Kindness – Observations

In my childhood, I had read numerous tales depicting kindness, which had great impact on my mind. When very young, I heard the story of King Shibi. He was ready to sacrifice his life and give the flesh of his whole body to the hunter who intended to kill a pigeon. Sage Dadhichi sacrificed his life so that the gods could make weapons with his bones to destroy the demons.
However, as I was growing, I became skeptical about the authenticity of these tales. I used to wonder if one could be so self-sacrificing and kind. But, at the same time, I realized that King Shibi or sage Dadhichi were not duty-bound. They were motivated by an inner urge to sacrifice their lives. All the same, my dilemma persisted. I couldn’t conclude whether these were mere stories or facts. When I was so confused I came across two stories that wiped away all my doubts.

The first story is about Abraham Lincoln, the first President of the USA. Once he had to attend an urgent meeting. He himself was driving his car. On his way, he heard a shrill cry or grunting of something. He found that a piglet, caught in mud, was grunting. The more the piglet was trying to come out of it, the more he got entangled. Lincoln stopped his car, folded the sleeves of his shirt and also his trousers, got down from his car and rescued the piglet from the mud. There was every possibility of his being caught in mud, but without thinking of the consequence, he took the risk. His clothes were all soiled and dirty. But he had no time for changing his clothes and reached the venue of the meeting. When people were apprehending that he met with an accident, Lincoln had to narrate the incident and everybody started praising him. Lincoln, however, told them that they should not consider it a benevolent act as he was not prompted by kindness. But seeing the pitiful condition of the piglet he felt so distressed that to save himself from the agony, he saved the piglet. It speaks of his large-heartedness and humility.

The second story is about the famous saint, Eknath. Once he with his companions started from Paithan to collect the holy water from the Ganges. They reached Hardwar and after collecting the water, they left for Rameswar to do the ablutions of the deity. At that time Vijaywada was drought-stricken, and they found that many animals had died. Eknath found that a dying donkey was panting and groaning. He did not hesitate to pour the holy water in its mouth, which saved the donkey. He had no water left for the ablutions. It was customary that the pilgrim should carry the holy water himself for the ablutions to earn ‘punya’. His companions now asked him why he did not think of it before. In answer Eknath said that he found that Bhagavan Rameswar came out of the donkey’s body and rebuked him saying that He was dying in thirst and Eknath was carrying the holy water for His ablutions! So, hearing Him, Eknath had no other alternative but to quench the thirst of the donkey and save him. Eknath realized the presence of God in an animal even. This is a unique example of devotion and kind-heartedness which made him sacrifice the convention, the pursuit of earning punya.
These examples prove that one can sacrifice oneself if one is prompted by kindness. Practices are always better for proving the validity of facts or statements than precepts, lectures or discourses.

Courtesy: Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture.