Folktales ,parables and riddles.

[theist]

I like folktales, parables and riddles as a way of teaching truths.Appeals to my child like nature .

 

Know any?Please post 'em up.

 

Here's one from the court of Akbar.

 

------

 

MAKE IT SHORTER

 

One day Akbar drew a line with his royal hand on the floor of the open court, and commanded, "Make this line shorter,but don't by any means erase any part of it."

 

Everyone was stumped by this puzzle.

When it was Raja Birbal's turn, he at once drew a longer line next to the first one. He didn't touch the first line.

 

Everyone in the court saw it and said,"That's true, the first line is shorter."

 

-----

Relativity 'eh.

 

That was from Folktales from India ,A.K. Ramanujan

[Gauracandra]

King Canute on the Seashore

Adapted from James Baldwin

 

Canute the Second, who reigned during the eleventh century was the first Danish king of England. In this famous tale, he proves to be a man who knows how to control his pride. It is a good lesson for all those who aspire to high office.

 

Long ago, England was ruled by a king named Canute. Like many leaders and men of power, Canute was surrounded by people who were always praising him. Every time he walked into a room , the flattery began.

 

"You are the greatest man that ever lived," one would say.

 

O king, there can never be another as mighty as you," another would insist.

 

"Your highness, there is nothing you cannot do," someone would smile.

 

"Great Canute, you are the monarch of all," another would sing. "Nothing in this world dares to disobey you."

 

The king was a man of sense, and he grew tired of hearing such foolish speeches.

 

One day he was walking by the seashore, and his officers and courtiers were with him, praising him as usual. Canute decided to teach them a lesson.

 

"So you say I am the greatest man in the world?" he asked them.

 

"O king," they cried, "there never has been anyone as mighty as you, ant there never will be anyone so great, ever again!"

 

"And you say all things obey me?" Canute asked.

 

"Absolutely!" they said. "The world bows before you, and gives you honor."

 

"I see," the king answered. "In that case, bring me my chair, and we will go down to the water."

 

"At once, you majesty!" They scrambled to carry his royal chair over the sands.

 

"Bring it closer to the sea," Canute called. "Put it right here, right at the water's edge." He sat down and surveyed the ocean before him. "I notice the tide is coming in. Do you think it will stop if I give the command?"

 

His officers were puzzled, but they did not dare say no. "Give the order, O great king, and it will obey," one of them assured him.

 

"Very well. Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling! Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!"

 

He waited a moment, quietly, and a tiny wave rushed up the sand and lapped at his feet.

 

"How dare you!" Canute shouted. "Ocean, turn back now! I have ordered you to retreat before me, and now you must obey! Go back!"

 

And in answer another wave swept forward and curled around the king's feet. The tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but also his robe. His officers stood about him, alarmed, and wondering whether he was not mad.

 

"Well, my friends," Canute said, "it seems I do not have quite so much power as you would have me believe. Perhaps you have learned something today. Perhaps now you will remember there is only one King who is all-powerful, and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his hand. I suggest you reserve your praises for him."

 

The royal officers and courtiers hung their heads and looked foolish. And some say Canute took off his crown soon afterward, and never wore it again.

[Gauracandra]

The above story reminded me of a "Memories" video story about Srila Prabhupada. I don't recall all the details, but basically Srila Prabhupada was on a morning walk. As he was walking surrounded by his disciples he started to point to various things.

 

Srila Prabhupada would point to a house and say "One day we shall have a house like this for Krsna." And all of his disciples would shout "Jai Srila Prabhupada! We will have houses for Krsna"

 

Then further on he would point to a nice car on the street "One day we shall have cars like this for Krsna." And everyone would shout out "Jai Srila Prabhupada! We will have cars for Krsna"

 

Then he came to a large dog in the front yard of one house and pointing to it said "And one day we shall have big dogs like this for Krsna." And his disciples shouted in unison "Jai Srila Prabhupada! We will have big dogs for Krsna."

 

Srila Prabhupada turned around shaking his head and laughing and said "Now what do we want with a big dog?"

