Fwd: [WHSW] Part 1 of 2: Who is Greater? A Story by Swami Vivekananda (WIDER HORIZONS Weekly: 06-43)

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Part 1 of 2:

WHO IS GREATER?

A Story by Swami Vivekananda

(WIDER HORIZONS Weekly: 06-43)

 

Source: http://www.vivekananda.net/

 

A certain king used to inquire of all the Sannyasins

that came to his country, " Which is the greater

man--he who gives up the world and becomes a

Sannyasin,

or he who lives in the world and performs his duties

as a householder? "

 

Many wise men sought to solve the problem. Some

asserted that the Sannyasin was the greater, upon

which the king demanded that they should prove their

assertion. When they could not, he ordered them to

marry and become householders.

 

Then others came and said, " The householder who

performs his duties is the greater man. " Of them, too

the king demanded proofs. When they could not give

them, he made them also settle down as householders.

 

At last there came a young Sannyasin, and the king

similarly inquired of him also. He answered, " Each, O

king, is equally great in his place. " " Prove this

to me, " asked the king. " I will prove it to you, " said

the Sannyasin, " but you must first come and live as I

do for a few days, that I may be able to prove to

you what I say. "

 

The king consented and followed the Sannyasin out of

his own territory and passed through many other

countries until they came to a great kingdom. In the

capital of that kingdom a great ceremony was going

on. The king and the Sannyasin heard the noise of

drums and music, and heard also the criers; the people

were assembled in the streets in gala dress, and a

great proclamation was being made. The king and the

Sannyasin stood there to see what was going on. The

crier was proclaiming loudly that the princess,

daughter of the king of that country, was about to

choose a husband from among those assembled before

her.

 

It was an old custom in India for princesses to choose

husbands in this way. Each princess had certain ideas

of the sort of man she wanted for a husband. Some

would have the handsomest man, others would have only

the most learned, others again the richest, and so on.

 

All the princes of the neighborhood put on their

bravest attire and presented themselves before her.

Sometimes they too had their own criers to enumerate

their advantages and the reasons why they hoped the

princess would choose them. The princess was taken

round on a throne, in the most splendid array, and

looked at and heard about them. If she was not

pleased with what she saw and heard, she said to her

bearers, " Move on, " and no more notice was taken of

the rejected suitors. If, however, the princess was

pleased with any one of them, she threw a garland of

flowers over him and he became her husband.

 

The princess of the country to which our king and the

Sannyasin had come was having one of these interesting

ceremonies. She was the most beautiful princess

in the world, and the husband of the princess would be

ruler of the kingdom after her father's death. The

idea of this princess was to marry the handsomest

man, but she could not find the right one to please

her. Several times these meetings had taken place, but

the princess could not select a husband. This

meeting was the most splendid of all; more people than

ever had come it it. The princess came in on a throne,

and the bearers carried her from place to place.

She did not seem to care for any one, and every one

became disappointed that this meeting also was going

to be a failure.

 

Just then came a young man, a Sannyasin, handsome as

if the sun had come down to the earth, and stood in

one

corner of the assembly, watching what was going on.

The throne with the princess came near him, and as

soon as she saw the beautiful Sannyasin, she

stopped and threw the garland over him. The young

Sannyasin seized the garland and threw it off,

exclaiming, " What nonsense is this? I am a Sannyasin.

What is marriage to me? "

 

The king of that country thought that perhaps this

man was poor and so dared not marry the princess, and

said to him, " With my daughter goes half my kingdom

now, and the whole kingdom after my death! " and

put the garland again on the Sannyasin. The young man

threw it off once more, saying, " Nonsense! I do not

want to marry, " and walked quickly away from the

assembly.

(To be continued...)

 

NOTE: We are grateful to Gokulmuthu Narayanaswamy for

this column.

 

 

May god bless you,

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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