Once, Ananda was going to the town to seek alms which was a daily ritual. It was a hot summer afternoon. He was feeling thirsty. Suddenly, he saw a girl drawing water from the well. He went to her and asked for some water to drink. The girl looked at Ananda for a long time as if she were trying to assess him.
She shook her head sadly and informed, ‘‘I am sorry I can’t. I am an untouchable, daughter of a sweeper.’’
Ananda smiled and spoke, ‘‘Sister, I asked for some water. Not your background. Will you give me water?’’
The girl looked at him with wide unbelieving eyes, her mouth agape. It was the first time when she was spoken to in such polite terms in that caste ridden village.
The incident changed the life of the untouchable girl. From Ananda she learnt about Buddha and his teachings. The girl instantly became a Buddha devotee and formally joined sangha after renouncing her family relationships.
Ananda was a man of many virtues. He was gifted with a sharp memory. It is said that he remembered all the sermons, couplets, teachings and rules of Lord Buddha by heart. His oratory skill made him an ideal preacher of Buddhism.
In Ananda, Lord Buddha had a very able and capable lieutenant.
Buddha shows basic truth
There was a girl named Krisha which literally means ‘Straw’. She was indeed as thin as a straw, hence that name. The family had no hope for that skinny girl.
But strange things happen in this world. A rich boy fell head over heels in love with Krisha. It was the love at first sight. The boy married the girl in a temple defying protests of his family. Though married legally the family didn’t accept the girl gracefully. All the members of the family mistreated her.
Her life was a woe.
Then, she became a mother of a healthy baby boy. That changed everything for her. She was no more ill-treated or neglected. Every one talked to her sweetly. She became respected member of the family.
Then, the tragedy struck.
As the child was playing outside the house, a deadly snake bit him. He died. Krisha was grief stricken. The boy meant so much to her and for her position in the family. She couldn’t accept the reality of the death of her son. Krisha was crazed up. She became delirious and announced that her son was merely sleeping. All the talk of his death was a rumour, she screamed.
She would not let anyone cremate the dead child. The crazed up woman waited for her son to wake up. She refused to listen to anyone.
She carried her dead child to medicineman, fakirs and priests requesting them to wake up the child.
The people treated her as a mad woman. As she was refusing to surrender the child, the dead body began to rot. But the woman was too removed from the realities to smell it.
One day a man said, ‘‘Sister, take your child to Lord Buddha. He is camping in nearly vihara in the forest. Only he can make miracles happen.
Krisha ran to Lord Buddha with her rotting child in her arms. Buddha was meditating when she reached there. She put the dead body infront of him and prayed, ‘‘Buddha My Lord! My child has been asleep for ten days. Does not wake up. People say that he is dead. But they can’t fool me. Please wake my child up. I must show to them that he is alive…please,’’
A foul smell hit the nostrils of Buddha, He looked at the child. It was dead and the rot had set in.
Buddha said, ‘‘Sister, the people are not wrong. Your child is dead indeed.’’
The woman cried, ‘‘No no no no Lord! It can’t be true. Whatever, it does not matter. You are God. You can revive it. You can do miracles. Revive my child, O Lord, You must.’’
Buddha looked at the woman. She was beyond any reasoning. The grief had crazed up her mind. She was in pitiable mental state who was incapable of accepting the harsh truth.
Buddha spoke, ‘‘Yes, I shall revive him. For that I shall need a little help. You must go and get me some mustard seeds from a household in which no death has ever occurred. Return before the sunset!”
The woman cried in joy, ‘‘I will get it! Will get it! Thank you, thank you, thank you lord!” She ran towards the town with her child.
All day long she knocked at doors.
In the evening, the woman returned on weary legs, dead tired and with darkened face.
Buddha looked at her questioningly. The woman broke down lamenting, ‘‘Ah…oh…O Lord! There is no house where no one ever died.’’
Buddha said, ‘‘See? The death is a harsh reality. People die everyday. Every house loses its members to the death. Old die, young die, children die, men die, woman die and everyone dies, is dying or will die. Every dead one has some dear ones grieving. We must accept it as an inevitable reality. Dead can not be brought back to life. Your child is dead. Nothing and no one can revive it. Accept this truth.’’
At last the better sense prevailed. The woman came to grips with the reality. She fell at Buddha’s feet. The lord consoled her and advised her to cremate the child.
After performing last rites of her child, Krisha returned to Buddha and expressed her wish to join the fold of Buddha. She joined Sangha as Buddhist nun.
Krisha went on to become a prominent and devoted nun of the sangha she joined. She took special charge of taking care of the infirm and tragedy befallen women. Besides these duties Krisha spent rest of her time in meditation and penance doing.
Buddha was so impressed with her devotion that he gave her the position of ‘Superior’ in the female wing of the vihara. Krisha redeemed a number of women who had suffered tragedies.
There was one other woman who had suffered the trauma of losing her lover and sons. The grief drove her mad. In a fit of madness she tore away her clothes and roamed about naked.
In that naked state one day she stumbled into a meeting where Buddha was preaching. He didn’t get her thrown out. Instead he got her wrapped in a sheet of cloth and consoled her.
In due course, she recovered from her madness and joined sangha as a Buddhist nun to salvage her life.
Shopping Cart
