"The Plaything"

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

The Plaything

 

ChandrahAsa was a five year-old boy. He had lost both his parents

in a tragic accident. Even when the parents were alive, leading life was a

struggle for them in their impoverished state, with no means of eking out a

livelihood. Though there were several relatives who were well off, they

pretended as if Chandrahasa's parents just didn't exist, fearing that if they

offered an occasional morsel of food or even a kind word, the poor relatives

would stick to them like leeches and would be a drain and drag on their

resources. The merciful Lord solved their problem of existence by removing them

from the mundane scene through the medium of an accident.

 

This might have provided relief to his parents, but it added to

Chandrahasa's problems, for he was now left an orphan and uncared for. The

family had hardly anything to call its own except a ramshackle hut, where the

boy stayed. Whenever somebody took pity on him and fed him some food, he ate.

Otherwise, he just stayed unfed and killed hunger with a filling drink of water.

Being young, he did not feel the pangs of hunger and want as much as an adult.

The lack of a particular thing does not affect us as much as the feeling that we

lack it and the heightened longing for the same. As such, Chandrahasa too was

happy when his few wants were satisfied, but his penury did not affect him much.

 

The only thing Chandrahasa could call his possession was a small,

round, black stone-like object which had been in the family for years. It was

kept in a box along with some faded pictures of the Lord on a small shelf. When

his parents passed away, Chandrahasa, on one of his frequent ransackings of his

hut for something to eat (the boy was too little to understand that food and

other material requisites did not appear by themselves, but had to be earned) he

found this black stone. Having nothing to play with, Chandrahasa appropriated it

with glee and used it to have fun with. He would toss it up in the air and catch

it on its downward journey. He would roll it on the ground like a marble and use

it to hit other bigger stones, as target practice. He used to put it in his

mouth and roll it from side to side with his tongue and spit it out when he was

tired of that particular form of entertainment.

 

Chandrahasa was extremely attached to the stone, for it was his only playmate

and plaything too. The parents of other boys of his age did not allow their

wards to play with him, afraid that his poverty would rub off on others. Though

he did not have a penny in the world to call his own, Chandrahasa was extremely

happy. Being basically a contented creature and lacking utterly in the childish

instinct of possessiveness and jealousy at peers' possessions, he led a life of

youthful indifference to the privations of poverty.

 

For all that, he was extremely attached to his plaything and would never have

parted with it, even if the entire world had been offered to him in return. It

was his constant companion in sleep and in waking and he grew to love it with

intensity beyond measure. In the whole wide world, the black stone was his only

possession and a prized one at that and he spent every waking moment playing

with it, loving it, talking to it (in the manner of children who often converse

with their dolls). He even used to sleep with the stone grasped in his closed

palm, its small but solid presence affording him comfort and compensating for

the absence of a mother or even a teddy bear to cuddle up to.

 

There was another resident of the same village-an extremely pious

scholar, known for his orthodoxy and exemplary personal habits. He led a life of

devotion, taking care not to transgress the Shastras even a little. He performed

all the rituals ordained on him as per his varna and Ashrama, well and in time.

He took care always to keep on the correct side of law, both man-made and

divine. In short, he led a life of perfection. People used to whisper to one

another that this must verily be his last birth and when his term on this earth

ended, he would go straight to the promised land, no more to be born again. Such

was his unbending rigidity as far as the Shastras were concerned, that he used

to look askance at anyone not complying strictly with scriptural prescriptions,

and give them a piece of his mind on the matter. He was a stickler for all the

outward manifestations of religiosity, and not being privy to his thoughts, we

are unable to comment on the degree of spirituality his mind was endowed with.

Purity of body was his watchword and he used to bathe again and again on the

same day tirelessly, if he thought he had contracted any pollution due to the

touch of or cohabitation with people, whom he considered impure due to their

lackadaisical attitude towards orthodoxy and failure to observe strictly the

rules of the religious game. Extremely well versed in the Scripture, he knew not

only what was good for himself but for the others too and lost no time or

opportunity in reminding people of their shortcomings and bohemian ways.

