CHINNA KATHA FROM BHAGAVAN’S DISCOURSE. No. 43.

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43 - Where did the scorpion sting?

 

When the doctor said, apply this ointment at the place where the

scorpion stung your son, the fond father asked the son, " Where did the

scorpion sting? " The boy replied, " In that corner " and the father

applied the ointment to that spot on the floor!

 

Let us go through the following to know the irony behind this.

 

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:

 

ananyaascintayanto maam,

ye janaah paryupaasate,

tEshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam,

yOgakshEmam vahaamyaham.

 

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. " Ananyaascintayanto maam " , he 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 businesses 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.

 

When the doctor said, apply this ointment at the place where the

scorpion stung your son, the fond father asked the son, " Where did the

scorpion sting? " The boy replied, " In that corner " and the father

applied the ointment to that spot on the floor!