[Gauracandra]

Retold by James Baldwin

 

This story comes from the Greek historian Herodotus. Croesus (560-546 B.C.) king of Lydia in Asia Minor, was a ruler of proverbial wealth. How Cyrus spared his life is a legendary example of mercy becoming the crown of justice. The story also offers important lessons about money and power's real bearing on happiness.

 

Some thousands of years ago there lived in Asia a king whose name was Croesus. The country over which he ruled was not very large, but its people were prosperous and famed for their wealth. Croesus himself was said to be the richest man in the world, and so well known is his name that, to this day, it is not uncommon to say of a very wealthy person that he is "as rich as Croesus."

 

King Croesus had everything that could make him happy - lands and houses and slaves, fine clothing to wear, and beautiful things to look at. He could not think of anything that he needed to make him more comfortable or contented. "I am the happiest man in the world," he said.

 

It happened one summer that a great man from across the sea was traveling in Asia. The name of this man was Solon, and he was the lawmaker of Athens in Greece. He was noted for his wisdom and, centuries after his death, the highest praise that could be given to a learned man was to say, "He is as wise as Solon."

 

Solon had heard of Croesus, and so one day he visited him in his beautiful palace. Croesus was now happier and prouder than ever before, for the wisest man in the world was his guest. He led Solon through his palace and showed him the grand rooms, the fine carpets, the soft couches, the rich furniture, the pictures, the books. Then he invited him out to see his gardens and his orchards and his stables, and he showed him thousands of rare and beautiful things that he had collected from all parts of the world.

 

In the evening as the wisest of men and the richest of men were dining together, the king said to his guest, "Tell me now, O Solon, who do you think is the happiest of all men?" He expected that Solon would say, "Croesus."

 

The wise man was silent for a minute, and then he said, "I have in mind a poor man who once lived in Athens and whose name was Tellus. He, I doubt not, was the happiest of all men."

 

This was not the answer that Croesus wanted, but he hid his disappointment and asked, "Why do you think so?"

 

"Because," answered his guest, "Tellus was an honest man who labored hard for many years to bring up his children and to give them a good education. And when they were grown and able to do for themselves, he joined the Athenian army and gave his life bravely in the defense of his country. Can you think of anyone who is more deserving of happiness?"

 

"Perhaps not," answered Croesus, half choking with disappointment. "But who do you think ranks next to Tellus in happiness?" He was quite sure now that Solon would say, "Croesus."

 

"I have in mind," said Solon, "two young men whom I knew in Greece. Their father died when they were mere children, and they were very poor. But they worked manfully to keep the house together and to support their mother, who was in feeble health. Year after year they toiled, nor thought of anything but their mother's comfort. When at length she died, they gave all their love to Athens, their native city, and nobly served her as long as they lived."

 

Then Croesus was angry. "Why is it," he asked, "that you make me of no account and think that my wealth and power are nothing? Why is it that you place these poor working people above the richest king in the world?"

 

"O king," said Solon, "no man can say whether you are happy or not until you die. For no man knows what misfortunes may overtake you, or what misery may be yours in place of all this splendor."

 

Many years after this there arose in Asia a powerful king whose name was Cyrus. At the head of a great army he marched from one country to another, overthrowing many a kingdom and attaching it to his great empire of Babylon. King Croesus with all his wealth was not able to stand against this mighty warrior. He resisted as long as he could. Then his city was taken, his beautiful palace was burned, his orchards and gardens destroyed, his treasures were carried away, and he himself was made prisoner.

 

"The stubbornness of this man Croesus," said King Cyrus, "has caused us much trouble and the loss of many good soldiers. Take him and make an example of him for other petty kings who may dare to stand in our way."

 

Thereupon the soldiers seized Croesus and dragged him to the marketplace, handling him pretty roughly all the time. Then they built up a great pile of dry sticks and timber from the ruins of his once beautiful palace. When this was finished they tied the unhappy king in the midst of it, and one ran for a torch to set it on fire.

 

"Now we shall have a merry blaze," said the savage fellows. "What good can all his wealth do him now?"

 

As poor Croesus, bruised and bleeding, lay upon the pyre without a friend to soothe his misery, he thought of the words that Solon had spoken to him years before: "No man can say whether you are happy or not until you die," and he moaned, "O Solon! O Solon! Solon!"