 

Normally, the paths of our Chandrahasa and the aforesaid scholar did not

cross, even though they lived in the same village. The latter was aware that the

boy had lost his parents and was living a life of hunger and need, but was

simply unconcerned. If he started bothering about each and every orphan in the

world, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his mission of perfection in

conduct and character. So, as far as he was concerned, Chandrahasa did not

exist.

 

However, the religious man's attention was drawn to the boy and his

activities per force one day. While passing by, he idly observed the boy engaged

in some frivolous endeavour, putting some stone into his mouth, taking it out

and tossing it in the air, etc.

 

Deeming it his rightful duty to reform the world of its errant ways, he stopped

and gave a small lecture to Chandrahasa on the need for personal cleanliness and

the need to avoid "ecchil" etc., to which the boy listened attentively, being

naturally endowed with respect for elders and glad that somebody was at last

bestowing some attention on him.

 

The pious gentleman was about to pass on, when he observed the black stone

the boy was playing with. Prompted by curiosity but careful not to touch the

stone which had gone in and out of the boy's mouth, he asked Chandrahasa to hold

it up in his hand for a closer scrutiny. When the lad complied, he looked

closely at the plaything. What he saw struck him as strange. He asked the boy to

wash the stone and his own hands in clean water and bring it again for

examination, which the boy did obediently. Shorn of its coating of mud, grime

and the secretions of saliva covering it, the stone now shone with a peculiar

reddish hue. A close look revealed the existence of several distinguishing marks

on the stone, with which the gentleman was only too familiar. The stone was

indeed a SalagrAma silA and an extremely rare one at that. From all its

attributes, the pious man could recognise it as a Nrsimha Salagramam, the

worship of which could bestow upon the devotee all boons including liberation.

However, it would also demand from the worshipper the highest standard of

cleanliness, discipline, purity of body, mind and thought. It would also expect

the devotee to feed it with the best of food of the highest quality and large

quantities.

 

The scholar was horrified. This unlettered urchin had been playing with

the most precious of the Lord's forms- a Salagramam. What was more appalling was

the liberties the lad had taken with the Srimurthy, rolling it about in the sand

like a marble, and, worse still, putting it into his mouth, the ultimate of

apachArAs. Was the boy mad? Did he not realise he was playing with fire and was

likely any moment to be cursed to a cycle of damned births? Anyway, the damage

was done and the boy would surely rot in hell for all time to come. He had seen

these atrocities being committed by the boy with his very own eyes and if he did

not do something to redeem the situation, then the great Lord would never

forgive him.

 

Quivering with righteous indignation, the scholar shook the blinking boy

hard till tears came to the latter's eyes, chiding him all the while for having

taken the liberty of playing with the holiest of holies. The frightened lad was

told that he would never prosper (he never entertained any such idea, in any

case) and that divine damnation would descend on him soon, he might be struck

down by a bolt of lightning and many other such unspeakable horrors awaited him

in hell. Having put the brat in his place, the pious man confiscated the

Salagrama murthy from the bewildered and unprotesting child and marched away to

his house, holding the murthy gingerly with his upper cloth, satisfied with his

day's quota of good work.

 

Once he reached home, the holy man took a bath, took the Salagrama to his pooja

room, purified (!) the Lord by giving him a ceremonial bath with water from the

Ganga, adorned Him with a cloth beautiful red silk, offered Him a sumptuous

feast of delectable items, recited learned stotras incomprehensible to the

common man and put Him to sleep on the softest of beds, all the while praying to

Him to award exemplary punishment to the boy who had dared to play with the Lord

in such a cavalier fashion. He was sure that his act (of rescuing the Lord from

the clutches of the boy and offering Him all the upachArAs He was entitled to)

would, by itself, earn him God's undying gratitude and eventually liberation.

