PART 2.-----FINAL
The hunter’s mother, an old woman whole heartedly welcomed the pregnant queen and looked after her. Uneducated and poor people have in them the helping attitude much more than the educated and modern people like us. The hunter woman looked after the queen like her own child.
The Queen gave birth to a male child. Having fulfilled her duty, she died during the baby’s delivery.
About twelve years passed by.
The enemy king was ruling that country. But the people were not happy. They missed their old king very much. The people of this dhesam were not aware of their king’s escape along with the queen, and the birth of a baby boy to the queen. Therefore, they just bore their difficulties and carried on.
But the minister knew about the escape of the royal couple, is it not? So, he thought, ‘By God’s grace, if a boy was born to the queen, and was alive somewhere, he would be around twelve years old. That age is sufficient for a royal heir, to govern a state, and consult the ministers, and even wage a battle with the enemy king. If I search and locate that boy, and train him in warfare, then all the citizens will gather under him and help remove the enemy king’.
So, he secretly started the search with the help of a few persons.
He came to the hunter’s hut. There, along with other hunter boys, the king’s heir also was playing, dressed in a ‘koupeenam’, hair tied up and decorated with a bird’s feather, and wearing a garland of குந்துமணி. The intelligent minister could recognize the king’s son with the resemblance in features with those of the dead king as well as the royal look in him.
That old lady was still alive. He asked her.
People living in forests, do not know to lie or cheat. Therefore she told him the entire truth, “Many years ago, a pregnant woman came here and asked for refuge; I accepted her and looked after her as my own daughter; But she, died after giving birth to this boy, without revealing any details about her including her name. After that, I have been bringing up this boy as my own son; even though I can guess that he must be from a royal family, we don’t know for sure who he is; we have been treating him as one among us.”
The minister put two and two together and concluded that ‘out prince only is the one living here’.
When he informed them about this and asked the boy to be taken back with him, all of them, the hunter and the old lady, became sad. It is the bondage stemming out of their parental association with him from his birth. Even big Rishis like Kanvar and Jatabharathar, were overwhelmed by this bond! But the hunter family understood that it is a matter of the royal hierarchy and agreed.
But the prince, who was playing with the other boys, tried to run away, when he was called. He did not like this new company. Like them, he said, “ these are only my people; I will not leave them and go with you”.
They somehow caught hold of him and the minister explained everything to him in detail, “You are a prince; before your birth, your father, that is, our king escaped from the enemy king and came here ; but he was captured by the enemy soldiers and killed; Your mother also died in this hut after giving birth to you; from that time you are living here; But your duty is to rule the country. We can win it over from the enemy only with you as our leader. You are born to live million times better than how you live now; How can you refuse this?”
The moment the boy heard that he is a prince, he got back his power, radiance and courage. When he was taught some warfare, he clung to it well.
He left the hunter family, and returned with the minister. With the help of the minister, he put together an army. People who were always loyal to the royal family readily joined under him with lot of enthusiasm.
Nowadays, in democratic era, people lift a leader and shower praise on him and exhibit it with all sorts of demonstrations and after some time, dump him ; but loyalty to royal family was never like it in those days; That came from the depth of the heart and stayed permanently with people. Kings also, in order to deserve and sustain this bond, governed them with love, discipline, treating them as their own children. Dynastic rule was not some thing like suddenly acquiring power and intoxicated with the power , misusing and abusing it. Even if some one like this ‘hunter’ boy suddenly becomes a king, the good qualities of the royal hierarchy will keep them under check. If one looks at Puranas, very rarely some one – in – a- hundred case, like that of Senan or Asamanjan might have gone the wrong way, and there again the people themselves have disposed them off. The citizens go the way the king goes; on both sides, ( the king and the citizens), they respected Dharma. When laws are made in government, question arises whether the persons making those laws are fit to make them. There is a Supreme law above all these laws, the law of Parameshwaran, the Dharmasasthras; both the ruler and the ruled must obey that Supreme law, and then only the world will be a good place to live. In olden days, both the rulers and the ruled have obeyed that Supreme law, and shown the way. That is why people had a loyalty towards their rulers, and it was a bond of love. The king thought, ‘These are my people’ and the people thought ‘ He is our king’
In the story, when people heard that the prince is putting together an army with the help of the minister to fight the enemy king, all of them joined him and started for the battle field.
They won the battle easily.
The boy was made the king.
He completely forgot that he was a hunter, but a little time ago. He conducted himself as a perfect king.
