HASTE IS WASTE.

HASTE IS WASTE.

Part-22 (Jan—9—2011) Sunday.

Vidhyadhara had four sons; Sarada’s son was Bhattu, Rajyalaskmi’s son was Vikrama- adithya; Kankavalli’s son was Varahamihira; Kalavathi’s son was Bharthruhari. The four boys were given excellent education by teachers of gurukulam; later they learnt all the special subjects and rare sciences from their father. They all were erudite scholars and won fame and name all over the world.

Vikramaadithya worshipped Goddess Kali and got boons from her; he should rule the kingdom for one thousand years; Bhatti (Bhattu) was the prime-minister and chief advisor to the emperor. The two brothers came to a good understanding. “Vikramaadithya rules for six months and goes on tour of the empire for next six months in disguise; and personally observe the conditions of the people

and the situation in the empire. When the emperor rules, Bhatti goes on the tour; when Bhatti rules the emperor goes on tour. So they cleverly manage to rule the kingdom each for one thousand years and also extend their lives-span by 2 thousand years.”

Varahamihira acted as financial advisor to king and minister of finance, trade & commerce; he was also an expert astrologer and wrote many standard works on astrology in Sanskrit. (Even now they are available. The author of these stories, Prof. Ramana Rao, translated some of his books into English.)

Bharthruhari took the duties of the chief military commander; and protected the empire from foreign invasions and maintained excellent conditions of law and order in the entire empire. He was also renowned as a great poet and writer. He wrote sathakams (100 verses) on the moral values of life. Even now they are widely red.

He had a very noble and well-behaved lady as his wife; her name was Sunanda. She was very beautiful and attractive and adored as a divine damsel (apsarasa). Once Bharthruhari was on the terrace and watching the beauty of dusk and the sky and the beautiful flower garden around. Then the saw a funeral procession and the wife of the diseased man is accompanying for sathi (burning of

the living wife with the dead-man). In those days the Sathi was a prevalent social custom; now it is deemed as a social evil and punishable under-law.

Then Sunanda asked why the wife is going to the burial ground; Bharthruhari was surprised but explained her the sati-practice; she expressed her surprise, “What need is for Sathi?”. Bharthruhari was having an inner- contemplation; “ Is his wife not true to him? Has she no love for him? Is she averse to sathi-practice”; he was unhappy with her. But he never expressed his feelings to anyone. He wanted to test her nature and truth of her love for him and waited for an opportunity.

Once Bharthruhari took a thousand soldiers and went to a forest to clear it of wild animals, which were pestering the nearby villages, killing hundreds of people & thousands of cattle. They camped in the forest. On third day Bharthruhari got an idea to test his wife; he sent a word to his wife by one of his trusted soldier that a leopard killed Bharthruhari during hunting action. When she heard the

news, she swooned and fell down and died in a few minutes. The messenger-soldier rushed back and told Bharthtruhari what happened. Bharthruhari was stunned; he realized the true meaning of his wife’s remarks. There is no need for a true wife to go to burial ground for sathi; she dies on the spot and on the minute when her husband dies. This is the true nature of a dedicated wife. He realized his grave mistake of putting a test to his wife’s love and noble nature. But this is weeping over spilt milk. Nothing could be done now. So he went and performed the funeral ceremonies of his wife with utmost sorrow and guilty-feeling. He realized hasty ideas and actions were hazardous & were to be avoided. HASTE IS WASTE.

Bharthruhari was disenchanted with life and worldly pleasures; he relinquished his duties of the chief military commander; he took to the life of a hermit (sanyasi). A cottage was built for him on the banks of nearby river amidst fruit and flower gardens; he took to renunciation and lived there alone doing penance and writing sathakams (100 verses is one sathakams) for the benefit of posterity; on moral behaviour, on futile nature of world and worldly possessions and pleasures; on sanyasa (renunciation) and other such topics in Sanskrit language. Even now those sathakams are in popular study. (The author of these stories Prof.Ramana Rao translated his Moral Verses into English prose).