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Articles: Moral Stories | pancha tantra kadhalu...renDava tantramu..mitralaabhamu
- Mr. Siri Siri
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HERMIT AND THE MOUSE
There was a city named Mahilaropya in southern part of India. In that city there was a temple of lord Mahadeva, in which lived a hermit named Tamrachood.
Everyday he went round the streets and lanes of the town to beg for alms. Everyday he collected sufficient amount of alms to satisfy his hunger. Everyday, after eating to his fill, he used to keep the remaining foodstuffs at a height, out of the reach of the dogs and the cats. In the morning, he would give that food to his attendants and followers.
By that time, I too was living in that temple. One day, my friends informed me about that foodstuff, which the hermit used to keep at a height for safety. They also sought my help and advice getting that foodstuff.
I went along with my friends towards the place and in a single leap, I was able to scale the height at which the foodstuff was kept. First of all I allowed my friends to satisfy their hunger and I myself ate in the end. Since that day it became our daily routine.
When the hermit found out about this, he procured a bamboo stick with which he used to hit the bowl in which foodstuff would be kept, even while sleeping. This used to scare us. We no longer were able to eat up those food articles.
One day a friend of Tamrachood arrived, whose name was Vrihatspik. He was on his way to pilgrimage. Tamrachood treated his friend very well. In the night his friend started preaching Tamrachood on various religious matters.
But Tamrachood's whole attention was focussed on protecting the foodstuff. When his friend saw that Tamrachood was not listening to him attentively, he became angry and said-
'O Tamrachood! I have realized that you are not worthy of being called a friend you are arrogant'.
Tamrachood became very nervous that his friend had misunderstood him. He told about the real reason behind his inattentiveness. He said-
'Friend! These mice are giving me lot of trouble. They eat the foodstuffs, no matter how high I keep the bowl. So I was just trying to drive them away by making noise with this bamboo stick'.
Vrihastpik asked him whether he knew where the hole of the mouse was. When Tamrachood replied in negative, his friend said that the mice must have been living somewhere in the vicinity of storehouse in which jewels and ornaments have been stored.
'This is the reason why the mice could jump and reach that height, because the 'heat' emanating from the wealth increases the glow and radiance of a living being'.
Then his friend narrated a story of a woman named Shandili who had exchanged winnowed sesame seeds with unwinnowed one. Tamrachood became amazed that who would be so foolish to have exchanges unwinnowed sesame seeds for winnowed one. He was eager to hear the story.
THE GREEDY JACKAL
There used to live a Bheel in a forest region. One day he went to hunt. He saw a huge boar. He killed that boar with his arrow. The injured boar attacked him in anger and as a result the Bheel was seriously injured. The boar had torn apart his abdomen. At last both the Bheel and the boar died of their respective injuries.
Right then, a jackal arrived there. He was wandering in search of food. He was very happy to see the dead bodies of the Bheel and the boar. He thought that God had been very gracious to him.
But the problem crept up there for the jackal. The Bheel's bow was also lying there. The jackal wanted to relish all the materials, which he had found. Even the leather string of the bow felt like a good appetizer to him, so the greedy jackal thought of eating the string of the bow first of all. The arrow was still trained on the string of the fully charged bow, in a 'ready-to-shoot' position.
As soon as the jackal started cutting the string, it snapped suddenly and the arrow pierced the head of the jackal. The greedy jackal died.
This story helped the Brahmin's wife to understand the point. She agreed to make donation the next day. She decided to donate laddus (sweet balls made from sesame seeds mixed with some jaggery). Satisfied with her resolution, the Brahmin went away.
The Brahmin's wife soaked the sesame seeds in water and then kept it under the sun to dry them up. Suddenly, a dog arrived there from somewhere and peed on the sesame seeds. The Brahmin's wife felt very sorry.
She decided to exchange those seeds with somebody. She thought anybody would like to exchange his washed sesame seeds with her unwashed ones.
She went to the same houses where I had gone to beg for alms. She said-
'Exchange your unwashed sesame seeds with my washed ones'.
The housewife residing in that house was happy that she was getting washed sesame seeds and that she would be relieved of the labour of washing her own sesame seeds. She went inside to bring her unwashed sesame seeds.
The housewife's sons stopped her and said-
'Mother! According to the policies stated by Kamand, unwashed sesame seeds must not be exchanged with washed one. There must be a reason behind her decision of exchanging her washed sesame with our unwashed one.'
The housewife understood the point and refused to exchange her unwashed sesame seeds with the Brahmin’s wife’s washed one.
After completing his story, Vrihastpik asked Tamrachood whether he was aware of the route that the mouse followed. Tamrachood replied that the mouse was not alone but came accompanied by other mice. Vrihastpik then asked for a spade and said-
'Tomorrow in the early morning, before people awake, we would follow the footsteps of the mice and reach the place where they live.'
IHiranyak said: 'I was amazed by his intelligence. I was also worried about the safety of our burrow. I decided to abandon my hole along with my companions. We left that place'.
While we were coming out of our burrow, a cat jumped on us and killed many rats. Some of my companions returned back to the same hole cursing me. Some of my companions were badly injured. I also returned to our burrow'.
Vrihastpik followed the stains of blood and reached our burrow. He took the jewel from there, sitting upon which, I used to enjoy myself and which enabled me to make a tremendous jump.
When Vrihastpik returned after ransacking our burrow, some of my companions occupied it again. In the night, they began as usual to jump up to the bowl. Tamrachood being aware of our presence started hitting the bowl with his bamboo stick but Vrihastpik assured him not to worry as the cause behind the mice making a tremendous jump had been removed.
That was true. Despite trying hard to reach that bowl, still I remained unsuccessful in my attempts.
Consequently, even my companions gave up respecting me. They abandoned me because I had become poor and powerless. I decided to retrieve that jewel from Tamrachood's possession.
Tamrachood used to keep that jewel in a box, which he used as a pillow while sleeping. I went to that place where Tamrachood was sleeping. I started to cut that box with my teeth. The noise awakes him. He hit me with the bamboo stick but luckily I escaped unhurt.
After narrating the story, Hiranyak said -
'A man is certain to get whatever is in his destiny. Even the deities are incapable of changing that. Therefore nothing makes me feel sorry or wonder because I will acquire a thing which is mine according to my destiny and nobody else can change it.'
The crow and the tortoise curiously asked 'How?' Hiranyak narrated the following story-
PRAPTVYAMARTH- THE GROCER'S SON
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