The story of two yogis
Once upon a time, there was a sanyaasi. He used to visit all the kingdoms and used to preach the people "for attaining moksham one needs to give away everything he owns. He should not have any vyamoham or desire on anything. He should not think of the next minute. He should not store anything for future. He should not tell who he is to anyone and should do dhyaanam with peace and no desire. Then he can achieve moksham". The preachings of the sanyaasi were all very good, however, were very difficult for people to understand. One day Magadha raaja was inspired by the teachings of the sanyaasi. He gave away his kingdom and went to the forest for daiva-dhyaanam. In the same manner, Kaambhoja raaja was also inspired and went to the forest for daiva-dhyaanam. He also had given away everything he had.
Both the kings met each other in the forests, but they did not tell to each other that the were kings. They both used to go for bhiksha for their food. According to the rules, they used to eat the food that day itself without storing it for future. One day, they got only ganji (rice starch or rice soup). Kambhoja raaja commented to Magadha raaja that it would be better if there was some salt for the taste. Then the Magadha raaja told that he had some. The Kambhoja raaja questioned him "where did u get the salt from?". The Magadha raaja replied that he had picked small amount of it from the vindu bhojanam to which he was called. He had taken some with him in case he needed in the journey. Then the Kaambhoja raaja told Magadha raaja that he has given his whole empire but was unable to keep up the rule that they should not store any thing for future. The Magadha raaja replied that Kambhoja raaja who also left his kingdom with ease was not able to control his taste. Both were shocked realizing that they broke the rules.
They then realized the true meaning in the teachings of the sanyaasi and returned to their duties as kings and ruled with love,peace and harmony. But because of the learning from the forest, they were never involved in the bhogas of a king and were totally dettached. They got the unattainable moksham in the end.
THE EGOISTIC MAN- EGO MAKES MAN BLIND
Once upon a time there was a poor man. He was very pious and used to pray to God daily. He used to ask every holy man he met why God was not taking pity on him and helping him .One day a holy man took pity on him and prayed to God to make the poor man rich. God being ever merciful appeared to the Holy man and told him that even if He wanted to help the poor man it was of no use as the poor man's ego was coming in the way. But the Holy man insisted that God should give a chance to the poor man.
At last God relented and told the holy man “Well! see for yourself, I will give him a chance".
Accordingly, God made a bundle of very costly gems and put it in the path of the poor man while he was coming to pray.
On that day the poor man thought, "Well for the last forty years I have been walking the same path. So let me see if I can walk with my eyes closed".
So the poor man started walking with his eyes closed. He hit the bundle of gems which the God had kept in his way with his legs but took it to be some stones and did not open his eyes to see. So he kept walking. A trader who was coming behind saw the bundle and took it.
The poor man remained poor as before, for the simple reason he did not shed his ego.
Story of a Pandita and a Varaaham
Once upon a time, there used to live a Pandita, who was a Trikaalagnya. One day with his divya-drushti he saw that in his next janma he will be born to a Varaaham owned by a Rajaka. There will be white spots on the head and legs of him then (when he will be born as a pig).
He called his son and told on what day and time, he will be born as a pig. He asked his son to come then and immediately kill him and give him vimukti from that hiina, durbhara deham. Feeling pity on his father, he accpeted to do so.
The son went on the specified day to the Rajaka and identified the pig which was just born and had white spots. He took it to kill it, but the pig pleaded him not to do so. It told him that it liked the smell of dirt, garbage and it is very happy to go around in dirty places. He asked the son not to kill him and leave him. Surprised seeing the pig’s words, the son went away.
Where is the Trikaalagnya Pandita? and where is the pig? Aaha! Vishnu maaya is adbhutam. Everybody likes and is happy with their svabhaavika shariiras and characters. In God’s creation there is nothing useless or waste or less. That is why our Shaastras advice us never to hate other animals or human beings because of their natural form etc.
The Moon lake ( Story from Panchatantra )
Once A large herd of elephants lived in a jungle. Their king was a huge, majestic tusker. He looked after them with love and care. A severe drought hit the area. As there was no rain for a few years, all the rivers and tanks had dried up. Birds and animals died of thirst. The wild elephants suffered for want of water. Their king knew that if they did not get water soon, many of them would die of thirst. He had to find water as quickly as possible.
