Story of the week - The Pundit and the Maharaja

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Story of the week

Saturday, November 8, 2003

 

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The Pundit and the Maharaja

 

A learned Pundit was once giving discourses on the Geetha in the

august presence of a Maharaja. One day the turn of this sloka came:

 

Ananyaaschinthayantho maam

Ye janaah paryupaasathe

Theshaam nithyaabhiyukthaanaam

Yogakshemam vahamyaham.

 

The Pundit was explaining enthusiastically the many-sided

implications of this sloka, but the Maharaja shook his head and

said: "This meaning is not correct." He continued to dispute the

correctness of every one of the explanations the Pundit gave. The

poor Pundit had won meritorious distinctions at the court of many a

Maharaja and was honoured by them all with pompous titles. He felt

as if he was stabbed when the Maharaja in the presence of the entire

band of courtiers condemned his explanation of this sloka a 'wrong'.

He smarted under the insult; but plucking up courage, he again set

upon his task, and marshalling all his scholarship, he plunged into

an eloquent discourse on the multiple meaning of the words, "Yoga"

and "Kshema." The Maharaja did not approve of even this; he

ordered: "Find out the meaning of this sloka and having understood

it well, come to me again tomorrow." With this, the Maharaja rose

from his throne and went into the inner apartments.

 

The Pundit lost even the few grains of courage left in him. He was

weighed down by anxiety; he tottered under the insult; he reached

home and, placing the copy of the Geetha aside, he dropped on his

bed.

 

Surprised at this, the Pundit's wife asked, "Tell me why you came

home from the palace today in such grief? What exactly did happen?"

She rained one anxious question after another so that the Pundit was

obliged to describe to her all hat had happened, the insults heaped

on his head, the command with which the Maharaja sent him home, etc.

The wife listened calmly to the account of what had happened and

after pondering deeply over the incident, she said, "Yes; it is

true. What the Maharaja said is right. The explanation you gave for

the sloka is not the correct one. How could the Maharaja approve it?

The fault is yours." At this, the Pundit rose in anger from the cot,

like a cobra whose tail is trodden hard. "What do you know, you

silly woman? Am I inferior in intelligence to you? Do you, who are

engaged in the kitchen all the time, cooking and serving, claim to

know more than I? Shut your mouth and quit my presence," he roared.

 

But the lady stood her ground. She replied, "Lord! Why do you fly

into such a rage at a statement of mere truth? Repeat the sloka once

again to yourself and ponder over its meaning. You will then arrive

at the right answer yourself." Thus by her soft words the wife

brought calm into the mind of her husband.

 

The Pundit started analysing the meaning of each individual word in

the sloka. Ananyaaschinthayantho maam, be began, deliberately and

slowly, repeating aloud the various meanings. The wife intervened

and said, "What use is it to learn and expound the meanings of

words? Tell me what your intention was when you approached this

Maharaja. What was the purpose?" At this, the Pundit got

wild. "Should I not run this family, this home? How am I to meet the

cost of food and drink, of clothes and things, for you and all the

rest? It is for the sake of these that I went to him, of course; or

else, what business have I with him?" he shouted.

 

The wife then replied. "If you had only understood what lord Krishna

has declared in this sloka, the urge to go to this Maharaja would

not have arisen! If He is worshipped without any other thought, if

one but surrenders to Him, if at all times the mind is fixed on him,

then the Lord has declared in this sloka that He would provide

everything for the devotee. You have not done these three; you

approach the Maharaja, believing that he would provide everything!

That is where you have gone against the meaning of the verse. That

is the reason why he did not accept your explanation."

 

Hearing this, that reputed scholar sat awhile, ruminating on her

remarks. He realised his mistake. He did not proceed to the palace

the next day. Instead, he got immersed in the worship of Krishna at

home. When the king inquired why the Pundit had not appeared,

courtiers said that he was staying at home and had not started out.

The king sent a messenger, but the Pundit declined to move out. He

said, "There is no need for me to go to any one; my Krishna will

provide me with everything; He will bear my Yogakshema Himself. I

suffered insult because I did not realise this so long, being

blinded by eagerness to know the manifold meanings of mere words.

Surrendering to Him, if I am ceaselessly engaged in worshipping Him,

He will Himself provide me with all I need."

 

When the messenger took this message to the palace, the Maharaja

proceeded to the dwelling of the Pundit on foot; he fell at the feet

of the Pundit, saying "I thank you sincerely for explaining to me

this day, out of your own experience, the meaning of the sloka which

you expounded yesterday." Thus, the king taught the Pundit that any

propagation of spiritual matters which does not come out of the

crucible of experience is mere glitter and show.

 

- Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

Source: Sathya Sai Baba, Geetha Vahini, Chapter 18, p. 171-174

 

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