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Stories from Vedanta
Retold by N K Srinivasan
1 Gopala-the Friend
In a small village, there lived a
boy ,called Govinda. Govinda had lost his
father and his mother , Devaki, a poor
widow, brought up the boy with loving
kindness. There was no school in that
village. Devaki wanted to send Govinda to a
school in a nearby village,but he had to
cross a big forest everyday to reach the
school.
Govinda told his mother that he was afraid
of walking alone in the forest to reach the
school. His mother told him: " Govinda,
don't worry. When you enter the forest ,
call "Gopala"...a young boy with flute in
hand will come and hold your hand and walk
with you to the school. Do the same thing
in the evening while returning from the
school."
Govinda did as his mother told him. He will
enter the forest and call out as his mother
told. Gopala, a young boy with flute in
hand would appear, hold Govinda's hand and
walk nicely and then disappear after
reaching the school.Again Gopala will
appear and hold Govinda's hand on the
return trip from the school to the home.
Sometimes Govinda will ask Gopala for
snacks to eat on the way and Gopal would
give him some puffed rice. Both will eat
the rice on the way to school.
Towards the end of the year, the school had
annual function. The teacher requested each
pupil to bring some snacks to the school
and offer to all the kids, after prayer.
Govinda told his mother that he had to take
some snacks to the school. His mother told
that she had no money to buy or make
snacks. "Why don't you ask Gopala to give
you snacks ?" she told Govinda.
Govinda anxiously waited for Gopal to meet
in the forest. When Gopala came, Govinda
told him: "Gopala, there is a function at
the school and I need some sweet snacks to
carry". Gopala immediately said that he
would provide on the next day--the day of
the function.True to his word, Gopala gave
a large packet of milk sweets to Govinda.
Govinda carried the packet and gave it to
his master. The teacher was thrilled and
tasted the sweet which was delicious. The
teacher asked Govinda whether his mother
prepared them . He knew that Govinda's
mother was a poor widow and could not
afford to make these sweets. Govinda
replied that the sweets were given by his
friend Gopala in the forest. The teacher
was puzzled and asked Govinda: "Who is your
friend Gopala in the forest?". Govinda
replied that he is a small boy who escorts
him everyday to the school. The teacher was
further intrigued. He could not believe
that any such boy lived in the forest. It
must be some wild imagination on the part
of Govinda. Govinda told that Gopala is a
very rich boy who can give him many things.
The teacher asked curiously: " Govinda, can
you show me your friend Gopala in the
forest?"
Govinda replied : "Yes, come with me Sir, I
will show him."
The teacher wanted to test Govinda about
his friend. Next day he gathered a few more
teachers. They all set out to the forest to
meet Gopala if he was there.
The small group---the teachers, Gopala and
a few students --walked towards the forest.
On entering the forest, Govinda cried out :
"Gopala, come here, my teachers have come".
There was no reply. Gopala did not appear.
Govinda started crying : " Gopala, why are
you hiding? I want you to come here". Again
there was no response and no one was seen.
Govinda cried louder and called: "
Gopala ,you should come;otherwise my
teacher will think I am a liar and scold
me. I will lose my honor. Gopala, you
should uphold my honor." At that time there
was a clap of thunder. A voice was heard
from the sky: "Govinda, I appear only for
those who believe in Me and are pure in
heart. I cannot appear before these
persons." The teachers and the other
students were astounded and knew that Lord
Krishna himself was escorting Govinda all
these days and gave the sweets too.
God appears to those who believe and are
pure-hearted.
Story 2 The Value of Karma Yoga
There was a great yogi who used to meditate
under a tree, with full concentration on
Brahman and soon attained many supernatural
powers called 'Siddhis'.The yogi, whom we
would call "Yogeshwar' for this story, was
soon puffed with pride. He knew that he had
attained a high state of yogic perfection.
He was also short tempered---would become
angry .
One day when he was meditating or doing
'tapas' under the peepul tree, a crane
perched on a branch of the tree and was
making noise. Yogeshwar got irritated by
the noise and looked up at the bird with
stern eyes. The crane was instantly burned
to ashes and fell down as a heap of bones.
Yogeshwar was delighted with the result. He
told himself: " See how with my yogic
powers, i could burn the crane which was
disturbing my meditations."
After a few days, Yogeshwar was in his
rounds to beg for alms in a nearby village.
He would walk slowly through the streets
and clap his hands in front of any house.
The lady of the house would come out and
drop food into his begging bowl. This was
the custom in those days.
