Bhagavada Vahini - Chapter 26

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Bhagavada Vahini by Sathya Sai Baba

 

Chapter 26

The Curse that was Accepted Gladly

 

Parikshith heard from the sage, Vyasa, his description of the deep

devotion and steady faith of the Pandavas; he was thrilled when he

heard of the unbounded Grace of Lord Krishna, which was showered on

them; the king was so immersed in joy that he scarce realized whether

it was night or day! Suddenly, he was awakened by the sweet chirpings

of birds and the loud crow of the cock. He heard the songs with which

his subjects daily welcomed the Gods at dawn; the temple bells were

ringing around the palace.

 

Vyasa too realized it was the beginning of another day. He

said, " Son! I must be going now " and, taking the water-pot which he

carried while journeying, he rose and blessed the king, who fell at

his feet, in great sorrow. " Alas, that the dawn broke so soon! I have

yet to grasp fully the grandeur and glory of my grandfathers! I have

yet to fathom completely the depth of their devotion and sense of

duty, " he lamented.

 

The Curse that was Accepted Gladly

 

He rotated in his mind the incidents he had heard and tasted their

uniqueness. He was so filled with exaltation that he could not turn

to the affairs of the kingdom. In fact, he avoided entangling himself

in them and sought to be alone. He decided to go into the forest a-

hunting, as an alternative. He instructed that arrangements be made

for an expedition into the jungle.

 

Very soon, the men at the door brought the news that everything was

ready, and the huntsmen and others had gathered in full strength.

With a heavy heart, he dragged his body towards the chariot and

placed himself in it. The attendants, with their equipments, moved

on, both before the royal chariot and after, as was their wont. The

king felt, for some reason or other, that so many need not accompany

him; so, he asked some to return. When they advanced, a few herds

were noticed moving about; that sight stirred the king to activity.

He got down from the chariot, and with the bow kept in readiness, he

stalked the animals with a few men following him. The herds scattered

in fear, with the huntsmen in hot pursuit. The king had his aim fixed

on one group of fleeing animals and he sped behind it, unaware that

he was alone, cut off from his attendants who had gone on different

trails.

 

He had trekked a long distance and could not bag any beast; a fierce

thirst began tormenting him; he was exhausted beyond endurance.

Frantically, he searched for water. Luckily, he espied a hermitage, a

cottage thatched with grass. Highly expectant, he hurried towards it.

There was no one in view! The place appeared empty. He called out

very distressingly, as loudly as he could manage. With his feeble

throat He shouted, " Thirst " , " Thirst " , plaintively. There was no

reply from the cottage. When he entered he found therein, an ascetic

engaged in meditation. He went near him and addressed him

pathetically, " Sir " , " Sir " . But, he was so lost in the depths of

meditation that there was no response at all.

 

At this, the king was overcome by resentment and a fierce gust of

anger. Having come to a hermitage and seen the hermit, he was still

helpless with hunger and thirst; this wounded his pride, for, he was

the Ruler of the realm and the hermit had dared to dwell within

himself, when he had come before him and called out for him. He

became blind to the rules of propriety, for, he could hardly control

his anger. His feet trod on some rope on the floor; he discovered it

was a dead snake. That put a wicked idea into his head, quite by a

twist of fate. He threw it round the neck of the hermit, sitting like

a statue, heedless of other's distress; and, then, he left the

hermitage and walked away fast, to seek some other place to slake his

thirst and get some food.

 

Some boys saw him emerge from the cottage; they entered the place to

find out, why he had gone in and what had happened there, for he

looked a stranger and he was gorgeously dressed. They saw round the

neck of the sage Sameeka, a snake! They went closer and examined it,

to discover that it was dead. They wondered who could have done this

atrocity. They surmised it must be the handiwork of the man who had

just left the hermitage. So, they ran out and informed the son of

Sameeka, who has engaged in games with his comrades. He did not lend

his ear to their story, for he thought that no one would insult his

father so. He busied himself with the game; but, the boys repeated

their tale and insisted on his verifying its veracity, seeing the

plight of his father with his own eyes.