This is not my story. A big Acharyar, from the early preachers of Adhvaitha has narrated this story. He quoted this story, while teaching about the ‘GURU THATHVAM’
(Mahaperiava now goes back to explain ‘Guru Parambara’ and ‘Guru Thathvam’. It is rather beyond me to do the translation of that portion at this stage; May be at a later date, He will bless me to do that; I will briefly mention the significance of this story and conclude it)
This Acharya’s name is Dhravidachariyar. In the story, did the boy who was a hunter for some time, transform into a king? He was the prince, even when he was thinking of himself as hunter. Because he was not aware of it earlier, he was living like a hunter; once he knew the truth, he, ( a prince), started living/ conducting himself as a prince.
There were no two persons.
One person did not transform into another.
Only one person; he first did not know himself; then he understood.
In the state of not—knowing, he lived in a low profile; once he had the knowledge, he elevated himself to be prince. Then he fought and won back his kingdom.
Like the boy who was in the disguise of a hunter, we also in the disguise of ‘Jeevathma’ think ourselves as ‘Samsaari’ ( family oriented person), but in reality, we are also the ‘Paramaathma’ only. Whatever be the outer disguise, inwardly, the real matter is ‘Paramaathma’ We are hunting around pulled by the power of senses. We should realize that we are the Brahmam; even if we realize, the senses pull us away from bringing it to practice. In spite of being a prince, he could win back his kingdom only after training himself in warfare, fighting with the enemy and defeating him. Like wise, even though we are Brahmam, as we do not realize the same, we should start with ‘Karma’, take the ‘Bhakthi’ route, attain wisdom, defeat our inner enemies, and should become the king of our ‘Self’’
To change us, to take us away from the path of senses and their desires, somebody is needed; just like the minister in the story, who dragged the hunter boy away from his lowly status and into the life of a king, some one is needed to drag us from the inferior lifestyle, and on to the path of wisdom. Is there some one who will make a real ‘I’ from out of the outward ‘I’ .
Yes, there IS somebody.
The minister who told the boy that he is the prince, gave him training in warfare, and made him fight the enemy and win back his kingdom is the analogy. The one who will make us realize our ‘Self’, who will make us perform the necessary ‘Karmas’, who will spend his own power of penance for this purpose is that GURU.
Concluded.
The hunter’s mother, an old woman whole heartedly welcomed the pregnant queen and looked after her. Uneducated and poor people have in them the helping attitude much more than the educated and modern people like us. The hunter woman looked after the queen like her own child.
The Queen gave birth to a male child. Having fulfilled her duty, she died during the baby’s delivery.
About twelve years passed by.
The enemy king was ruling that country. But the people were not happy. They missed their old king very much. The people of this dhesam were not aware of their king’s escape along with the queen, and the birth of a baby boy to the queen. Therefore, they just bore their difficulties and carried on.
But the minister knew about the escape of the royal couple, is it not? So, he thought, ‘By God’s grace, if a boy was born to the queen, and was alive somewhere, he would be around twelve years old. That age is sufficient for a royal heir, to govern a state, and consult the ministers, and even wage a battle with the enemy king. If I search and locate that boy, and train him in warfare, then all the citizens will gather under him and help remove the enemy king’.
So, he secretly started the search with the help of a few persons.
He came to the hunter’s hut. There, along with other hunter boys, the king’s heir also was playing, dressed in a ‘koupeenam’, hair tied up and decorated with a bird’s feather, and wearing a garland of குந்துமணி. The intelligent minister could recognize the king’s son with the resemblance in features with those of the dead king as well as the royal look in him.
That old lady was still alive. He asked her.
People living in forests, do not know to lie or cheat. Therefore she told him the entire truth, “Many years ago, a pregnant woman came here and asked for refuge; I accepted her and looked after her as my own daughter; But she, died after giving birth to this boy, without revealing any details about her including her name. After that, I have been bringing up this boy as my own son; even though I can guess that he must be from a royal family, we don’t know for sure who he is; we have been treating him as one among us.”
The minister put two and two together and concluded that ‘out prince only is the one living here’.
When he informed them about this and asked the boy to be taken back with him, all of them, the hunter and the old lady, became sad. It is the bondage stemming out of their parental association with him from his birth. Even big Rishis like Kanvar and Jatabharathar, were overwhelmed by this bond! But the hunter family understood that it is a matter of the royal hierarchy and agreed.
But the prince, who was playing with the other boys, tried to run away, when he was called. He did not like this new company. Like them, he said, “ these are only my people; I will not leave them and go with you”.
