PURANIC STORY OF SAGE RIBHU AND NIDAGHA

[Guest guest]

PURANIC STORY OF SAGE RIBHU AND NIDAGHA

 

 

To drive home the point that ` I'-Supreme alone is to be meditated

upon, Sri Ramana told the following story to a devotee:

 

Although Ribhu taught his disciple Nidagha the supreme Truth of the

one Brahman without a second, the disciple did not get sufficient

conviction to adopt and follow the path of jnana. The Sage loved his

disciple as deeply as the latter venerated his Master. The Sage Ribhu

therefore decided to go to the town where his disciple lived to

observe him. Not to be discovered, the Sage disguised himself as a

village rustic.

 

Reaching the town, the Sage found Nidagha intently watching a royal

possession. Unrecognized by Nidagha, Ribhu, who was disguised as a

village rustic, enquired what the bustle was all about, and was told

that the king was going in a procession. " Oh! It is the king. He goes

in procession! But where is he? " enquired the rustic. " There on the

elephant " , said Nidagha. The rustic then asked, " But which is the

king and which is the elephant " ? " What! " exclaimed Nidagha, " Can't

you see that the man above is the king and the animal below is the

elephant? Where is the use of talking to a person like you? "

 

" Pray, be not impatient with an ignorant man like me " , begged the

rustic. " But you said `above' and `below', what do they mean? "

Nidagha could not stand it any more. He burst out: " You see the king

and the elephant, the one above and the other below. Yet you want to

know what is meant by `above' and `below'? " He said angrily: " If

things seen and words spoken can convey so little to you, action

alone can teach you. Bend forward, and you will know it all too

well. " The rustic did as he was told. Nidagha got on his shoulders

and said, " Know it now. I am above as the king; you are below as the

elephant. Is that clear enough? " " No, not yet " , was the rustic's

quiet reply. " You say you are above like the king and I am below like

the elephant. But pray, tell me what do you mean by `I' and `you'? "

 

When Nidagha was thus confronted all of a sudden with the mighty

problem of defining the `you' apart from the `I', light dawned on his

mind. At once he jumped down and fell at his Master's feet

saying, " Who else but my venerable Master Ribhu, could have thus

drawn my mind from the superficialities of physical existence to the

true state of Being of the Self? " With folded hands he said, " Oh,

benign Master, I crave thy blessings. " Moral: When we turn the mind

within, seeking the source of thought, where is the `you' and where

is the `I'? We should seek and be the Self that includes all.(Source:

Maharshi's Gospel. The book is available at the Kendram's bookstore.)

 

prof laxmi narain (prof_narain)

 

Source and courtesy: Sri Ramana Kendram, Hyderabad

This article was published in Sri Ramana Jyothi,

monthly magazine of the Kendram.