Story:
There once lived a middle aged Rishi who was doing severe penance in the forest.
He was doing penance for a long time and one day when he was meditating, a bird did its droppings on his head. He looked at that bird with anger and that moment the bird was burnt to death. He was sorry the bird died because of him but since it was already dead he was not able to do anything about it. On hindsight he was also happy that he had achieved a level in his penance that he could burn other beings by simply looking at them with anger.
He then prepared to gather alms for his next meal and started going door to door in a near by village asking for food. In one of the houses, a highly pious Pativrata woman asked him to wait so that she can give some food for him. This woman was highly devoted to her husband and her elderly in-laws and had their complete blessings. By the time she could bring the food to the her husband had arrived from work and hence she took care of her husband by giving him some water and took care of him for some time before she could come back to give the food the the Rishi who was waiting. Since it was getting delayed the Rishi grew restless and yelled out 'Are you giving me the food or do I continue to the next house?' . There was some arrogance in his voice probably because of his newly acquired power to burn down the bird. The woman apologized for the delay and asked for forgiveness but also add 'Please don't think of wasting your energy to burn me down like you burnt the bird as it will not work on me'. The Rishi was startled and immediately realized his mistake. He apologized to her and asked how in such a young age she had acquired such a power. What penance she had done to achieve this. For that she replied the only penance she had done was being devoted to her husband and in-laws. She further asked him to meet a hunter in a near by village who can further clear his doubts.
The Rishi then getting the address of that hunter from the woman reached the shop of that hunter in the near by village. The Rishi waited for him near the shop till he closed the shop for the day and approached him. The Hunter was very courteous to the Rishi. He then invited the Rishi to his house and took very good care of his guest. He gave a lot of respect to him because of his age. He later continued that he knew about the incident about the burning of the bird and the incident that happened in the village with the woman. Astonished again by what the hunter said he asked him the source of his power and how he achieved it. The hunter continued that he ran his business in a very truthful way. He made sure he was selling quality product for his customers with nominal profits. He further continued that he also took care of his aged parents who could not move on their own. It was because of their blessings that he was able to acquire such power.
He further spoke about the Rishi's past.
'You had started out of your home town to the forest to do penance. You have achieved a certain amount of power because of your penance. But you had left your blind parents behind at your home who are struggling to carry out their day to day life. Please go back to your home and take care of your parents. There is no big penance than taking care of your parents and in-laws. There is nothing one can not achieve with the wholehearted blessings of his parents and elders'.
The Rishi quickly realized his folly and returned back to his home and started taking care of his parents.
--This story was narrated by asmad guru H. H. Shri 1008 Shri Satyātma Tīrtha Swami of Bangalore.
Concluding points:
- This story basically advises people to respect elders and take care of old parents and in-laws with love.
- Another point made is that a guy may think he is an expert in his field and it may get to his head at times. But in reality other people from humbler background may have achieved more than him.
- Also you may be on a quest for something precious and travel far and wide in search of it but it may already be very close to you.
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I heard the Swamiji's speech in Kannada and was very fascinated by the story. Since out Swamiji has followers across different states including TN, AP and MH in addition to KA, I wanted to translate his story in English so that it can reach my relatives who could not understand Kannada. I apologize for any mistake or misinterpretation I may have done. Hari Hi Om .
