Chapter 3 - Story of Kritabodha, the Brahmana, and Tuladhara, the fowler

Javali [Jabali] said, “Sir, who was that fowler who served his parents aright, and what was the omniscience which he attained?”

Thereupon, Vedavyasa began as follows:—

Once upon a time there was a pious Brahmana who was a householder. His name was Tapodeva, and he had a son called Kritabodha.

Now, Kritabodha was a very devout admirer of religious penance which, he thought, was the only wealth to which a Brahmana should aspire. In course of time, his passion for it grew so great that he determined to leave his home, in order to practise it, without obtaining permission from his parents.

When Tapodeva saw his son ready for departure, he said,

“Whither goest thou, my son, leaving thy old father behind? Thou hast a young wife entirely dependent on thee. Do thou, therefore, beget a son and discharge the duties of a householder. Worship the gods properly, serve thy father, practise hospitality and pursue thy studies. My boy, by following the duties of a householder, which have been prescribed by the Munis, and extolled by great men, under my direction, thou wilt reap at home the fruits of a hundred sacrifices. When thy son becomes fit to relieve thee, thou wilt be free to depart and perform penance. Do not disobey thy father’s command and waste thy time.”

Kritabodha turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances of his father, and, leaving home, went away to become an ascetic.

He restricted his diet to boiled rice mixed with a little clarified butter,^[1] and seated himself upon a pedestal upon which there was the shrine of a god. There he remained for a long time without being able to steady his mind properly, and was, at last, scared away by frightful apparitions.

He thereupon went to the banks of the sacred Ganga, where every act performed—whether of merit or demerit yields ten million-fold results. He dwelt there with a steady heart, and devoted himself assiduously to bathing, worshipping the gods, repeating prayers, and performing multifarious acts of charity. But alas! all his efforts remained unappreciated. The people who frequented the banks of the sacred river disturbed him in his task, and made the place so uncomfortable for him that he had to leave it.

Kritabodha then shifted his seat to an unfrequented sea-shore, and sat there without moving or taking any food, whatever, until the animals of land and water and the birds of the air began to regard him with the most complete confidence.

Here he sat without stirring for twelve long years, and the lower half of his body was covered by an ant-hill which, in time, became the abode and breeding ground of rats and snakes. One rainy season, the downpour was so heavy that the anthill was washed away and his body emerged from it. Birds built nests inside the tangles of the long matted hair which had grown on his head, and laid eggs therein. When the chicks were hatched and feathered they flew away with their parents—nobody knew whither.

Seeing all this, Kritabodha thought he had attained his object and become a full-blown ascetic. So he left his seat and began to roam the forest with a haughty air. One day, when he was going to bathe in the sea, a crane which was flying in the air dropped its excrement on his body. He thereupon cast an angry look on it, and lo! the bird was at once consumed to ashes by the fire of his wrath.

Kritabodha was now quite satisfied that he was an ascetic of no mean occult powers and made up his mind to return home after bathing in the sacred river Sarasvati.

In the course of his joumey, he called one day, at noon, at the house of a Brahmana with a view to becoming his guest. At that time the Brahmana was sitting with his father’s feet on his lap, gently pressing them, and the father was asleep. So he did hot speak to the guest for fear of disturbing his father’s sleep. Kritabodha thereupon cast the same angry look on the Brahmana as he had done on the crane, and said, “O Brahmana, what conduct is this? Do you not see that I am waiting here to be entertained by you as a guest? Is your house devoid of dharma and hospitality? Do you not know that the man who does not take in a guest is a great sinner and forfeits the benefits of his life-long good deeds? Do you not know that the god Dharma himself visits householders in the disguise of an ordinary guest, to see how they discharge their duties? Even the dwellers in hell loathe a man who does not entertain a guest. A guest should be suitably served with whatever there is in the house and failing that with kindly words; but you have not even a word for me. Well, I am going away, but, before I do so, I shall curse you and give you proof of my Brahmic powers.”

The Brahmana said,

“Sir, why do you cast that angry look upon me? You are a guest, and, therefore to be entertained like the god Dharma himself. But householders and guests have mutual relations and should help each other. I am dependent on my father, and whatever I earn belongs to him. Do yon not know that a wife, a son and a servant are not independent? You are, therefore, my father’s guest and not mine, because he is the master of the household. It is true that in the absence of the master, his wife and sons should attend to the duties attached to the household. But, do you not see that my father has fallen asleep with his feet on my lap, and it is contrary to the rules of Dharma that I should disturb him by displacing his legs in order to attend on you? Moreover, you are not a guest in the exact sense of the word. You are simply strutting about arrogantly after having burnt a poor bird with your wrath. Please note that I am not a bird but a devoted servant of my parents. You are not a mendicant but a Brahmana who should feed and clothe himself. Do not be angry for not getting from others, what you should provide for yourself.”

The guest replied, “Young man, how came you by this wisdom? How came you to know that! killed the bird? I find that you, who are so young, possess faculties which I, in spite of long years of self-mortification, have not beep able to acquire. No one saw me reducing the crane to ashes, and yet you seem to know all about it. Lead me, I pray you, to the right path. You are quite fit to be my preceptor, in spite of your tender age.”

When the Brahmana saw that his guest stood crest-fallen and suppliant, he said,

“Sir, if you go to the city of Benares, you will meet there a dharma-abiding virtuous fowler, who is a fit person to be your preceptor, and whose very conduct will awaken wisdom in you. I learnt about him from a Brahmana named Javali [Jabali] who instructed me in the path which I am trying to follow. Be pleased to wait for a short while until my father gets up; then after you have been entertained by him, you may go on your way”.

On hearing this the guest stood abashed and silent, hut was thinking of going away at once when the master of the house awoke from sleep, and seeing the guest, was sorry that he had kept him waiting so long, and, apologizing with all his heart, gave the guest a hearty welcome.

The guest, after passing a comfortable night with his host, started the next morning for Benares to meet Tuladhara the fowler.

On arriving there he found Tuladhara with his wife selling venison in the bazar, but there was a shining halo of the light of dharma around his face, Tuladhara, seeing the Brahmana standing before him, anticipated him as his guest for that evening, and said,

“O Brahmana, I hope you encountered no difficulties in the way, You have been sent to me by a Brahmana lad who has knocked the arrogance of asceticism out of you, You thought you were an accomplished hermit because birds had built nests on your head. I shall be very glad to remove all your doubts. Come with me to my house where you will be a welcome guest for this evening.”

The Brahmana was struck dumb with astonishment and quietly followed the pious fowler to his house which he found elegantly and comfortably furnished.

On reaching home the fowler with his wife made a profound obeisance to his parents, and stood respectfully before them. When the old couple, with cheerful eyes, ordered him to go and attend to the comforts of the guest, he left them and treated the latter to the best of his power.

In due time he worshipped his parents, and, after serving them with food himself, ordered his wife to look after their other comforts, and came and sat by his guest.

When the two men were comfortably seated together, the Brahmana said,

“Tuladhara, who is your preceptor who gave you such excellent wisdom? How shall I be able to attain it? How came you to know that 1 reduced a crane to ashes? O seller of flesh, how came you, who live so comfortably, to acquire such a wealth of wisdom which I, inspite of practising, killing, self-mortifications, have not been able to do?”

The fowler said,

“Brahmana, listen patiently to what I have to say. When I was a boy I saw a Brahmana who had such a dazzling halo of dharma around his body that it was difficult to gaze at him. I left my play, and followed him with a sense of pleasure. While following him in the jungle, I snared an old bird which raised a piteous cry. On hearing this one of its young ones; remembering the care it had received from its parent in days gone by, brought a little water for it in its beak. But I snared this poor bird too, and it died in an agony of fear.

Then I saw it leave its form of bird, and, assuming a form of light, as bright as the day, ascend into heaven. On witnessing this extraordinary phenomenon, I respectfully asked the Brahmana to explain it to me, He told me that the dead bird was the offspring of the one I had still with me, and that it lost its life in supplying a little drinking water to its parents. This unusual service had earned the dead bird the heaven it so richly deserved. This Brahmana told me that by serving my parents well I could also acquire divine wisdom. Since I received this precept. I have been serving my parents with a firm resolve. I know nothing about austerities, vows or: sacrifices.

All my worship consists in serving my parents, and through it I have attained this divine knowledge. Immediately I leave my bed in the morning I bow down mentally to the Brahmans who instructed me this duty, and then devote myself to the service of my parents. I support my family by buying and selling meat according to the approved principles of the Vaisya class, I am blessed with a wife who is wholly devoted to me and worships me as her god. She joins in the service of my parents and guests.

You, on the contrary, disobeyed your father, and were, therefore, driven away from place to place, till, at last, you practised your austerities on the seashore, creating astonishment in birds, rats and other wild animals while your father was miserable in your absence. It was your father’s grief which made the results of your austerities so evanescent. Do you know that it was your own asceticism which assumed the form of a white crane and was burnt to ashes by your own self-conceit, and you felt proud of what you did? Your father’s grief was the cause of all this. Now take my advice and go home. Devote yourself with care and zeal to the service of your parents. They are your gods, and through their service you will attain your object.

Man, through unfortunate deeds wrought by him in previous births, has to cling to the seed deposited by the father in the mother’s womb, and to dwell in the latter for ten months and ten days, undergoing miseries. During the four months immediately preceding birth he remembers all his doings in previous births, and is repentant for the evil ones. He invokes the Creator, whom he sees as it were with his mind’s eye, admits the justice of His decree, and promises to worship Him after birth, in the form of his parents, to avoid future births and deaths. In due time he is slowly brought out of the womb by the goddess presiding over the lying-in-chamber, when he feels the torment of the sting of millions of scorpions. The same torment has again to be gone through at the time of death. The child grows under the tender care and nourishment of the mother, and, can please the gods by serving his parents, and, in due time, seeking for a suitable preceptor to instruct him in the path of godliness.

A man who is happy in this way in this world, is also happy in the world beyond.”

Thus did Tuladhara instruct the Brahmana who, thereupon, went home planning within himself the best means of pleasing his parents.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Called Havishyanna. A man has to restrict himself to this diet whenever he has to perform important religions rites.