 

It so happened that Cyrus was riding by at that very moment and heard his moans. "What does he say?" he asked of the soldiers.

 

"He says, 'Solon, Solon, Solon!'" answered one.

 

Then the king rode nearer and asked Croesus, "Why do you call on the name of Solon?"

 

Croesus was silent at first. But after Cyrus had repeated his question kindly, he told all about Solon's visit at his palace and what he had said.

 

The story affected Cyrus deeply. He thought of the words, "No man knows what misfortune may overtake you, or what misery may be yours in place of all this splendor." And he wondered if sometime he, too, would lose all his power and be helpless in the hands of his enemies.

 

"After all," said he, "ought not men to be merciful and kind to those who are in distress? I will do to Croesus as I would have others do to me." And he caused Croesus to be given his freedom, and ever afterward treated him as one of his most honored friends.

[Gauracandra]

By the way, the stories I've posted come from William Bennett's "The Book of Virtues". He's the former Secretary of Education in the U.S. and I would highly recommend the book. Its been out for some time, but it is packed front to back with great stories of morality. It is designed such that people of all ages can read it and appreciate what is being said. Some are simple nursery rhymes, others speeches like The Gettysburg Address. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

[theist]

I liked those Gauracandra.I'll look for Bennet's book in the library.Hopeully the leftist bias here in Berkeley hasn't prevented it from being stocked.

 

This one comes to us from Bengal.

 

If God Is Everywhere

 

A sage had a number of disciples.He taught them his deepest belief: "God is everywhere and dwells in everything.So you should treat all things as God and bow before them."

 

One day when a disciple was out on errands,a mad elephant was rushing through the marketplace, and the elephant driver was shouting,"Get out of the way!Get out of the way!This is a mad elephant!"The disciple remembered his guru's teachings and refused to run."God is in this elephant as He is in me.How can God hurt God?"he thought, and just stood there full of love and devotion.The driver was frantic and shouted at him,"Get out of the way!You'll be hurt!"But the disciple did not move an inch.

 

The mad elephant picked him up with his trunk,swung him around, and threw him in the gutter.The poor fellow lay there,bruised,bleeding, but more than all,disillusioned that God should do this to him.When his guru and the other disciples came to help him and take him home,he said,"You said God is in everything.Look what the elephant did to me!"

 

The guru said,"It's true that God is in everything.The elephant is certainly God.But so was the elephant driver,telling you to get out of the way.Why didn't you listen to him?"

[theist]

Any similarities to actual persons and events is purely coincidental. /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif

 

 

The Guru and the Idiot

 

A rich guru had hundreds of disciples all over the country.He lived like a lord and traveled in a palanquin from town to town,visiting his followers and receiving gifts and donations.It took him twelve years to visit all of them even once.

 

While he was on one of these rounds,he was stopped on the road outside a certain town by a man who looked and acted like an idiot.He stood right in the middle of the road and would not let the palanquin pass till the guru had talked to him.The guru was impatient but agreed to talk to him for a minute."What do you want?" he asked testily.

 

The man said,"I want to go to heaven.People tell me that you are a guru and know the way."

 

The guru laughed and said,"You want to go to heaven?That's easy.Just stand there with your hands lifted to the sky.You'll go to heaven."The man said,"That's all?"and before he could ask any more, the guru had ordered his palanquin bears to move on and was gone.

 

Twelve years later,the guru had occasion to come that way again.As he reached the outskirts of the town,he saw a man standing there, looking at the sky, his hands lifted to heaven.His hair and beard had turned grey,his nails had grown long and dirty,his clothes were in tatters.He didn't seem to mind.His eyes were riveted to the sky.

 

As the guru approached him,he saw an astonishing thing happen.He saw the man,the idiot, slowly rise towards heaven.The guru had a flash of understanding and knew what he should do.He at once got down from his palanquin,held on to the feet of the idiot, and rose with him to heaven.That was the only way he could have gone to heaven, and he knew it.

[Gauracandra]

This comes from William Bennet's "The Book of Virtues":

 

Yudisthira at Heaven's Gate

 

This story is from the Mahabharata, which with the Ramayana is one of the two great epic poems of India. Here loyalty is literally the test to gain entrance to heaven.