He asked the elephants to go in different directions to look for water. One of them found a large lake full of water in another jungle far away. The king was happy. He ordered all the elephants to make their way to the lake. It was a beautiful lake. Close to it was a colony of rabbits. The elephants had to pass through this colony. Thousands of rabbits were trampled to death and thousands more were injured. The rabbits were in a panic. Their king called a meeting.
"A herd of wild elephants is passing through our colony," he said. "They have already killed or injured thousands of us. We have to take urgent steps to prevent more deaths. I want all of you to think of a way to save our race." The rabbits thought and thought. How could they stop the elephants? One little rabbit stood up.
"Your Majesty," he said, "if you will send me as your messenger to the king of the elephants, I may be able to find a solution." "By all means, go as my messenger and see what you can do." The little rabbit hurried out.
He saw a group of elephants returning from the lake. Right in the middle was the king. To get near him was impossible. "I will be crushed to death,' thought the rabbit. So he climbed up a huge rock.
"O, king of the elephants," he shouted, "hear me, please." The king heard his voice and turned towards him.
"Well, who are you?" he asked. "I am a messenger," replied the rabbit. "A messenger? From whom?" "I am a messenger from the mighty Moon." "What is your business? Is there a message for me from the Moon?" "Yes, yes, your Majesty. But you must not be angry with me. Please remember that a messenger is never punished for what he has to say. He is only doing his duty." "Very well. Say what you have been sent to say. I shall not harm you." "Sir," said the little rabbit, "the Moon has this to say"
" You, the king of the elephants, have brought your herd to my holy lake and soiled its waters. You have killed thousands of rabbits on your way to the lake. You know that rabbits are under my special protection. Everyone knows that the king of the rabbits lives with me. I ask you not to kill any more rabbits. Otherwise something terrible will happen to you and your herd."
The king of the elephants was shocked. He looked at the little rabbit. "You are right," he said. "We may have killed many rabbits on our way to the lake. I shall see that you do not suffer anymore. I shall request the Moon to forgive me for my sins. Please tell me what I should do." "Come with me alone," replied the rabbit. "Come, I shall take you to the Moon." The little rabbit took the huge elephant to the lake. There they saw the Moon reflected in the still waters. "There, your Majesty, meet the Moon," said the little rabbit.
"Let me worship the divine Moon," said the elephant, and dipped his trunk into the water. At once the water was disturbed. The Moon seemed to move to and fro. The rabbit said, "Now the Moon is angrier than ever." "Why?' asked the king. "What have I done?" "You have touched the holy waters of the lake," replied the rabbit. The elephant bowed his head. "Please ask the Moon to forgive me. Never again will we touch the holy waters of this lake. Never again will we harm the rabbits whom the Moon loves so much." And the king and his herd went away. Soon there was rain and the elephants lived happily. It did not occur to them ever that a little rabbit had fooled them.
Sparrow and the Elephant ( Story from Panchatantra )
Once upon a time there lived a sparrow with her husband on a tree. She had built a nice nest and laid her eggs in the nest. One morning, a wild elephant with spring fever feeling restive came to the tree in search of shade and in a rage broke the branch of the tree on which the nest was residing. Unluckily all the sparrow eggs were lost though both parents were saved. The she-sparrow was deep in lament.
Seeing her lament, the woodpecker bird, a friend of hers offered her consolation that she would think of a way of killing the elephant. Then she went to her friend the gnat, who in turn went to the counselor frog for advice. The frog then devised a scheme for killing the elephant. He asked the gnat to buzz in the ears of the elephant, so that the elephant would be thrilled to listen to the music of the gnat and close its eyes. Then she asked the woodpecker to pluck his eyes. She herself would be on the edge of a pit and would croak misleading the elephant to think that it is a pond.
The next day at noon the three carried out the plan and the elephant was killed when he fell flat into a pit after being blinded by the woodpecker when he closed his eyes in response to the gnat. So the revenge was taken with collective wit of all three animals.