पण्डित की कहानी

The story of the pundit

Once there was a pundit who lived on the bank of a river. So learned was he that many other pundits used to visit him from nearby as well as far off places, to consult him. They showered lot of respect and appreciation upon him. On the other side of the bank lived a milkwoman called Lakshmi, who used to sell milk to the pundit. She had a very busy life. She woke up early in the morning, bathed her cows, milked them, then cooked meals for her old father and then set out to deliver the milk. She had to cross the river on a boat. One day the pundit was waiting for her for a long time. When she finally arrived, the pundit said, “Ah Lakshmi, you have come at last. I was waiting for you since early morning. From tomorrow, I want the milk before sunrise”. The next morning Lakshmi rushed to the riverbank at the crack of dawn, but the boatman did not show up until late morning. “Hurry, Hurry”, Lakshmi urged the boatman, knowing that the pundit would be waiting for the milk. The pundit complained, “You are late again. What happened?” “Punditji, the boatman came very late”, Lakshmi replied apologetically. The pundit was in a bad mood that day. He shouted, “Don’t give me excuses. How dare you disregard my wishes? Don’t you know who I am?” Lakshmi began to cry. But the pundit continued to boast, “Do you know how learned I am? You are just a simple milkwoman. I know so many things. That river is the river of life. People safely cross the river of life by invoking the name of Sri Hari Vishnu”.
Lakshmi took the pundit’s words very seriously and happily departed, saying to herself, “I wish punditji had told me this earlier”. The next day Lakshmi arrived at the pundit’s house before sunrise. The pandit was surprised to see her as he had not seen the boatman. “How did you cross the river?”, he inquired. Lakshmi smiled and said, “You taught me to cross the river by chanting the name of Sri Hari and I did it”. “That is impossible!”, the pundit shouted and ordered her to cross the river again. Lakshmi crossed the river again without any difficulty, chanting the name of Sri Hari. She stayed completely dry. The pundit tried to do the same, chanting the name of Sri Hari. But as he tried to protect his clothes from getting wet, he fell into the river. Lakshmi was astonished, “Oh punditji”, she said, “you were not thinking of Sri Hari at all. You were busy only taking care of your dhoti. That is why it did not work”. Punditji was marvelled at Lakshmi’s devotion and accepted that her faith was more powerful than his empty knowledge. He sincerely blessed Lakshmi.

Spiritual Significance: – Baba calls those people as Pundits, who just repeat the knowledge, but don’t not practice it. One should not become like Pundits. We should first become the embodiment first of what we say to others. There should be no difference in words and deeds.