The Adikavi, the Poet of Poets, of India, who gave the world the immortal epic, the ''Ramayana''. By profession a highway
robber, he came under the spell of Maharshi Narada and became a ''Brahmarshi'' . He not only sang the matchless greatness of Sri Rama, but gave shelter to his wife Seetha Devi, and taught the epic to Sri Rama''s sons Thousands of years ago there lived a hunter who lived by robbing and looting. He lived in a jungle with his wife and children and no traveller who passed through the jungle was safe. If need be he never hesitated to kill the innocent pilgrims to achieve his object.
One day Devarshi Narada passed through the forest. As usual the hunter was on the look out for victims and as soon as he saw a sage approaching joyously singing and playing on his Veena, he thought he would have best of the chance to get rich. With a thud, he jumped down before the sage from the branch of a tree where he was hiding. Flashing his sword he threatened, "Give away all that you possess. Otherwise I will kill you."
Narada was the son of Brahma Deva himself and he was never afraid of any one. He saw God in all and loved at all. He looked kindly into the eyes of the hunter and said, "Why do you want to kill me? I have never harmed you."
The robber replied, "It is not because of anything you did that I want to kill you. I want your
wealth to
maintain my wife and children. If you obstruct me in getting them I will kill you."
Narada was not perturbed by his threatening attitude. He said, "Very well my boy, you may do as you please. But please tell me one thing. You say that you are committing all this sin for the sake of your wife and children. They who are sharing the wealth earned by you, will they share the sins that you are earning too?
The robber was non-pulsed. He never thought of the matter in this light before. He replied, "Of course, they will have to. Why else should I commit sins for their sake?"
Narada moved his head in disagreement and said, "No, they will not. If you have any doubt, go and ask your wife and children." The robber was suspicious that Narada might be playing a trick on him to escape. He sternly said, "No, I won''t leave you and go. You are just trying to hoodwink me and escape."
Narada laughed at his suspicions and assured, "No, my son, I promise you that I won''t escape. I will surely wait for you till you return. If ;you don''t believe me, tie me up to one of these trees and go to your house."
The robber tightly bound Narada to a nearby tree and hurried to his home. Ever since the sage asked him the strange question he was disturbed in his mind. Had he been ruining himself with sins to no purpose?
He went home and called out his wife and all the children. He said, "My dears, you know how I had been earning wealth by robbing and killing, to maintain you all. You have been sharing all that I earned. Won''t you be sharing the sins earned by me also?"
The wife and children were horrified at the suggestion. They said, "We are your dependents and it is your duty to maintain us. We never asked you to commit sins for the purpose of the wealth. If you choose to commit sins, it is your own look out. How are we concerned with it? You alone will have to bear the result of your sins."
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