Long ago, a wise sage named Mandavya lived in a forest and meditated deeply. When he meditated, he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. One day, some robbers, who were running to escape the king’s soldiers, came to the ashrama and saw the sage meditating. ‘This is a good place to hide the booty,’ thought the robbers, so they hid the stolen goods there and ran away. When the soldiers reached there, they saw the sage and asked him if he had seen the robbers. He continued to meditate in silence. The commander ordered the soldiers to search the ashrama. They found the stolen goods! Without waiting to find who had brought them there, the commander jabbed a spear into the sage. The sage did not die, although he was impaled, and he did not know why he had been punished.
Sage Mandavya