 

Sringi was amazed at their insistence and he got afraid that the

incident might actually have happened! He ran into the cottage and

found that the unbelievable had happened! He sought to find out the

culprit who had perpetrated this atrocity against his revered father.

He came to know that a person in royal robes had gone in and come

out, and that there was no one else around, since morning. The boys

concluded that it must be his handiwork. At this, he ran in the

direction pointed by them to catch him; before long, he saw the

person in regal clothing and his anger knew no bounds. He threw a

handful of water at the king, slowly walking before him and

pronounced the curse: " May he who threw the dead snake round the neck

of my father be bitten by a snake on the seventh day and may he die

that day of that poison " . The boys around him appealed to him not to,

but, he threw the curse at the king, nevertheless. Then, he went back

into the cottage and slummed on the floor, in a corner, with his head

aflame with anger.

 

" Alas, that my father had to suffer this ignominy, when I am alive

and about; I could well have been dead. Of what use is a son alive,

if he cannot prevent some one insulting his father? " He condemned

himself thus and bewailed his fate, most pitiably. His companions sat

around him and tried to pacify him; they abused the wrongdoer

roundly; they tried to console the disconsolate boy.

 

Meanwhile, the sage Sameeka emerged from his inner bliss and entered

the realm of consciousness. His eyes opened; he unwound the dead

snake from his neck and placed it beside him. He saw the son weeping

in a corner and beckoned to him to come near. He asked the reason for

his grief and got from him the tale of the stranger and the dead

snake. Sameeka smiled and said, " Poor fellow! He did it out of

ignorance and you reveal your ignorance, weeping for it. I am not

concerned with honor or dishonor. The knowledge of the Atma enables a

man to keep himself on an even keel, neither rising when praised nor

falling when blamed. Some boor must have played this silly prank;

since you are yet boys, you are exaggerating it into a big crime; you

are undergoing a mountain of grief over a mole-hill. Get up and go to

the playground " , he said.

 

He made his son sit on his lap and gently stroked his head, so that

his grief might abate a little.

 

Sringi told his father, " This is no prank played by a boor. This is a

terrible sacrilege committed by an ego-intoxicated fellow, in the

garb of a king " . At this, Sameeka asked, What do you say? A person in

the garb of a king? Did you see him? Did the king commit this stupid

misdemeanor? This silly thing can never enter a king's head " . The

comrades of Sringi joined their voices and testified that they too

saw the person responsible for this sacrilege. " Master! We saw the

dead snake and we ran to where Sringi was and brought him here.

Sringi got so angry that he took the water of the Ganga in his hand

and threw it at that person who was walking very fast, pronouncing at

the same time, with appropriate ritual formulae the curse: let the

person who placed the dead snake die of snake-bite, the seventh day

from today. "

 

Sameeka was shocked at this news; he was astonished at the behavior

of his son. He pushed him out of his lap on to the floor. " What! Did

you throw a curse like that? Alas, that the son of a sage should have

behaved like this? What a calamitous curse for this trivial offence!

Yours is a wrong which can never be atoned; You are a disgrace to the

group of comrades around you, for you cannot bear with fortitude such

a silly, insignificant prank! I am ashamed to say that such a boy is

my son. You have no strength of mind to bear such little affronts. 0,

what a pity! Alas, that your childishness should plunge all sages and

ascetics into ill-fame; people will say they have not got even

elementary patience and fortitude! Do not show me your face; to see

it is a sacrilege. To punish people for wrongs done is the duty of

the king; not, that of the recluse in the forest. The recluse who

pronounces curses is no recluse at all. "

 

" Moved by the yearning to achieve the Vision and the Presence of the

Guide and Guardian of all the Worlds, the recluse has given up all

attachment; he has established himself in the forest; he lives on

fruits and roots; he denounces all catering to the senses as

detrimental to spiritual progress. That such horrid curses born of

impatience and egoism should come on the tongue of a recluse is a

sign of impending doom: it marks the dawn of the Iron Age of Untruth "

Sameeka said.

 

" Alas! What a great sin you have added to your burden today " , he

remarked; he described to his son and his comrades the heinousness of

the act that Sringi had done.