As usual, Yogeshwar stopped in front of one
of the houses and clapped his hand. There
was no response even though the door was
open. After clapping again and waiting for
some time, Yogeshwar saw the lady of the
house come out with food . Yogeshwar was
angry with her for making him wait so long.
He stared at her with a stern,angry look.
The lady immediately smiled and told the
yogi: "What Yogiraj, Do you take me for a
crane? I was delayed because I was serving
my husband who is ill...that is all".
Yogeshwar was puzzled how this lady, a
quiet woman, came to know of the incident--
the way he had burned the crane by his
look-- that took place under the tree far
away in the forest. He at once felt humbled
and realized that this woman must be a
perfected soul herself. He quickly asked
her: "Mother, Can you teach me the Divine
Knowledge which you seemed to have
acquired? ". The lady replied : " Look, I
am no Yogini or Guru. But you go to the
next village of Rampur where you will find
a cartman named Raikwa. He can teach you".
Yogeshwar was first intrigued that a
cartpuller would be enlightened enough to
teach him. But he had faith in the words of
this lady,and walked to Rampur and located
the cartman Raikwa, resting under a tree
smoking beedy.[home-made cigarette.]
Raikwa listened to the story of Yogeshwar
and told that he could not teach him
anything and there is a butcher by name
Bhairava in the market,who might help him.
Yogeshwar was still puzzled how a buthcer
could give him divine knowledge. Yet he
went to the market street and located the
meat shop.
Bhairava at once welcomed him and asked
whether Raikwa had sent him. Yogeshwar was
puzzled that Bhairava knew about his
meeting Raikwa just a short time ago.
Bhairava told him that he cannot talk to
him in the shop as he was busy with the
customers and that he should go and wait in
the front porch of his house. Bhairava
gave him directions to reach his house.
Yogeshwar then walked to Bhairava's house
and waited at the porch for Bhairava to
return from the shop.
It was almost dark when Bhairava returned
home. He again greeted Yogeshwar sitting at
the porch and told him that he had some
work inside the house and would return
after an hour to converse with him.
Yogeshwar had learned enough humility by
then. He patiently waited, recalling the
events of the day since morning and his
fate that he should wait in front of a
lowly butcher's house! [Butchers were
treated as outcastes in those days in
India.]
After about an hour, Bhairava came out and
sat by the side of Yogeshwar in the porch.
Yogeshwar asked about the work he had
earlier. Bhairava told that he had his
ailing father inside the house and he had
to nurse his wounds. Then he asked
Yogeshwar why he had come and what he
wanted. Yogeshwar narrated all the strange
things that had happened that day. He asked
Bhairava how he knew that Raikwa had sent
him in the first place. Bhairava told that
he had some intuitive thought to suggest
that Raikwa ,his friend , might have
directed Yogeshwar to his place.
Then Yogeshwar posed his question " How you
had attained Brahma Jnana--or Divine
knowledge." Bhairava replied that he knew
nothing of yoga or tapas but he did his job
of doing a butcher's duties with honesty
and faith in God and that he never avoided
his duties at home. He added: " I guess,
the so-called divine knowledge comes of its
own ,even though I am an illiterate."
Then Yogeshwar realized the value of karma
yoga.!
3 The Story of Affection for a
Deer
Bharata was a great monarch of India. In
fact India is called "Bharatavarsha" or
"Bharat" after him. He was the son of
Royal-sage or Raja-rishi Rishaba. Bharata
ruled over his subjects with love and with
fairness. He performed all tasks --even
minor ones-as service to the Lord of the
Universe.
In his old age, Bharata divided his kingdom
into five parts for his five sons and then
retired to the forest near Gandaki river in
the Himalayas to meditate .He built a small
cottage for himself and devoted all his
time to the worship of the Lord.He soon
found inner peace.Bharata spent many years
in deep contemplation.
One morning he was offering his prayers to
the Lord. He found a rustling of waters in
the river and saw a deer being followed by
a ferocious lion at some distance. In the
fright, the deer which was carrying a baby
fawn gave birth to the little one and
crossed the river. On reaching the other
side, the deer fell and died out of fright.
The little fawn was floating in the
water.Bharata was moved by this sight and
picked up the fawn.
He brought the fawn to his cottage, nursed
it with milk and fruits and soon became
fond of the fawn. Though he had renounced
all the desires and was meditating on the
Lord, his attachment for the fawn grew day
by day.He spent lot of time playing with
the fawn and grew anxious about the future
of the fawn.!
