Sage Trijata was a great spiritualist, penance maker and religious scholar of his time. With several disciples and students he used to live in his ashram away from the crowds. He was a greatly respected figure. The disciples and pupil held him in high esteem. Even families invited him to their abodes for religious education, to hear his sermons and have him recite holy scriputres. In hosting Sage Trijata the families felt redeemed.
The father of Shantavana was a great devotee of Sage Trijata. He often used to go the ashram of the sage to hear his sermons. Once he invited Sage Trijata to meals at his home.
Sage Trijata arrived at the promised hour. The host welcomed him and got him beseated on a high seat of honour. The travel weary feet of the sage were washed and the guest was made to feel at home and in comfort. He was served traditional appetisers with water.
Then meals were served. The host took good care of him and kept hovering around to present anything he felt the guest needed. The sage was very satisfied with the meals and pleased with the servitude of the host. The holy guest gave his blessings to the faithful host to prosper and gain happiness in life.
Trijata rose up to depart. The parents asked his son Shantavana and daughter-in-law Gyanwati to seek blessings of the sage. First he himself bent down and touched the feet of the sage and got blessed one more time.
Shantavana and Gyanwati also moved forward to touch the feet of the holyman and get blessed.
One of the legs of the sage was deformed, fat and very ugly to look at. The ugly sight invoked feelings of convulsion in Shantavana and his wife.
Shantavana respected his father. Gyanwati also treated her in-laws very respectfully. They were in a dilemma. To obey the command of the elder they must touch the foot the very sight of which was making them retch. They did not know what to do.
Gyanwati looked at her husband to seek some hint. Shantavana closed his eyes which was a cue that they must close their eyes and touch the ugly thing.
Sage Trijata was standing and waiting to bless the son and his wife of the host after they touched his feet. The delay in the act made the sage realise that the young couple were hesitating to touch his feet due to the ugliness of his foot. He said nothing.
Shantavana and Gyanwati bent down with eyes tightly shut and touched the feet of the holy guest.
Sage raised his hand and said, “So be it.”
Then the tragedy struck. The shut eyes of the man and his wife turned their world into darkness forever. They opened their eyes but saw nothing. They had become blind. Gone was their eyesight. The two realised their mistake.
They cried and begged for forgiveness of the sage. On the same ugly foot they rubbed their forehead in repentance. They prayed to the sage to bless them back their vision. But it was too late. Now nothing could repair the damage.
The offending behaviour of his son and the daughter-in-law anguished the old man. The young couple admitted their fault to the old man and begged for his intervention on their behalf. The old man melted down. He fell at the feet of the sage and begged, “Holy sir, the offence of my son and daughter-in-law does not deserve pardon but they appear to be truly sorry for their behaviour. Kindly be gracious and pardon them. They are silly and ignorant. They don’t know what they are doing. What they did was shameful. I beg for your mercy.”
The sage kept silent.
Shantavana and Gyanwati prayed to the sage tearfully and pitiably.
At last the sage said, “Children! Whatever has happened is irreversible. An arrow once shot can’t be called back. Similar is the effect of word spoken by my lips. We can do nothing about it.”
The revelation of the sage shocked everyone. The father realised the extent of damage. He fell down, clutched the feet of the sage and prayed, “My Lord! My holy sir, you must pardon these ignoramus children. Unless you do I will not release your feet. Infact I will dash my head to the floor and take my life.”
That threat made Sage Trijata consider the situation gravely. At last he said, “Son, there is nothing I can do. I would have pardoned them had it been in my power. However, the severity of the curse can be reduced to some extent. That is the only thing I can do.”
“Holy sir, please do whatever is possible. I can understand your limitations, I will be grateful to you forever for your kindness.”
“The eyesight of Shantavana and Gyanwati can not be restored,” announced the sage, “But they will beget a son who will become their eyes. He will take care of his parents with such dedication and commitment that an example will be set in the human history. The names of the parents and son would become immortalised, the son for his commitment to parents and the parents for begetting such dedicated son.”
At that note Sage Trijata departed for his forest abode. The father of Shantavana felt a bit consoled. He advised his son and daughter-in-law to stop sorrowing and prepare to face the future without the benefit of the eyesight.
