Honesty


A Gurudev of Big Ashram was ready to retire soon. So it is customary to appoint a successor for the Ashram. The Guru called in all the Disciples in the Ashram and said “All of you take these one one pot each, I have put in different precious seeds in them, for one year, take care of it, give it water, give sunlight and after one year bring them back. The best grown plant would be awarded and the person who takes it shall become the Head of this Ashram”.

All the Disciples were very happy with this, everyone was sure that he will triumph in this competition. There was a tussle for taking the pot, which was resolved by them by bringing forth the senior most disciple and then as per hierarchy each one took a pot. There was one last cracked pot remaining, it was taken by the one young boy who had recently joined, after doing the ritualistic pranam the young boy moved back to his quarter.

After the day’s work the young boy created a small but beautiful flower pot for the pot. He painted the pot with beautiful designs and placed it near the window.
He used to work very hard throughout the day and in between come and water the pot and place it in sunlight. He also put in cow manure in it. Pray for the sprouting to happen.
Weeks passed but nothing happened, nothing sprouted. He was feeling sad, He felt His prayers are not being answered or His way of doing service was not right.
Throughout the day He used to work in the different area’s of Ashram following through any work given. And in between kept serving the pot.
One day His father came to meet Him, and asked him about the pot, the young boy explained in detail. His father said “It is not growing, due to your greed maybe you feel that when the plant grows you would become the Head of the Ashram”
The young person felt the words in heart, prayed intensely for forgiveness and worked harder to serve the seed within the pot.
On the day when everyone came with pots having different plants and different flowering one’s. The only pot that was empty was of this young person.
He felt sad, bad and the essence within Him was making him more guilty of not serving properly and heeding to the words of the Guru.

Then Gurudev came and saw all the plants and smiled, at certain pots filled with flowers He stood for sometime and smiled. Finally saw the empty pot of the Young boy, looked at the pot and had a questionable look towards the young boy. The boy was shivering from within, tears were running through His eyes.

Gurudev then asked the young boy to come in front and explain. Seeing the fear, Gurudev supported him and told Him to tell the truth. So the boy explained everything, every minute details.

After a small prayer,Gurudev announced that the young boy would be the New Head of the Ashram and a rightful successor of the lineage.
There was lot of questions from the senior disciples. Lot of commotion and anger.
Gurudev asked them to be quiet and listen
“I am proud of every single one of you, plants have grown. Beautiful flowers and some have some are going to get fruits too. But the seeds that I had put in the pots were boiled. It is not possible for the sprouting to happen.Lie’s and Deceit within one is known and seen only through another small lie. The ashram is a pious place where lying and deceitful acts have no role. In life for those who want to be successful has to be truthful, humble, hard working, clear and follow the way shown. You may add your flavour to the way, but never distort the way through a facade. Ashram works on the philosophy of showing the way of righteousness, if one is not following it, one should leave it, for it is not a right place. Such people are not worth relying in any place, in any walk of life for once they have a habit of lying and deceit, they keep repeating it everywhere.”

~ Maitreya Rudrabhayananda

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.