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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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Journey of
the sage
Sunday parable by Sunanda Mahendra "I am disgusted with things happening around me, and sincerely feel that
there is an inner urge to leave this place immediately", said the sage to
his acolyte. "But master," said the acolyte, "Where are you
"No my boy, I feel that it is impossible to live in this place. It used to be good at one time, but now the people consisting mainly of rulers, administrators, lawyers and business men, all have become gradually transformed into inhuman creatures. And cruelty overruled their life-style. They are blind to the virtues of life, giving way to more and more corruption and evil. So I have decided once and for all to leave, in search of a better place where I can teach whatever I know to a new group of students." "So what am I to do master?" "You had better accompany me and see that you get ready with the donkey. Get some bread and other food that is necessary for the journey. I need to have my book of wisdom by my side, and some blank papers, pens and pencils, some blankets, two pillows and mats for you and me, and some water to drink. This is sufficient for the time being..." The good acolyte got ready with all the meagre necessities of his master, attempting to fulfil his mission. The sage looked at the sky and thought that the auspicious time has come for them to leave. He looked around to bid farewell to his fauna and flora the environment that helped him to inculcate a peaceful mind. "The donkey is ready" said the acolyte helping the master to mount on its back. The donkey nodded his head as if to understand the mission of his master. Then they left the place at a slow pace. The acolyte was walking slowly holding the harnessing ropes. "There is no hurry, we should take things easy. We have to cross the barrier" said the sage looking around. At the barrier, they found a tired and slumbering soldier as if he had not had a good sleep for two or three days. The sage and his acolyte passed the barrier as it was kept open As soon as they crossed the barrier a voice came from the soldier suddenly opening his eyes. "Stop." "Go and see what he wants" said the sage. The acolyte walked back and stood before the soldier who held a rusted old barrel rifle. "Where are you going? And have you got anything to declare?" asked the soldier. "That is our master. He wants to leave this territory and enter into the other side", "You said that he is your master?" "Yes he taught most of us, most of the time" "Alright" said the soldier gesturing him to leave. The acolyte and the master began to move when the voice of the soldier reverberated "Stop". "Go and ask that rascal of a soldier what he wants without troubling us." The acolyte appeared before the soldier once again and looked at his face sternly. "Did you not say that your master taught you something most of the time?" "Yes he taught us so many things." "Tell me one unforgettable thing he taught you." "He taught us about the power." "About power you say? That is fascinating." Then he thought. "I am a powerless soldier I should know what power means." "What did he teach you about power, tell me?" asked the soldier. "He once told us that the strength of power is like a stream running over a rugged slab of stone, but when the water flows gradually over a period of time the ruggedness of the stone slab vanishes and becomes gradually changed into a slender thin sheet erasing off the ruggedness." "That is indeed something I have never heard in my life", said the soldier walking towards the sage, who stood still not even looking at the face of the soldier. "Sorry for disturbing you sir" said the soldier bowing his head in veneration. The sage was silently listening to what the soldier said. "I want to learn something from you sir. Please dismount and stay in my small hut. I am in a position to give you food to eat, a place to rest your head and sleep well, a place to write and teach me. All I want is to learn from you." A smile appeared on the face of the sage. He dismounted from the back of the donkey, and looked at the soldier from head down to his feet. "Oh this rugged soldier looks indeed sad and withered. He looks tired of his work and he wants to learn something. He must be fed up with his duties. I must help him" thought the sage. "My boy, I see that you want to learn. So I must teach you something Come, let's go" said the sage. "There is a small place in my residence for the donkey" said the soldier ushering the sage to his home. A nice little room was prepared for the sage to stay. The sage sat cross-legged and pulled out a bundle of papers. Then he held the pen and went on writing some stanzas while the soldier was watching him vigilantly. Few days passed by when the robbers and highway men seeing the absence of the soldier at the barrier, escaped from one territory to the other with much ease. The sage in this manner spent seven days in the residence of the soldier who looked after him in the best possible manner of hospitality. The soldier wanted to know what the sage had written. "I have stayed in your residence for seven long days and on each day I have written hundred stanzas, and all in all there are seven hundred stanzas. Let's read them together if you have time" said the sage. "I got all the time on earth" said the soldier with a smile. "Then sit by my side and read them loud so that I may explain the inner meanings and interpretations one by one." The soldier clad himself in a loin cloth in the manner of a student and sat beside the sage cross-legged. The soldier bowed his head and started reading the stanzas one by one. There ensued a live dialogue between the two, which became legendary in the surroundings as the strangest happening of a life time, a soldier transforming into a sage. Those who came to know of this event said. "It is not at all surprising how a sage had written seven hundred stanzas in seven days but the most surprising is that a poor soldier had helped him to get them for posterity." I am indebted to the great dramatist Bertolt Brecht for one of his minor dramatic poems on a Chinese prophet named LaoTzu, who had actually taught a certain soldier what he thought was the most fitting tribute to a better life-style. According to that source which is untraceable at the moment was titled "wuwe" in Chinese or "the path". Similar events have happened in the life of many a local sage. |
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trying to go?"
"I want to cross the country barrier and enter into the adjoining territory
to see if it is a better place to live in." "What if that territory happens
to be worse than this?" "Then I will leave that place and find a still
better place." "If that is so, is it not good to live in this place?" 
