THE THREE BROTHERS

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The Three Brothers

Baba said, "It is not good to dispute and argue. So don't argue, don't emulate

others. Always consider your interest and welfare. The Lord will protect you"

in Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. X.

The wife of the headman of a village died soon after giving birth to a baby boy.

The headman was inconsolable but was persuaded by his family and friends to

marry again so that the child would have someone to look after him.

Fortunately, his second wife turned out to be a large-hearted and sensible woman

who gave the child all the love and care he would have received from his own

mother. In the course of the years she presented the headman with two more

sons, but her affection for the oldest never diminished. She treated all three

boys alike and the two younger ones never realised they had a stepbrother.

When the headman passed away, the widow entrusted the responsibilities of the

household and the fields to the eldest son and he managed them so well that the

family prospered. This made the neighbours envious. One day, one of them told

the widow's sons the truth about their eldest brother and advised them to drive

him away from the house lest he should deprive them of their share of their

father's property. The boys were shocked at the revelation, and, frightened by

the prospect of losing their share of the property, decided to murder him. When

they told their mother about what they planned to do, she said to them: "Don't

bloody your hands, I will get rid of him for you."

That night when everybody was asleep, she suddenly jumped out of bed and started

shouting: "Snake! Snake!"

"Where? Where did you see it, mother?" asked the eldest son, getting up from his mat.

"Alas," said the widow. "I saw it disappearing into your stomach."

The young man turned pale. From that day on, he lost all appetite for food and

would lie on his mat the whole day long. Soon he became so weak that he could

not even sit up on his mat.

The neighbours rejoiced and took advantage of the situation. They built a wall

across the widow's courtyard and claimed a part of the house as their own. In

the fields they shifted their boundaries to enclose large portions of the

widow's lands.The younger sons could not deal with the situation and one day

they said to their mother: "If our elder brother was not bed-ridden, such

terrible things would not have happened to us."

The widow kept quiet, but in the dead of the night she again started shouting: "Snake! Snake!"

Everyone woke up.

"Where...where did you see it mother?" asked the eldest son, weakly.

"Son, I saw it coming out of your stomach," replied the woman. "It disappeared into the darkness."

>From that day on the condition of the eldest son started improving. Soon he was

able to walk into the courtyard where he saw the new wall. "Who has built

this!" he thundered. The neighbours came running and meekly pulled down the

wall.The following week he went to the family fields and seeing the new

boundaries shouted: "Who has done this!"

The neighbours trembled in fear and quickly vacated the land they had

grabbed.The widow and her three sons lived in peace and harmony ever after.

Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya….

The man who has never fallen is the man who has never attempted to climb. ‘Tis

better to climb and fall than not to climb at all.

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