The story of Truth at any Cost
BharathaVarsham (India) is a land of great sages. One such sage of repute was Vipulasvan. He had two sons named Sukrisha and
Thumburu. Both were brillaiant and
austere and never sweared from the virtuous path. Sukrisha had four sons. As was customary in Vedic age, they went to
reside with guru as well as grandfather, sage Vipulasvan. They rendered all the services including
bringing the ingredients of Yagas (Sacrifices) and other things required for their
sustenance.
Once Indra the leader of Gods came to their hermitage in the guise of
mighty old bird, with broken wings, looking depressed. On enquiry, the bird began to narrate a tale
of woe thus: I was standing on the peak of
Vidndhya Mountain when the velocity of wind produced from powerful stroke of a
bird’s wing pushed me down. That made me
lie on the ground for a full seven days totally unconsciousness. On the eighth day I regained consciousness. This deprived me of all happiness and hence I
am plunged in deep sorrow. Now I am
greatly tormented by severe hunger, so please save me by giving me food.
The sage Vipulasvan enquired the bird about his preference on food; to
his dismay the bird opted for human flesh.
The sage tried hard to dissuade the bird from his unusual choice. When all his arguments failed, he came to the
conclusion that the bird cannot be convinced even with tempting proposals and
the only option now seemed to be the offer of human flesh.
Now began the ordeal of requesting the young students to consent to part
with their flesh as food for the bird.
As the students were also duty bound in honouring the promise along with
guru, the sage addressed them thus: As my disciples you are obliged to clear my
debt along with me and thus uplifting yourselves spiritually. The guru is ever a person to be venerated and
adored. He is verily studies and have
taken a second birth after your Vedic studies and have become master. Hence honour my request without any
displeasure.
As these words emanated from the mouth of the Sage, the students
respectfully answered in the affirmative.
Alas! That was no easy proposition.
The main course was the human flesh of the students and the thirst
quenching beverage was their blood!
The terrified students began to argue by quoting from the scriptures
saying that it is against the prescriptions of Dharmic laws to demand that an
offspring should give up his body for repaying one’s dues to the means, gods
and mortals. Destroying one’s body is
against all norms of the laws. On the
contrary it is stated that the sole aim of a being is to protect life at all
times.
Non-compliance on the part of the students triggered anger in the sage
and he visibly shook with rage. After
cursing his students he decided to offer himself as food for the bird. After duly performing the last rites for
himself as required to be done, he offered himself to the bird.
Indra was astounded at the sage’s determination to keep up his word even
at the cost of his own life. He added
one more restriction to test the sage’s tenacity. It was that he would only prey upon the dead
and not the living. At that the sage
sank into a Yogic trance, the supreme state of Samadhi.
Indra witnessing the sage’s steadfastness in upholding his promise,
revealed his true identity by transforming himself as Indra. He said, Oh! Wise sage! I have done this
horrendous act as I wanted to know mental strength and conviction even in times
of adversity. Your knowledge and wisdom
is equal to that of mine. Conferring a
boon on the sage, Indra departed to heaven.
The students asked the guru to be forgiven for their disobedience. They further pleaded their ignorance saying, “Sangaath sanjaayathe Kaamah ........ Buddhinaasaath Pranasyathi" means "Passion
begets anger, anger gives rise to greed.
Delusion is the result of greed which confuses memory. When memory gets confused loss of intellect
results. That is the cause of downfall
of men. Hence we are guilty of our
reasoning getting blurred by the fear of death.”
This story is taken from the Maarkandeya Puraanam)
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