Drushtant Kathao

Author(s): Shrimad Rajchandra, Dinubhai M Patel
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram

Page 11

Anathi Muni
"O Arya ! (noble person) you are a youth worthy of all praise. Your age is quite fit for worldly enjoyments. This worldly life is full of various kinds of pleasures and happiness such as sensual pleasures suiting to changing seasons, pleasures of water play and hearing affectionate overtures of enticing women. Leaving all these pleasures and sources of enjoyments and happiness, why do you at this young age, strive hard for ascetic living? Why have you chosen this life ? Please be compassionate and tell me the reason of your practising this ascetic life."
Hearing this address of the King, the ascetic said, "I was a helpless orphan-like person. O great king ! none from this worldly life could be even a bit good friend who could help me to secure unprecedented happiness nor any friend who could look after my welfare and security, nor a friend who could show compassion to me and mercifully lead me to eternal bliss. This was the reason of my feeling of being an orphan-like person."
King Shrenik smiled to himself, hearing this reply from the ascetic and said, "Oh how do you, possessed of yogic powers, say that you are an orphan ? If you still feel so, I am prepared to be your helper and protector. O you fearless ! you start enjoying all worldly pleasures. O you ascetic ! friend ! start making your rare human birth extremely successful by enjoying the best of worldly life."
Anathi Muni said-"But Oh Shrenik, king of Magadh Desh! you are yourself an orphan; how can you help me to get over my orphanhood ? How can a pauper make one wealthy ? How can a simpleton make others intelligent or an ignorant can enlighten others in knowledge ? How can a barren woman offer a child ? When you yourself are an orphan how will you relieve me from my orphanhood?" Hearing these words of the ascetic, the king was much perturbed and surprised; he was overcome with doubt about his state as he heard such sharp and shocking words of the ascetic like which he had never heard in his life so far. He said, "I have many kinds of horses to ride, I am the owner of many prideful elephants, various sections of army are at my command, I have no dearth of towns, villages, harem and fourlegged animals; all sorts of human enjoyments I possess at my bidding, my servants are very obedient to me, all five kinds of wealth and riches are in my store, whatever I like and desire is quite near to me and quickly available. Being so prosperous and powerful how can I be called an orphan ? Perhaps o lord ! You may be wrong in calling me an orphan." To this the ascetic said, - "O you King, you do not seem to have understood what I meant in calling you an orphan. You are really an orphan but you do not realize it. Now hear patiently and with rapt attention what I say further and then you can decide about the truth or falsity of my calling you an orphan. First I shall tell you how I felt was an orphan and to relieve myself from that orphanhood, how I adopted the life of an ascetic, renouncing all worldly attachments."
"There is a very old, beautiful and mysterious city called Kaushambi wherein lived my very rich father named Dhansanchaya. O great King ! When I was very young, my most beautiful and excellent eyes began to ache and give terrible pain and a burning fever overpowered my whole body. The pain even sharper than any weapon, began to torment me as a deadly enemy. I suffered from an excruciating headache due to my paining eyes. I was thus much down with sorrow and suffering like the one resulting from the attack by a thunderbolt of Indra causing terrible fear even in others minds. Many incomparable physicians expert in human hygiene and physiology and many experts in curing bodily ailments by yogic practices came to cure me from my suffering; they tried all sorts of medicines and psychical cures but none of them could cure me from my ailments and this O king, was my experience of being an orphan ! My father began