A few years passed by. Bharata grew weak
and knew his end was near. When his mind
was turned towards the deer , he breathed
his last. As a result of his karma and the
affection for the deer, and the thought of
the little deer at the time of death,
Bharata was born as a deer in the next
birth. The deer's name was Jatismara or
Jadabharata.
Though Bharata was a deer now, he listened
to the wise sayings and prayers of sages in
their ashrams.
In the subsequent birth, Jadabharata or
Jatismara was born as the youngest boy in
a rich brahmin's family.
In this life, Bharata remembered his past
lives and led a quiet life, without much
attachment. He would speak very little and
was withdrawn most of the time. His
brothers thought that he was a dim witted
boy and refused to give him any property
when his father died. The wives of his
brothers were harsh towards him . But
Jadabharata continued to lead a withdrawn
life, not speaking a word against them.
One day when the wives of his brothers were
unkind, Bharata quietly left the house and
sat under a tree in deep contemplation.
The local king , King Rahugana was passing
by in a palanquin carried by four bearers.
One of the bearers got sick and the King's
men,finding Bharata sitting quietly there
was healthy enough to carry the palanquin ,
asked him to be one of the bearers. Bharata
did not reply but carried the palanquin
along with three other bearers. But Bharata
did not carry the palanquin properly. The
king was annoyed and told him : " O Fool,
if you cannot carry properly, rest a while
and then lift the palanquin."
Then Bharata layed down the palanquin and
spoke for the first time and addressed the
king:'Whom do you call "Fool"--O King.If
you call 'you' this body, this mass of
flesh, it is the same as yours.If it is the
mind you call 'you' then it is the same as
yours--the Universal mind.If you call my
soul as 'you' . it is the same as in you---
it is the Self, the Reality---it has no
weariness, no sickness.I moved about to
avoid some insects on the ground.But my
Soul is not wearied and never carried the
pole of the palanquin."
The king Rahugana realized the mistake,
knew that this bearer was indeed a great
sage and fell at his feet and asked for
pardon. Later the king asked Bharata to
teach him Divine Knowledge.
Later Bharata ,in the new incarnation,
moved about preaching Lord's knowledge.'
4 All for a piece of Loincloth!
A great sadhu lived in a remote
village ,having renounced everything. All
his possessions were a begging bowl, a
water jug or kamandalu and two pieces of
loin cloth--about the size of a towel which
he would wrap around his waist.He would
wear one piece and wash and dry another
piece.
Soon he found that a rat was chewing the
loin cloth at night and had made numerous
holes in it. The sadhu thought that he
should put an end to this rat problem.
He wanted to shelter a pet cat to eat the
rat. So he requested a villager near by to
bring a cat to him. The villager brought a
cat and offered to give some milk to feed
the cat. The cat took care of the rat.His
loin clothes were not damaged.
To feed the cat with milk, the sadhu
thought that he should get a cow. Again he
requested a rich villager to offer a cow to
his ashram. In those days, offering a cow
to a brahmin or sadhu, called 'go-dhan"
['go' means cow and 'dhan' means charity-
offering] was considered an act of merit or
punya and many villagers would come forward
to offer a cow. So ,soon the sadhu had a
cow in his ashram.
He grew grass in a patch of land near by
for feeding the cow.He was burdened with
too much work to attend to the cow. His
puja or worship and meditations decreased.
He sought the services of a young village
girl to look after the cow.
It so happened that he ended up marrying
the girl. After about a year, the sadhu had
become a father for a child.
Thus a sadhu became a householder---all for
a piece of loin cloth!
5 Vyasa and his son Suka
Vyasa is a common name for one who
'expands' scriptures or writes/edits sacred
works. Thus we learn about Veda Vyas who
compiled and edited the Vedas. There was
one vyasa by name Krishna Dweepayana [who
was born in a island] who is considered the
28 th Vyasa in the line of such editors.
This vyasa is credited with editing Srimad
Bhagavatam which has several puranic
[mythological] stories, lives of kings and
sages and above all, life of Lord Krishna.
This book is widely regarded by all in the
devotional path.
Suka was the son of Vyasa, a scholarly and
spiritually enlightened master in his own
right. In younger days, Suka was taught by
his father much of scriptures. Suka later
taught Parikshit the whole of Bhagavatam in
a week.
Vyasa and Suka were walking through a
forest during their journey.