 

Good King Yudisthira had ruled over the Pandava people for many years and had led them in a successful, but very long war against giant forces of evil. At the end of his labors, Yudisthira felt that he had had enough years on earth and it was time to go on to the kingdom of the Immortals. When all his plans were made, he set out for the high Mount Meru to go from there to the Celestial City. His beautiful wife, Drapaudi, went with him and also his four brothers. Very soon, they were joined by a dog which followed quietly behind him.

 

But the journey to the mountain was a long and sorrowful one. Yudisthira's four brothers died one by one along the way, and after that his wife, the beautiful Drapaudi. The King was all alone then, except for the dog, which continued to follow him faithfully up and up the steep, long road to the Celestial City.

 

At last the two, weak and exhausted, stopped before the gates of Heaven. Yudisthira bowed humbly there as he asked to be admitted.

 

Sky and earth were filled with a loud noise as the God Indra, God of a Thousand Eyes, arrived to meet and welcome the King to Paradise. But Yudisthira was not quite ready.

 

"Without my brothers and my beloved wife, my innocent Drapaudi, I do not wish to enter Heaven, O Lord of all the deities," he said.

 

"Have no fear," Indra answered. "You shall meet them all in Heaven. They came before you and are already there!"

 

But Yudisthira had yet another request to make.

 

"This dog has come all the way with me. He is devoted to me. Surely for his faithfulness I cannot leave him outsite! And besides, my heart is full of love for him!"

 

Indra shook his great head and the earth quaked.

 

"You yourself may have immortality," he said, "and riches and success and all the joys of Heaven. You have won these by making this hard journey. But you cannot bring a dog into Heaven. Cast off the dog. Yudisthira! It is no sin!"

 

"But where would he go?" demanded the king. "And who would go with him? He has given up all the pleasures of earth to be my companion. I cannot desert him now."

 

The God was irritated at this.

 

"You must be pure to enter Paradise," he said firmly. "Just to touch a dog will take away all the merits of prayer. Consider what you are doing, Yudisthira. Let the dog go!"

 

But Yudisthira insisted. "O God of a Thousand Eyes, it is difficult for a person who has always tried to be righteous to do something that he knows is unrighteous - even in order to get into Heaven. I do not wish immortality if it means casting off one that is devoted to me."

 

Indra urged him once more.

 

"You left on the road behind you your four brothers and your wife. Why can't you also leave the dog?"

 

But Yudisthira said, "I abandoned those only because they had died already and I could no longer help them nor bring them back to life. As long as they lived I did not leave them."

 

"You are willing to abandon Heaven, then, for this dog's sake?" the God asked him.

 

"Great God of all Gods," Yudisthira replied, "I have steadily kept this vow - that I will never desert one that is frightened and seeks my protection, one that is afflicted and destitute, or one that is too weak to protect himself and desires to live. Now I add a fourth. I have promised never to forsake one that is devoted to me. I will not abandon my friend."

 

Yudisthira reached down to touch the dog and was about to turn sadly away from Heaven when suddenly before his very eyes a wonder happened. The faithful dog was changed into Dharma, the God of Righteousness and Justice.

 

Indra said, "You are a good man, King Yudisthira. You have shown faithfulness to the faithful and compassion to all creatures. You have done this by renouncing the very Gods themselves instead of renouncing this humble dog that was your companion. You shall be honored in heaven, O King Yudisthira, for there is no act which is valued more highly and rewarded more richly than compassion for the humble."

 

So Yudisthira entered the Celestial City with the God of Righteousness beside him. He was reunited there with his brothers and his beloved wife to enjoy eternal happiness.

[ethos]

This is a great idea. This is the fabric of the scriptures themselves. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to offer.

 

But I got your number though!

[theist]

Fabric of the scriptures?Not sure.

 

I can identify with this though.From Kashmir.

 

 

A Malcontent Cured

 

One day a dissatisfied fellow was sitting under a walnut tree,and his eyes fell on a great pumpkin growing nearby.

 

"O God," said the malcontent,"how foolish You are to give such small nuts to this big tree and such immense fruit to this thin plant!Now if pumpkins were growing on this big tree and nuts on the pumpkin plant,I'd have admired Your wisdom!"

