the task in moments with such ease just because he was detached and in command of his senses and his mind.
If only we are in command of our body and mind, we can move ahead like Karna. Otherwise we will be caught in this world, and it would be impossible to move towards Liberation.
Krishna and Narad
In a mythological tale, Narad and Krishna were coming from heaven. Krishna said, “I am thirsty. Please get me water”. So Narad went to the nearby village and knocked at the door of a hut. A very beautiful girl opened it, and he instantly fell in love with her. He forgot everything and started romancing the girl.
Days and weeks passed by, and then he got married to the same girl. He had children and around twenty years passed.
Suddenly, one day, there was a devastating flood and Narad tried desperately to save his wife and kids, but he could not and when he gave up, he heard Krishna’s voice, “Narad where is the water? I am still waiting”. Narad did not even know that time had passed so.
Learning: What does this story of Narad teach us? Isn’t it true for most of us that once we are born in this world, we grow up, we complete our education, we start working, we get married, we have kids, we build a business, we get our kids married, we grow old, and we die? Do we ever stop to realize that just like Krishna had sent Narad to bring water, we all were send to this world with a purpose: to realize the truth of who we <