All things are fleeting, they are transitory. In this regard there is an instructive story about a monarch in ancient India. King Bharthari was devoted to the welfare of his people. Once a saint visited the court and blessed the king with a fruit, the eating of which would keep a person always young. The king gave the fruit to his queen as a special token of his love. But the queen was enamoured of the chief of police and she passed the fruit to him.
This chief of police was greatly infatuated with a prostitute, and the fruit was given to her. When the prostitute learned of the qualities of this special fruit, she thought to herself that her whole life had been spent in sin, and if she were to eat this fruit she would simply prolong her sinful existence. Therefore, she thought of giving the fruit to the king! When she offered the fruit to the king, he recognised it at once and asked with consternation, “From where did you get this?” She told him that it was given to her by the chief of police. The king sent for him and pointing to the fruit demanded, “How did you get possession of this fruit?” Naturally, the chief of police was reluctant to tell the truth, but eventually he made a clean breast of the whole matter and told the king, “It was given to me by the queen”. The king thought how scornfully the dissolute queen repaid his honest love.
She had a king as her husband, yet she went to one of his servants. And how unfortunate this man was — he had the queen as his mistress, yet had to run after a common prostitute. What kind of world can this be, where such things happen, where no one is satisfied with what he has? What kind of people live in this world? How many are base, how few noble! Filled with such thoughts, king Bharthari, thenceforth, devoted his life to the worship of the Lord.
Sant Rajinder Singhji, head of Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission, workstowards promoting inner and outer peace. He can be contacted at www.sos.org