Vysa was walking in front followed by Suka
at some distance. It so happened that Vyasa
was passing by a small lake in which young
women were bathing in nudity. Vyasa saw
them and immediately told his son to close
his eyes while walking for some distance.
Suka who was following Vyasa closed his
eyes and slowly walked , listening to the
foot steps of his father.
After walking some distance, Vyasa told
that Suka could open his eyes...Suka was
intrigued and asked his father: "Revered
Father, why did you ask me to close the
eyes?"
Vyasa replied that there were some women
bathing in the lake on his left side
without any clothes and that Suka should
not see them. Suka replied, taking Vyasa to
be a great Jnani so far," Father ,do you
still see a woman and a man differently?"
Vyasa realized that he had not yet reached
maturity in terms of Jnana.
[The implication is that a Jnani is one who
had crossed the feelings of gender
differences and the temptations of the
sexes.]
6 Adi Shankara and the Chandala
Adi Shankara , the great Advaitic
philosopher and pontiff , lived in the
eighth century [788- 820 CE] . He traveled
throughout the length and breadth of India
three times.In one of his trips to Varanasi
[Benares or Kashi] ,the holy city, the
following incident took place.
Though Shankara was a great philosopher, he
had still caste prejudices at that time--
perhaps due to his early upbringing in
Kerala. Shankara was born in a pious
Namboodri brahmin family, steeped in caste
conventions .
Adi Shankara was walking along a narrow
lane, after bath in the Ganges, towards
Lord Viswanatha's temple. He spotted a
chandala or outcaste with his wife coming
towards him at the end of the lane.
Shankara shouted " go away, go away" at the
chandala, since if he came close to this
brahmin, pollution would occur. [Such was
the caste prejudices then and the practice
of "untouchability."]. The Chandala who had
some ropes and nets in his hands, stopped
immediately and looked at Shankara with
stern eyes and told: " Look, Revered
Brahmin, Did you say "go away' at this
body, made of flesh and produced by food,
which is same as your body. If you say 'go
away" at my consciousness which is the same
as yours , where is the question of "going
away" we are both the same.". On hearing
this, Shankara got the message that he was
wrong in identifying with the body and
considering that chandala was inferior in
birth.He knew at once that the Chandala was
none but Lord Shiva himself or Lord
Viswanatha who had come to teach
him.Shankara fell at the feet of the
Chandala and his wife and suddenly he had a
vision of "Shiva and Parvati". At
once, Shankara sang a hymn of five verses
called " Maneesha Panchakam" ---about the
knowledge of Advaita. The divine couple --
Shiva and Parvati --disappeared in a blaze
of light.
[ There are slightly different versions of
this story.One may even doubt that such an
event occurred in the life of Shankara.
Modern scholars doubt the authorship of
these works which may be due to later
saints.]
7 Emperor Shivaji and Samartha
Ramdas
Samartha Ramdas was a great Marathi
saint ,devoted to Lord Rama and the author
of "Dasbodh"-- a poetical work on Vedanta.
He was the guru of Emperor Shivaji who
fought against Moghul rulers and
established a Hindu kingdom around Pune.
Samartha Ramdas used to stay with Shivaji
for long periods in his palace. Shivaji was
building several fortresses on hills in
Maratha country to defend his kingdom.Many
of the fortresses are tourist attraction
today.
One fine morning, Samartha Ramdas was
walking along a road near a fortress,
chanting the name of Lord Rama. Shivaji
joined him and walked with him.There was a
major construction of a fort nearby, where
several stone cutters were working. Shivaji
spoke to some of them and while walking
further felt some pride that he was giving
work to so many poor workers who may
otherwise go hungry without jobs.
Ramdas who was walking closeby immediately
read the mind of Shivaji. He told Shivaji
to go near a small boulder lying on the
roadside. He asked Shivaji to get some
stone cutters to break that boulder.
Shivaji summoned some workers and asked
them to break the boulder though he did
not know why his guru Ramdas wanted him to
break the boulder.
In a short while ,the workers broke the
boulder into two halves. Inside the
boulder, there was a big hole with some
water in it. Ramdas asked Shivaji to look
closely at the hole. There was a small
lizard inside. Ramdas told Shivaji: "
Look ,Emperor, the Lord has made the lizard
not only live inside this boulder with
air,but also provided some water to drink".
Shivaji felt humbled and told: " Guruji, My
pride is gone! I know it is the Lord who
will protect and provide for all---not the
king" and then fell at the feet of Samartha
Ramdas.