Three friends

[Guest guest]

There was a chief minister of a King. The King was very much pleased with him. The minister enjoyed the full grace of the King, but the he reflected, “The King’s grace is not bound to be steady. I must have a friend to help me in difficulties.â€So he became friend with one fellow with whom he always dined, bathed, and kept a constant company. After sometime he thought, “I must have two friends.†He made some other fellow his friend but paid him visits only on festival days. Thereafter some third fellow also became his friend, who met him only on rare occasions.Distinctively all the three were named Nityamitra, Parvamitra and Juharmitra.Now one day the Minister thought, “I would like to test my friends to know, if they would help me in difficulties.â€He arranged a plot in the following

manner. He invited the prince for dinner and imprisoned him underground with his son. He sent away his wife to her father’s place along with his second son. Then he called a most unreliable and noisy servant and told him, “Listen, the prince had precious ornaments. So I killed him by twisting his neck. Now I am afraid of the king and therefore will leave my house. I will conceal myself somewhere. Do not disclose this secret and give a clever reply.†With these instructions the minister left the house for Nityamitra’s place.Nityamitra saw the Minister approaching with anxieties. He felt something wrong. The Minister said, “Dear friend, I regret, I plead guilty of an offense punishable with death. The king shall certainly hang me. Please protect me.â€When Nityamitra inquired in detail, minister said, “Being allured by the ornaments of the prince I have killed the prince and now I fear the king. Kindly protect me.â€Nityamitra

said, “Oh ! My God ! The murder of the prince cannot be concealed. The royal soldiers will shortly arrive and search in every cubbyhole and corner of my house. If you are found here, I am in big trouble. Kindly leave this place secretly without any delay. Resort to some other place.â€The Minister made many sincere requests in vain to allow him a shelter. Nityamitra slammed the doors in his face and did not even wish him “good byeâ€. He breathed an air of relief on the Minister’s departure.The Minister realized the selfish nature of this friend and he left for Parvamitra’s place, his second friend. There also he narrated the same account and requested him to afford shelter. Parvamitra said, “I know, it is my duty to help you but I am a man with my family. I have no place to hide you. What condition my family members would be reduced to, if the king is angry with me. Kindly arrange to go to some other place.†Despite many requests

Parvamitra did not agree to give shelter and the minister realized him as a selfish person.Now from here the Minister proceeded to Juharmitra’s place. Seeing his arrival, Juharmitra offered him a cordial welcome and asked for any service he could render. The courtier related the whole incident and requested to afford shelter. Juharmitra said that he was very fortunate to receive him and render services in any capacity. Thereupon, the minister stayed with him.Now let us see what happened in the mean time. A shallow mind cannot maintain a secret for long. That servant, rather than maintaining the whole affair as a secret, himself went to the king and disclosed the matter in anticipation of some reward. The king was extremely irritated to learn the incident and ordered his soldiers to immediately produce the minister before him.The soldiers rushed forth and inquired of the whereabouts of the minister. They came across Nityamitra’s place and

Nityamitra said “That criminal did come to me for shelter, and I am the last man to afford shelter to a murderer. I think he must have gone to Parvamitra’s place. Please inquire there.â€The soldiers arrived at Parvamitra’s place and he said, “I have not given him shelter. If you doubt, you can search my house.†Somehow the soldiers learned that the minister might be at Juharmitra’s place. They severely scolded Juharmitra and said, “This is not fair on your part. Hand him over to us.â€Juharmitra said, “You are wrong. You can search for him if you desire.†Juharmitra insisted that the minister was not there and after search the soldiers’ doubt was dispelled so they left.As the minister was not found, the king made a proclamation that a valuable reward would be granted to anyone who gave correct information regarding the minister’s whereabouts.As the friends were tested for their sincerity, the minister told

Juharmitra to respond to the king’s proclamation and give full information as regards to the where about by stating that he was not guilty as the prince was living and could be produced before the king whenever the king so desired.Juharmitra approached the king. So having listened to Juharmitra’s words, the king ordered to produce before him the prince and the minister. When they were produced, the king was very happy and he amply rewarded Juharmitra. But he asked the minister, “What is all this about ?â€The minister narrated the whole affair with the intended purpose. The king thereupon felt high admiration for the minister’s deep insight. The minister was granted increment in his salary. He continued with Juharmitra’s love and friendship having abandoned Nityamitra and Parvamitra.Now the story is a fable and can be explained as follows.The minister is the soul. Nityamitra is our physical body having daily contact with us.

Parvamitra is like our friends and relatives. Juharmitra is our occasional performance of religious merits. When death arrives the physical body leaves us immediately having severed all connections. Our friends and relatives follow us to some distance up to funeral home, shed a few tears and then soon return; while occasionally performed religious merits do not leave us even in the other world and grant us peace and happiness in difficulties. Therefore, leave aside attachment for the selfish body and entertain love for religious merits as compared with Juharmitra.Moral lesson:There is something more valuable than body and that is our soul. Body is burnt to ashes after death. The body which was fed and pampered by us with palatable meals neglecting even religious merits has to meet with this fate ! Thus soul is the most valuable entity in this world. Any amount of diamonds cannot be equivalent to the value of soul. The fact is, we have not

realized the true value of soul, otherwise we could not have been reduced to this condition. So wake up and nurture the uplift of the soul and not the body