They somehow caught hold of him and the minister explained everything to him in detail, “You are a prince; before your birth, your father, that is, our king escaped from the enemy king and came here ; but he was captured by the enemy soldiers and killed; Your mother also died in this hut after giving birth to you; from that time you are living here; But your duty is to rule the country. We can win it over from the enemy only with you as our leader. You are born to live million times better than how you live now; How can you refuse this?”
The moment the boy heard that he is a prince, he got back his power, radiance and courage. When he was taught some warfare, he clung to it well.
He left the hunter family, and returned with the minister. With the help of the minister, he put together an army. People who were always loyal to the royal family readily joined under him with lot of enthusiasm.
Nowadays, in democratic era, people lift a leader and shower praise on him and exhibit it with all sorts of demonstrations and after some time, dump him ; but loyalty to royal family was never like it in those days; That came from the depth of the heart and stayed permanently with people. Kings also, in order to deserve and sustain this bond, governed them with love, discipline, treating them as their own children. Dynastic rule was not some thing like suddenly acquiring power and intoxicated with the power , misusing and abusing it. Even if some one like this ‘hunter’ boy suddenly becomes a king, the good qualities of the royal hierarchy will keep them under check. If one looks at Puranas, very rarely some one – in – a- hundred case, like that of Senan or Asamanjan might have gone the wrong way, and there again the people themselves have disposed them off. The citizens go the way the king goes; on both sides, ( the king and the citizens), they respected Dharma. When laws are made in government, question arises whether the persons making those laws are fit to make them. There is a Supreme law above all these laws, the law of Parameshwaran, the Dharmasasthras; both the ruler and the ruled must obey that Supreme law, and then only the world will be a good place to live. In olden days, both the rulers and the ruled have obeyed that Supreme law, and shown the way. That is why people had a loyalty towards their rulers, and it was a bond of love. The king thought, ‘These are my people’ and the people thought ‘ He is our king’
In the story, when people heard that the prince is putting together an army with the help of the minister to fight the enemy king, all of them joined him and started for the battle field.
They won the battle easily.
The boy was made the king.
He completely forgot that he was a hunter, but a little time ago. He conducted himself as a perfect king.
This is not my story. A big Acharyar, from the early preachers of Adhvaitha has narrated this story. He quoted this story, while teaching about the ‘GURU THATHVAM’
(Mahaperiava now goes back to explain ‘Guru Parambara’ and ‘Guru Thathvam’. It is rather beyond me to do the translation of that portion at this stage; May be at a later date, He will bless me to do that; I will briefly mention the significance of this story and conclude it)
This Acharya’s name is Dhravidachariyar. In the story, did the boy who was a hunter for some time, transform into a king? He was the prince, even when he was thinking of himself as hunter. Because he was not aware of it earlier, he was living like a hunter; once he knew the truth, he, ( a prince), started living/ conducting himself as a prince.
There were no two persons.
One person did not transform into another.
Only one person; he first did not know himself; then he understood.
In the state of not—knowing, he lived in a low profile; once he had the knowledge, he elevated himself to be prince. Then he fought and won back his kingdom.
Like the boy who was in the disguise of a hunter, we also in the disguise of ‘Jeevathma’ think ourselves as ‘Samsaari’ ( family oriented person), but in reality, we are also the ‘Paramaathma’ only. Whatever be the outer disguise, inwardly, the real matter is ‘Paramaathma’ We are hunting around pulled by the power of senses. We should realize that we are the Brahmam; even if we realize, the senses pull us away from bringing it to practice. In spite of being a prince, he could win back his kingdom only after training himself in warfare, fighting with the enemy and defeating him. Like wise, even though we are Brahmam, as we do not realize the same, we should start with ‘Karma’, take the ‘Bhakthi’ route, attain wisdom, defeat our inner enemies, and should become the king of our ‘Self’’
To change us, to take us away from the path of senses and their desires, somebody is needed; just like the minister in the story, who dragged the hunter boy away from his lowly status and into the life of a king, some one is needed to drag us from the inferior lifestyle, and on to the path of wisdom. Is there some one who will make a real ‘I’ from out of the outward ‘I’ .
Yes, there IS somebody.
The minister who told the boy that he is the prince, gave him training in warfare, and made him fight the enemy and win back his kingdom is the analogy. The one who will make us realize our ‘Self’, who will make us perform the necessary ‘Karmas’, who will spend his own power of penance for this purpose is that GURU.
Concluded.
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