Vivekananda Mailing List-12/01/02

[Guest guest]

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 house holder? " 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 neighbourhood 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.