 

Even as he finished saying this, a walnut fell down on the man's head and startled him.

 

"O God," he continued,"You are right after all.If the pumpkin had fallen on me from such a height.I would surely have been killed.Great is Your wisdom and Your goodness."

[theist]

Maya is so strong that we think ourselves happy and satisfied even while we are encased in these miserable material identifications.

 

This was taken from the Telugu which I think is spoken somewhere in South India.Not sure.

 

 

Living Like a Pig

 

One day, a guru foresaw in a flash of vision what he would be in his next life.So he called his favorite disciple and asked himwhat he would do for his guru in return for all he had received.The disciple said he would do whatever his guru asked him to do.

 

Having received this promise, the guru said,"Then this is what I would like you to do for me.I've just learned that when I die, which will be very soon,I'm going to be reborn as a pig.Do you see that sow eating garbage in the yard?I'm going to be reborn as the fourth piglet of its next litter.You'll recognize me by a mark on my brow.When that sow has littered,find the fourth piglet with a mark on its brow, and with one stroke of your knife,slaughter it.I'll then be released fron a pigs life.Will you do this for me?"

 

The disciple was sad to hear this, but he agreed to do as he had promised.

 

Soon after this conversation, the guru did die.And the sow did have a litter of four sows.One day, the disciple sharpened his knife and picked out the fourth little little pig,which indeed did have a mark on its brow.Just as he was about to bring down his knife to slit its throat, the little pig suddenly spoke."Stop!Don't kill me!" it screamed.

 

Before the disciple could recover from the shock of hearing the little pig speak in a human voice, it said,"Don't kill me.I want to live on as a pig.When I asked you to dispatch me,I didn't know what a pig's life would be like.It's great.Just let me go."

[Gauracandra]

Ha, ha, ha /ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif I really liked that story from Kashmir. I say next time God should make the pumpkin fall on his head /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[theist]

In Arab folklore there is a famous character known as Dubja.Pretending to be a simpleton Dujha is really a wise fool.

 

DUJHA'S SLEEVE

 

One day Djuha arrived at a banquet in his usual rags,only to be turned away at the door.After changing into his costliest clothes and saddling his mule, he returned to his host's house looking like a man of substance.This time the servant welcomed him respectfully and seated him near the guests of honor.As Dujha reached for a handful of dates,his sleeve happened to slip down into the food."Pull back your sleeve," whispered the man sitting next to him."No," replied Dujha,"that I shall not do!"then addressing his sleeve, he said,"Eat, my sleeve,eat and take your fill!You have more right to this feast than I, since they respect you above me in this house."

[Guest guest]

Th essay question is: Evaluate the power, or lack of power, of women or of a particular woman in Mahabharata(eg:, Draupadi,Kunti). It's due Tuesday and I haven't the slightest clue as to what I am going to put on paper!

 

please e-mail me raven3@comic.com!

 

[AncientMariner]

 

 

but I was just reading a book by Joseph Campbell called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and He mentioned the tale of an ancient Hindu warrior-king named Muchukunda. Its in a chapter about the hero-quest being fulfilled but the hero refusing to return and play the part of the renewer of civilization.

 

"When the hero-quest has been accomplished, through penetration fo the source, or through the grace of some male or female, human or animal, personification, the adventurer still must return with his life-transmuting trophy. The full round, the norm of the monomyth, requires that the hero shall now begin the labor of bringing the runes of wisdom, the Golden Fleece, or his sleeping princess, back into the kingdom of humanity, where the boon may rebound to the renewing of the community, the nation, the planet, or the ten thousand worlds.

 

"But the responsibility has been frequently refused. Even the Buddha, after his triumph, doubted whether the message of realization could be communicated, and saints are reported to have passed away while in supernal ecstasy. Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have taken up residence forever in the blessed isle of the unaging Goddess of Immortal Being."

"A moving tale is told of an ancient Hindu warrior-king named Muchukunda. He was born from his father's left side, the father having swallowed by mistake a fertility potion that the Brahmins had prepared for his wife; and in keeping with the promising symbolism of this miracle, the motherless marvel, fruit of the male womb, grew to be such a king among kings that when the gods, at one period, were suffering defeat in the perpetual contest with the demons, they called upon him for help. He assisted them to a mighty victory, and they, in their divine pleasure, granted him the realization of his highest wish. But what should such a king, himself almost omnipotent, desire? What greatest boon of boons could be conceived of by such a master among men? King Muchukunda, so runs the story, was very tired after his battle: all he asked was that he might be granted a sleep without end, and that any person chancing to arouse him should be burned to a crisp by the first glance of his eye."

 

"The boon was bestowed. In a cavern chamber, deep within the womb of a mountain, King Muchukunda retired to sleep, and there slumbered through the revolving eons. Individuals, peoples, civilizations, world ages, came into being out of the void and dropped back into it again, while the old king, in his state of sub-conscious bliss, endured. Timeless as the Freudian unconscious beneath the dramatic time world of our fluctuating ego-experience, that old mountain man, the drinker of deep sleep, lived on and on."

 

"His awakening came-but with a surprising turn that throws into new perspective the whole problem of the hero-circuit, as well as the mystery of a mighty king's request for sleep as the highest conceivable boon."

 

"Vishnu, the Lord of the World, had become incarnate in the person of a beautiful youth named Krishna, who, having saved the land of India from a tyrannical race of demons, had assumed the throne. And he had been ruling in Utopian peace, when a horde of barbarians suddenly invaded from the northwest. Krishna the king went against them, but, in keeping with his divine nature, won the victory playfully, by a simple ruse. Unarmed and garlanded with lotuses, he came out of his stronghold and tempted the enemy king to pursue and catch him, then dodged into a cave. When the barbarian followed, he discovered someone lying there in the chamber asleep."

 

""Oh!" thought he. "So he has lured me here and now feigns to be a harmless sleeper."

 

"He kicked the figure lying on the ground before him, and it stirred. It was King Muchukunda. The figure rose and the eyes that had been closed for unnumbered cycles of creation, world history, and dissolution, opened slowly to the light. The first glance that went forth struck the enemy king, who burst into a torch of flame and was reduced immediately to a smoking heap of ash. Muchukunda turned, and the second glance struck the garlanded beautiful youth, whom the awakened old king straightway recognized by his radiance as an incarnation of God. And Muchukunda bowed before his Savior with the following prayer:

 

"My Lord God! When I lived and wrought as a man, I lived and wrought-straying restlessly; through many lives, birth after birth, I sought and suffered, nowhere knowing cease or rest. Distress I mistook for joy. Mirages appearing over the desert I mistook for refreshing waters. Delights I grasped, and what I obtained was misery. Kingly power and earthly possession, riches and might, friends and sons, wife and followers, everything that lures the senses: I wanted them all, because I believed that these would bring me beatitude. But the moment anything was mine it changed its nature, and became a burning fire.

 

"Then I found my way into the company of the gods, and they welcomed me as a companion. But where, still, surcease? Where rest? The creatures of this world, gods included, all are tricked, my Lord God, by your playful ruses; that is why the continue in their futile round of birth, life agony, old age, and death. Between lives, they confront the lord of the dead and are forced to endure hells of every degree of pitiless pain. And it all comes from you!"

 

"My Lord God, deluded by your playful ruses, I too was a prey of the world, wandering in a labyrinth of error, netted in the meshes of ego-consciousness. Now, therefore, I take refuge in your Presence-the boundless, the adorable- desiring only freedom from it all."

 

"When Muchukunda stepped from his cave, he saw that men, since his departure, had become reduced in stature. He was a giant amongst them. And so he departed from them again, retreated to the highest mountains, and there dedicated himself to the ascetic practices that should finally release him form his last attachment to the forms of being."

 

"Muchukunda, in other words, instead of returning, decided to retreat one degree still further from the world. And who shall say that his decision was altogether without reason?"

[theist]

SB 11.7.52: One should never indulge in excessive affection or concern for anyone or anything; otherwise one will have to experience great suffering, just like the foolish pigeon.

 

SB 11.7.53: There once was a pigeon who lived in the forest along with his wife. He had built a nest within a tree and lived there for several years in her company.

 

SB 11.7.54: The two pigeons were very much devoted to their household duties. Their hearts being tied together by sentimental affection, they were each attracted by the other's glances, bodily features and states of mind. Thus, they completely bound each other in affection.

