To Pahari Ma: Scriptural Story/Daughter

[Guest guest]

There is a Gita called the Butchers Gita.

As far as I know it is respected Indian

scripture. Here is Swami Vivekanandas's

version.

 

>From What is Duty in Karma Yoga by Swami Vivekananda

 

A young Sannyasin went to a forest; there he

meditated, worshipped, and practised Yoga for a long

time. After years of hard work and practice, he was

one day sitting under a tree, when some dry leaves

fell upon his head. He looked up and saw a crow and a

crane fighting on the top of the tree, which made him

very angry. He said, "What! Dare you throw these dry

leaves upon my head!" As with these words he angrily

glanced at them, a flash of fire went out of his

head--such was the Yogi's power--and burnt the birds

to ashes. He was very glad, almost overjoyed at this

development of power--he could burn the crow and the

crane by a look.

 

After a time he had to go to the town to beg his

bread. He went, stood at a door, and said, "Mother,

give me food." A voice came from inside the house,

"Wait a little, my son." The young man thought, "You

wretched woman, how dare you make me wait! You do not

know my power yet." While he was thinking thus the

voice came again: "Boy, don't be thinking too much of

yourself. Here is neither crow nor crane." He was

astonished; still he had to wait. At last the woman

came, and he fell at her feet and said, "Mother, how

did you know that?" She said, "My boy, I do not know

your Yoga or your practices. I am a common everyday

woman. I made you wait because my husband is ill, and

I was nursing him. All my life I have struggled to do

my duty. When I was unmarried, I did my duty to my

parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my

husband; that is all the Yoga I practise. But by doing

my duty I have become illumined; thus I could read

your thoughts and know what you had done in the

forest. If you want to know something higher than

this, go to the market of such and such a town where

you will find a Vyadha (butcher) who will tell you

something that you will be very glad to learn." The

Sannyasin thought, "Why should I go to that town and

to a Vyadha?" But after what he had seen, his mind

opened a little, so he went.

 

When he came near the town, he found the market and

there saw, at a distance, a big fat Vyadha cutting

meat with big knives, talking and bargaining with

different people. The young man said, "Lord help me!

Is this the man from whom I am going to learn? He is

the incarnation of a demon, if he is anything." In the

meantime this man looked up and said, "O Swami, did

that lady send you here? Take a seat until I have done

my business." The Sannyasin thought, "What comes to me

here?" He took his seat; the man went on with his

work, and after he had finished he took his money and

said to the Sannyasin, "Come sir, come to my home."

 

On reaching home the Vyadha gave him a seat, saying,

"Wait here," and went into the house. He then washed

his old father and mother, fed them, and did all he

could to please them, after which he came to the

Sannyasin and said, "Now, sir, you have come here to

see me; what can I do for you?" The Sannyasin asked

him a few questions about soul and about God, and the

Vyadha gave him a lecture which forms a part of the

Mahabharata, called the Vyadha Gita . It contains one

of the highest flights of the Vedanta.

 

When the Vyadha finished his teaching, the Sannyasin

felt astonished. He said, "Why are you in that body?

With such knowledge as yours why are you in a Vyadha's

body, and doing such filthy, ugly work?My son,"

replied the Vyadha, "no duty is ugly, no duty is

impure. My birth placed me in these circumstances and

environments. In my boyhood I learnt the trade; I am

unattached, and I try to do my duty well. I try to do

my duty as a householder, and I try to do all I can to

make my father and mother happy. I neither know your

Yoga, nor have I become a Sannyasin, nor did I go out

of the world into a forest; nevertheless, all that you

have heard and seen has come to me through the

unattached doing of the duty which belongs to my

position."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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