 

At the other end of the village, Chandrahasa was weeping

uncontrollably, having been forced to part with his most intimate and loved

possession. Though most of what the old man had said made no sense to the boy,

he understood enough to be frightened that he was in for serious trouble. Though

he did not know God and His functions, the old man had made it sound as though

the all-powerful Lord, wherever and whoever He was, was extremely annoyed with

Chandrahasa and that retribution was imminent. The lad knew not what offence he

had committed, but since the holy man had said so, it must indeed be true. By

sunset, the lad was shivering with fright, forlorn at the loss of his playmate,

crestfallen at the prospect of a bleak future stretching away without the

company of his beloved plaything. He was feeling hungry too and all the physical

and psychological gnawing made him miserable. Loneliness and hunger, which had

not troubled him so far, began eating away his innards and the lad had none but

his own troubles to keep him company. Why was God, if He was truly powerful and

merciful (as the old man had made Him out to be) not coming to his rescue in his

state of misery, wondered the lad wistfully.

 

Night fell and all law-abiding citizens gave themselves up to the

clutches of sleep, the old man being no exception. He was deep in slumber when

he had a strange dream. He saw a terrifying figure, with huge eyes red with

anger, a broad mane of golden hair framing its face, dense eyebrows shaking in

anger, ferocious mouth bared to reveal razor-sharp, protruding teeth capable of

tearing anything to pieces, long, powerful arms ending in nails resembling

deadly sceptres on all its fingers, a roar that could benumb the entire universe

with its volume and power, nostrils flared in rage, a form that filled the

entire canvass of the broad earth and skies with its awesome presence. Up to the

neck, the figure sported a normal human torso and above that was the face of an

extraordinarily beautiful and ferocious lion. The scholar realised with a start

that it was none other than Sri Nrisimha.

 

The Lord was speaking. He said, " Hey VidvAn! I am unable to sleep in

the bed you have provided for me. My entire body burns with discomfort and I am

suffering from indigestion from the meal you gave me. I feel claustrophobic,

being confined to the golden box you have locked me in. The flowers you have

bedecked me in sit heavily on me, as do the ornaments you have adorned me with.

In short, I am extremely uncomfortable and feel quite uneasy. Do me a favour and

take me back to that lad Chandrahasa, with whom I was having the time of my

life. Did I ask you to interfere and make me miserable? Do you think you are so

perfect that you can set about to reform the world? Cure yourself first with a

liberal dose of that rare attribute, Mercy and its adjunct, Tolerance. Don't be

a busybody and keep finding fault with everyone. Mere learning and observance of

rituals, however perfect, will not lead you anywhere without Atma guNAs. Enough

of this! Take me back this moment to Chandrahasa!"

 

Shaken out of his slumber by this strange and terrifying dream, the scholar

rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Was it a dream, or had he dreamt of having such an

impossible dream? Whatever it was, the Lord seemed pretty categorical about what

He wanted, however inexplicable it was. Was it really possible that the Lord

preferred to roll about in mud and be bathed in Chandrahasa's saliva, to

tirumanjanam with the holy water of the Ganga? Was it indeed true that He liked

the company of that ignorant infant and preferred it to that of a well-read

scholar like himself, rich in age, experience, learning and anushttAnam? Was it

possible that the Lord did not know His own mind? The Shastras said somewhere

that the ways of the Lord were strange and this appeared true, judging by what

He had just spoken in the dream. Well, if the Lord's preferences were indeed

those, he would carry them out immediately.

 

Promptly at daybreak, the VidvAn carried the Lord back to poor

Chandrahasa, who had cried himself to sleep. En route to the boy's modest

dwelling, the pious man kept thinking of the Lord's homilies and by the time he

arrived at his destination, his mind had undergone the much-needed

transformation. Waking the poor boy gently, the pious man took him to his own

house, adopted him formally so that the lad would never want for anything in his

life, and installed the Salagrama murthy too in the boy's own room, instructing

him with all humility in the ways of worship. Though Chandrahasa no longer put

the Lord in his mouth or rolled Him on the floor, his love for his Playmate of

long standing continued undiminished and grew in intensity day by day.

 

The Lord too was happy. The poor boy was no longer poor and hungry and was

well provided for. At the same time, he continued to be as playful as ever with

the Lord, though his love was now laced with devotion. The holy man had become

truly holy, realising the significance of an overwhelming love for God and all

His creation and acquiring a fair measure of the same. The Lord felt pretty

satisfied with Himself. He had managed to fell several fruits with a single

"Stone".

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama: