ILL WILL - WILL KILL

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ILL WILL – WILL KILL

Baba said, "We should never entertain evil thoughts" in Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. XLIX.

He was a good-for-nothing fellow, sit-at-home, doing nothing. His wife was fed

up and found it difficult to run the home and make two ends meet. One day she

told him, "Look here, every man goes out to work, to earn for a living. You

better go out, work, beg, steal, do whatsoever, otherwise we’ll starve."

He left home and just outside the village he saw a cow and brought her home and

told his wife – "Here now, look after the cow. She is going to calve soon and

she’ll give milk."

The wife took care of the cow, brought grass for her. The cow gave birth to a

calf and was in milk. But....

Whenever the good-for-nothing fellow sat with a pail to mile her, his neighbour

the potter’s donkey started braying and the cow became tense and held back

milk. It became a daily morning, evening routine; whenever he sat for milking

the cow, the donkey brayed and there would be no milk.

The good-for-nothing fellow was at his wit’s end – what to do? The potter was a

clever man and he was not on talking terms with him either; he didn’t want to

pick a bone for him. He prayed to God instead, "God, send death on this donkey

– finish with it. He has made our life miserable."

However nothing happened to the potter’s donkey. Instead his cow died of snake-bite.

The good-for-nothing fellow was distraught, broken-hearted. He was deeply hurt

and in grief over his cow’s death. He sat depressed holding his head in his

hands. Just then Shiva and Parvati happened to pass that way.

"Why is this man so depressed? What is troubling him?" asked Parvati.

Shiva approached him and asked him, "My good man, what’s it that troubles you?

Why are you so depressed?"

"What’s it to you? You better go your way."

"Do tell us why you’re so depressed. After all God listens to one and all."

"No he doesn’t. If I find Him, I will take Him to task."

"But what’s it that troubles you? Sharing one’s sorrow with another makes it bearable."

The good-for-nothing chap said, "What sort of God is He? He doesn’t even know

the difference between a cow and a donkey. I prayed to Him to kill the donkey,

and He has killed the cow."

Shiva turned to Parvati and said, "Let’s go, Parvati."

Parvati replied, "Maharaj, before we go, do something for him."

Shiva said, "Gaurajaan, let’s go. This man is not good."

Parvati wouldn’t budge. Shiva had to do something. He told the good-for-nothing

chap, "Go home, henceforth you’ll get what you ask for, but remember that your

neighbour will get double of what you get. He is hard working. His family is

also larger. Don’t overshoot – cultivate contentment."

The good-for-nothing man flared up. "You go your way. I’ll see what I have to do."

As soon as the good-for-nothing man entered his house, he said, "I wish my cow

were alive today." In no time, a cow appeared in his courtyard. But when he

looked towards his neighbour’s house, he saw two cows standing there.

Then he said, "Two bushels of wheat flour should come." And lo and behold! Two

bushels of flour appeared in his house but four bushels appeared at the

potter’s. He asked for one horse, the potter got two. He ordered one mansion,

two appeared on the potter’s plot of land.

In the beginning, he and his wife enjoyed all the good things of life to their

heart’s content – delicious eatables, lovely clothes and what not. But soon he

began to resent the potter’s prosperity and happiness and it began to eat into

his happiness.

When his wife taunted him, he said, "Don’t worry, my good wife, I’ll do

something to mar his happiness."

A few days later he said, "A well should spring up in front of the threshold of my house."

Two wells sprang up in front of the potter’s. Then he said, "Each member of my

family should become half blind." The next moment, all the members of the

potter’s family became totally blind and one by one each of them fell into the

wells as they came out.

Now the good-for-nothing man was content.

Shiva was seeing all this from his high heaven. He told Parvati, "See, this man

has a heart full of blackness – full of ill-will. Help should go only to one

who is good-hearted and doesn’t wish anyone ill."

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya....

May thy body be an unfailing instrument engaged in beneficial pursuits...

O man! Nurture thy body and strengthen it with food that provides vigour and vitality.

-Yajurveda

When the divine architect planned and fashioned the human form, all the evils

and virtues entered the mortal frame and made it their home. Theft, wickedness,

thirst and hunger live there with truth, wisdom, contentment, nobility and

faith. Joy and grief, jealousy and love, amazing darkness and glorious

brightness, all woven in the cloth of one human soul. Thus it becomes complete

by opposite qualities. This soul walled within the mortal body is called

Brahman.

-Atharvaveda

The medicinal herbs of the motherland, bearing a hundred names, uses and

locations, and thousands of germinations render a hundred-fold benefits, and

transform the ailing patient into a healthy and strong man.

-Rigveda.

 

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