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वीरेश्वराय विद्महे विवेकानन्दाय
धीमहि । तन्नो वीर: प्रचोदयात् ।
A young Sannyâsin went to a forest; there he
meditated, worshipped, and practiced Yoga for a long time. After
years of hard work and practice, he was one day sitting under a
tree, when some dry leaves fell upon his head. He looked up and
saw a crow and a crane fighting on the top of the tree, which made
him very angry. He said, "What! Dare you throw these dry leaves
upon my head!" As with these words he angrily glanced at them, a
flash of fire went out of his head — such was the Yogi's power —
and burnt the birds to ashes. He was very glad, almost overjoyed
at this development of power — he could burn the crow and the
crane by a look. After a time he had to go to the town to beg his
bread. He went, stood at a door, and said, "Mother, give me food."
A voice came from inside the house, "Wait a little, my son." The
young man thought, "You wretched woman, how dare you make me wait!
You do not know my power yet." While he was thinking thus the
voice came again: "Boy, don't be thinking too much of yourself.
Here is neither crow nor crane." He was astonished; still he had
to wait. At last the woman came, and he fell at her feet and said,
"Mother, how did you know that?" She said, "My boy, I do not know
your Yoga or your practices. I am a common everyday woman. I made
you wait because my husband is ill, and I was nursing him. All my
life I have struggled to do my duty. When I was unmarried, I did
my duty to my parents; now that I am married, I do my duty to my
husband; that is all the Yoga I practice. But by doing my duty I
have become illumined; thus I could read your thoughts and know
what you had done in the forest. If you want to know something
higher than this, go to the market of such and such a town where
you will find a Vyâdha (The lowest class of people in India who
used to live as hunters and butchers.) who will tell you something
that you will be very glad to learn." The Sannyasin thought, "Why
should I go to that town and to a Vyadha?" But after what he had
seen, his mind opened a little, so he went. When he came near the
town, he found the market and there saw, at a distance, a big fat
Vyadha cutting meat with big knives, talking and bargaining with
different people. The young man said, "Lord help me! Is this the
man from whom I am going to learn? He is the incarnation of a
demon, if he is anything." In the meantime this man looked up and
said, "O Swami, did that lady send you here? Take a seat until I
have done my business." The Sannyasin thought, "What comes to me
here?" He took his seat; the man went on with his work, and after
he had finished he took his money and said to the Sannyasin, "Come
sir, come to my home." On reaching home the Vyadha gave him a
seat, saying, "Wait here," and went into the house. He then washed
his old father and mother, fed them, and did all he could to
please them, after which he came to the Sannyasin and said, "Now,
sir, you have come here to see me; what can I do for you?" The
Sannyasin asked him a few questions about soul and about God, and
the Vyadha gave him a lecture which forms a part of the
Mahâbhârata, called the Vyâdha-Gitâ. It contains one of the
highest flights of the Vedanta. When the Vyadha finished his
teaching, the Sannyasin felt astonished. He said, "Why are you in
that body? With such knowledge as yours why are you in a Vyadha's
body, and doing such filthy, ugly work?" "My son," replied the
Vyadha, "no duty is ugly, no duty is impure. My birth placed me in
these circumstances and environments. In my boyhood I learnt the
trade; I am unattached, and I try to do my duty well. I try to do
my duty as a householder, and I try to do all I can to make my
father and mother happy. I neither know your Yoga, nor have I
become a Sannyasin, nor did I go out of the world into a forest;
nevertheless, all that you have heard and seen has come to me
through the unattached doing of the duty which belongs to my
position."
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