 

SB 11.7.55: Naively trusting in the future, they carried out their acts of resting, sitting, walking, standing, conversing, playing, eating and so forth as a loving couple among the trees of the forest.

 

SB 11.7.56: Whenever she desired anything, O King, the she-pigeon would flatteringly cajole her husband, and he in turn would gratify her by faithfully doing whatever she wanted, even with great personal difficulty. Thus, he could not control his senses in her association.

 

SB 11.7.57: Then the female pigeon experienced her first pregnancy. When the time arrived, the chaste lady delivered a number of eggs within the nest in the presence of her husband.

 

SB 11.7.58: When the time was ripe, baby pigeons, with tender limbs and feathers created by the inconceivable potencies of the Lord, were born from those eggs.

 

SB 11.7.59: The two pigeons became most affectionate to their children and took great pleasure in listening to their awkward chirping, which sounded very sweet to the parents. Thus with love they began to raise the little birds who were born of them.

 

SB 11.7.60: The parent birds became very joyful by observing the soft wings of their children, their chirping, their lovely innocent movements around the nest and their attempts to jump up and fly. Seeing their children happy, the parents were also happy.

 

SB 11.7.61: Their hearts bound to each other by affection, the foolish birds, completely bewildered by the illusory energy of Lord Vishnu, continued to take care of the young offspring who had been born to them.

 

SB 11.7.62: One day the two heads of the family went out to find food for the children. Being very anxious to feed their offspring properly, they wandered all over the forest for a long time.

 

SB 11.7.63: At that time a certain hunter who happened to be wandering through the forest saw the young pigeons moving about near their nest. Spreading out his net he captured them all.

 

SB 11.7.64: The pigeon and his wife were always anxious for the maintenance of their children, and they were wandering in the forest for that purpose. Having obtained proper food, they now returned to their nest.

 

SB 11.7.65: When the lady pigeon caught sight of her own children trapped within the hunter's net, she was overwhelmed with anguish, and crying out, she rushed toward them as they cried out to her in return.

 

SB 11.7.66: The lady pigeon had always allowed herself to be bound by the ropes of intense material affection, and thus her mind was overwhelmed by anguish. Being in the grip of the illusory energy of the Lord, she completely forgot herself, and rushing forward to her helpless children, she was immediately bound in the hunter's net.

 

SB 11.7.67: Seeing his own children, who were more dear to him than life itself, fatally bound in the hunter's net along with his dearmost wife, whom he considered equal in every way to himself, the poor male pigeon began to lament wretchedly.

 

SB 11.7.68: The male pigeon said: Alas, just see how I am now destroyed! I am obviously a great fool, for I did not properly execute pious activities. I could not satisfy myself, nor could I fulfill the purpose of life. My dear family, which was the basis of my religiosity, economic development and sense gratification, is now hopelessly ruined.

 

SB 11.7.69: My wife and I were an ideal match. She always faithfully obeyed me and in fact accepted me as her worshipable deity. But now, seeing her children lost and her home empty, she has left me behind and gone to heaven with our saintly children.

 

SB 11.7.70: Now I am a wretched person living in an empty home. My wife is dead; my children are dead. Why should I possibly want to live? My heart is so pained by separation from my family that life itself has become simply suffering.

 

SB 11.7.71: As the father pigeon wretchedly stared at his poor children trapped in the net and on the verge of death, pathetically struggling to free themselves, his mind went blank, and thus he himself fell into the hunter's net.

 

SB 11.7.72: The cruel hunter, having fulfilled his desire by capturing the head pigeon, his wife and all of their children, set off for his own home.

 

SB 11.7.73: In this way, one who is too attached to family life becomes disturbed at heart. Like the pigeon, he tries to find pleasure in mundane sex attraction. Busily engaged in maintaining his own family, the miserly person is fated to suffer greatly, along with all his family members.

 

SB 11.7.74: The doors of liberation are opened wide to one who has achieved human life. But if a human being simply devotes himself to family life like the foolish bird in this story, then he is to be considered as one who has climbed to a high place only to trip and fall down.

 

 

 

Copyright © His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness