The Hindu : Cities / Bangalore : Metro payback

The Hindu : Cities / Bangalore : Metro payback

Chapter - 7

It was study time for the children and both Adu and Ajju were learning new words. Grandpa had bought new erasers for them and the children were fighting over the same eraser for both liked its colour. Grandpa tried to bring in some semblance of order but the siblings were not in good mood to listen. Hence grandpa dangled the carrot in the form of a story and the children who were waiting to evade studies settled near their grandpa for the story.

Grandpa began thus: This story happened many thousands of years back. It's about great grandfather of SriRama. His name was Raghu , and he was a great king ruling over a vast region. Raghu was highly respected and loved by his citizens. He was also very virtuous and simple. He adhered to all the rules laid down in the dharma Shastras and ruled for a long period. Rama is also called Raghavan after his great grandfather Raghu. Raghu's fame lived that long and that is the reason Rama's rule was compared to that of his great Grandfather's.

A poor brahmin in Raghu's kingdom wanted to perform a vedic ritual called Soma Yagyam. It was a fire sacrifice ritual which demanded lots of money. The Brahmin approached a Rishi (so called since they possessed special powers) for help and the Rishi advised him to meet Raghu, since only a king is wealthy enough to spend on such rituals. The Brahmin had heard about Raghu - his mightiness and his benevolent nature. He set forth to the capital city of Raghu's kingdom. After reaching the capital the Brahmin went to the palace and sought audience with the king. The guards standing outside the palace directed the brahmin to the edge of the city. The brahmin was taken by surprise for he did'nt expect a king of that stature to be living outside the city.

After reaching the outskirts of the city he found a lone hut and a man standing outside filling a mud pot with water. The Brahmin went near and inquired the man about the whereabouts of the king. The man with the mud pot queried the brahmin as to why he was looking for the king. When the brahmin told him about the reason of his visit the man revealed that he was indeed the king and that he would help the brahmin. On hearing this the Brahmin was sceptical about the king's claim. The king had just performed a huge sacrificial ritual called Rajasuya Yagam in which he had given away all his wealth to the citizens of his kingdom and was now living in the hut. He asked the Brahmin to hold out his hand , poured water from the pot, and said, "I hereby sacrifice all the credits I've earned by doing good deeds. Please God accept my sacrifice and bless this Brahmin with money". The next instant gold coins rained down. The King requested the Brahmin to take all the gold. The speechless Brahmin with tears in his eyes prayed to the king, " Oh Raghu great king! Not knowing what a great soul you are I suspected your ability to help me. Please forgive me. I have no use for so much gold. I need only hundred coins for the ritual". The king said, "Neither have I any use for this money. I anyway requested money to help you and so please take all the gold".

Grandpa said, " See, children, how honest and simple were people of those bygone days. A king used to kingly lifestyle sacrificed all his comforts and lived a life of a commoner and a poor man refused to accept money beyond his need. So stop fighting , next time before buying anything for you I'll find out your preferences, okay?" and the children said, " It's alright Gramps we are happy with what ever you got and we'll exchange stuff whenever we wanted a particular thing."

Chapter-6

The boys after listening to the story about Auvai clamoured for a story about a 'strong boy' also. The ever ready grandpa this time wanted respite and so sent the children to grandma. The children woke grandma from her siesta with their vociferous demand for the story. Grandma sat up, pulled the kids to her side and started her story.

Nearly 2500 years back, in a village called Kaladi in Kerala lived a couple Shivaguru and his wife Aryamba. They were very rich, well respected, had hordes of relatives, yet were sad for they were childless. They prayed to Shiva, the presiding deity in Thrissur for a child. Shiva appeared in their dreams and asked " Do you want 100 idiots as children who will live long or one brilliant intelligent son who will live for eight years only?". The couple chose the intelligent son. With God's blessing Aryamba gave birth to a child after ten months and they named their son Shankara. Shivaguru passed away when Shankara was a mere toddler.

When Shankara turned five upanayan ceremony was done before he was sent for studies. Shankara was a brilliant student and learned one lesson per day(hence he is called 'ekasandagrahi' which means one who can grasp and understand at the first instance itself), thus completing his studies in just two years which would normally take ten years.

He came back home to be with his ageing mother. One day Aryamba was not well and was too tired to walk up to the river for bath. Noticing this Shankara prayed for the river to change its course and flow in the backyard of his house. Aryamba was surprised to see the river flowing near her house. Shankara helped his mother to reach the water for her bath. After her bath, shankara entered the water for his bath. The little shankara was playing in the water with his mother supervising him from the bank. Suddenly she heard Shankara shouting for help and noticed that a crocodile had caught hold of little Shankara's leg. Their relatives and friends rushed to the river on hearing her cry for help, but no one dared to enter the water as each feared for his life. As time passed by, people started leaving as lunch time was nearing. Shankara told his mother" Mother you trusted that relatives would help. But now you see no one is left by your side. Pray to God for He alone never leaves us". Aryamba cried" Oh God, as you promised have you come now to take away my child as he is eight now? Please spare him". On hearing this Shankara inquired his mother about God's promise and was told by his mother about the dream she and his father had before his birth. Shankara then told his mother" If that is so, as per fate an eight year old Brahmachari has to die now. Suppose I leave this Ashrama and become a sanyasi then there is a chance that I might survive. I can become a sanyasi only with your permission mother. Think carefully before giving your consent for I can not continue to live in our house once I become a Sanyasi". His mother gave her consent for she would prefer him to be alive rather than lose him totally. In a small ceremony, by chanting certain vedic mantras Shankara removed his sacred thread, took a ceremonial bath and embraced sanyasa ashrama. The crocodile left his leg and disappeared and Shankara came out of the river. Everything happened as though a drama was being enacted. Aryamba rushed to him, embraced her child and then took his hand in hers, pulled him towards home. But Shankara resisted, gently reminded his mother that he could no longer live in their home. With a promise to his mother that he'd be by her side during her last moments, this brave little boy of eight years walked out of his house into the big world outside.

He later met his Guru and was given proper sanyasa ashrama by his Guru. During Shankara's period more than seventy two non-vedic religions were being practised in India and most of them were misguiding people. Shankara wanted to reform and re-establish vedic religion. He travelled all over India from Kanyakumari to Kashmir by foot not once but four times to establish Advaita philosophy.

As promised, he reached Kaladi just in time to be by the side of his mother during her last moments. Shankara lived only for thirty-two years, but his accomplishment in reforming religion in our country is immense and his guidelines are still followed by hindus in India.

Adu and Ajju were speechless after listening to the story of the brave intelligent little boy , who from eight years of age lived outside under sun and moon , embraced the whole world as his home, entire humanity as his kin.