Parables of Rama

by Swami Rama Tirtha | 102,836 words

Stories in English used by Swami Rama to illustrate the highest teaching of Vedanta. The most difficult and intricate problems of philosophy and abstract truths, which may very well tax the brains of the most intellectual, are thus made not only simple and easy to understand but also brought home to us in a concrete form in such an interesting and ...

Story 49 - Divine Knowledge

The King and the Qazi

Once upon a time a Qazi or Governor happened to come to a certain Emperor, under the Mohammedan rule. The Emperor, who honoured the Qazi so much because of his religious pretensions, wanted to examine his capabilities. He was no scholar himself, but the following questions which he was going to put to the Qazi were suggested to him by somebody else who wanted to get the Governorship. This Qazi came before the Emperor and he was asked: "Where does God sit?" "In which direction does God keep his face?" "What does He do?" The King told him if he could answer the questions to the king's satisfaction, he would be promoted. The Qazi thought that the questions coming from the king must be very difficult. He knew how to humour and flatter the king by praising him, and then asked him for an interval of eight days to answer these questions.

For eight days the Qazi went on thinking and thinking but could come to no conclusion. How could he answer to the King's satisfaction! Finally, the eighth day came, but the answers to the questions did not come to the Qazi. He then pretended to be sick in order to gain time. The Qazi's servant Paji approached him and wanted to know what the matter was. He said, "Off with you, don't bother me, I am about to die." The servant said, "Please let me know what the matter is. I will die rather than you should be subjected to any pain." The difficulty was then explained to him. This servant occupied a very lowly position, one that was not considered at all respectable, that of slacking lime or mortar. But in reality he was a pupil of the Qazi and a learned man. He knew the answers to the questions and he said he would go and answer them, and the Qazi should write on a piece of paper ordering him to go, and if his answers were not to the satisfaction of the king he would die and not his master. The Qazi hesitated to do this, but just at this moment a messenger of the king approached him and he trembled and trembled. So he told the servant to go. He put on his best clothes which consisted of mere rags. He was a Vedantic brother. In India, the kings always go to the Swamis and learn a great deal of wisdom and knowledge. This servant Paji fearlessly approached the king and said, "Sir, what do you want? What do you wish to ask?"

The king said, "Gould you answer the questions given to your master?" The Paji said, "I will answer them, but you know he who answers them is a teacher and he who asks them is a pupil. We expect you to be a true Mohammedan and to conform to the laws of the sacred Scriptures, According to the law, I must have the seat of honour and you must sit lower down than myself”. So the king gave him some beautiful clothes to put on and he sat on the king's throne, and the king sat down on the steps. But the king said, "There is one thing more, if your answers are not satisfactory to me, I will kill you." The Paji said, "Of course, that was understood."

Now the first question, which was put, was "Where does God sit?" If he answered it literally, the king would not have understood, it so he said, "Bring a cow." A cow was brought. He said, "Does the cow have any milk?*' The Icing said, "Yes, of course" "Where does the milk sit?" "In the udder," answered the king. "That is wrong," said the Paji "the milk pervades the whole cow. Let the cow go." Then some milk was brought. "Where is the butter? Is the butter present in the milk?" They said, "It is." "But where is it?" said the Paji, "let me know." They could not tell. Then he said, "If you cannot tell where the butter sits, still you have to believe it is there, in fact, the butter is everywhere. Similarly, God is everywhere throughout the whole universe. Just as the butter is everywhere present, in the milk, the milk is everywhere present in the cow. In. order to get the milk, you have to milk the cow, so in order to get God, you have to milk your own heart."

The Paji said, "Are you answered, O king," and the ting said, "Yes, that is right." Now all these people, who said God was living in the seventh or eighth heaven, fell in the estimation of the king. They were nothing to him, their position was not correct.

Then came the next question. "In which; direction does God look—to the East, West, North; or South?" This was also very queer, but these people looked upon God as a personality. He said, "All right, bring a light." A candle was brought and lit. He showed them that the candle did not face the North, South, East or West, but was every-where equal. The king was satisfied. Similarly, God is the candle in your heart which faces in all directions.

Now came the question, "What does God do? He said, "All right," and told the king to go and bring the Qazi. When his master came, he was astonished to find the servant seated on the king's throne. Then he told the Qazi to sit at the place that the Paji was to occupy, and the king to sit in the Qazi's place, and he himself on the king's throne. "This," he said, "is the way - God does constantly keep things moving, changing Paji into king, king into Qazi and Qazi into Paji."

This is what is being continually done in the world, one family rising into ascendency, then becoming unknown and another taking its place.

For a time one man is highly honoured, then another takes his place, and so on, day after day and year after year. And so on, in this world change is going on all the time. From that day the Paji was made a Qazi.

MORAL: God is all pervading facing all directions and bringing about continual rise and fall in the world.

Vol. 2 (334-337)

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