Spirituality-The slow disciple

It is said that slow and steady wins the race. I had heard this story when I was a very small boy. Once upon a time there lived one rishi ( sage) in his Ashram ( abode) on the outskirt of a jungle. This rishi was wise and was highly respected far and wide. In his ashram, he gave education and training to young boys from a variety of back grounds, from a prince to a Brahmin, from the son of a noble to a Ksatriya (warrior boy. The boys stayed in the rishi’s ashram just like our boarding schools today. The rishi trained them in Artha shastra (maths), politics, war strategies, martial arts and meditation etc. It was a tough life because apart from studies, they had to do all other work such as cooking, washing, cutting wood from the jungle, bringing water from the well and on top of all this, they had to take care of all rishi’s needs. Here there was no discrimination between rich and poor, prince and pauper. All were treated alike here and every one had to do every job. They remained in the ashram till they were fourteen-fifteen and when the rishi was satisfied that they had trained well and gained all the knowledge, he commanded them to go to their respective places and start their new life in their respective fields.

Among ten students, there was one prince who was very bright, smart, fast and eager to surge forward. Then there was a Brahmin boy who was very slow in learning. Even when he caught up with other boys, he frequently asked the rishi for further explanations, which the rishi did patiently. Amongst the other boys, some were bright and some mediocre. They all had to wait for the Brahmin boy to catch up with them. Behind his back, other boys called him dimwit. The rishi never praised the prince for his learning prowess and never criticized the Brahmin boy for his slow progress. The rishi was detached (sthitapragna) in such matters.

Finally the time came when all boys were trained, their education was over. It was time to go home to a new life. Days passed. The rishi remained silent and students could not leave without the rishi’s express bidding. Ultimately, the boys lost their patience, approached the rishi and asked when they could go home. The rishi smiled and asked the boys who among them wanted to go home. All the boys raised their hands immediately. As usual, the Brahmin was the last to raise his hand, still brooding.

The rishi said : “All right, I will give you one last task today. If you do it properly, you can go home tomorrow. Go and bring some wood from jungle for burning. But I want you all to give this task some thought on your way to jungle. Go and God be with you.” The boys were puzzled by the rishi’s order to think. Some thought the rishi wanted the best quality wood. Others thought the rishi wanted the wood cut in equal size so it can be stacked evenly. The Brahmin boy was still in thought when they reached the jungle and they all separated.

This time the Brahmin boy was the first to return. Much after that, others trickled in slowly. The Prince and a few others had cut the best quality wood for their master. Others had cut wood from trees finely, almost artistically. Dimwit had brought old and rotten wood. The rishi asked dimwit to explain. Dimwit said after separating from others, he ventured further into the jungle not knowing what he wanted. He came across a dead tree, which had already fallen. He thought it takes one tree more then ten years to grow. Why cut a fresh tree? After all it is for burning. So he cut the tree into pieces which saved time and also labour of falling the tree.

The rishi allowed only the dimwit to go home the next day.