The Three Questions
The Three Questions
A king was well learned in all the Vedas and governed his people very well. There was no dearth or want of anything but three questions always bothered him, he visited many places and met many scholars in vain to find the answers. One day he decided to assign this task to a great scholar who was very learned in literature and philosophy, he summoned the scholar and gave him the questions bothering him.
Where is god?
Which way is he seeing?
What is his work?
The scholar was given six months to find answers to these questions and in return was provided enough money to last , If he was successful in providing answers he would be treated well in gold and silver otherwise be banished from the kingdom. The scholar went home worried and tensed, he was a learned man but not very practical and with this task at hand he was worried and fell sick. This man’s farm was taken care by a little boy who would graze the cows, he was very clever and blessed with knowledge. One day he saw his master worried and decided would go help him , although the master was a learned man he was arrogant to share his problem with a 12 year old but finally decided he would share the problem as the time to meet the king was approaching fast. Once the boy heard the questions he assured his master to be at ease for the rest of the days and asked him to give a note on the due date that he is sick and the note bearer has the answers.
The day finally arrived, the king was very excited to learn the answers he had summoned all the neighboring kings and gathered a great audience to witness this event. The crowd was waiting anxiously to see the great scholar but he didn’t show up instead they saw a young boy walk towards the king and handover a note. The king read the note and felt it was appropriate to let the boy answer the questions as the scholar himself had requested for it.
The king broke the silence and the declared that the boy has the answers and asks him to begin, with a smile the boy replies that since he will be teaching the answers he gets the status of the teacher and needs to be seated on the throne while the king takes the role of the student and needs stand by his side. Shocked with the request the king consults his ministers and decides to do so as it is customary for the teacher to be seated and steps aside.
The king asks out loud "Where is God", in response the boy requests for a jug of milk and asks the king if there is butter in the milk, the king replies that the milk has to ferment and later churned to separate the butter . The boy replies just this way God is one with the entire universe, he who practices and spends time in looking for him will be successful in seeing him, but the persistence and the devotion are required just as extracting butter from milk. The audience was elated listening to the answer based on a simple comparison yet with so much complexity.
The next question was asked "Which way is he seeing?" The boy looks towards an oil lamp and asks the king which way the flame is pointed at ,surprised the king replies it’s not directional but the whole room is illuminated. The boy explains just the way sunlight is spread throughout the universe ,Gods reach is spread throughout which includes the human mind as well and so it is best to keep the mind open to feel god within and his reach has no bounds and is not biased.
The crowd was pleased to see a genius at work and thought "A Daniel come to judgment", excited himself the king finally asked the last question "What is his work?".The boy replies that he brought a simple cow herd to sit on a lavish throne in comfort and took the king of kings down to stand in obedience with folded hands, that is the kind of work he does, whenever and wherever a decline of righteousness and predominance of unrighteousness prevails at that time he manifests himself personally.
The above story is an excerpt from the Vigyana Yoga(chapter 7) ,Bhagavad Gita as narrated by Sri Vidya Prakasanandagiri Swami .In chapter seven Lord Krishna gives concrete knowledge of the absolute reality as well as the opulence of divinity. He describes His illusory energy in the material existence called Maya and declares how extremely difficult it is to surmount it. He also describes the four types of people attracted to divinity and the four types of people who are opposed to divinity. In conclusion He reveals that one in spiritual intelligence takes exclusive refuge of the Lord without reservation in devotional service.
A king was well learned in all the Vedas and governed his people very well. There was no dearth or want of anything but three questions always bothered him, he visited many places and met many scholars in vain to find the answers. One day he decided to assign this task to a great scholar who was very learned in literature and philosophy, he summoned the scholar and gave him the questions bothering him.
Where is god?
Which way is he seeing?
What is his work?
The scholar was given six months to find answers to these questions and in return was provided enough money to last , If he was successful in providing answers he would be treated well in gold and silver otherwise be banished from the kingdom. The scholar went home worried and tensed, he was a learned man but not very practical and with this task at hand he was worried and fell sick. This man’s farm was taken care by a little boy who would graze the cows, he was very clever and blessed with knowledge. One day he saw his master worried and decided would go help him , although the master was a learned man he was arrogant to share his problem with a 12 year old but finally decided he would share the problem as the time to meet the king was approaching fast. Once the boy heard the questions he assured his master to be at ease for the rest of the days and asked him to give a note on the due date that he is sick and the note bearer has the answers.
The day finally arrived, the king was very excited to learn the answers he had summoned all the neighboring kings and gathered a great audience to witness this event. The crowd was waiting anxiously to see the great scholar but he didn’t show up instead they saw a young boy walk towards the king and handover a note. The king read the note and felt it was appropriate to let the boy answer the questions as the scholar himself had requested for it.
The king broke the silence and the declared that the boy has the answers and asks him to begin, with a smile the boy replies that since he will be teaching the answers he gets the status of the teacher and needs to be seated on the throne while the king takes the role of the student and needs stand by his side. Shocked with the request the king consults his ministers and decides to do so as it is customary for the teacher to be seated and steps aside.
The king asks out loud "Where is God", in response the boy requests for a jug of milk and asks the king if there is butter in the milk, the king replies that the milk has to ferment and later churned to separate the butter . The boy replies just this way God is one with the entire universe, he who practices and spends time in looking for him will be successful in seeing him, but the persistence and the devotion are required just as extracting butter from milk. The audience was elated listening to the answer based on a simple comparison yet with so much complexity.
The next question was asked "Which way is he seeing?" The boy looks towards an oil lamp and asks the king which way the flame is pointed at ,surprised the king replies it’s not directional but the whole room is illuminated. The boy explains just the way sunlight is spread throughout the universe ,Gods reach is spread throughout which includes the human mind as well and so it is best to keep the mind open to feel god within and his reach has no bounds and is not biased.
The crowd was pleased to see a genius at work and thought "A Daniel come to judgment", excited himself the king finally asked the last question "What is his work?".The boy replies that he brought a simple cow herd to sit on a lavish throne in comfort and took the king of kings down to stand in obedience with folded hands, that is the kind of work he does, whenever and wherever a decline of righteousness and predominance of unrighteousness prevails at that time he manifests himself personally.
The above story is an excerpt from the Vigyana Yoga(chapter 7) ,Bhagavad Gita as narrated by Sri Vidya Prakasanandagiri Swami .In chapter seven Lord Krishna gives concrete knowledge of the absolute reality as well as the opulence of divinity. He describes His illusory energy in the material existence called Maya and declares how extremely difficult it is to surmount it. He also describes the four types of people attracted to divinity and the four types of people who are opposed to divinity. In conclusion He reveals that one in spiritual intelligence takes exclusive refuge of the Lord without reservation in devotional service.
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