Renunciation

[Guest guest]

Bhakthi and the attitude of surrender that is its final fruits will

give you great courage to meet any emergency; such courage is what is

called Renunciation. The story of Mohajith is a good example of this

highest type of detachment.

 

Mohajith, the Prince, went to a Sage in the forest and sought

guidance in the spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had

conquered attachment as his name indicated. The Prince said that not

only he, but every one in his kingdom had! So the Sage started to

test the truth of this claim.

 

The sage took the Prince's robes, soaked them in blood and hastened

to the Palace Gate with the gruesome story of the murder of the

Prince by some ruffians in the jungle. The maid whom he met refused

to hurry with the news to the Royal apartments because she said, " He

was born, he died; what is the special urgency of this news that I

should interrupt my regular routine and run to the King and Queen? "

When at last he got an audience and was able to communicate the sad

news to the father, he sat unruffled, whispering to himself, " The

bird flew off the tree on which it had alighted to take rest. " The

Raani too was unmoved. She told the sage that this Earth is a

caravanserai, where men come and stay for the night and when dawn

breaks, one by one, they tramp their different ways. Kith and kin are

the words we use for the attachment to the travellers cultivated in

the caravanserai during the short term of acquaintance.

 

The wife of the " dead " Prince was also unaffected; she said, " Husband

and wife are like two pieces of wood drifting down a flooded river;

they float near each other for some time and when some current comes

between, they are parted: each must move on to the sea at its own

rate and in its own time. There is no need to grieve over the parting

of the two; it is in the very nature of Nature that it should be so. "

The sage was overjoyed to see this steady and sincere Vairaagya

(dispassion) in the rulers and the ruled. He came back to the forest

and told the Prince that while he was away, a hostile army had

invaded his Kingdom and slain the entire royal family and captured

his Kingdom and enslaved his subjects. He took the news calmly and

said, " All this is bubble, impermanent, flimsy. Let it go the way of

the bubble. Guide me to reach the Infinite, the Imperishable. "

Such courage comes out of the Grace of the Lord; it needs generations

of learning and struggle. Meanwhile, you must start with the first

step, the cleansing of the mind and the cultivation of virtue. Even

if you do not start with that step, at least do not laugh at those

who do, and discourage them. Do at least this much!

 

Ram Chugani

Kobe, Japan