Five Stories Revealing Illusion and Superimpostion etcetera
The first story: The Imaginary rope:-
Once, a washerman was taking the clothes to the river to wash on the back of his donkey. When he reached the river after a long walk, he found that he has not brought the rope by which he used to tie his donkey. So he was at loss and cannot go back to home and bring the rope, if he does so, he would end up with a futile journey and incur a loss. As he was thinking deeply, a man who was going by the river saw him and asked, “What happen, why you so worried are?” The washerman told him the incident. The man told him not to worry but advised him to pretend to tie the donkey with an imaginary rope and the donkey should see it. The washerman did the same thing and to his surprise, he saw all through day that the donkey stood still under the tree with which it was tied and munched grass. After his work was over, the washerman collected all his clothes and bundled up on the donkey’s back, but this time he met with another problem. This time the donkey did not move an inch. The washerman rushed to the man’s house who advised him, and asked him what to do. The man told him the same technique, to pretend to untie the imaginary rope. The washerman did the same thing and took the donkey back. The rope is metaphorical, the illusion or Maya with which we mortals are tied to this materialistic world, sorrow, greed, hatred. We are attached to our body. We think everything with the perspective of our body. In technical terms in Sanskrit, it is called: AdhyAropa – ApavAda (Method of Deliberate Superimposition).
The second story is about King Janaka, the father of Sita of Ramayana. He was a powerful king with mighty army and abundant wealth. One day at night when he was sleeping, the gatekeeper rushed towards him and awake him and told that his kingdom has been attacked and now under threat. King Janaka immediately called the generals and ordered them to be ready for war. In spite of his powerful artillery King Janaka was defeated and captured. But the enemy king told that he would not kill him as he was from a blue blood family, but he would be banished. King Janaka was banished, while that, he begged by the road side but nobody helped him. After much toiling and starving he fell on the ground. As he fell on the ground he woke up with pounding heart, perspiring like anything. The gourd rushed and asked, “OH, my lord what happen, is your health okay?’ Since King Janaka was not an ordinary man and a philosopher, he asked the gourd,” Was that true, or is this true?” The gourd was perplexed with this reply of his king. Gradually it spread in the kingdom that the king has gone insane. This new reached to Ashtavakra muni (the sage Ashtavakra). Realizing something interesting to it, he went to king Janaka’s court to meet him. When Ashtavakra asked him about his health, king Janaka uttered the same line, “Was that true or is this true?” Ashtabakra being an omniscient sage, asked him, “ O king, the pain, the humiliation, the hunger you experience is there now?’” The king coming out of his stupor said, “No.” Ashtavakra again asked, “The glory, the power, the army all that you have, was there?” The king again answered negatively. The sage then told, King Janaka, “Neither that was true, nor this is true.” The king was surprised by this answer and asked is that nihilistic philosophy? Then Ashtavakra explained, since you were there in your dream and you experienced all your plight, hunger and defeat, and now you are here and experiencing this glory—therefore you are the truth. This story teaches the core lesson of Vedanta—
slok- ärdhena pravakshyämi yad-uktam granthakotibhih |
Brahma satyam jagat-mithyä jivo brahmaiva näparah || means the Brahma is the ultimate truth, and the whole world is an appearance, and you are the absolute reality. This is elaborated in Mandukya Upanishad explained by Adi Shankaracharya.
The third story: The Tenth man:-
The third story teaches that you are what you are—same philosophy of ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ is a philosophical statement that was made in Latin by René Descartes, usually translated into English as “I think, therefore I am”. Ten friends went on a journey, in the mid of their path, came a river with much water and current. So when they swam across the river, they counted the heads, and each time they counted it nine, leaving out self. So they started crying. In the meantime a sage was passing by. He saw them crying and ask for the reason. So they told him the story. Then the sage consoled them and told not to worry as he convinced them that the tenth man is there. Thus he showed them by counting and each time, each member found himself the tenth man. Brihadakaranya explains that we consider ourselves as objects and therefore cannot see the tenth man. This is the ultimate ignorance. Adi Shankarya said in his Brahmasuta Vasya: ‘Naisargkiyavayam Loka Byabahara.” Not knowing the tenth man is an ignorance that leads to error and error leads to sorrow. After sorrow comes the knowledge, then comes peace of mind and finally the bliss. This all happens not knowing that thou art the tenth man.
The fourth story: The Princess of Kashi:
Kashi was an ancient kingdom erstwhile Varanasi. A drama was to be staged in which the character of princess of Kashi was there. But since there was no girl available for the role, the prince of the king who was a kid and beautiful, was selected as to be the princess of Kashi. The queen was so much happy; that she wanted her son’s portrayed to be made with the girl attire. So the portrayed was and hung in the wall in the King’s court. After fifteen years the prince came from foreign completing his education. One day while he was wandering in the Palace, he saw his own portrayed as a girl painted fifteen years back, but he could not remember those days. So he fell in love with the princess of the picture. When his parents noticed this, they told the minister to look into the matter. The minister asked the prince that why all the time he looked morrows? When the prince told about his love and expressed his desire to marry the girl, the minister laughed and told the truth that the girl in the picture is he himself. And at once he was freed from his pathos. The pathos was an enigma. The whole world is the princess of Kashi. There is no real princess of Kashi—so the revelation of the truth removed his sorrow immediately.
The fifth story: The lion cub and the sheep:
It teaches about the deception of relating me to the elements. Once a lioness gave birth to a cub and died. The lion cub was reared up by a flock of sheep. The cub started thinking that he too was a sheep, and became vegetarian, and bleats like them. One day, a big lion chased the sheep, so the lion cub to started running in fear. The lion became confused, so he asked him that why was he running? The cub told that he is afraid of him because he is a sheep. The lion laughed and told the cub that he is not a sheep but a lion cub. The lion brought the cub to a pond and showed the image of both of them. The lion cub realized that he was not a sheep and got himself freed from the deception of his thought.
Adopted from : Article in TOI by
Raka Bhattacharyya
Raka Bhattacharyya @
letsconfabulate
SEP 11, 2021, 17:21 IST
Titled : How storytelling shapes principles of life
