Hari Om
A great Archarya once lived in a forest, in his Gurukulam.
One day, four men came looking for him.
One of them said, “O Archarya! We are sickened by what we see in the world around us – we see so many things! What is right and what is wrong?”
The Archarya, who had just finished a class with his pupils, stood up and gestured to the men to follow him.
The four men were baffled.
They walked out of the Gurukulam into the forest for about half a kilometre. Parked there, was a Pushpaka Vimana.
The Archarya smiled at the four men and said, “Your question is indeed very, very relevant. I can help you with the answer, but you need to take a ride with me on this Pushpaka Vimana.”
The four men were game. As they were stepping into the Vimana, the Archarya stopped them.
image courtesy: sanatan.org
“I am going to take you to see something that is a part of everyday life in this forest. You have to give me the correct answer to what I ask. If you do not, then this Vimana will push you down. Are you game?”
The four men nodded excitedly and got into the Vimana. It took off, flying over the forest for a bit, before reaching a clearing.
There, below them, they saw a lioness with her hungry cubs. A little distance away, was a deer with her hungry fawns, feeding from her.
In a short while, the lioness, who had spotted the deer, pounced on her and killed her, dragging the carcass back to where her cubs were. The lioness and her cubs made a good meal of the mother deer.
The fawns, bereft of their mother, were mewling in distress.
The Archarya and his companions watched all this from the Vimana.
The Archarya turned to the four men, “Now would you say that this is natural in Nature’s course?”
The four men nodded.
The Archarya asked, “Now tell me, was what you saw just now right or wrong?”
The first man eagerly replied, “No Archarya! How can you say it was wrong? The lioness was doing what she had to do to feed her cubs. This is part of Nature’s cycle!”
The Vimana gave a jerk, tilting slightly, and the man who had replied fell off, to the ground far below.
The other three were stunned.
The Archarya turned to the second man, who now hesitated, as he replied, “O Archarya, how can it be correct? In killing the deer, the lioness had deprived the fawns of their mother.”
The Vimana gave another jerk, and this man too, fell off the flying vehicle.
The third man thought for a moment. He was very worried, now that he had seen his friends fall off.
“There is no right or wrong,” he said, hoping now, that he was giving the right answer. “The lioness was doing her duty in feeding her cubs; the mother deer was a victim…”
Another jerk and the third man fell off the Vimana as well.
Now, the last of the four friends, troubled by what had transpired, was worried about his fate. He whispered, “O Archarya! I don’t know.”
The Vimana made a turn and flew back to the spot they had begun their journey from.
As the flying vehicle landed, the Archarya said, “That’s the right answer! How do we know what is right and what is wrong? Who are we to make such judgements? The veil of Maya obscures everything and we have no idea why things really happen. So go home and be at peace.”
In the Karmic Cycle, we will never know the reasons why certain things happen. Good things could happen to those who do wrong; similarly, those who do good, could undergo negative experiences. This is because, what we experience currently, could be the results of good/bad Karmas of past lives or even good/bad Karmas in this one – and therefore, how can we judge something or someone based on what we see before us now?
So, Never be JUDGEMENTAL.
GF’ Blessings.
