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to the fore. Even a passing acquaintance with truth leads some people to full realization. And in consequence they stand transformed. On the other hand, there are people who, despite repeated efforts, cannot accomplish any change. One naturally asks, "Why?" We find one man simple, straightforward and kindly. He avoids evil like the plague. Another man is crooked, cunning and cruel. He is such a hardened sinner that no evil, however great, can make him pause. To kill becomes an instinctive act for him.
Why are there such differences between man and man? Be. tween one man's conduct and behaviour and that of another? These differences cannot be explained in terms of circumstances alone. If the outer situation were responsible for these differences, then people belonging to the same background would all behave in the same way. But it does not happen so; people living in similar circumstances do not behave uniformly. There are differences between them too. We are thus compelled to look at things from an entirely different angle. We have to acknowledge that our circumstances are not everything; inner environment is also an important cause of differences between men. Perhaps more so, for the inner always overcomes the outer.
Karkandu was a prince. He is counted among the "Specially Enlightened Ones", i.e., those who are enlightened spontaneously at the sight of a specific object, whose consciousness is awakened under special circumstances. In time Karkandu ascended the throne. He was specially interested in cows. Once on a visit to the cow-asylum, he saw a very frail calf. His heart melted at the sight and he gave orders that the calf should be properly fed with the whole of his mother-cow's milk. And when it grew up, he should be fed with other cows' milk. The incharge of the cow-asylum did as instructed by the king.
The call began to fill up. It grew up into a stout bull with mighty limbs. His horns were beautiful and all his limbs authentic and well-proportioned. He appeared to be the very image of energy. The king was greatly pleased at the sight. Every day he went to the Cow-asylum and sat with the bull.
Thereafter, the king went on an expedition and was absent for a number of years. On his return to the capital, he remembered the bull and went to the cow-asylum to see how it was doing. He said to the manager of the cow-asylum, "Where is my bull?" He replied, "Sir, there, right in front of you!" The king was stunned, for the animal sitting in front of him was a lean, old creature, whose eyes had receded far into the sockets, whose gait was staggering and who cowered abjectly behind a host of other animals. The king said, "How robust was this bull once! Its shoulders were so powerful, its horns a'beauty! Where are gone the power and the glory? Am
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