INDEBTEDNESS & GRATITUDE.
There was a town named Amaravathi on the banks of the holy river Krishna. A king by name Vishnu Varma was its ruler; he was an exemplary king and won the appreciation of all the people. There was a great vedic scholar and priest in that town by name Amaraeswara Sastry. He was a very pious person; he completed 85th years of age. He never begged or accepted any free gifts from any person. He was financially poor, yet rich in self-respect. Every day he went to river Krishna three times; at 5-30 morning at 11-30 noon and at 5-30 evening. He bathed in the holy river & stood in waist-deep water and offered prayers to Sun God Lord Sri Savithru; and return home to do his duties.
There lived a cobbler by name Dharmayya in the same town. He had his shop near the temple on the river bank near the boats-ferry. He was earning well by mending shoes and making new shoes; visitors to temple and people and traders who come to the ferry were his customers. He was young, of 31 years old. He was kind generous and helpful to all people and to people in distress. He was not rich but well to do. He also worked as a night usherer in the town. Every night he goes round the streets and the king’s palace three times and should aloud beating his drums; “Attention! Attention! Attention! Awake ! thieves are ready to enter your house & plunder your houses; Awake!” He was paid 300 gold mohurs as yearly salary by the king for this duty. Dharmayya was very sincere & he never missed his duty even for a single night. He did his duty four times in the night at 8, 11, 2, & 5 hrs. He won liked by all town-folk and by the king for his good nature and dutifulness.
In those days shoes were very costly; each shoe was about 3 to 9 gold mohurs depending on its quality. Amaraeswara Sastry was poor and did not have money to buy shoes. So he always walked naked-foot. It was the month of May; (Jyeshtam); the tropical summer was fierce; the room temperatures were around 105* F, every day. Yet Sastry walked to the river in burning Sun at noon to bathe and offer the noon prayers to Sun God. He was walking in burning sand bare-foot suffering a lot. So one day Dharmayya saluted Sri Sastry and offered to make and give him a pair of new (shoes) chappals free; Sastry thanked and declined; he had no money to pay, the 3 mohurs the cost; he had a firm practice of never accepting any free gift from any person. Dharmayya felt pity & dismay.
Dharmayya watched Sastry with dismay for one week; he wanted to help Sri Sastry secretly; he made a pair of chappals for Sastry. He left them near his clothes bag, when Sri Sastry went into water to bathe. Then Dharmayya closed his shop and went home for noon lunch and rest. Sri Sastry came on to the river bank after his noon-bath and prayers; the sun was red-hot; the sand was frying red.
Sri Sastry saw the new chappals near his bag; he looked round for Dharmayya; he was not there; his shop was closed. Sri Sastry hesitated to wear the chappals, waited for about ten minutes. He felt his bare-feet burning in the hot sand. He wore the chappals in resigntation and left the place. One month passed. Sri Sastry wore the chappals daily and felt relief from hot Sun and the scorching-sand.
Dharmayya watched Sri Sastry wearing the chappals and felt secret pleasure.
Once Sri Sastry saw Dharmayya and thanked him and said God shall bless him; then the cobbler replied he had no sons, even after 8 years of his married life and asked Sri Sastry to bless him
so that he can have son soon. Sri Sastry blessed him that God shall soon with a son. Three months passed. Sri Sastry died of old age. Dharmayya felt distressed at the death of such a holy person.
One year passed; the wife of cobbler was blessed with a son; the couple were happy and thanked God; they believed that the blessings of the holy person Sri Sastry were fruitful and they had the son. They named by boy after the name of the God in the nearby temple and name of Sri Sastry as Amar; The boy grew well; he got the best nature and all good qualities. He was a great devotee of God and prayed Lord Sri Surya (Sun), three times regularly. He also learnt to read and write. He sat with his father in his shop and mastered the art of shoe-making. He grew to a boy of 12 years, hale, healthy and had very attractive appearance of a Brahmin boy. All the town-folk liked the boy and his good nature and often praised Dharmayya for having such a gifted and well-bred son.
Once Dharmayya got Malaria fever; he was shivering with cold; the doctor gave him chincona decantation juice for one week and asked him to take bed-rest for one week at home. So Dharmayya asked his son Amar to do his duty of night usherer. The boy agreed. Night came.
It was 8 P.M. the boy ushered aloud near the king’s palace a Sanskrit verse in clear and melodious voice of a holy Brahmin. “Attention! Attention! Attention! Six thieves named Kaama (lust), Krodhaa (Anger), Lobhaa (Greed), Mohaa (sex-desire), Madaa (Pride & Arrogance), Maathsarya ( Envy) are ready to loot you and doom your life. Awake! Destroy them!”. The king Vishnu Varma heard this sloka (verse) thrice; he was surprised; he was a great scholar; he understood the great significance of this verse.
He again heard this verse at 11 P.M.; he wondered who this new usherer was and what happened to Dharmayya. Again the king kept awake out of curiosity & heard the usherer repeat the verse 3 times
near his palace at 2 A.M and again 3 times at 5 A.M. The king was immensely pleased with this new usherer; his genius, erudite nature and wanted to honour him in his royal court next day.
Next morning he consulted his ministers and court-schlars about the night-incident; they also reported they heard the new usherer reciting the verse in a very loud & melodious shouting tone.
They also strongly advised the king to honour the new usherer in a befitting manner. The king sent word to the cobbler couple to come to the royal court immediately. Five soldiers went to the house of
Dharmayya and told of kings orders to come to the court with his wife immediately; the king sent them a horse-carriage; the couple were perplexed and feared something went wrong and the king sent for them to punish. They asked the Amar to sit in the shop near the ferry and went to the court.
The king asked the couple what was wrong and why a new usherer was sent the previous night. The cobbler couple shivered with fear; they felt things went wrong and they get beheaded soon for that crime. Then Dharmayya fell on the feet of the king and wept pathetically; Oh! My Almighty Lord, Sir! I beg you to pardon me and my son. I beg you to spare us for this time from death penalty for the great mistake we did! I had malaria-fever and was shivering violently; the medical practioner gave me nedicine and advised me bed rest for one week. My son was with me several times in the past when I did my duty as usherer around the town. I thought he can do it properly and asked me to do the job last night in my place; I never expected him to make mistakes and incur your wrath. Please spare him and his life; you may behead me if you want to punish us for what happened.” So saying he wept; his wife also fell on the feet of the king and begged pardon. The king was amused; he assured them they will not be harmed. He sent again a horse-carriage to bring Amar to the royal court; the soldiers went and brought the boy to the court.
The boy entered the royal court and bent on his knees before the king and touched his feet with his brow as a mark of reverence to the king. The king was pleased, he lifted the boy holding his shoulders and asked him about his usherer duty the previous night. The boy told the truth and said he did not think it a crime to usher in that verse; he begged the king to pardon his parents for his crime and punish him. The king embraced the boy and made him sit on his throne by his side. All were perplexed and applauded loudly the king’s noble gesture. The king told aloud the court-assembly what all happened. The King said; “God has given me invaluable gift in the form of this young erudite scholar. I appoint him as a court-scholar and as a member of the cabinet of counselors to the king; though very young in age, he deserves this honour; so saying the king covered him with a golden-embroidered silk shawl as a mark of the great honour; then he praised the cobbler couple as very lucky for having given birth to such a celebrity son. The cobbler couple were over-whelmed with joy, though did not understand how their son was a great scholar and what the verse he ushered last night meant. They believed the king was over-generous and showered his grace on the boy. The king then
announced the boy would get 10 thousand gold mohurs as his honororium and would be given a royal mansion to stay in with his parents. The cobbler couple almost fainted with over-joy.
Then the king gave a bag containing 10,000 gold mohurs as advance salary for this year to the boy. The boy thanked the king and came down and prostrated to his cobbler parents with full respect. He the talked aloug: “ Amma and Baba! Most Venerable King ! and great persons present in this royal court. I am happy today. The King rewarded me as a erudite scholar. During my previous life I was Amareswara Sastry; but I was not lucky to get the royal patronage then; I did not even try for it. My father gifted a pair of chappals to Sri Sastry to wear in hot summer; compelled by need and poverty Sri Sastry accepted that free gift from Dharmayya, in a helpless situation. So Sri Sastry was indebted to Dharmayya. Sri Sastry could not get moksham (freedom from birth & death cycle, though he richly deserved it). So Sri Sastry was born as a son to these good natured couple as a son.
Today the great king gave me 10,000 gold mohurs as a reward; I take it and give that bag of mohurs to my parents; now I am freed from my indebtedness to my father for the chappals he gave me as charity in my last birth / life. Now I have no shackles to bind me. I am free from all Karmaa & worldly-bonds.
Now I go to the Supreme Lord to attain moksham. Please bless me.” So saying the boy Amar fell down dead in the arms of his father. The sorrow of the cobbler couple, the king and the courtiers had no bounds. But after a few days they recovered from grief & praised the noble nature of the boy Amar, and built a befitting memorial for him.
The reader of this story have some morals to learn : 1) the affection and love the boy Amar has to his parents; (2) the pious nature of Sastry not to accept any gift as free without return gift; (3) the principle of real Hindus about indebtedness; if you take any material or favour from any person you are indebted to him / her; if you do not repay it properly, you shall repay it in the next birth thousand-fold. (4) A good king should appreciate the merit / scholarship / erudition of any of his subjects in any profession or learning and use it for the benefit of all / kingdom and also reward the person suitably and encourage proficiency; then only the professions prosper and yield good results to all people.
5) a person must be devotional to God and pray him three times daily like Amar and Sri Sastry.
6) Irrespective of caste, profession or creed, every person must be generous and kind to his fellow-humans and help them in coin or kind expecting no return. Dharmayya donated secretly new chappals to Sri Sastry to alleviate his suffering and misery of walking bare-foot in summer noons.
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